“He’s going to be all right.”
“You don’t know Raymond.”
“No.”
Dante’s tone changed.
“But Raymond doesn’t know me.”
Twenty-two minutes later, police detained the two men sitting in the SUV.
One had an outstanding warrant.
The other carried a photograph.
A photograph of Amelia walking Ben to preschool.
On the back, someone had written an address.
Dante stared at the photograph when Marco sent it to his phone.
Then at Amelia.
“This wasn’t random.”
She looked exhausted.
“No.”
“What does Fletcher want?”
Amelia pressed her lips together.
“Something I took when I left.”
“Money?”
“No.”
“Drugs?”
“No.”
“What?”
She looked at Dante for a long moment.
“Proof.”
Dante waited.
Amelia lowered her voice.
“Raymond used to work for a financial-services company called Vantage North.”
Dante’s expression changed slightly.
He knew the name.
Everyone in Chicago business knew Vantage North.
A private investment firm with billions under management.
“What proof?”
“I found records.”
“Of what?”
“People paying him.”
“For?”
Amelia’s hand tightened around the hospital blanket.
“To make problems disappear.”
Dante said nothing.
“Businesses. Witnesses. Lawsuits. People.”
She looked toward the dark hospital window.
“I copied everything because I thought it would keep me safe.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
“I’m not telling you.”
Dante almost smiled.
Not because anything was funny.
Because after what she had endured, Amelia still possessed enough spine to stare directly at him and refuse.
“Good.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“Don’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t know, nobody can persuade me to tell them.”
For the first time since waking, something like relief passed through her eyes.
Then Dante’s phone vibrated.
Marco.
He answered.
“Talk.”
A long silence.
Dante’s face hardened.
“When?”
Amelia sat straighter.
“What happened?”
Dante ended the call.
He didn’t answer immediately.
“Mrs. Alvarez and Ben are safe.”
Amelia exhaled.
“But?”
Dante looked at her.
“Someone broke into your apartment while you were at work.”
Her stomach dropped.
“They searched everything.”
“My bedroom?”
“Yes.”
“The floorboard?”
Dante froze.
Amelia realized her mistake.
She covered her mouth.
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
“What was under the floorboard?”
Amelia closed her eyes.
When she spoke, her voice was barely audible.
“The only copy of the files.”
Dante understood.
“They have it.”
She nodded.
“No,” she whispered. “This is worse.”
“How?”
Amelia looked directly at him.
“Because Raymond wasn’t trying to find the evidence anymore.”
She swallowed.
“He was trying to find the only person who knew how to decrypt it.”
Dante’s gaze moved toward her phone.
Then back to her.
“You?”
Amelia shook her head.
“My brother.”
“You have a brother?”
“I did.”
Past tense.
Dante waited.
Amelia’s eyes filled with tears.
“Raymond told everyone Ethan died three years ago.”
“And you don’t believe that.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because two weeks ago…”
Her voice trembled.
“…I received an email from him.”
