Chapter 4 - Somebody Wanted Her Dead
Victor arrived at the estate that evening.
Dominic acted as though nothing had changed.
That was harder than killing him would have been.
Victor poured whiskey in the study.
"Atlanta called again."
"Tell them no."
"They're getting impatient."
"They can practice."
Victor laughed.
Dominic watched him.
Twenty-five years.
They had survived poverty, arrests, ambushes and wars together.
Victor had attended Dominic's wedding.
He had carried Claire's suitcase to the car when they left for their honeymoon.
And two days before she disappeared, he had secretly met her.
Victor noticed the silence.
"Something wrong?"
"No."
"You're staring."
"Thinking."
"About?"
Dominic lifted his glass.
"The past."
Victor's expression shifted for less than a second.
But Dominic saw it.
"What about it?"
"Nothing important."
Victor drank.
"Best place for it."
In the kitchen, Evelyn was preparing dinner when Samuel entered.
He closed the door.
"You shouldn't be here tonight."
She continued chopping onions.
"Why?"
"Victor's here."
"So?"
Samuel lowered his voice.
"I checked records."
Evelyn stopped.
"And?"
"His phone was turned off for six hours the night Claire vanished."
"Could be coincidence."
"Victor Hale doesn't believe in coincidence."
"Neither do you."
"Not anymore."
Samuel handed her a photocopy.
"This came from an old toll camera."
A black SUV.
Timestamp 11:06 p.m.
Hawthorne Ridge.
Evelyn looked closer.
"License plate?"
"Registered to a shell company controlled by Victor."
She stared.
"Dominic knows?"
"Not yet."
"Why are you telling me?"
Samuel glanced toward the dining room.
"Because if Dominic sees this while Victor is sitting ten yards away, someone dies before we learn anything."
Evelyn folded the paper.
"Then we keep Dominic calm."
Samuel laughed once.
"How?"
She looked at him.
"Food."
"You think lasagna is going to stop a mafia boss from murdering his oldest friend?"
"No."
"Good."
"But pie might buy us thirty seconds."
Samuel stared at her.
"You're insane."
"We established that."
Dinner began normally.
Dominic sat at the head of the table.
Victor across from Samuel.
Evelyn served.
Nobody spoke much.
Then Victor took one bite and grimaced.
"This sauce is too sweet."
Evelyn looked down.
"I'm sorry?"
"Too much sugar."
"There's no sugar."
"Then it's bad tomatoes."
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
Danger.
Not because she was frightened.
Because she wasn't.
She placed Victor's plate back in front of him.
"Interesting."
Victor frowned.
"What?"
"Twenty-five years committing crimes and this is how you die."
Samuel coughed into his napkin.
Dominic stared at his plate.
Victor leaned forward.
"What did you say?"
"Eat your lasagna."
Victor almost smiled.
"I like her."
Dominic's voice was flat.
"Don't."
Evelyn felt the tension immediately.
Victor noticed too.
"Problem?"
Dominic raised his eyes.
"Where were you October seventeenth, seven years ago?"
Samuel went completely still.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
So much for pie.
Victor didn't move.
"What?"
"The night Claire disappeared."
"I was in Charlotte."
"All night?"
"As far as I remember."
Dominic placed the photograph on the table.
Victor's face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
"Claire wrote that you met two days before she disappeared."
Victor studied the picture.
"She asked me to meet her."
"You told police you hadn't seen her."
"I was protecting you."
"From what?"
"From her."
Dominic rose.
Samuel stood immediately.
Evelyn stepped between the table and Dominic.
"Sit down."
Both men looked at her.
Dominic's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Move."
"No."
"Evelyn."
"You want answers."
"I said move."
"And if you kill him, you're going to ask his corpse questions?"
Victor leaned back.
"I told you I liked her."
Evelyn snapped, "You shut up."
Victor actually did.
Dominic stared at Evelyn for several seconds.
Then slowly sat.
"Talk," he told Victor.
Victor exhaled.
"Claire thought someone inside the organization was stealing from you."
"Who?"
"She didn't know."
"Why come to you?"
"Because she believed I could investigate without alerting you."
Dominic laughed without humor.
"Claire didn't hide things from me."
Victor looked him straight in the eye.
"She did when she thought your temper would get you killed."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
"What did she find?"
"Money moving through three companies. Millions. Enough to start a war."
"And you investigated?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"She disappeared before we finished."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because everything pointed toward someone close to you."
"Who?"
Victor hesitated.
Before he could answer, Evelyn suddenly gripped the table.
Her glass fell.
Dominic was on his feet instantly.
"Evelyn?"
She looked confused.
"I..."
Her knees buckled.
Dominic caught her before she struck the floor.
"Evelyn!"
Samuel grabbed the water pitcher.
Victor stood.
Evelyn's breathing became shallow.
Her lips were turning pale.
Dominic looked at her plate.
Then at everyone around the table.
His voice changed into something colder than any of them had heard in years.
"Nobody leaves this house."
The estate doctor arrived eleven minutes later.
Food poisoning wasn't the problem.
Poison was.
"A small amount," Dr. Carter said after stabilizing Evelyn. "Probably intended to make her sick rather than kill her."
Dominic stood beside the bed.
"Probably?"
"Another dose could've killed her."
Samuel entered.
"We checked the kitchen."
"And?"
"Her water glass."
Dominic turned.
"Nothing else?"
"No."
Meaning the poison had not been meant for Dominic.
It had been meant for Evelyn.
Her eyes opened.
"You look angry."
Dominic approached.
"Someone poisoned you."
"That explains why your lasagna didn't bother me."
"Don't joke."
"It's how I know I'm alive."
The words hit him.
Exactly as her first words had in the kitchen.
Don't apologize for sounding alive.
Dominic lowered his voice.
"Why would someone target you?"
Evelyn looked at Samuel.
Dominic noticed.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Samuel handed him the toll-camera photograph.
Dominic stared at Victor's SUV.
Evelyn said, "I think somebody knows we're investigating Claire."
May you like
Dominic's face became still.
"And now they're afraid."
