Chapter 3 - The Room Behind the Study

The official cause of Vittorio Marquetti's death had been cardiac arrest.

Alice read the report twice.

Then a third time.

The document was six years old, signed by Leonard Voss, countersigned by a county medical examiner, and remarkably clean for the death of a man who had controlled half the shipping terminals on the eastern seaboard.

No autopsy.

No toxicology.

No hospital transfer.

No second physician.

Alice looked up from Danny's tablet.

"Why wasn't there an autopsy?"

Stefano sat upright in bed now, pale but stubbornly dressed in a black T-shirt instead of the hospital gown he had declared "an insult to human dignity."

"Because my father was seventy-one and had a heart condition."

"Did he?"

Stefano's eyes narrowed.

"What does that mean?"

"It means the report says he had a history of arrhythmia, but there are no cardiology records attached."

Danny stood near the door.

"There were records."

"Where?"

"Voss kept most of the family's medical files privately."

Alice looked at him.

"Privately where?"

"His clinic."

Stefano shook his head.

"Not anymore. We digitized everything after my father died."

Alice scrolled.

"Then where are the cardiology records?"

No one answered.

Nero lay beside the bed, his head resting on Stefano's shoe.

Alice looked at the dog.

"Was Nero with Vittorio when he died?"

Stefano nodded.

"My father collapsed in his library."

"Who found him?"

"Carmine."

Alice looked back at the report.

"And Voss?"

"Arrived nine minutes later."

"Danny?"

"I was in Boston," Danny said. "Security conference."

Alice leaned back.

"So Carmine finds Vittorio. Voss arrives. No hospital. No autopsy. Voss signs the death."

Stefano's face hardened.

"You think they killed my father."

"I think there are enough missing pieces that pretending the report settles anything would be foolish."

A knock came at the door.

Stefano looked toward Danny.

"No visitors."

"It's me."

The voice belonged to a woman.

Danny opened the door.

A tall brunette in a cream coat entered carrying two coffees and an expression that made Alice immediately think of Stefano: controlled, elegant, and irritated by the existence of obstacles.

She stopped when she saw Alice.

"You're the nurse."

Alice stood.

"I have a name."

The woman smiled.

"Good. So do I. Sofia Marquetti."

Stefano sighed.

"My sister."

"Half-sister," Sofia corrected.

"Only when you're angry."

"I'm angry most of the time."

She handed Danny a coffee, ignored Stefano's outstretched hand, and gave the second cup to Alice.

Alice blinked.

"For me?"

"You look like you've been awake since the invention of electricity."

"Thank you."

Sofia turned to Stefano.

"Carmine told the board you're incapacitated."

Stefano's expression changed instantly.

"He what?"

"He called an emergency session for four this afternoon."

Danny cursed.

Stefano swung his legs off the bed.

Alice stepped in front of him.

"No."

He stared at her.

"Move."

"You were nearly dead yesterday."

"The board can remove me."

"Then let them remove you from a chair."

Stefano stood.

His face lost color.

Alice caught his arm before he fell.

Nero rose instantly.

Sofia stared.

Danny reached him from the other side.

Stefano clenched his jaw.

"Nobody saw that."

Alice guided him back onto the bed.

"Everyone saw that."

Sofia handed Alice her coffee.

"I like her."

Stefano glared at both women.

"This is not amusing."

"No," Sofia said. "Carmine moving before you're out of intensive care is not amusing."

Danny's phone buzzed.

He checked the screen.

"I've got something."

Everyone turned.

"The off-site camera archive survived."

Stefano's face sharpened.

"Show me."

Danny connected his phone to the tablet.

A security timeline appeared.

At 8:47 p.m., Dr. Voss walked out the front entrance carrying his leather case.

At 8:51, his car left the gate.

Alice watched the footage twice.

"Stop."

Danny froze the image.

"What?"

"His case."

Stefano frowned.

"It's the same one."

"No."

Alice enlarged the frame.

"The brass clasp is on the opposite side."

Danny looked closer.

"Could be the angle."

Alice pulled up her ambulance photograph.

Same brown leather.

Same shape.

But the ambulance case had a distinctive scratch beneath the handle.

The case leaving the mansion did not.

Stefano's eyes became cold.

"He had two."

