Chapter 5 - The Music Box
Nobody touched the box for an hour.
Bomb experts examined it first.
No explosives.
No transmitter.
No poison.
Just wood.
Old varnish.
A tiny brass dancer beneath cracked glass.
Salvatore recognized the scratch on the lid.
He had made it himself the night Elena opened the gift, when he dropped the box after she kissed him unexpectedly.
Twelve years had passed.
He remembered it perfectly.
Leo stood behind him.
“That’s Mama’s.”
Salvatore nodded.
“How did they get it?”
Leo whispered.
“I left it under my mattress.”
The answer meant whoever burned Miller Street had searched for it.
Salvatore carried the box into the library.
Father Adrian watched him turn it over.
“The bottom.”
Leo pointed.
“There.”
A thin wooden plate covered the base.
Salvatore removed two screws.
Inside lay a brass key.
Nothing else.
Carmine stared.
“A key to what?”
Salvatore looked at Adrian.
The priest shook his head.
Leo said, “Mama called it the last door.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Salvatore turned the key in his hand.
Stamped along one edge was a number.
Carmine photographed it.
“I’ll run it.”
Salvatore shook his head.
“No electronic searches.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent the box knew we’d open it.”
Carmine understood.
“They want to see what we do next.”
Exactly.
Salvatore looked around the room.
Somebody was watching his reactions.
Perhaps from closer than anyone imagined.
He ordered only six people informed about the key.
By sunset, one of those six was dead.
Guard Michael Rizzo collapsed in the kitchen.
Poison.
No sign of forced entry.
No suspicious visitor.
Someone inside the mansion had murdered him.
Salvatore stood over the body.
“Who knew Michael was on the list?”
Carmine answered reluctantly.
“You. Me. Russo. Adrian. Leo.”
“And?”
Carmine hesitated.
“Barrett.”
Salvatore looked up.
Barrett Hayes was Salvatore’s cousin.
His mother’s sister’s son.
A man who had managed finances and political connections for twenty years.
He lived in the mansion’s western wing.
“Where is he?”
“Board meeting downtown.”
Salvatore’s expression revealed nothing.
“Bring him home.”
Barrett arrived forty minutes later furious at being summoned.
He entered the library wearing a navy suit and irritation.
“What emergency couldn’t wait?”
Salvatore placed the brass key on the desk.
Barrett’s eyes moved toward it.
For only a fraction of a second.
But Salvatore saw recognition.
Then it vanished.
“What’s that?”
Salvatore leaned back.
“You tell me.”
“I have no idea.”
Leo sat in a chair near the fireplace.
Titan, Salvatore’s massive mastiff, had been brought in from the estate kennels.
The dog had taken an unexpected liking to Leo.
Now he lay beside the boy’s feet.
Barrett glanced at Leo.
Disgust flashed across his face.
“You’re allowing the street child into private family meetings?”
Titan growled.
Barrett stepped away.
Leo scratched the dog behind one ear.
“He doesn’t like you.”
Barrett forced a smile.
“I don’t care.”
Salvatore watched them.
“Michael Rizzo is dead.”
Barrett’s smile disappeared.
“How?”
“Poison.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?”
Barrett sighed.
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to explain where you were at six fifteen.”
“At the Moretti Holdings meeting.”
“Witnesses?”
“Thirty.”
Carmine entered and handed Salvatore a paper.
Barrett had indeed been downtown.
But alibis meant very little when orders could be given by phone.
Salvatore picked up the key.
“Ever seen this?”
“No.”
Leo suddenly whispered, “He’s lying.”
Barrett turned.
“Excuse me?”
“You looked at the number before Mr. Moretti turned the key over.”
Salvatore looked at the brass key.
The stamped number was on the underside.
From where Barrett had stood when he entered, he could not have seen it.
Unless he already knew.
Barrett’s face went blank.
Carmine reached for his weapon.
Barrett raised both hands.
“This is absurd.”
Salvatore stood.
“What is 2147?”
“I don’t know.”
Titan began growling again.
Leo stared at Barrett.
Then at Salvatore.
“My mother had a rule.”
“What rule?”
“When people lie, don’t listen to their words. Watch what they protect.”
Barrett’s hand had unconsciously moved toward the inside pocket of his jacket.
Carmine crossed the room in two strides and seized him.
A struggle followed.
A pistol fell from Barrett’s coat.
Then a card.
A safe-deposit access card.
Printed across the corner were four numbers.
Salvatore picked it up.
Barrett stopped fighting.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Salvatore held the card before him.
“You have ten seconds.”
Barrett’s face tightened.
“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with.”
“Nine.”
“Salvatore—”
“Eight.”
“If you open that box, people will die.”
“Seven.”
“Your family will collapse.”
“Six.”
Barrett looked toward Leo.
Then his expression changed.
Almost pity.
“You really don’t know who the boy is.”
Salvatore stopped counting.
Leo went pale.
Barrett smiled slowly.
“Elena lied to everyone.”
“What are you talking about?”
Barrett leaned closer.
“Daniel Mercer wasn’t Leo’s father.”
The room fell silent.
Salvatore’s pulse hammered.
May you like
Barrett looked directly at him.
“You were.”
