Chapter 2 - The Apartment Above the Pharmacy
The pharmacy was still open.
Three blocks from the ballroom.
Arthur walked ahead.
Gabriel followed.
I came with them.
So did Elena.
Victor Voss stayed behind.
Gabriel had looked at him once.
“Do not leave.”
Victor had nodded.
Gabriel’s uncle did not get that choice.
Security stayed with him.
The pharmacy was small.
Warm light.
Dusty shelves.
One bell above the door.
Arthur unlocked a side stairwell.
Gabriel looked up.
“Above here?”
“Yes.”
“Last week?”
“Yes.”
Arthur climbed slowly.
Gabriel did not.
Not immediately.
Elena stood behind him.
“Gabriel.”
He looked at her.
She stopped.
No apology.
Not yet.
He climbed.
Second floor.
One narrow hallway.
One door.
Arthur knocked.
Nothing.
Again.
A woman’s voice.
“Arthur?”
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Arthur looked at him.
Then opened the door.
Maria Marino stood inside.
Sixty-one.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Thin.
Pale.
A wool sweater.
No jewelry.
No makeup.
Her eyes found Gabriel.
She froze.
“Gabe.”
His face changed.
Nobody called him that anymore.
Not since his father died.
Maria put one hand over her mouth.
Gabriel stared.
“You are alive.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“You were three blocks away.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Last week.”
“Yes.”
“Six months ago.”
“Yes.”
“Thirteen years ago.”
Maria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Gabriel laughed once.
It hurt to hear.
“You have a lot of yes.”
Maria whispered:
“I know.”
He stepped inside.
The apartment had one table.
One bed.
Two chairs.
A box of medicine.
And photographs.
Gabriel noticed.
Pictures of him.
At twenty.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-seven.
Thirty.
His first public speech.
His father’s funeral.
A charity event.
The announcement of his engagement.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You watched me.”
Maria began crying.
“Yes.”
“For twenty-one years?”
“Not all of them.”
“How many?”
“Most.”
Gabriel looked away.
Elena covered her mouth.
Maria saw her.
“You came.”
Elena nodded.
“Yes.”
Gabriel turned.
“You two know each other well.”
Maria looked at him.
“She found me six months ago.”
“I know.”
“I asked her not to tell Victor.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Elena’s father?”
Maria shook her head.
“Your uncle.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Why?”
Maria sat down slowly.
“Because I believed he was still looking for me.”
Arthur closed the door.
Gabriel remained standing.
“What did you know about my father?”
Maria looked at him.
“Enough to run.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
She looked down.
“Your uncle, Dominic, wanted control.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“Of Marino Holdings.”
“Yes.”
“He altered Dad’s medication.”
“Yes.”
“With Victor Voss.”
Maria hesitated.
“At first.”
Gabriel noticed.
“At first?”
Maria looked toward the window.
“Victor did sign the altered prescriptions.”
Elena went pale.
Maria continued.
“But he did not know what Dominic intended.”
Gabriel stared.
“Arthur said the signatures were false too.”
“Some were.”
Arthur nodded.
“After Victor stopped cooperating.”
Elena looked at her father’s name on the copied pages.
Gabriel frowned.
“So Victor helped.”
“Yes.”
“Then stopped.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Maria looked at him.
“The night before your father died.”
Silence.
Gabriel’s face changed.
“What?”
Maria continued.
“Victor came to me.”
“Why?”
“He told me Dominic was planning to force your father out completely.”
“By making him look incompetent.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor suddenly grew a conscience.”
Maria did not defend him.
“No.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Good.”
Maria continued.
“He brought me copies.”
“Copies of what?”
“Dosage records.”
“Then why did Dad still die?”
Maria’s eyes filled.
“Because the medication was only part of it.”
Gabriel stopped.
Arthur looked down.
Elena whispered:
“What else?”
Maria stared at Gabriel.
“Your father’s car accident was not an accident.”
Silence.
Gabriel did not move.
“You are sure.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Maria walked to a drawer.
Removed a photograph.
A black sedan.
Rear axle damaged.
Brake line cut.
Gabriel stared.
“Where did this come from?”
“An investigator.”
“What investigator?”
Maria whispered:
“Your father’s.”
Gabriel looked up.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“Knew what?”
“That Dominic was trying to remove him.”
Gabriel’s breathing changed.
“Then why did he get in the car?”
Maria closed her eyes.
“Because he was supposed to meet you.”
Gabriel froze.
“What?”
“You had called him.”
Gabriel looked confused.
“I was seventeen.”
“Yes.”
“I do not remember calling him.”
Maria looked toward Arthur.
The pharmacist frowned.
Gabriel stared at his mother.
“Why do I not remember?”
Maria whispered:
“Because someone gave you something.”
Elena stepped forward.
“What?”
Maria looked at Gabriel.
“A sedative.”
He went still.
“Who?”
Maria’s face tightened.
“Victor Voss.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Gabriel looked at her.
Then back at his mother.
“Your future father-in-law drugged me?”
Maria shook her head.
“Victor says he was told it was for anxiety.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Everyone was told something.”
Maria continued.
“You became sick.”
“Where?”
“At the old Marino house.”
“I remember waking up the next morning.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad was dead.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stared at the floor.
Maria whispered:
“Your father never reached you.”
He looked at her.
“He died trying.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then:
“Why did you leave?”
Maria’s face broke.
“Because Dominic came to me that night.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“What did he say?”
“That if I accused him, you would be next.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Maria continued.
“He knew Victor had sedated you.”
Elena whispered:
“So he could frame my father.”
Maria nodded.
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Did Victor know the car had been sabotaged?”
Maria shook her head.
“No.”
“Did he know you disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“And kept quiet.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“Another yes.”
Maria started crying.
“I wanted to come back.”
“When?”
“Every year.”
“That is not a date.”
She looked at him.
“Thirteen years ago.”
Gabriel stopped.
“The same year Victor found you.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Maria opened another drawer.
A letter.
Gabriel’s name.
Unopened.
She handed it to him.
On the front:
RETURNED.
Gabriel stared.
“Who returned it?”
Maria answered:
“Victor.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Your father again.”
Maria shook her head.
“He did not return it because of Dominic.”
“Then why?”
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