Chapter 4 - The Blue Ledger

Gabriel's house did not look robbed.

That scared Chloe more.

No broken windows. No kicked-in doors. No drawers dumped onto the floor.

Just a silent mansion behind iron gates and twelve armed men pretending everything was normal.

Gabriel walked ahead with Beatrice. Chloe stayed close enough to translate.

In the study, a steel safe stood open behind a painting.

The shelves were untouched.

Gabriel's security chief, Mateo Ruiz, pointed to the keypad. "Code was entered correctly. No damage."

"Who has the code?" Gabriel asked.

"You. Me. Your mother."

Beatrice immediately shook her head.

Gabriel looked at Chloe.

"She says she never knew it."

Mateo looked uncomfortable. "Your father told me she did."

Beatrice signed again.

Carlo changed it after the Christmas party.

Gabriel nodded slowly. "He did."

Mateo frowned. "Then only you and me."

"And whoever watched you type it."

Chloe spotted something beneath the desk.

A little red plastic cap.

Her breath caught.

She crouched and picked it up with a tissue from her pocket.

"Beatrice."

The older woman turned.

Chloe held up the cap.

Beatrice's face drained of color.

The pill bottle.

Gabriel saw her reaction. "What?"

Chloe translated.

Mateo immediately took the cap and bagged it.

Gabriel's phone rang.

He looked at the screen.

Vincent.

He answered on speaker.

"Where are you?"

"Driving home. Why?"

Gabriel stared at the open safe. "Someone broke into my study."

"What? Is Aunt Bea okay?"

Beatrice's mouth tightened.

Gabriel watched her. "She is fine."

Vincent exhaled dramatically. "Thank God. Want me to come back?"

"No."

A pause.

"Did they take anything?"

Gabriel's eyes sharpened.

"Why would you ask that?"

"Because you said someone broke in."

Gabriel said nothing.

Vincent changed his tone. "Gabe, I know tonight was weird. Aunt Bea is grieving. That waitress got her worked up."

Chloe felt heat rise into her face.

Gabriel's gaze met hers.

"The waitress has a name."

Silence on the phone.

"Right. Chloe. Sorry."

Gabriel ended the call.

Beatrice touched Chloe's sleeve.

Then she signed.

There is another safe.

Gabriel stared. "What?"

Beatrice walked to the bookshelf and pulled a leather-bound Bible from the second shelf.

Behind it was a brass key.

Gabriel looked stunned. "I have lived in this house thirty years."

Beatrice almost smiled.

You do not notice many things.

Chloe did not translate that one.

Beatrice led them upstairs to Carlo's old dressing room. She opened a cedar cabinet, removed the bottom drawer, and pointed to a metal box fixed beneath it.

Gabriel used the key.

Inside were four things.

A sealed envelope.

A flash drive.

A photograph of Vincent talking to a man Chloe did not recognize.

And a handwritten note in Carlo's thick black ink.

Gabriel unfolded it.

IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, DO NOT TRUST VINCENT.

Gabriel read the sentence twice.

Then Mateo's radio crackled.

"Boss, we have a vehicle outside the east gate. No plates."

Gabriel turned. "Stop it."

A second voice cut in through static.

"Vehicle is moving. Fast."

Then came three sharp sounds from outside.

Gunshots.

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Beatrice grabbed Chloe's hand.

The upstairs window exploded.