Chapter 6 - Ask Marcus First.
Enzo asked Nora once whether she wanted to leave the investigation entirely.
He could arrange transportation, temporary housing, and legal help.
Nora almost said yes.
Then she looked at the photograph taken outside her apartment.
Leaving would not make the people behind it forget her.
Knowing more felt dangerous.
Knowing nothing felt worse.
Marcus arrived at the hospital looking as polished as ever, but Nora noticed his tie was slightly crooked.
It was the first imperfect thing she had ever seen about him.
He fixed it only after speaking with Enzo.
The small detail told Nora more than his calm voice did.
Marcus was worried.
Not only about Lily.
About whatever Dominic's name was about to reopen.
The hospital at dawn had a different kind of silence from the Aurelian.
Restaurant silence meant people were waiting for someone important to speak.
Hospital silence meant everyone was waiting for news.
Nora watched families pass through the corridor carrying coffee, blankets, chargers, and expressions they could no longer hide.
She realized Enzo's money changed very little here.
He could arrange private rooms and security.
He could call specialists.
He could make hallways clear when Lily needed to move.
He could not make the monitors irrelevant.
He could not undo the moment she had collapsed.
That vulnerability made his anger toward Marcus easier to understand, though not easier to watch.
For five years, Enzo had believed one grief was settled.
Now, beside his daughter's hospital room, he learned that even that grief contained a lie.
Nora wondered how many shocks a person could absorb before every new fact began to feel like betrayal.
The envelope stayed on the floor until Hargrove arrived with two uniformed officers and Detective Ruiz.
Nobody treated it like ordinary mail.
Ruiz photographed the doorway, the envelope, and the narrow gap beneath the door before pulling on gloves.
Nora stood near the kitchen island with her arms folded tightly across her chest.
"Whoever left it knew the floor wasn't covered by the hallway camera," Hargrove said.
Ruiz glanced up.
"Why isn't it?"
"Privacy request from long-term residents."
"Convenient."
"Tonight, yes."
Ruiz opened the envelope with a small evidence knife.
Inside were three photographs and a folded sheet of paper.
The first photograph showed Marcus Bell leaving a coffee shop.
The second showed him getting into a dark sedan.
The third made Hargrove swear under his breath.
Marcus stood in a parking garage beside a man whose face was half turned away.
The man wore a heavy silver ring with a black square stone.
Nora leaned closer.
"Dominic?"
Hargrove did not answer.
Ruiz studied the image.
"Could be."
The folded paper contained one sentence typed in capital letters.
MARCUS KNEW DOMINIC WAS ALIVE.
Nora felt an immediate pull toward the obvious conclusion.
Then she remembered the second threatening message.
Dominic is a distraction.
She looked at Ruiz.
"This is too neat."
"Explain."
"First someone gives us a picture that looks like Dominic."
Nora pointed at the new photograph.
"Now someone gives us Marcus standing next to somebody wearing Dominic's ring."
"Could be because both things are true."
"Could be."
"Or?"
"Or somebody is writing the story for us."
Ruiz gave a small nod.
"Good instinct."
Hargrove was already calling the hospital.
Marcus answered instead of Enzo.
"Hargrove?"
"Where are you?"
"Hospital family lounge."
"Alone?"
Marcus paused.
"Why?"
"Answer the question."
"Enzo is with Lily. I'm in the hall."
Hargrove looked at Ruiz.
"Stay there. Detective Ruiz needs to speak with you."
Marcus's tone cooled.
"About what?"
"Dominic."
The line went silent.
Nora watched Hargrove's face.
"Marcus?"
"I'm here."
"Do you know whether Dominic is alive?"
Another silence.
This one lasted too long.
"We should discuss this in person," Marcus said.
Ruiz stepped closer to the phone.
"Mr. Bell, that's not an answer."
"Detective, I'm aware."
"Then give me one."
Marcus exhaled.
"I don't know if Dominic is alive today."
Nora's pulse jumped at the wording.
Ruiz caught it too.
"Today?"
"Correct."
"Did you know he was alive after the boating accident?"
Marcus said nothing.
Hargrove shut his eyes briefly.
"Marcus."
"Yes," Marcus said.
The word changed the room.
Nora stared at the photograph in Ruiz's gloved hand.
Five years of public mourning had just cracked in half.
"How long?" Ruiz asked.
"For approximately nine months after the accident."
"Where was he?"
"I won't discuss that over an unsecured call."
"Why was his family told he was dead?"
"Not everyone was told."
Hargrove's expression hardened.
"Enzo didn't know."
Marcus's silence confirmed it.
"You let him bury an empty casket," Hargrove said.
"There were reasons."
"There always are with you."
Ruiz cut in.
"Do those reasons have anything to do with Lily's drink?"
"I don't know."
"Do they have anything to do with Gabriel Voss?"
Marcus's answer came fast.
"Yes."
Ruiz looked at Nora.
"We're going to the hospital."
Hargrove shook his head.
"Nora stays here."
Nora unfolded her arms.
"No."
"Someone just came to this door."
"Exactly."
She pointed at the envelope.
"They know where I am either way."
"That's not an argument for making yourself easier to reach."
"I'm a witness."
Ruiz considered her for a moment.
"She comes with us."
Hargrove looked unhappy.
"Detective."
