Chapter 4 - THE BLUE COAT
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The silver key lay on the carpet between Chloe and me.
Sofia stood behind my leg.
Valeria was beside her.
Chloe looked at the key.
Then at me.
Then at the girls.
Her expression had become almost calm.
That frightened me more than anger would have.
“What is that?” I asked.
She didn't answer.
I stepped forward.
“Give me the coat.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
She held it tighter.
“This belongs to your wife.”
“Yes.”
“She left it behind.”
“So?”
“So she didn't leave everything behind.”
I watched her carefully.
“What are you talking about?”
Chloe's jaw tightened.
“You really don't remember?”
“Remember what?”
“The night she died.”
The room seemed to lose its air.
My wife had died in a car accident three years earlier.
A wet road.
A truck.
A phone call at 11:43 p.m.
There had never been anything else.
At least, that's what I had believed.
Chloe looked at me.
“You were told it was an accident.”
“It was.”
“By whom?”
I stared at her.
She smiled bitterly.
“Exactly.”
Hector stepped into the room.
“Boss.”
I raised my hand.
“Stay.”
Chloe looked at him.
“You've brought your men into the family bedroom now?”
“This stopped being a family matter when you threatened my children.”
She flinched.
Then looked at Sofia.
“You believe her?”
Sofia shook her head.
“I believe Daddy.”
That answer seemed to anger Chloe more than anything else.
She threw the blue coat onto the bed.
“Fine.”
I picked it up.
Inside the lining was a stitched pocket.
The memory card fit perfectly.
Hector took it.
“I'll access it.”
“No.”
I stopped him.
“We watch it together.”
We went downstairs.
The girls stayed with a female security officer I trusted.
Chloe sat across from me.
Hector inserted the card.
A single video appeared.
Date: three years earlier.
The night my wife died.
I stared at the timestamp.
11:18 p.m.
My wife's voice came through.
“Alexander, if you're watching this, I'm sorry.”
My throat tightened.
She was sitting inside our old kitchen.
Alive.
Tired.
Frightened.
“I don't know if I'm being paranoid.”
She paused.
“But I know someone has been following the girls.”
My hands curled into fists.
She continued.
“I found messages on my phone that I didn't send.”
Then she lifted a photograph.
It showed Valeria sleeping.
Taken through the nursery window.
I stood abruptly.
“Pause.”
Hector froze the image.
The photograph had been taken from outside our house.
My wife continued.
“I asked someone to investigate.”
She swallowed.
“Marisol knows.”
I stared at the screen.
“She was the only person I trusted with this.”
The video continued.
“She told me not to confront anyone until we knew who was behind it.”
My wife looked directly into the camera.
“Alexander, please don't think I am accusing your family.”
She hesitated.
“I am accusing someone close enough to enter our home.”
Then the video ended.
I looked at Chloe.
She wasn't crying.
She was watching the screen.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“Then why aren't you surprised?”
She looked at me.
“Because I didn't know about the video.”
“But you knew about the necklace.”
Silence.
Hector turned.
“You knew?”
Chloe's eyes hardened.
“I found it after she died.”
“Where?”
“In a box.”
“What did you do with it?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why was it in your possession?”
She looked down.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That Alexander would blame me.”
I stared at her.
“For what?”
Chloe's voice cracked.
“I met your wife.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“Before you met me.”
“When?”
“Months before her death.”
I couldn't speak.
Chloe finally looked up.
“She came to my office.”
“Why?”
“She wanted help.”
“With what?”
“She believed someone was stealing from your company.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It didn't to me either.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't care what you believe.”
For the first time, I saw something behind Chloe's anger.
Fear.
Real fear.
Then she said,
“Your wife wasn't investigating me.”
“Then who?”
She looked toward the hallway.
“Ask Marisol.”
I froze.
“You just said she was gone.”
“She knows more than I do.”
Hector's phone rang.
He answered.
Then looked at me.
“We found Marisol.”
“Where?”
“An urgent care clinic.”
I stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then we're going.”
Chloe stood too.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You need me.”
“I don't.”
She stared at me.
“You're making a mistake.”
I looked at her.
“Maybe.”
Then I turned toward Hector.
“Take the girls somewhere secure.”
Sofia suddenly appeared at the doorway.
“Daddy?”
I crouched.
“I'll be back.”
“Are you leaving again?”
“No.”
I touched her cheek.
“Not without telling you.”
She hugged me.
Then whispered,
“Marisol said Mommy's necklace was important.”
I looked at her.
“Did she tell you why?”
Sofia shook her head.
“She said it was a promise.”
“What promise?”
“I don't know.”
Then Valeria came forward.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“She also said the person who wanted the necklace would come back.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Valeria looked toward Chloe.
Then lowered her voice.
“She said not to say the name.”
Chloe went pale.
I stood.
“What name?”
Valeria didn't answer.
Instead, she reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a small photograph.
I recognized the man immediately.
He had been one of my wife's employees.
He had died two years ago.
Or so I had been told.
Hector looked at the photograph.
“Boss…”
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
He wasn't dead.
Then my phone vibrated.
A text appeared from an unknown number.
You should have stayed in Toronto.
Another message followed.
Your wife didn't die because of the accident.
Then a third.
She died because she found the ledger.
I looked at Chloe.
She was staring at my phone.
And she whispered,
“Alexander…”
I asked,
“What ledger?”
She didn't answer.
Because the front door of the estate suddenly opened.
And Marisol walked inside.
Her coat was torn.
There was blood on her sleeve.
And she was holding my wife's silver necklace.
“Alexander,” she said breathlessly.
May you like
“Don't trust Chloe.”
Then she collapsed.
