Chapter 5 - The Key Planted in Clara’s Purse
Clara stared at the key.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
Rico studied her face with the unsettling focus of a man accustomed to detecting lies.
“You expect me to believe somebody slipped a restricted medical key into your purse?”
“I expect you to believe whatever the evidence eventually proves.”
Dante almost smiled.
Rico did not.
“Search her.”
Clara stepped backward.
“No.”
Rico’s eyebrows lifted.
“I said—”
“And I heard you. Have a female employee check my purse if you want, but nobody is putting their hands on me.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Rico surprised everyone.
“Fine.”
Sarah was called back from outside and searched Clara’s belongings.
Nothing suspicious appeared.
No weapon.
No second key.
No hidden phone.
Only rent receipts, aspirin, a paperback novel, twelve dollars in cash, and an old photograph of Clara beside her mother.
Rico picked up the photograph.
“You said your mother died at St. Catherine’s.”
“Three years ago.”
“What was her name?”
“Rebecca Vance.”
Dante suddenly looked up from his phone.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“There’s something wrong.”
He turned the screen toward Rico.
Rebecca Vance’s medical file listed the attending physician during her final month.
Dr. Adrian Cross.
The same physician who had signed Elena Moretti’s death certificate.
Clara felt suddenly cold.
“That can’t be a coincidence.”
Rico called a number.
No answer.
Dante searched again.
“Cross resigned four months ago.”
“Address?”
“Gone.”
“Family?”
“None listed.”
Clara took back her mother’s photograph.
Then she noticed something she had seen a thousand times but never questioned.
A man stood in the far background of the picture.
At her mother’s hospital doorway.
Clara zoomed in using her phone.
Rico leaned closer.
The man was Dr. Cross.
Beside him stood another figure.
A younger Rico recognized instantly.
“Salvatore.”
Clara looked at Rico.
“Your uncle knew my mother?”
Rico’s expression hardened.
But Leo suddenly whispered from beneath the table.
“Grandma Becky.”
Clara’s heart stopped.
She crouched.
“What did you call her?”
Leo pointed at Rebecca’s photograph.
“Grandma Becky.”
Clara could barely breathe.
Leo had never met her mother.
At least, that was what Clara believed.
May you like
Then he said:
“Mama has her necklace.”
