Chapter 6 - THE MOTHER WHO KNEW
Norah called her mother seventeen times.
No answer.
On the eighteenth attempt, someone picked up.
“Norah?”
Her mother's voice sounded frightened.
“Mom, where are you?”
“At home. Why?”
“Have you been visiting Dad?”
Silence.
Elliot watched Norah carefully.
“Mom?”
A sob came through the phone.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Norah gripped the edge of the desk.
“You knew he was alive?”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“For five years?”
“Please listen.”
Norah felt anger rise through her grief.
“You let me stand beside an empty grave!”
Her mother began crying harder.
“They said they'd kill you.”
Norah went still.
“Who?”
“Enzo Russo.”
Elliot's expression changed.
Her mother continued.
“Your father discovered that Enzo was stealing from his own family. But the money wasn't the worst part.”
“What was?”
“He was using medical facilities to hide people who could testify against him. Whistleblowers. Accountants. Former employees.”
Norah stared at Elliot.
His jaw tightened.
“Why didn't you go to the police?” she asked.
“I tried. The detective I contacted told Enzo everything.”
A floorboard creaked somewhere on her mother's end of the call.
“Mom?”
“Someone's outside.”
Norah straightened.
“Lock the door.”
“I already did.”
A sharp knock sounded.
Then another.
Her mother's breathing became ragged.
“Norah, I kept something your father gave me.”
“What?”
“A little brass key. It's hidden inside the old music box in your childhood bedroom.”
The knocking grew louder.
“Mom, call 911!”
“I love you, sweetheart.”
“Mom!”
The phone disconnected.
Norah stared at the screen.
Elliot was already moving.
“We're going to get her.”
He called Margaret and instructed her to contact the police and preserve every message they had received.
Then he opened a secured drawer and removed a second phone.
Norah noticed his hands trembling.
“Are you afraid?” she asked.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“But fear doesn't mean we do nothing.”
Ten minutes later, Margaret called.
Norah answered instantly.
“Did you find her?”
Margaret's voice was grave.
“The police reached your mother's apartment.”
“And?”
“The door was open.”
Norah stopped breathing.
“Where is she?”
Margaret hesitated.
“She's gone.”
Then she added something even worse.
May you like
“Someone wrote a message on her kitchen wall.”
BRING ELLIOT RUSSO, OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR MOTHER AGAIN.
