Chapter 7 - The Thing Sera Had Been Hiding Since Sixteen

Dennis died three days after Sera left the foster home.

Officially:

Robbery.

Wrong place.

Wrong time.

Unofficially:

Nobody asked very hard.

Sera had been across the street.

She had gone back for a duffel bag she'd hidden beneath the porch.

She saw two men enter.

One came out seven minutes later.

Caleb Moretti.

Younger.

No gray.

Same eyes as Rafe.

The second man came out carrying a ledger.

Marco's father.

Vittorio Cavallo.

Sera had not known either name then.

Just faces.

She remembered faces.

That was the problem.

Marco stared at her.

"My father was there."

"Yes."

Rafe looked like he couldn't breathe.

"My brother."

"Yes."

Elena closed her eyes.

She had not known.

That surprised Sera.

"You thought Caleb found me because of Dennis," Sera said.

Elena nodded.

"I did not know you saw the murder."

"Was it murder?"

Elena looked at Marco.

Then Rafe.

"Yes."

Silence.

Rafe turned away.

Sera understood.

A dead brother was simpler.

A murderous one required decisions.

Marco asked:

"What was in the ledger?"

Elena answered:

"Names of homes."

Sera frowned.

"What homes?"

"Foster placements."

Her stomach turned.

Elena continued.

"Your father used certain houses to hide cash, weapons, sometimes people."

Marco went white.

"No."

"He did."

"With children there?"

"Yes."

Sera's voice became flat.

"Dennis was storing things."

"Yes."

"That's why men came at night."

Elena nodded.

Sera remembered locked closets.

Cars after midnight.

Men who never removed coats.

Dennis telling the kids to stay upstairs.

Marco sat on the edge of the curb.

It was the first time Sera had seen him look young.

Not thirty-something.

Twelve.

Maybe less.

"My father built that."

Elena said nothing.

Marco looked at her.

"You knew."

"I found out later."

"How much later?"

"Two years."

"And that's when you disappeared."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I copied the ledger."

Rafe turned back.

"Where is it?"

Elena looked at Sera.

"She has it."

Sera stared.

"No."

Elena nodded.

"Lena."

"Think."

Sera hated that tone because it worked.

A motel.

Sixteen.

Rain.

Lena giving her a denim jacket.

Too big.

"Keep it," the woman had said.

Sera remembered the inside seam.

Something stiff.

She had worn that jacket for three years.

Then stored it.

In a box.

Indiana.

A church basement where a former foster counselor kept belongings for kids who aged out.

Sera looked at Elena.

"You put it in my jacket."

"A copy."

"You used me as storage."

Elena's face changed.

"Yes."

Marco stood.

"Mother."

Elena did not look away from Sera.

"I thought nobody would search a girl the system had already forgotten."

Sera laughed once.

Hard.

"That's supposed to make it better?"

"No."

"Good."

Elena lowered her eyes.

"It was wrong."

Sera stared.

That answer mattered.

Not enough.

But something.

Rafe said:

"Caleb knows."

"Yes," Elena said.

"Then he'll go to Indiana."

"He already sent someone."

Sera's pulse changed.

"Who?"

Elena looked toward the diner.

"Nico."

Marco stared.

"What?"

Elena nodded.

"Nico is not betraying you."

"Then why?"

"Caleb took his daughter this morning."

Silence.

Marco's face went blank.

"Nico has a daughter?"

"Eight."

"You knew?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

Elena ignored that.

"Caleb told Nico to retrieve the jacket."

Sera looked at Marco.

"We go now."

Rafe shook his head.

"Three hours."

"Then drive fast."

They left Chicago before sunset.

The church basement in Indiana smelled like old books and furnace dust.

Sera had not been there in ten years.

Mrs. Collins, the counselor, recognized her immediately.

"Seraphina."

Sera winced.

"Don't."

Mrs. Collins smiled.

Then saw Marco, Rafe, Elena.

Stopped smiling.

"What happened?"

Sera asked:

"The blue storage box."

Mrs. Collins looked toward the hallway.

"Someone came for it this morning."

Sera's chest tightened.

"Who?"

"A man."

"Nico?"

She described him.

Yes.

Sera closed her eyes.

"Did you give it to him?"

Mrs. Collins looked offended.

"He wasn't you."

Sera almost laughed.

"Where is it?"

"Still here."

The box contained old clothes.

School papers.

A cracked CD player.

And the denim jacket.

Sera picked it up.

The inside lining had been cut.

Empty.

Elena went still.

Mrs. Collins whispered:

"I didn't do that."

Rafe checked the window.

Marco looked at Sera.

"Someone got here first."

Sera examined the cut.

Fresh.

Then the floor.

Dust disturbed near the furnace.

She crouched.

Found a child's plastic bracelet.

Pink beads.

Letters.

MAYA.

Nico's daughter.

Sera stood.

"He brought her."

Marco stared.

"What?"

"Caleb made Nico come here with the girl."

Rafe looked at the bracelet.

"So Caleb has the ledger."

Sera shook her head.

"No."

She reached into the jacket collar.

There was another seam.

The one Elena apparently had forgotten.

Sera tore it open.

A microfilm strip slid into her palm.

Elena stared.

"I didn't put that there."

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Sera looked at her.

"Then Dennis did."