Chapter 3
Maria had known something was wrong for three days.
She hadn’t told me.
At first, that made me angry.
Then I looked at Sophia.
And understood fear had already answered the question.
“What happened?”
Maria gripped her apron.
“Monday night, Sophia came into the laundry room crying.”
“Why?”
“She said she heard Mr. Grant talking in your study.”
Grant scoffed.
“A three-year-old espionage expert.”
Sophia shrank behind Maria.
Grant smiled at her.
“Go ahead. Cry. Maybe Mr. Daniel will build you a throne beside the refrigerator.”
I took one step.
Grant stopped smiling.
Maria continued.
“Sophia said he mentioned your Friday return.”
I looked at Grant.
“My return schedule was private.”
He shrugged.
“Vanessa is your fiancée.”
“She didn’t know.”
Vanessa’s eyes shifted.
That was enough.
I turned.
“You did know.”
“No.”
“Then why did Grant know?”
Silence.
I replayed the camera.
Another midnight recording.
Grant at the marble island.
Vanessa beside him.
Grant:
“Friday convoy still using South Ridge?”
Vanessa:
“Yes.”
Grant:
“Then Dominic has everything.”
I stopped the footage.
“Dominic who?”
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“You’re hearing half conversations.”
“Who?”
No answer.
Maria whispered:
“Dominic Voss.”
Grant’s head snapped toward her.
There.
Recognition.
I knew Dominic Voss.
Rival crew.
Careful.
Patient.
Never stupid enough to enter my territory openly.
I looked at Maria.
“How do you know that name?”
Her face went pale.
“My husband knew him.”
Maria’s husband, Luis Lopez, had died eight months earlier.
Officially a warehouse accident.
He had once driven for me.
Loyal.
Quiet.
I looked at Grant.
His smile had disappeared.
Maria continued.
“Luis told me Grant was meeting Voss.”
Grant stepped forward.
“You should think very carefully before accusing people above your station.”
Maria flinched.
He smiled.
“Your husband forgot that too.”
The kitchen went silent.
I stared at him.
“What did you say?”
Grant realized.
Too late.
I stepped closer.
“What does Luis have to do with this?”
Vanessa whispered:
“Grant.”
He looked at her.
And I understood from both faces.
May you like
Sophia’s starvation had not begun with a child overhearing one conversation.
It had begun with something her dead father discovered months earlier.
