Chapter 2 - SOMEONE SEARCHED MY APARTMENT WHILE I WAS LISTENING TO MY DEAD HUSBAND’S VOICE
For several seconds after the voicemail ended, I couldn’t move.
Michael’s voice still seemed to exist in the air between Dominic and me.
My wife doesn’t know anything. Leave Elena out of it.
Four years.
I had spent four years hearing Michael only in memory.
The way he used to say my name when I forgot my keys.
The ridiculous voice he used when reading bedtime stories to Lily.
The quiet “love you” he gave me every morning before work.
Now I had heard him afraid.
Terrified.
Minutes before he died.
And somehow Dominic Moretti had possessed that fear inside his phone for years.
Lily tugged my sleeve.
“Mommy?”
I looked down.
Her small face had changed.
She knew something was wrong even if she didn’t understand what.
I crouched immediately.
“We’re going home.”
“Did Daddy call Mr. Dominic?”
My chest tightened.
“Yes.”
“From heaven?”
“No, sweetheart.”
Her brow wrinkled.
“Before.”
“Before he died.”
She accepted that with the serious concentration children used when adults gave them information too large to hold properly.
Then she looked at Dominic.
“Did my daddy know you?”
Dominic’s expression softened.
“I don’t think so.”
“But he called you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’m trying to figure that out.”
Lily thought.
Then nodded.
Apparently acceptable.
I stood.
“We’re leaving.”
Dominic did not argue.
He did something worse.
He reached for his coat.
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
His eyes hardened slightly.
“You just learned your husband may have been killed because of information connected to people I know.”
“And your solution is to follow me home?”
“Yes.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Lily whispered:
“I like Mr. Dominic.”
I closed my eyes.
“Thank you, Lily.”
“You said we don’t lie.”
Dominic looked away to hide a smile.
I wanted to hate him.
It was becoming inconvenient.
He lowered his voice.
“I’ll have my driver take you.”
“I can get a cab.”
“No.”
“I’m perfectly capable—”
“Your five-year-old daughter came here alone in one.”
That ended the argument.
Mostly because he was right.
I hated that too.
Dominic’s men walked several yards behind us as we left Beluchi’s.
No one touched me.
No one rushed.
Outside, black SUVs waited along the curb.
Lily stared.
“Are you famous?”
Dominic opened the rear door.
“No.”
“Why do you have so many cars?”
“Bad parking habits.”
She accepted that too.
Five-year-olds were apparently the only people in Manhattan immune to organized-crime mythology.
I buckled Lily into the back seat.
Dominic sat across from us.
One of his men rode in front.
For the first few minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Lily said:
“Mr. Buttons wants to know if you have children.”
The stuffed rabbit was sitting in her lap.
Dominic looked at it with a seriousness I was beginning to understand was partly deliberate.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Lily.”
“What?”
“That is private.”
She looked offended.
Dominic answered anyway.
“I never got married.”
“Why?”
“Lily.”
“What?”
He almost smiled.
“I worked too much.”
“My mommy works too much.”
“I’ve heard.”
I glared.
He looked innocent.
Then Lily said:
“Daddy worked too much too.”
The car became quiet.
I looked out the window.
Dominic did not ask anything else.
We reached my apartment building at 10:48.
The doorman stood the moment he saw me.
And his face went white.
I knew before he spoke.
“Ms. Bennett.”
“What happened?”
He glanced at Dominic.
Then at me.
“I was just about to call.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“There was an issue upstairs.”
I pulled Lily closer.
“What issue?”
“A man came by.”
Dominic’s entire posture changed.
“Who?”
The doorman looked at him nervously.
“I don’t know.”
“He said he was from building maintenance.”
“We don’t have nighttime maintenance.”
My mouth went dry.
“When?”
“Maybe forty minutes ago.”
While I was at Beluchi’s.
Listening to Michael’s voicemail.
“Did he go inside my apartment?”
The doorman hesitated.
“Yes.”
I moved toward the elevators.
Dominic caught my wrist lightly.
“Elena.”
“Let go.”
“Lily stays downstairs.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You don’t know who is upstairs.”
“He left.”
“You don’t know that.”
That stopped me.
I looked at Lily.
She was frightened now.
The adventure had ended.
Dominic crouched.
“Hey.”
She looked at him.
“Would you do me a favor?”
“What?”
“Stay with Carlo for five minutes.”
The man from the front seat stepped closer.
Lily frowned.
“Who’s Carlo?”
“Me.”
Carlo said.
She studied him.
“Are you scary?”
Carlo looked at Dominic.
Dominic said:
“Usually.”
Carlo sighed.
“I have two daughters.”
Lily considered.
“Do they like rabbits?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Apparently background checks were complete.
I kissed her forehead.
“Stay here.”
“Mommy—”
“I’ll be right upstairs.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
I hated making promises involving uncertain rooms.
Still.
I did.
Dominic and I went up with his other security man.
My hands were shaking.
The apartment door showed no obvious damage.
Inside?
At first, everything looked normal.
Couch.
Blanket.
Lily’s crayons.
The mug Mrs. Delaney had used earlier.
Then I noticed the cabinet beside the television.
Open.
I never left it open.
Dominic saw my face.
“What?”
