Chapter 2 - The Man Andrew Trusted
Damian fired twice.
The hallway went silent.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
“Absolutely not.”
“Martha.”
“If somebody gets through that door while you’re gone, what exactly am I supposed to do? Throw towels?”
Despite everything, Damian almost smiled.
He opened a narrow cabinet beside the bathtub.
Inside was another handgun.
Martha stared.
“How many guns do you keep in your bathroom?”
“Enough.”
He handed it to her.
“You know how to use one?”
“My father taught Andrew and me.”
“That answer concerns me.”
“It should.”
Damian opened a concealed maintenance panel behind the shower controls.
Martha blinked.
“A secret passage?”
“Service corridor.”
“Normal people have bathroom closets.”
“I’m not normal people.”
“That much I figured out.”
They slipped inside.
Damian closed the panel.
The narrow corridor led between the mansion walls.
“Where does this go?” Martha whispered.
“Security room.”
“Victor controls security.”
“Not the secondary system.”
They reached a steel door.
Damian entered a code.
Inside, dark monitors illuminated the room.
He pulled up the bathroom footage.
Martha watched herself entering.
Fifty-three seconds later, the shot hit.
Damian rewound.
“There.”
Martha leaned closer.
A camera overlooking the north courtyard had gone black ninety seconds before the shooting.
Another had frozen.
Then another.
“Someone disabled them sequentially,” she said.
Damian nodded.
“Someone who knows the system.”
“Victor.”
“Maybe.”
“You’re still defending him?”
“I’m refusing to accuse a man who has protected me for twelve years until I know exactly what happened.”
Martha folded her arms.
“My brother trusted people too.”
Damian looked at her.
“And that got him killed?”
“You tell me.”
Silence stretched between them.
Finally Damian opened Andrew’s memory card again.
There were encrypted folders beneath the audio file.
“Can you open them?”
“Not without the key.”
Martha thought.
“Andrew used dates for everything.”
“Birthday?”
“Too obvious.”
“Your parents?”
“Both dead.”
Damian’s expression softened slightly.
Martha continued.
“He used to say the most important date in our family wasn’t a birthday.”
“What was it?”
“The day we left Providence.”
Damian typed the date.
ACCESS DENIED.
“Apparently your brother disagreed.”
Martha stared at the screen.
Then she remembered.
“Try 0617.”
Damian did.
The files opened.
Dozens of documents appeared.
Financial transfers.
Names.
Photographs.
Security schedules.
Martha whispered, “What was Andrew involved in?”
Damian opened a ledger.
“He was investigating someone.”
“Who?”
A name appeared repeatedly.
V.R. CONSULTING.
Martha looked at Damian.
“Victor Renzi.”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
Damian opened another file.
Payments had been made to police officers, contractors, and a private security company.
Then one payment stopped Martha cold.
Charles River Recovery Services.
The company that had recovered Andrew’s car.
She leaned toward the monitor.
“They found my brother’s car.”
Damian opened the invoice.
“No.”
“What?”
“They were paid two days before Andrew died.”
Martha stared at the date.
“That’s impossible.”
“Unless his death was planned.”
A sound came from behind them.
The door opened.
Martha raised her weapon.
Damian did the same.
An older woman stood there.
Housekeeper Teresa Marino.
She raised both hands.
“If you shoot me, Mr. Falcone, I’ll haunt you.”
Damian lowered his gun.
“How did you find us?”
“I’ve worked here twenty-three years. I know every passage you think is secret.”
Martha stared at her.
Teresa looked at Damian.
“Victor has sealed the mansion.”
“Where is he?”
“Security office.”
“Who’s with him?”
“Six men.”
“I employ four on this shift.”
“Exactly.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
Teresa handed him a phone.
“There’s more.”
On the screen was security footage from the kitchen.
Dr. Samuel Cross, the Falcone family physician, entered carrying a medical bag.
Martha remembered Andrew’s recording.
Do not call the house doctor.
“Why is Cross here?” Damian asked.
“Victor called him.”
Martha whispered, “To finish the job.”
Damian looked toward Teresa.
“Get the staff into the wine cellar. Lock it from inside.”
“And you?”
“I’m ending this.”
Teresa grabbed his arm.
“You cannot fight an entire house.”
Damian glanced at Martha.
“No.”
He removed the memory card.
“But Andrew might have already given us the weapon we need.”
They opened another recording.
Andrew’s voice returned.
“If you found the financial records, you know Victor is involved. But Victor isn’t the top. He answers to someone Damian will never suspect.”
Damian went still.
The recording continued.
“The proof is in the last file. But if you open it inside the Falcone network, they’ll know.”
Damian immediately disconnected the terminal.
Too late.
A red warning flashed.
REMOTE ACCESS DETECTED.
Then every screen went black.
A voice came through the security-room speakers.
Victor.
“You should have opened the bathroom door, Damian.”
Damian slowly raised his eyes.
May you like
Victor continued.
“Now I have to kill the maid too.”
