Chapter 6 - The Necklace Around a Dead Woman’s Neck
Clara nearly dropped the photograph.
“My mother’s necklace?”
Leo nodded.
“She gave it to me before she died.”
It was a small gold locket engraved with a tiny V.
Clara had searched the hospital room after Rebecca’s death, but the necklace had vanished.
Hospital staff claimed it had probably been misplaced.
“What was inside it?” Rico asked.
“A picture of me when I was a baby.”
Leo touched his chest.
“Mama keeps.”
Rico’s voice lowered.
“You saw Elena wearing it?”
“Yes.”
That was impossible.
Unless Rebecca had given Elena the necklace.
Or someone else had.
Dante drove them through Brooklyn while Rico sat beside Leo in the back of a black SUV. Clara sat on Leo’s other side because the boy refused to release her hand.
No one spoke much.
St. Catherine’s private annex appeared near the river shortly after nine-thirty.
The blue swan sign gleamed above a side entrance.
Rico tried the brass key.
The door opened.
Dante looked at Clara.
“That means whoever planted it wanted us inside.”
“Or wanted me blamed for getting you inside,” she replied.
The corridor beyond was nearly empty.
Room numbers began with 4.
4A.
4B.
4C.
At room 4B, Clara stopped.
The door was unlocked.
Inside was an empty hospital bed.
Fresh flowers sat beside it.
Someone had been there recently.
Rico approached the bedside table.
A wedding ring lay on top.
He recognized it immediately.
“Elena.”
Then a monitor behind him beeped.
Leo pointed toward an adjoining door.
“Mama.”
Rico rushed through.
The second room was empty.
But the bed was warm.
Dante checked the hallway.
“Someone moved her.”
Clara noticed a tiny object beneath the pillow.
A gold chain.
Her hands shook as she pulled it free.
The missing locket.
Rebecca’s locket.
Rico opened it.
There was no baby picture inside anymore.
Instead there was a folded slip of paper.
Clara unfolded it.
Three handwritten words were visible.
TRUST MY DAUGHTER.
Underneath was Rebecca’s signature.
May you like
And on the back:
RICARDO IS NEXT.
