Chapter 6 - Caleb Chose the Diner for a Reason

They reached the diner in seven minutes.

Too late.

The front window was broken.

One table overturned.

No customers.

The owner, Benny, sat behind the counter with blood on his forehead.

Alive.

Sera's chest tightened.

"What happened?"

Benny looked at her.

"Guy came in asking for you."

Rafe moved past her.

"Description."

"Forties. Tall. Gray hoodie."

"Weapon?"

"Gun."

"Where did he go?"

Benny pointed toward the kitchen.

Sera looked at the back door.

Open.

Marco touched her arm.

She looked down at his hand.

He removed it.

"Sorry."

Better.

Rafe checked outside.

Nothing.

Sera walked to the booth where Marco had sat the night before.

Two hundred dollars.

The tip.

Still not spent.

Something white lay beneath the sugar dispenser.

An envelope.

SERA.

She opened it.

Inside was a photograph.

Elena.

Older.

Standing beside Caleb Moretti.

Rafe's brother.

Taken yesterday.

On the back:

ASK MARCO WHY HIS MOTHER NEEDED YOU FOUND.

Sera looked at Marco.

He stared back.

"I don't know."

She believed he didn't.

That did not mean his mother hadn't known exactly what she was doing.

The laptop location pin stopped moving.

Same block.

Rafe looked at the map.

"He's close."

Sera looked around the diner.

At Benny.

At the broken window.

At the back door.

"No."

Rafe frowned.

"What?"

"He wants us to think he's close."

"Location says—"

"Phone says."

She held up the envelope.

"He had time to leave this."

Marco understood.

"Decoy."

Sera looked at the street.

People stopped to stare at the broken glass.

A bus passed.

Across the intersection, a woman in a beige coat stood beneath the elevated tracks.

Gray hair.

Dark glasses.

Watching.

Sera froze.

"Lena."

Marco turned.

The woman started walking.

Not running.

Sera went after her.

Marco followed.

Rafe shouted behind them.

They crossed under the train.

The woman turned into a narrow alley.

Sera reached it first.

Empty.

Except for a black sedan idling at the far end.

Rear door open.

Elena sat inside.

No glasses now.

Older.

Sharper.

Alive.

Sera stopped.

Marco came beside her.

His breath caught.

Elena looked at him.

No tears.

No smile.

"Marco."

He stared.

"Mother."

She looked at Sera.

"You got slower."

Sera almost laughed.

"You got dead."

"Useful condition."

Marco stepped closer.

"Why?"

Elena's eyes moved to him.

"Not here."

"Fourteen years."

"Twelve."

"That is what you correct?"

"Accuracy matters."

Sera recognized the woman immediately now.

Not because of the face.

Because of the way she refused sentiment when danger was nearby.

Elena looked toward the street.

"Caleb is watching."

Rafe appeared at the alley entrance.

Elena saw him.

Her expression softened.

"Rafe."

He stopped.

"Where is my brother?"

"Trying to kill Marco."

Rafe's jaw tightened.

"Why?"

"Because Marco inherited the part of the business Caleb believes belongs to him."

Marco stared.

"From my father?"

"No."

Elena looked at Sera.

"From me."

Silence.

Elena continued.

"When I disappeared, I transferred my voting rights to Marco."

Nico's forty-nine percent trust.

Sera frowned.

"Nico's documents say he is beneficiary."

"He is."

"Then?"

"Beneficiary is not control."

Marco understood.

"You kept control."

"Yes."

"And gave proxy to me."

"Yes."

"Without telling me."

"Yes."

He laughed once.

"Everyone really loves that move."

Elena ignored it.

"Caleb found the proxy last year."

Rafe stared.

"How?"

"He has been inside Cavallo Protection for years."

"You said he was dead."

"I said nothing."

Rafe's face hardened.

"My mother buried an empty casket."

Elena looked at him.

"I know."

"You knew he was alive."

"Yes."

"Seven years."

"Yes."

Rafe stepped toward the car.

Sera moved between them.

He looked at her.

She did not move.

Elena said:

"Caleb wanted you angry before you heard me."

Rafe's voice was low.

"He succeeded."

"Good."

He stared.

Elena continued.

"Anger means you still care what he became."

Marco looked at her.

"Why did you need Sera found?"

Elena looked at Sera.

This time there was something like regret.

"Because Caleb found her first."

Sera went still.

"What?"

"Three months ago."

"I never saw him."

"You weren't supposed to."

Elena reached into the seat beside her.

A folder.

She handed it to Sera.

Inside were surveillance photos.

Sera leaving work.

Buying groceries.

At the laundromat.

At her apartment.

Weeks before Marco entered the diner.

Sera's skin went cold.

"Why?"

Elena answered:

"Because your foster father Dennis wasn't just violent."

Sera stared.

"He worked for Marco's father."

Silence.

Marco looked sick.

Elena continued.

"And Caleb believes you saw something the night Dennis disappeared."

Sera closed the folder.

"I did."

Everyone looked at her.

She had never told anyone.

Not police.

Not social workers.

Not Lena.

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Sera looked toward the alley.

"I saw who killed him."