Chapter 3 - THE SECRET INSIDE THE SILVER LIGHTER
The pounding on my apartment door stopped.
For several seconds, the entire building seemed to hold its breath.
Then footsteps retreated down the hallway.
Arthur listened until they disappeared.
"Don't follow him."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Good."
I looked at the silver lighter on my dresser.
It seemed ridiculous that something so small could turn my life upside down.
"What does Carmichael have to do with your brother?"
Arthur's jaw tightened.
"Eleven years ago, my younger brother Luca uncovered a betrayal inside our organization."
"Who betrayed him?"
"I never found out."
"And Carmichael?"
"He owned a restaurant near the docks. Luca met him the night he disappeared."
I stared.
"My boss has owned that diner for twenty years."
"I know."
"Then why haven't you questioned him?"
Arthur looked away.
"Because for eleven years, I believed Carmichael was dead."
A cold sensation spread through my chest.
I remembered my boss telling customers he'd moved to Chicago after losing his business in New Jersey.
He was short, balding, and constantly complaining about labor costs.
Nothing about him suggested he had once known the Romano family.
Arthur reached for the lighter.
His fingers trembled.
"May I?"
I handed it over.
He examined the engraved Roman numeral.
"Luca had five of these made. One for each member of our family."
"Where are the others?"
"Lost. Except mine."
He pushed the bottom of the lighter.
Nothing happened.
Then he turned the flint wheel backward.
A tiny click sounded.
The metal base shifted.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a narrow strip of folded paper.
Arthur stared at it.
Slowly, he unfolded the paper.
There were six numbers.
A date.
And a name.
ELENA ROMANO.
I watched his face drain of color.
"Who's Elena?"
For a moment, he couldn't answer.
Then he whispered, "My wife."
I stepped backward.
"You're married?"
His expression changed.
"Was."
The silence between us deepened.
"She died six years ago," he said.
I looked at the paper again.
"Then why would your brother hide her name inside his lighter?"
Arthur shook his head.
"I don't know."
But I could tell he was lying.
Or perhaps he was afraid of what he already suspected.
Brutus whined softly.
Arthur rubbed the dog's ear.
Then he turned the paper over.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
Arthur must never learn what happened to the baby.
He stopped breathing.
I stared at him.
"Baby?"
His hand closed around the paper.
For the first time since I'd rescued him, Arthur Romano looked genuinely terrified.
Then he whispered:
"Elena told me our daughter died before she was born."
His gray eyes filled with something darker than grief.
"But Luca disappeared three years before Elena died."
May you like
He looked at me.
"Maeve, someone knew my daughter was going to disappear before she was even conceived."