"She identified the straw, the napkin, the camera status light, the white jacket, and the gala badge."
Ruiz tucked the photographs into evidence sleeves.
"At this point, she notices things the rest of you miss."
Nora was too tired to feel proud of that.
The drive to Northwestern Memorial took less than fifteen minutes.
Hargrove used a black SUV with tinted windows and another vehicle behind them.
Chicago looked washed in blue-black dawn.
Nora sat in the back beside Ruiz.
"Why would Marcus hide Dominic?" Nora asked.
Ruiz looked out the window.
"We're about to find out."
"What do you think?"
"I think people lie for four basic reasons."
"Money?"
"Money, fear, loyalty, shame."
"Which one is Marcus?"
Ruiz turned toward her.
"The dangerous ones are usually more than one."
At the hospital, two Castellani security officers guarded the pediatric floor.
Enzo stood near Lily's room in the same black suit he had worn at dinner.
The jacket was gone.
His sleeves were rolled once at the wrist.
He looked as if he had aged several years since Nora last saw him.
His eyes went first to Nora.
"Why are you here?"
"Because someone visited the apartment you put me in."
The exhaustion disappeared from his face.
"What?"
Hargrove handed him the typed note.
Enzo read it once.
Then he looked down the hall toward Marcus.
The lawyer stood beside a vending machine holding untouched coffee.
"Marcus."
He did not raise his voice.
He did not need to.
Marcus approached slowly.
Enzo held up the photograph.
"Tell me that's fake."
Marcus looked at it.
"I can't."
Enzo's jaw flexed.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"For nine months."
"Yes."
"While I searched the lake."
Marcus lowered his voice.
"Enzo."
"While I told Lily her uncle was gone."
"She was one year old."
"Don't correct me right now."
Marcus closed his mouth.
Enzo stepped closer.
"Where was he?"
Ruiz moved into the space between the men without making it obvious.
Marcus set his coffee down.
"Dominic came to me three days before the boat was found."
Enzo stared at him.
"Three days before?"
"He said Voss intended to destroy him."
"Gabriel?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Marcus looked at Ruiz.
"Because Dominic found evidence that Voss had been stealing from the partnership for years."
Ruiz took out her notebook.
"How much?"
"Tens of millions."
Enzo's expression changed from anger to disbelief.
"Dominic never told me."
"He thought you would confront Gabriel immediately."
"He was right."
"That's why he came to me instead."
Nora listened carefully.
"So the boating accident was staged?"
Marcus looked at her.
"Partially."
"What does that mean?"
"Dominic intended to disappear long enough for federal investigators to build a financial case."
Ruiz frowned.
"Federal investigators? Which agency?"
"I can't give you names without confirming what remains protected."
"You can give me enough to verify the story."
"I will."
Enzo's eyes stayed on Marcus.
"Why didn't he come back after nine months?"
Marcus's face tightened.
"Because the investigator handling the case died."
"And?"
"And the evidence disappeared with him."
"That's not enough."
"No."
Marcus swallowed.
"Dominic also believed someone inside your organization was feeding Gabriel information."
Hargrove stiffened.
"Who?"
"He never knew."
"Where did Dominic go?" Enzo asked.
Marcus looked directly at him.
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"The last time I saw him was in Milwaukee, five years ago."
"The photograph?"
Ruiz held it up.
Marcus examined the parking garage image.
"That's not from five years ago."
"How do you know?"
"That coat is mine."
Nora blinked.
"You're identifying the coat?"
"I bought it last winter."
Ruiz pointed at the man beside him.
"Who is that?"
Marcus stared for a long moment.
"I don't know."
Enzo's patience snapped.
"You were standing three feet from him."
"This photo is cropped."
Marcus took the evidence sleeve and pointed at the far edge.
"Look at the reflection in the car."
Ruiz turned it toward the overhead light.
There were three people reflected in the sedan's door.
Marcus.
The man with the ring.
And a woman holding a phone.
Nora leaned closer.
The woman's face was distorted by the curved metal, but her uniform was unmistakable.
Black vest.
White shirt.
Aurelian employee badge.
"That's Janelle," Nora said.
Everyone turned to her.
"Janelle Ortiz?" Ruiz asked.
"Yes."
Marcus looked confused.
"I met Ms. Ortiz in that garage because she asked to speak privately about payroll theft at the restaurant."
Nora's stomach sank.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
"Who was the man with the ring?"
Marcus shook his head.
"He wasn't with me."
"Then why is he standing beside you?"
"Because that photograph was taken as he walked past."
Ruiz's expression sharpened.
"Someone waited for the exact moment to make it look like a meeting."
Marcus nodded.
"Yes."
Nora thought of her own photograph outside her apartment.
Someone was not just collecting information.
Someone was manufacturing conclusions.
A nurse opened Lily's door.
"Mr. Castellani?"
Enzo turned immediately.
"She's asking for you."
The anger disappeared from his face.
He went inside.
Nora watched through the narrow glass panel as Lily lifted one hand toward him.
Then Lily said something.
Enzo froze.
He looked toward the hallway.
Toward Marcus.
Then toward Nora.
He opened the door.
"Nora."
She stepped forward.
"What?"
May you like
Enzo's face had gone pale again.
"Lily says she remembers the man in the white jacket."
