Chapter 3 - The Warehouse at Miller Avenue
By noon, Adrienne had twelve men working a search grid.
He refused to stay at the mansion.
“Boss,” Tony said from the passenger seat, “we don’t know what we’re walking into.”
Adrienne stared through the windshield.
“I’m looking for an eight-year-old dog.”
“You know that isn’t what I mean.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
Three SUVs turned onto Miller Avenue.
Industrial buildings stretched beneath a colorless winter sky.
Carlo’s voice came over the radio.
“Camera footage puts the SUV in this area at 11:42 Tuesday.”
Tony checked a map.
“There’s a veterinary disposal contractor two blocks north.”
Adrienne looked at him.
“Drive.”
They found nothing there.
Nothing at two warehouses.
Nothing behind an auto-repair yard.
Then Adrienne noticed something.
A chain-link fence.
Beyond it sat an abandoned machine shop.
A rusted sign hung crookedly above the entrance.
At the side of the building was a loading bay.
Adrienne said, “Stop.”
Tony looked.
“What?”
Adrienne opened the door.
“Stop the car.”
He walked toward the fence.
Tony followed.
“Boss?”
Adrienne stared at the muddy ground.
Large pawprints.
Faint.
But unmistakable.
Tony crouched.
“Could be any big dog.”
Adrienne touched one print.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
Adrienne pointed toward the left forepaw mark.
“One toe turns slightly inward.”
Tony looked at him.
“Bruno injured it when he was two.”
Adrienne stood.
“He was here.”
They entered through a broken side door.
The building smelled of metal, rainwater and old oil.
Adrienne called once.
“Bruno.”
Nothing.
Again.
“Bruno.”
A distant scrape came from behind stacked pallets.
Every man stopped.
Adrienne moved first.
Tony grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait.”
Adrienne looked at the hand.
Tony removed it.
They rounded the pallets.
There was an empty dog crate.
A steel water dish.
Black hairs caught in the wire.
Adrienne’s face hardened.
Then Carlo shouted from the rear.
“Boss!”
Adrienne ran.
Outside, beyond the loading area, a narrow drainage canal cut behind the property.
Carlo pointed toward reeds beneath a concrete bridge.
Something black was lying there.
Adrienne’s chest stopped.
“Bruno.”
He crossed the mud without caring about his shoes.
The mastiff did not move.
Adrienne dropped to his knees.
“Bruno.”
One cloudy eye opened.
Adrienne exhaled.
The dog’s breathing was shallow.
His collar remained around his neck.
Resta.
Adrienne placed his hand against Bruno’s neck.
“Hey.”
The dog tried to lift his head.
“Don’t.”
Bruno’s tail moved once against the mud.
Tony turned.
“Get the veterinary team here now.”
Adrienne slipped off his coat and wrapped it around the dog.
“You stayed.”
Bruno breathed heavily.
Adrienne touched the old carved letters.
“You always stay.”
Twenty minutes later, a veterinary ambulance transported Bruno to Adrienne’s private animal clinic.
The veterinarian, Dr. Hannah Blake, examined him.
Adrienne stood outside the treatment room.
“How bad?”
“He’s dehydrated. Weak. There are sedatives in his system.”
Adrienne’s eyes changed.
“Sedatives.”
“Yes.”
“Can you identify them?”
“Likely.”
“Will he live?”
Dr. Blake paused.
“That’s the question you actually care about.”
Adrienne stared at her.
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“I think so.”
For the first time all day, Adrienne breathed normally.
Tony approached.
“We found something else at the warehouse.”
“What?”
“A burner phone.”
He handed Adrienne a sealed bag.
“It had one outgoing number stored in the recent-call log.”
“To whom?”
“Salvatore Romano.”
Adrienne looked up.
Vivien’s older brother.
The man Adrienne had refused to include in a lucrative construction project six weeks earlier.
Tony continued.
“Salvatore’s been angry since the Midtown deal.”
Adrienne’s voice became quiet.
“You think this was revenge over business?”
“No.”
Tony hesitated.
“I think it may be bigger.”
Adrienne looked toward Bruno through the glass.
“Explain.”
“We checked Salvatore’s people. One of his men, Franco DeLuca, owns the SUV caught on traffic footage.”
Adrienne’s expression disappeared completely.
“Find Franco.”
“We already are.”
“Alive.”
Tony nodded.
Adrienne’s phone vibrated.
Elena.
He answered.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Her voice was strained.
“What happened?”
“It’s Mia.”
Adrienne stood straighter.
“What about her?”
“She disappeared.”
Everything in him went cold.
“When?”
“I turned around for less than a minute.”
“Lock the estate.”
“It already is.”
Adrienne grabbed his coat.
“Where was she last seen?”
“The east hallway.”
He knew immediately.
“Bruno’s room.”
“What?”
“Check my study.”
Thirty seconds passed.
Then Elena came back.
“She’s here.”
Adrienne stopped.
“What is she doing?”
Elena’s voice softened.
“She’s asleep in Bruno’s bed.”
Adrienne closed his eyes.
“Don’t move her.”
There was silence.
Then Elena asked, “Did you find him?”
Adrienne looked through the glass.
Bruno had opened his eyes again.
“Yes.”
Elena exhaled.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
A little voice came faintly through the phone.
“Bruno?”
Adrienne heard movement.
Elena must have handed Mia the phone.
“Mr. Addy?”
Adrienne blinked.
No one had ever called him Addy.
“Mia.”
“Did you find Bruno?”
“I did.”
“Is he coming home?”
Adrienne looked at the dog.
“Yes.”
Mia whispered, “Good.”
Then, after a pause:
May you like
“I told him you would.”
---