"Or somebody carried a duplicate out to make it look like he left with the real one," Alice said.

Danny skipped forward.

At 9:03, a service door opened in the west courtyard.

A man in a dark coat crossed the camera.

His face never turned toward the lens.

Sofia leaned closer.

"That's Voss."

Danny paused.

"You sure?"

"I've seen him walk into Christmas dinner for twenty years. Yes."

Alice pointed.

"He's carrying nothing."

Danny advanced the footage.

At 9:11, the camera angle changed.

The same man entered the narrow passage leading toward the old library corridor.

At 9:17, all west-wing cameras went black.

Danny's face hardened.

"My credentials were used at 9:16."

Sofia looked at him.

"Where were you?"

"Security room."

"Alone?"

"Three officers were with me."

"Then somebody cloned your access."

Danny nodded.

"I had my badge on me."

Alice looked at Stefano.

"Who could clone it?"

Danny answered.

"Anyone with physical access to the badge for about thirty seconds."

Sofia laughed without humor.

"That narrows it to everyone who's ever been in this family."

Stefano looked at Danny.

"When did your badge leave your possession?"

Danny's expression changed.

"Three weeks ago."

"When?"

"Voss required an MRI. No metal. I put my wallet, watch, gun, and badge in a locker at his clinic."

Alice felt a chill.

"Who had the locker key?"

"I did."

"Who had a master?"

Danny's mouth tightened.

"Clinic staff."

Stefano leaned back.

"So Voss could have cloned it."

"Could have," Danny said. "Doesn't mean he did."

Sofia stared at him.

"You're defending him?"

"I'm defending the difference between evidence and theory."

Alice nodded.

"He's right."

Stefano looked annoyed.

"Stop agreeing with him."

"I'm not employed by you. I can agree with anyone I want."

Sofia smiled into her coffee.

Danny continued the footage.

At 9:28, Carmine entered the wine room.

At 9:35, he came out.

At 9:37, Stefano walked alone through the main corridor carrying a glass of water.

Alice pointed.

"That."

"What?"

"The glass."

Stefano looked at the screen.

"It's water."

"Where did you get it?"

He thought.

"Study."

"From a bottle?"

"No. Carafe."

Danny froze.

"Carmine was in the study before he went to the wine room."

Stefano looked at him.

"Yes."

Alice felt the pieces begin to align.

"Was the carafe destroyed in the explosion?"

"The study wasn't hit directly," Danny said.

Stefano looked toward him.

"Seal the room."

"Already did."

"I want the carafe."

Danny nodded.

Sofia's phone rang.

She looked at the screen.

"Carmine."

"Answer," Stefano said.

She put it on speaker.

"Hello?"

Carmine's voice came through, warm and measured.

"Sofia. How is he?"

"Conscious."

A pause.

"Good. That's good."

Stefano did not speak.

Carmine continued.

"The board is concerned. We need a temporary authority arrangement until Stefano recovers."

Sofia looked at her brother.

"Temporary meaning you."

"Meaning stability."

Stefano motioned for silence.

Sofia said, "Why the rush?"

"Because there was an attack on the house, our CEO is hospitalized, and every lender we have is asking questions."

"Did you tell them he was incapacitated?"

Another pause.

"I told them he was unavailable."

"That's not what I heard."

Carmine's voice cooled.

"Be careful who you listen to."

Stefano's eyes became dangerous.

Sofia continued.

"Did you see Dr. Voss after nine last night?"

Silence.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"No. Why?"

Alice watched Stefano.

He raised one finger.

Sofia asked, "Did Voss treat your hand before the explosion?"

"Yes."

"What time?"

"Eight thirty, approximately."

"Where?"

"The study."

"Was Stefano there?"

"No."

Carmine sounded irritated now.

"What is this?"

Sofia looked at Alice.

Alice mouthed, Ask about water.

Sofia nodded.

"Did you touch the water carafe?"

Carmine stopped breathing for a second.

It was audible.

"No."

Stefano's face went still.

Sofia asked, "You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure."

The line clicked dead.

Nobody spoke.

Danny broke the silence.

"He lied."

Stefano looked at him.

"How do you know?"

"The housekeeper's statement."

Danny opened another file.

