Chapter 6
Rocco entered Elena’s old dressing room at two in the morning.
He had kept it closed for a year after her death.
Then forced himself to reopen it because Noah should not grow up inside a mausoleum.
Most of Elena’s belongings were stored away.
A few remained.
Perfume bottle.
Hairbrush.
A silver-backed mirror.
Rocco stood in the doorway.
Bianca waited behind him under guard.
He had brought her because she knew what August asked her to search for.
“What were you supposed to find?”
She looked around.
“A key.”
“Description?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“He said Elena hid it where you would never look.”
Rocco almost laughed.
“That is a large area.”
Bianca studied him.
“You never searched her things?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She was my wife.”
“That didn’t answer.”
Rocco looked toward the mirror.
“Because searching the dead feels like accusing them when they can’t answer.”
Bianca’s expression shifted.
Thomas again.
She said nothing.
Maria entered.
“Elena trusted mirrors.”
Rocco looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“She once told me men look through papers and drawers.”
Maria touched the silver mirror.
“Women hide things where men only expect vanity.”
Rocco lifted the mirror.
Heavy.
The backing plate moved.
Inside rested a small iron key.
Bianca inhaled.
Rocco stared.
“August knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He said Elena stole it from him.”
Rocco looked toward the guard.
“Bring August.”
The old man arrived ten minutes later.
He saw the key.
His face changed.
Rocco smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For finally being afraid of an object.”
August sat.
“Elena did not understand what she found.”
“Then explain.”
“No.”
Rocco looked at Bianca.
“What did August say the key opened?”
“The house.”
Rocco turned.
Same phrase.
The house opens.
Maria led them through the east stairwell.
Behind an old storage cabinet was a narrow passage Rocco had never seen.
He almost laughed.
His wife had lived beside him fifteen years and still knew his house better.
The iron key opened a steel door beneath the foundation.
Beyond it lay the old council chamber.
Dust.
Stone.
A long black table.
Twelve chairs.
One wall covered by the Bellacorte crest.
Rocco entered first.
August stayed near the doorway.
He did not want to go farther.
That told Rocco where to look.
Behind the head chair was a narrow recess.
Inside lay no paperwork.
No ledgers.
Only objects.
A cracked wristwatch.
A pocketknife.
A gold chain.
A burned cufflink.
Rocco recognized the watch.
Matteo’s.
His hand stopped.
He had been told Matteo’s watch disappeared in the harbor fire.
He lifted it.
The glass was broken at 11:17.
The time of the ambush.
Bianca found another object.
A silver lighter.
Initials T.H.
Thomas Hayes.
Her father.
She stared.
“What was this room?”
August answered.
“A place men confessed.”
Rocco turned.
“Before you killed them?”
“Sometimes.”
Bianca’s hand tightened around the lighter.
Rocco saw.
“Not yet.”
She looked at him.
“I did not ask permission.”
“No.”
He moved closer.
“You asked my son for payment on a debt he did not create.”
Her face changed.
“You do not get to lecture me.”
“I get to remind you.”
Silence.
She put the lighter down.
Rocco continued searching.
Maria found a small tape recorder beneath the table.
Old.
One cassette inside.
Rocco pressed play.
Elena’s voice.
His wife.
“Maria said August used this room before Matteo died.”
Rocco closed his eyes.
Three years disappeared.
Elena continued.
“If I am right, Matteo was brought here before Black Harbor.”
Rocco looked at August.
The old man had gone pale.
The tape continued.
“He confronted August about Carlo’s brother.”
Leonard’s father.
“He knew Leonard would eventually learn.”
Rocco listened.
“Elena,” his recorded wife whispered, “if Rocco hears this, he will want revenge before he wants truth.”
Bianca looked at him.
The same warning repeated across decades.
Elena continued.
“So, Rocco, if this reaches you—do not move until you know why Leonard helped me.”
Rocco froze.
Leonard helped Elena.
Not killed her?
The tape crackled.
“He showed me the second entrance.”
“He gave me Matteo’s watch.”
Rocco looked toward the object.
“He says August killed Thomas Hayes.”
Bianca’s eyes filled.
“He says August caused Black Harbor.”
August muttered:
“Liar.”
Then Elena’s voice changed.
“But Leonard is hiding something.”
Rocco waited.
“He does not want justice for his father.”
“He wants something beneath this room.”
The recording stopped.
Rocco stared at the black table.
Beneath.
August closed his eyes.
Rocco looked at him.
“What is beneath us?”
May you like
The old man whispered:
“A grave.”
