Chapter 3 - The Sister Who Did Not Exist

Marco drove without using the highway.

Catherine sat in the back beside Logan, one hand resting on the child seat and the other wrapped around David's photograph.

"Where are we going?"

"A safe apartment."

"Whose?"

"Mine."

"That does not make it safer."

"It's not registered to me."

"That makes it worse."

Marco glanced at her in the mirror.

"You argue when you're scared."

"I argue when men with criminal records decide where my child sleeps."

"Fair."

Logan raised his teddy bear.

"Teddy not scared."

Catherine forced a smile.

"Teddy is very brave."

Marco turned down a quiet residential street lined with renovated brownstones.

"The apartment is above a closed law office. Two exits. No smart devices. No cameras connected to the internet."

"You say that like people normally care about those things."

"People around Alessandro do."

"How long have you worked for him?"

"Fourteen years."

"Why?"

Marco was silent for a moment.

"Because when my younger brother disappeared, Alessandro found him before the police did."

"Alive?"

"Yes."

"So you owe him."

"No. I repaid that years ago. I stay because I know what he is and what he isn't."

Catherine looked out the window.

"That sounds like something loyal men say right before admitting terrible things."

"He has done terrible things."

She looked back at him.

"At least you're honest."

"Honesty is easier when the truth is already ugly."

The safe apartment was small but immaculate. Catherine checked every room herself before letting Logan down.

There were crackers in the kitchen, clean towels, a first-aid kit, and a box of children's toys still sealed in plastic.

"Why are there toys here?" she asked.

"I have nieces."

"Do they come to your secret apartment?"

"No."

"Then why toys?"

Marco hesitated.

"Alessandro told me to prepare the place three weeks ago."

Catherine turned slowly.

"For us."

"I didn't know who. He said a woman and a small child might need it."

She felt the room tilt.

"Three weeks ago?"

"Yes."

"He knew I would come to the hospital?"

"No. He expected David's situation to break soon."

"What does that mean?"

"Ask him when he wakes up enough to answer."

Catherine pulled out her phone.

"Emily told me to throw this away."

"You should."

"After she possibly tried to kill Alessandro?"

"Especially then."

Catherine stared at Emily's last message.

LEAVE. GO HOME. LOCK THE DOORS. DO NOT TALK TO POLICE.

"Can you trace her?"

"Not personally. But I know someone."

"Another criminal?"

"An accountant."

"That is not reassuring."

"He would be offended."

Marco took out a plain laptop from a cabinet.

"Before we call anyone, tell me exactly what you know about Emily."

Catherine sat at the kitchen table.

"She is thirty-six. Older than David by four years. She works in cybersecurity, mostly contract work for banks and hospitals. She moved often. Boston, D.C., Atlanta, then back here two years ago."

"Parents?"

"Both dead. Their father died when David was nineteen. Their mother died five years ago."

"Did you attend the mother's funeral?"

"Yes."

"Did David?"

"Of course."

"Did you meet extended family?"

Catherine frowned.

"An aunt. Two cousins."

"Did anyone call Emily David's sister?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"A useful one."

She replayed the funeral in her mind.

Emily had organized everything. David had barely spoken. Catherine had been six months pregnant with Logan and exhausted.

"I don't remember anyone saying it out loud."

Marco tapped a key.

"Could Emily be a cousin?"

"No. David called her his sister. She called him her little brother."

"Could they have been raised together but not related?"

"Maybe. Why would that matter?"

"Because David telling Alessandro he had no siblings may have been technically true."

Catherine leaned back.

"You think Emily isn't a Winters."

"I think David chose his words carefully."

Logan sat on the floor lining up wooden blocks.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"Aunt Em has a red car."

"She used to."

"No. Red car at night."

Catherine looked at him.

"What night?"

He pushed two blocks together.

"Daddy night."

Marco stopped typing.

"Ask him without leading."

Catherine's pulse quickened.

She moved to the floor.

"Logan, can you tell Mommy about the red car?"

"Aunt Em came. Daddy was mad."

"Where were you?"

"Stairs."

"What did Daddy say?"

Logan's face scrunched as he tried to remember.

"He said... no more."

"No more what?"

"No more game."

Marco spoke gently.

"Did another person come?"

Logan nodded.

"Garage man."

Catherine swallowed.

"The man from the hospital?"

"Yes."

Harlan.

She sat back on her heels.

"Emily and Harlan were at my house together before David disappeared."

Marco looked grim.

"Maybe. A three-year-old memory is not evidence, but it's a lead."

Catherine stood.

"Call your accountant."

Twenty minutes later, a man named Felix Orr joined through an encrypted audio connection. His voice sounded young and cheerful, which Catherine found irritating under the circumstances.

"Marco, you only call when someone is dead, missing, or laundering money badly."

"We need a person traced. Emily Winters."

A keyboard clicked.

