Chapter 5 - THE SECOND TIME SOPHIE DISAPPEARED
Adrian found Sophie seven minutes later.
At the estate chapel.
Not the road.
Not the gate.
The small stone chapel near the eastern garden.
She sat in the first pew with her rabbit.
Teresa stood behind her, furious and relieved.
Adrian stopped in the doorway.
“You scared everyone.”
Sophie looked up.
“I didn’t leave the house-house.”
Technicality.
He almost respected it.
“You wrote that you know where your mother went.”
She nodded.
“Mommy showed me a picture.”
“What picture?”
She opened her backpack.
Another folded photograph.
Claire beside a lighthouse.
Behind her:
A red-and-white tower.
Water.
French signage.
Marco recognized it.
“Pointe-Claire.”
Outside Montreal.
Sophie pointed.
“Mommy said if she disappeared and you found Uncle Luca, look for the place with the red hat.”
Lighthouse.
Red hat.
Adrian crouched.
“Did your mother tell you about Luca?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“He was sick.”
“What else?”
“He’s your brother.”
“And?”
“He misses oranges.”
Adrian stopped.
Luca loved oranges.
As a boy, he ate them obsessively.
The day the warehouse burned, Adrian had been slicing one in his office before getting the call.
Now Sophie had walked into his kitchen while he was cutting an orange.
Coincidence.
Probably.
Still unsettling.
“Did you meet Luca?”
Sophie nodded.
“Three times.”
“Where?”
“Grandma Claire’s work.”
“Claire is your mother.”
“I know.”
“Then what grandma?”
Sophie frowned.
“Mommy said not real grandma. Hospital grandma.”
A woman at St. Agnes.
Older nurse.
Possibly Elena?
No.
Then Sophie said:
“Her name was Mrs. Romano.”
Marco looked at Adrian.
They knew the name.
Celia Romano.
Retired nurse.
Former DeLuca family physician’s wife.
One of Antonio’s oldest confidantes.
Living near Montreal.
That was the lighthouse connection.
Adrian called.
Number disconnected.
Marco searched property records.
Celia owned a cottage outside Pointe-Claire.
North Harbor medical transport had delivered one passenger nearby two days ago.
Claire.
Maybe Luca too.
Adrian made the decision.
He would go.
Not with an army.
Too visible.
Marco.
Two security men.
Authorities notified where appropriate.
No vigilante rescue.
No border drama.
Evidence.
People.
Procedure.
Then Sophie said:
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re six.”
“That keeps being a problem.”
“Yes.”
She crossed her arms.
“Mommy might not talk to you.”
“Why?”
“She said you’re scary.”
Teresa turned away to hide a smile.
Adrian looked at Sophie.
“What does she think you can do?”
Sophie brightened.
“Tell her I’m safe.”
That changed everything.
Still no.
But Adrian recorded a video.
Sophie speaking directly.
“Mommy, I found Mr. DeLuca. He has the ring. I’m okay. Teresa makes too much soup.”
Teresa gasped.
Sophie continued:
“Please come home.”
Then she added:
“Uncle Luca can come too.”
Adrian’s throat tightened.
Before leaving, Sophie handed him the stuffed rabbit.
“For Uncle Luca.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
“He gave it to Mommy.”
The rabbit belonged to Luca.
Inside its repaired ear was something hard.
Adrian opened the stitching carefully.
A memory card.
Video files.
Luca had hidden evidence in a child’s toy.
May you like
The first file showed Vincent Rinaldi alive.
Recorded only three months earlier.
