Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO KNEW WHERE THEY WOULD BE BEFORE THEY ARRIVED
Gavin vanished before midnight.
Not from police custody.
He had not been arrested.
The officers had documented Lucia’s arm, taken statements, and referred the matter for follow-up.
Gavin claimed he used reasonable force to prevent a child from stepping into broken glass.
The restaurant owner disagreed.
Cassidy disagreed.
Security footage would matter.
So would the mark.
But none of that gave Dominic Valente the legal authority to lock Gavin in a room because a suspicious text had left his phone.
Dominic understood that.
Barely.
Cassidy learned all of this the next morning while standing in the kitchen of her one-bedroom apartment wearing pajama pants and listening to someone knock.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two.
Not Gavin.
Probably.
She checked through the peephole.
Elias Ward.
Dominic’s security chief.
She opened the door four inches.
“How did you find me?”
“You put your address on the employment form at the restaurant.”
“Comforting.”
“I’m not here to frighten you.”
“People usually say that after finding my apartment.”
Fair seemed to pass across his face.
He held out an envelope.
Cassidy did not take it.
“What?”
“Back wages for yesterday.”
“My restaurant owes me.”
“Mr. Valente is reimbursing the dropped tray.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I dropped it.”
“You dropped it while intervening.”
“I still dropped it.”
Elias stared at her.
“You are making this unusually difficult.”
“I’ve been told.”
He put the envelope back inside his coat.
“Lucia asked for you.”
Cassidy’s anger shifted.
“How is she?”
“Physically fine.”
“And otherwise?”
“That’s why I’m here.”
Cassidy folded her arms.
“She has a therapist.”
“Yes.”
“Family.”
“Yes.”
“Security.”
“Yes.”
“Money.”
Elias’s expression changed slightly.
“Yes.”
“I’m a suspended waitress with half a nursing degree.”
“Three semesters.”
Cassidy’s eyes narrowed.
“You investigated me.”
“We verify anyone Lucia asks to see.”
“That is creepy.”
“It is also why she is alive.”
That answer stopped her.
Elias continued.
“Ms. Tate, Lucia has spoken fewer than twenty words aloud in eighteen months.”
Cassidy went still.
“She signs.”
“Yes.”
“Fluently?”
“Enough.”
“Why?”
“She learned after she stopped speaking.”
Cassidy thought of the child’s quick hands.
“What happened eighteen months ago?”
Elias looked toward the hallway.
“Not my story.”
“Then I’m not coming.”
He exhaled.
“Her mother died.”
The apartment seemed quieter.
“How?”
“A fire.”
Cassidy waited.
“Accident?”
“Officially unresolved.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning Mr. Valente believed someone caused it.”
Cassidy leaned against the doorframe.
“Was Lucia there?”
“Yes.”
Her stomach dropped.
“She saw her mother die?”
“She was in the building.”
“And Gavin?”
“That’s what we need to understand.”
Cassidy looked toward the unpaid envelope from her landlord sitting on the table.
Then toward the plastic folder containing her mother’s clinic bills.
She hated that money entered her decision.
Elias noticed.
Of course he did.
“This is paid work.”
“No.”
“You haven’t heard the job.”
“That sentence never ends well.”
“Temporary child-companion support. Four hours a day. You work alongside Lucia’s therapist and nanny. No security duties.”
“I’m not qualified.”
“You got three semesters through a nursing program.”
“I’m not a nurse.”
“You understand basic ASL.”
“I’m not an interpreter.”
“You are the first unfamiliar person Lucia has voluntarily asked to see since her mother died.”
Cassidy closed her eyes.
That mattered more than she wanted it to.
“How much?”
Elias named a number.
Cassidy opened her eyes.
“That is ridiculous.”
“It reflects inconvenience.”
“It reflects rich people not knowing what work costs.”
“It reflects Dominic.”
“Same problem.”
Elias almost smiled.
“Will you meet Dr. Levin before saying no?”
Cassidy thought about her mother.
Then Lucia.
“Meet.”
“Not agree.”
“Correct.”
“Fine.”
An hour later, she was in the passenger seat of a black SUV headed north.
Not to a mansion hidden behind iron gates.
To a restored limestone house in Lincoln Park with private security that tried not to look like private security.
Dominic waited inside the study.
No suit.
Dark sweater.
Coffee untouched beside him.
He stood when Cassidy entered.
“Ms. Tate.”
“Mr. Valente.”
“Cassidy is fine.”
“Dominic.”
She sat.
“So Gavin disappeared.”
His face tightened.
“His apartment was empty.”
“You searched it?”
“His landlord let police enter after a welfare request and visible open door.”
“Good answer.”
“You expected a worse one.”
“You have a reputation.”
“So do waitresses.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“What reputation?”