"That's a common enough name. Give me identifiers."

Catherine supplied Emily's birth date, old address, and phone number.

Felix was quiet for nearly a minute.

Then he whistled.

"Interesting."

"What?" Catherine asked.

"Emily Winters did not exist before 2008."

Catherine gripped the table.

"What does that mean?"

"No school records, no pediatric records, no driver's learner permit, no tax dependency under that name. Then at age eighteen, poof. Social Security record appears clean. College enrollment."

"Could records be sealed?"

"Sure. But not like this. This looks constructed."

Marco asked, "Original identity?"

"Working."

More typing.

"Her current phone is bouncing through a commercial privacy network. Last physical tower contact was near St. Vincent's forty-three minutes ago."

Catherine closed her eyes.

"She was at the hospital."

Felix continued.

"And her car is registered under a consulting LLC. Traffic reader caught it leaving the hospital district."

"Can you track it?"

"Not legally."

Marco said nothing.

Felix sighed.

"Give me five minutes."

Catherine looked at Marco.

"Your accountant commits felonies quickly."

"He gets bored."

Felix returned in three.

"Car is parked near Union Station. But here's the bigger issue. I found a sealed identity cross-reference in an old federal contractor breach. Emily Winters may have previously been Mara Vale."

Marco went rigid.

"Repeat that."

"Mara Vale."

Catherine looked between him and the laptop.

"Who is Mara Vale?"

Marco's face had changed completely.

"She was Harlan's confidential informant."

"Was?"

"She disappeared after a corruption case collapsed twelve years ago."

Felix added, "Officially presumed dead."

Catherine whispered, "So David's sister was Harlan's informant."

"Maybe," Marco said.

"And she was in my house with him before David vanished."

"Maybe."

"Stop saying maybe."

"Because certainty gets people killed."

Catherine reached for her phone.

"I'm calling her."

Marco caught her wrist.

"No."

"Take your hand off me."

He did immediately.

"If she tried to enter Alessandro's room, she may be compromised."

"Or she was trying to warn him."

"With a concealed syringe?"

Catherine froze.

"You didn't tell me that."

"Security found one in her sleeve."

"What was in it?"

"Unknown."

"Then you don't know she meant to kill him."

"No. I don't."

Catherine called anyway.

Emily answered on the first ring.

"Catherine?"

Her voice sounded breathless.

"Where are you?"

"Where is David?"

Silence.

Catherine's eyes filled.

"Do not lie to me. Where is my husband?"

Emily spoke carefully.

"Is Logan with you?"

"Yes."

"Are you with Romano's people?"

Catherine looked at Marco.

"Answer me first."

Emily's breath shook.

"David is alive."

The room disappeared around Catherine.

She pressed a hand to her mouth.

"You knew."

"I knew he survived the crash."

"Seven months."

"Catherine—"

"Seven months you watched me mourn him."

"I was trying to keep you alive."

"Everyone keeps saying that like it excuses everything."

"Listen to me. Harlan is not the only danger. Romano is using you to get David's evidence."

Marco moved closer to the speaker.

"Emily, what was in the syringe?"

Silence.

Then Emily said, "Who is that?"

"Marco Bellini."

"Of course."

"Answer the question."

"Adrenal antagonist. Romano's physician is dosing him with something that will trigger cardiac failure. I was trying to reverse it."

Marco's face tightened.

"Which physician?"

"Dr. Pritchard. He works for Harlan."

Marco immediately dialed another phone.

Emily continued.

"Catherine, you need to take Logan and go somewhere David chose. Not Romano. Not me."

"Where?"

"Do you remember the place he proposed to you?"

Catherine's breath caught.

"The old ferry terminal."

"Locker seventeen."

"What is there?"

"Something David left in case the ring surfaced."

Marco interrupted.

"Catherine, we have to move."

"Why?"

"Dr. Pritchard just disappeared from the hospital. And one of Harlan's agents accessed traffic camera logs near this block."

Emily's voice sharpened through the speaker.

"He found you."

A car door slammed outside.

Marco killed the apartment lights.

"Back exit. Now."

Catherine lifted Logan.

"Emily, are you coming to the ferry terminal?"

"No."

"Why not?"

A pause.

"Because if Harlan sees me with you, he will know I finally chose a side."

The line went dead.

Three heavy knocks sounded downstairs.

Then Harlan's voice rose from the street.

"Catherine Winters. I know you're inside. I only want to bring you and your son somewhere safe."

Marco looked at her in the darkness.

"He says safe a lot."

Catherine held Logan tighter.

"So did my husband."

They slipped toward the rear stairs while Harlan knocked again.

"Catherine," he called. "Romano is lying to you. Ask him what happened to David's first partner."

Catherine stopped.

Marco whispered, "Keep moving."

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But Harlan's next sentence followed them into the stairwell.

"Ask Romano why David tried to kill him six weeks ago."