Chapter 6 - The Message From the Ballroom

No one spoke.

Matteo looked at the watch.

11:17.

Again.

Peter continued through the phone.

“I traced the message.”

Matteo’s voice was flat.

“From whose phone?”

Peter breathed.

“Eva Turner’s.”

Everyone looked at me.

My stomach dropped.

“No.”

Matteo stared.

I took out my phone.

“Look.”

Jonathan took it.

The message history was empty.

Peter said:

“It was deleted.”

I shook my head.

“I did not send anything.”

Serena stepped closer.

“I believe her.”

Matteo looked at me.

I swallowed.

“My phone was in the staff room during the first half of the ball.”

Harold frowned.

“Who had access?”

“Everyone working.”

Matteo looked at Jonathan.

Peter said:

“The message used a saved draft.”

Jonathan frowned.

“What?”

Peter continued.

“Someone prepared it earlier.”

Matteo asked:

“What did it say?”

Peter hesitated.

Then:

“WATCH CONFIRMED. A.D. ACTIVE. MOVE TONIGHT.”

Antonio sat down.

Matteo’s face hardened.

The watch had not exposed only the past.

It had triggered something.

Antonio whispered:

“Victor moved because of the ball.”

Peter answered:

“Yes.”

Matteo turned to me.

“Who asked you to leave your phone in the staff room?”

I thought.

Then remembered.

“Mr. Russo.”

Silence.

Peter stopped breathing on the phone.

Matteo looked at it.

“You.”

Peter said:

“No.”

“You told staff no phones in the ballroom.”

“Yes.”

“So you created access.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Victor told me to.”

Matteo’s expression changed.

Peter continued quickly.

“That rule started months ago.”

Jonathan whispered:

“He could clone devices.”

Peter said:

“Yes.”

Matteo’s voice became cold.

“So the message came from a clone.”

“Most likely.”

“Who sent it?”

Peter hesitated.

“Your uncle’s man inside the house.”

“Name.”

“I do not know.”

Matteo laughed once.

“You have worked for Victor seventeen years.”

“I worked through dead drops.”

“Convenient.”

Peter’s voice sharpened.

“I am the reason your father is alive.”

Antonio looked at the phone.

“What?”

Peter continued.

“Victor ordered me to confirm you were at the river house.”

Antonio stood.

Peter said:

“I lied.”

Silence.

“I told him you were dead.”

Antonio stared.

Peter continued.

“Jonathan moved you before Victor came back.”

Harold looked at Jonathan.

Jonathan nodded slowly.

Peter said:

“Victor trusted me because I gave him the watch.”

Matteo looked at the broken silver face.

“So you took it from the floor.”

“Yes.”

“Reset it.”

“Yes.”

“To 11:17.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Peter’s voice softened.

“Because that was when Antonio told me to remember him.”

Antonio closed his eyes.

Matteo frowned.

“What?”

Antonio spoke.

“At 11:17, before Victor arrived, I gave Peter the microfilm.”

Peter continued:

“He told me if anything happened, get it to Matteo when he was old enough.”

Matteo stared at his father.

Antonio whispered:

“I thought Peter was with us.”

Peter said:

“I was.”

“Then why serve Victor?”

“Because if I disappeared too, he would know I betrayed him.”

Matteo looked away.

Peter continued.

“I stayed close.”

“For seventeen years.”

“Yes.”

“Watching me.”

“Yes.”

“Lying to me.”

“Yes.”

Matteo closed his eyes.

Peter said:

“I do not expect forgiveness.”

Matteo opened them.

“Good.”

A sound came through the phone.

Engine.

Peter whispered:

“He found me again.”

Matteo stood.

“Location.”

Peter gave an address.

An abandoned gas station.

Twenty minutes away.

Jonathan looked at Antonio.

“It is a trap.”

Antonio nodded.

Matteo said:

“Probably.”

Serena stepped in front of him.

“You are still going.”

“Yes.”

She looked at him.

“I am coming.”

“No.”

Her face hardened.

“You do not get to say that after everything you just said about people deciding for you.”

Matteo stopped.

Harold almost smiled.

Jonathan sighed.

“That was effective.”

Serena looked at her father.

“You are coming too.”

Jonathan frowned.

“Why?”

“Because if Peter is telling the truth, you owe Antonio seventeen years of answers.”

Jonathan looked at Antonio.

Antonio nodded once.

We left.

The gas station was empty.

No Peter.

No Victor.

Only one car.

Door open.

Blood on the seat.

Not much.

Matteo looked around.

Then saw something on the pavement.

A silver watch strap.

New.

Harold’s.

He picked it up.

Underneath was a note.

ONE FATHER FOR ANOTHER.

Serena whispered:

“What does that mean?”

Jonathan’s phone rang.

He answered.

Victor’s voice.

“Jonathan.”

Jonathan’s face drained.

Victor continued.

“You still owe me for the river house.”

Matteo stepped closer.

Victor said:

“Bring Antonio to the old water plant.”

Jonathan looked at Antonio.

“Or?”

Victor laughed.

“Or Serena learns what happened to her mother.”

Serena froze.

“My mother?”

Jonathan closed his eyes.

Matteo stared at him.

Serena whispered:

“Dad.”

Victor ended the call.

Jonathan looked older.

Serena stepped back.

“What happened to Mom?”

Jonathan did not answer.

She began crying.

“What happened to her?”

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Jonathan whispered:

“She did not die from an aneurysm.”