Chapter 4 - The Voice Inside the Walls)
For one impossible second, Daniel forgot to breathe.
The recording continued through the kitchen speaker, distorted by age and static.
"Do not trust the first person who offers you Rocco. Rocco is a door, not the room. Find Saint Michael before the crow finds her."
The message ended. Emergency lights came on in red strips along the floor.
Daniel pulled Maria and Sofia behind the stone kitchen island. "Stay down."
"That was him," Maria whispered. "That was Matteo."
"A recording."
"How did it get into your system?"
"Someone wants us moving."
A guard appeared in the doorway with both hands raised. Daniel recognized Emil, one of Vincent's recommendations.
"Sir, the security room has been breached. We found Lewis unconscious."
"Where is your weapon?"
"The intruder took it."
Daniel saw blood on Emil's cuff but no injury on his body.
"Turn around," Daniel ordered.
Emil's eyes flicked toward the table where Sofia hid.
Daniel fired first.
The bullet struck Emil's shoulder as he reached behind his back. A compact machine pistol fell from his hand. He crashed against the doorway, spun, and ran into the hall.
Daniel followed. Emil fired blindly while retreating, shredding plaster. Daniel moved between shots and drove him down with a blow to the knee. They struck the floor together. Emil was younger, but Daniel was stronger and far angrier. He pinned the man's throat with his forearm.
"Who sent you?"
Emil laughed through blood. "The little heir belongs to the Crown."
"Where is Rocco?"
"Closer than the dead."
Emil bit down. Foam appeared at the corner of his mouth. By the time Daniel forced his jaw open, the capsule had broken.
Maria emerged carrying Sofia and the pistol Daniel had given her. She looked at Emil, then away before the child could see.
"Is he sleeping?" Sofia asked.
"Yes," Maria said.
Daniel rose. "Take her to my study."
"The map marked a wall behind it."
"Exactly. Matteo wanted us there."
"Or someone wants us trapped there."
"Both can be true."
They moved through service corridors while Daniel's loyal men cleared the wing. In the study, he pushed aside a bookcase and examined the paneled wall marked on the map. The mansion had belonged to his grandfather, a man who trusted tunnels more than doors. Daniel knew of three hidden passages. Apparently there was a fourth.
Sofia wriggled from Maria's arms. "The lion."
She pointed to a carved lion on the lower molding. One glass eye was darker than the other.
Daniel pressed it. A narrow panel opened without sound.
Inside waited a tape recorder, a sealed envelope, and a photograph.
The photograph showed Matteo on a beach, laughing into the wind. Maria stood beside him, visibly pregnant. On the back, in Matteo's handwriting, were the words: For Daniel, when he is ready to know me.
Maria covered her mouth.
Daniel inserted the tape.
Matteo's voice filled the study.
"Danny, I built this system because I was afraid I would die before I found the whole truth. If Maria has reached you, then fear failed to keep her away. Listen to her. Protect Sofia. She is the only clean thing I ever made."
The tape clicked. Matteo inhaled.
"Someone is using our ports to move women and children. Father may know part of it. Vincent thinks it is only guns, but Vincent sees what he wants to see. Rocco carries orders from a man whose name begins with V. That is all I can prove. Saint Michael holds the ledger. The key is with Maria."
The message dissolved into static.
Maria sank onto the leather sofa. "He knew about Sofia before he died."
Daniel kept his face turned away. His brother's voice had reopened a room inside him he had bricked shut.
"Where is the key?"
Maria looked at Sofia's bow.
She removed it gently, opened a seam beneath the ribbon, and drew out a thin brass key no longer than a match.
Daniel stared. "You put it on her?"
"No man in this house would think to search a child's bow."
"A man entered the laundry room with her. Your hiding place almost became his."
Guilt crossed Maria's face.
Daniel softened his voice. "We stop hiding evidence on Sofia. From now on, she carries nothing except toys."
Sofia held up a wooden rabbit. "And Mr. Buttons."
"Mr. Buttons may stay."
Vincent entered with two armed men. His gaze went to Emil's pistol on the desk, the open passage, then the key in Maria's hand.
"I heard shots."
"Emil was Crow's Crown," Daniel said.
"Emil is dead?"
"By his own choice."
Vincent looked genuinely disturbed. "I recommended him."
"Yes."
The single word landed between them.
Vincent dismissed the guards and closed the door. "If you suspect me, say it."
"Do you know Saint Michael?"
"A church. A painting. Half the Italian restaurants in Brooklyn."
Maria watched him. "Matteo left a ledger there."
Daniel did not react, but anger flashed through him. He had not intended to tell Vincent that.
Vincent's eyes narrowed. "Then we retrieve it before anyone else."
"We?"
"Matteo was family to me too."
"No," Daniel said. "He was my brother."
Vincent left without another word.
Maria waited until his footsteps faded. "I told him on purpose."
"I noticed."
"If he is the traitor, he will move."
"And if he isn't, we just warned the man hunting the traitor."
Daniel looked at the little brass key.
His phone rang. Rocco's number appeared on the screen.
Daniel answered on speaker.
Wind roared in the background. Rocco sounded exhausted.
"They told me you found the child."
"Where are you?"
"Saint Michael's cemetery. Come alone before sunrise. Bring Maria's key."
"Who is V?"
Rocco laughed once, without humor. "The man standing closest to you."
May you like
A gunshot cracked through the phone.
The call ended.