“You embarrassed a manager in a room full of customers.”
“He was hurting your daughter.”
“Yes.”
Something softened.
Then disappeared.
“Thank you.”
Cassidy did not know what to do with that.
“You’re welcome.”
Dominic sat.
“Gavin used restaurant credentials to access our reservation.”
“Why would he sell it?”
“We don’t know.”
“To Moretti?”
“The number is linked to someone associated with Moretti businesses.”
“Associated how?”
Dominic looked at her.
“You are asking questions I don’t answer casually.”
“Then don’t.”
She stood.
“I don’t need details. I need to know whether I’m walking into something that gets my mother a funeral instead of dialysis.”
Dominic’s expression changed sharply.
“You think I would involve you without protection?”
“I think powerful men redefine protection until everyone around them is trapped inside it.”
Silence.
Cassidy wondered if she had gone too far.
Then he said:
“Four hours. Daylight. Elias handles transportation. You can leave at any time.”
“And if I say no now?”
“You go home.”
“No consequences?”
“No.”
Cassidy studied him.
“What about my job?”
“Restaurant owner fired Gavin this morning.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“He reinstated you.”
“What?”
“Security footage showed you did not cause the first incident.”
“You called him.”
“Yes.”
“So there were consequences.”
“For him.”
Dominic looked irritated with himself.
Cassidy almost smiled.
Then a small figure appeared in the doorway.
Lucia.
Jeans today.
Blue sweater.
No severe bun.
Her hair hung loose over her shoulders.
She looked at Cassidy.
Then signed:
YOU CAME.
Cassidy signed back:
FOR LITTLE.
Lucia smiled.
It transformed her face.
Dominic looked away.
Not because he was unmoved.
Because he was.
A woman entered behind Lucia.
Forty-something.
Curly gray-streaked hair.
Soft green cardigan.
“Dr. Naomi Levin.”
Cassidy stood.
“Cassidy Tate.”
“I know.”
“Everyone knows a disturbing amount.”
Dr. Levin smiled.
“Occupational hazard.”
They sat in a sunroom overlooking a narrow garden.
Lucia colored.
Dr. Levin explained selective mutism after trauma.
“No one here expects you to make her speak.”
“Good.”
“Speech is not the goal.”
“Safety is.”
Dr. Levin looked at her.
“Exactly.”
Lucia communicated through sign, writing, drawings, and sometimes whispers to her father when half asleep.
“She hasn’t spoken normally since the fire?”
“No.”
“Does she remember it?”
“Fragments.”
“Gavin?”
Dr. Levin’s face tightened.
“That is new.”
Cassidy looked toward Dominic.
He was watching Lucia from the doorway.
“Did she ever sign about him before?”
“No.”
“What happened the night her mother died?”
Dominic answered.
“My wife Elena had gone to one of our family properties in West Town.”
“Why?”
“To meet someone.”
“Who?”
“We never confirmed.”
“Lucia was with her?”
“Yes.”
“Fire started?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“In the garage below.”
“Lucia got out?”
“A staff member found her near the service stairwell.”
“Elena?”
He looked at the floor.
“No.”
Cassidy did not ask more.
Lucia turned a page.
Drew a black square.
Then a small red circle beside it.
Cassidy watched.
“What’s that?”
Lucia covered the drawing.
Dr. Levin said gently:
“You don’t have to show us.”
Lucia looked at Cassidy.
Then slowly uncovered it.
Black square.
Red circle.
A stick figure.
Another figure beside a car.
Cassidy signed:
WHO?
Lucia pointed at the first figure.
Then made the sign for:
RESTAURANT MAN.
Gavin.
She pointed to the second.
Then froze.
Her eyes moved toward the doorway.
A man had entered behind Dominic.
Late thirties.
Dark suit.
Silver tie.
Warm smile.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Dominic turned.
“Marco.”
Marco Bellini.
Dominic’s cousin by marriage and longtime adviser.
He crouched slightly toward Lucia.
“Hey, little star.”
Lucia’s hands disappeared beneath the table.
Cassidy noticed.
Dr. Levin noticed.
Dominic did not.
Not yet.
Marco looked at Cassidy.
“You must be the famous waitress.”
“Depends what I’m famous for.”
“Making Gavin Thorne wet himself in a dining room, according to half the staff.”
Cassidy almost laughed.
Then Lucia kicked her lightly beneath the table.
Cassidy looked down.
Lucia’s right hand remained hidden against her thigh.
Her fingers moved where only Cassidy could see.
DON’T TELL.
Cassidy’s chest tightened.
DON’T TELL WHAT?
Lucia made two signs.
GAVIN.
MARCO.
Cassidy looked up.
May you like
Marco Bellini was smiling at Dominic.
And Lucia was terrified he would learn that she remembered them together.
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