“That.”
His man moved through the rooms first.
Empty.
Mrs. Delaney was asleep in my bedroom.
Not harmed.
When I woke her, she blinked in confusion.
“Elena?”
“Are you okay?”
“What time is it?”
“Almost eleven.”
Her face changed.
“Oh, honey.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I fell asleep.”
“Did anyone come in?”
She frowned.
“A maintenance man.”
There.
“What did he want?”
“Smoke detector.”
Dominic appeared at the bedroom doorway.
Mrs. Delaney stared.
Then whispered:
“Oh.”
Apparently she knew exactly who he was.
Dominic ignored it.
“What did the man look like?”
“Forties.”
“Gray cap.”
“Work jacket.”
“Did he give you anything?”
“No.”
“Food?”
“No.”
“Drink?”
She pointed toward the mug.
“Tea.”
“Who made it?”
Her expression changed.
“The man.”
My blood went cold.
“He said I looked tired.”
Dominic’s jaw hardened.
I grabbed the mug with a towel and set it aside.
“We’re taking you to the hospital.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m a nurse.”
“You are seventy-six.”
“You slept through a stranger searching my apartment.”
“We’re going.”
She stopped arguing.
Dominic called someone.
Within minutes, his security team secured the apartment and arranged transport for Mrs. Delaney.
I searched.
Nothing looked stolen.
My jewelry was untouched.
Cash in my emergency envelope remained.
Laptop.
Television.
Medication.
Everything.
Then I reached the hall closet.
The box containing Michael’s old work files had been pulled down.
The lid was on backward.
My chest tightened.
I opened it.
Tax records.
Photographs.
Calder Financial paperwork.
Old insurance documents.
Someone had gone through all of it.
Dominic stood behind me.
“This wasn’t robbery.”
“No.”
“They were looking for something.”
“Michael’s ledger.”
“Maybe.”
I sat on the floor.
Lily’s footsteps ran down the hall.
I looked up sharply.
Carlo followed, apologetic.
“She refused to stay.”
“I wanted Mommy.”
She climbed into my lap.
I held her.
Then she saw Michael’s box.
“That’s Daddy’s stuff.”
“Yes.”
She reached toward it.
“Mr. Buttons has Daddy’s stuff too.”
I froze.
“What?”
Lily hugged the rabbit.
“What did you say?”
She looked confused.
“Daddy put something in him.”
Dominic went still.
“When?”
I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You remember Daddy putting something inside Mr. Buttons?”
She nodded.
“A little thing.”
“What kind of thing?”
She held two fingers close together.
“Black.”
My heart started pounding.
“Where?”
She turned the rabbit over.
Mr. Buttons had one missing eye.
Almost no fur on his stomach.
And a crude seam under his left arm I had always assumed came from one of Michael’s repairs.
Lily pointed.
“There.”
Dominic crouched.
“Elena.”
“I know.”
My fingers shook as I examined the stitching.
Four years.
I had washed that rabbit by hand.
Repaired his ear twice.
Never opened that seam.
I went to the kitchen.
Found small scissors.
Carefully cut two threads.
Something hard sat beneath the stuffing.
I reached inside.
Pulled out a tiny black microSD card wrapped in plastic.
Nobody breathed.
Lily smiled proudly.
“Daddy’s thing.”
Dominic stared at it.
Then at me.
Someone had searched my apartment for Michael’s files.
But the one thing Michael had hidden—
had spent four years being dragged through grocery stores, laundromats, playgrounds, pediatric waiting rooms, and now Beluchi’s.
Inside a stuffed rabbit with one eye.
I started laughing.
Not because anything was funny.
Because Michael would have thought it was brilliant.
“Why Mr. Buttons?”
Dominic asked.
I looked at Lily.
Because Michael knew his daughter.
Because he knew she would never willingly throw away that rabbit.
And perhaps because he knew I never would either.
Dominic held out his hand.
I pulled the card away.
“No.”
His brows lifted.
“That does not leave me.”
“Fair.”
“I want someone independent to read it.”
“Also fair.”
I stared at him.
He was agreeing too easily.
Then he said:
“But until we know what’s on that card, you and Lily are not staying here.”
“My hospital—”
“You can call.”
“My life—”
“Can wait twelve hours.”
“I am not moving into some Moretti fortress.”
Lily raised her hand.
“I vote fortress.”
“Of course you do.”
Dominic almost smiled.
Then his expression hardened again.
“Elena, whoever arranged tonight knew enough about your schedule to get you out of this apartment.”
“They knew Mrs. Delaney would be here.”
“They knew Michael left something.”
“And they were willing to drug an old woman to search for it.”
He looked toward the rabbit in Lily’s arms.
“They didn’t find what they wanted.”
“That means they may come back.”
I looked at my daughter.
The argument ended.
Not because Dominic won.
Because fear did.
At 12:21 a.m., I packed one overnight bag.
Lily packed three dresses, six crayons, a spoon, and no underwear.
I corrected most of that.
Then we left.
As the elevator descended, I looked at the microSD card inside my closed hand.
Four years after Michael died, he had reached out again.
Not with a ghost story.
Not with grief.
May you like
With evidence.
And whatever was hidden on that tiny card had frightened someone enough to search my home.
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