"Bianca said Carmine asked her for fresh water at nine twenty-five. She watched him carry the carafe into the study."

Alice's stomach tightened.

Sofia whispered, "Why would he lie about touching water?"

Stefano answered.

"Because he knows what was in it."

Danny's phone rang again.

He answered.

"Falcone."

He listened.

His face changed.

"Repeat that."

A few seconds passed.

"Don't touch anything. Lock the room and wait for me."

He hung up.

Stefano stared at him.

"The carafe?"

Danny nodded.

"Still in the study."

Alice felt relief.

Then Danny continued.

"But the water's gone."

"Spilled?" Sofia asked.

"No."

Danny looked at Stefano.

"The carafe was washed."

Alice went cold.

"By whom?"

"No one on staff admits doing it."

Stefano leaned back.

"Of course."

Danny looked toward the door.

"I'll go to the mansion."

Alice picked up her bag.

"I'm coming."

Stefano's eyebrows rose.

"No."

She stared at him.

"You wanted me involved."

"Not inside a house where somebody tried to kill me."

"You can't have it both ways."

"I can have anything both ways."

Sofia laughed.

Alice ignored her.

"Nero reacted to the evidence vial. If the same substance was handled in the study, he may react to whatever residue remains."

Danny shook his head.

"I'm not using a dog as a forensic instrument."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to observe him."

Stefano looked at Nero.

The dog looked back.

Finally Stefano said, "Take her."

Danny frowned.

"Boss."

"And Nero."

Danny frowned harder.

"Absolutely not."

Nero stood.

Stefano almost smiled.

"He disagrees."

Two hours later, Alice stood again inside the Marquetti mansion.

The storm had passed, leaving a hard blue winter sky over the ruined west wing.

Plastic sheeting covered broken windows.

The smell of wet ash clung to the hall.

Nero walked beside Alice without a leash.

Danny hated that.

"You understand if he decides to chase something, I cannot physically stop him."

"He isn't going to chase anything."

"You know him for one day."

"He knows me for one day."

"That sentence does not reassure me."

They entered the study.

The room had survived almost untouched.

Dark wood shelves.

A green-shaded desk lamp.

A portrait of Vittorio Marquetti over the fireplace.

The water carafe stood on a silver tray.

Clean.

Too clean.

Alice crouched.

"Don't touch it."

"I wasn't going to."

Nero entered slowly.

His nose worked.

He crossed to Stefano's chair.

Sniffed.

Moved to the desk.

Sniffed again.

Then stopped.

His body stiffened.

Alice followed his gaze.

A narrow cabinet stood behind the desk.

Danny said, "Medical cabinet."

Nero approached it.

His ears flattened.

Then he backed away.

Alice looked at Danny.

"Open it."

He entered a code.

The lock clicked.

Inside were medications, dressings, syringes, and an empty space on the second shelf.

Alice pointed.

"What's missing?"

Danny checked an inventory sheet attached to the door.

"Emergency antihypertensive kit."

"Clonidine?"

"Yes."

Alice exhaled slowly.

"Who signed it out?"

"No signature."

Nero suddenly turned toward the fireplace.

He moved around the desk and pressed his nose to the wooden panel beneath Vittorio's portrait.

Then scratched once.

Danny stepped closer.

"What is it?"

Alice touched the edge of the panel.

It shifted.

"A door?"

Danny pushed.

A narrow hidden compartment opened behind the wall.

Inside sat a metal box blackened by age.

Stefano's family crest had been stamped into the lid.

Danny stared.

"I've never seen that."

Alice looked at Nero.

The dog whined softly.

Danny opened the box.

Inside were old medical files.

Vittorio Marquetti.

Six years earlier.

Prescription logs.

ECG printouts.

Blood-pressure charts.

And a handwritten note clipped to the front.

Danny read it aloud.

"If anything happens to me, do not let Leonard decide the cause."

Alice felt every hair on her arms rise.

Under the note was a laboratory request form.

Toxicology.

Never completed.

Requested by Vittorio himself three days before his death.

Danny looked at Alice.

"Vittorio knew."

Alice turned the page.

There was one more line in Vittorio's handwriting.

A name.

Not Leonard Voss.

Not Danny.

Carmine.

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The note read:

"Carmine says I am imagining it. That frightens me more."