Chapter 2 - The Lighter That Shouldn’t Have Been There
Emma spent the night at Mount Sinai.
Concussion.
Two cracked ribs.
A fractured wrist.
No internal bleeding.
The doctors kept her for observation.
Lucia refused to leave.
Neither did I.
At three in the morning, Emma woke enough to tell Detective Sofia Ramirez what she remembered.
The men wanted her wallet.
Then they saw the crest.
One said Kolov’s name.
They asked whether she carried anything for me.
She said no.
Then one searched her backpack anyway.
That detail mattered.
A robber wants money.
A messenger hunter wants contents.
“What was inside?” Ramirez asked.
“Uniform. Shoes. Charger. Lunch container.”
“Anything unusual?”
Emma shook her head.
Then winced.
“My brother gave me a flash drive last week. But I left it at home.”
I looked at her.
“What flash drive?”
She seemed embarrassed.
“Noah keeps old paperwork from the truck case. Insurance stuff. He asked me to keep a backup because his laptop is failing.”
Detective Ramirez wrote it down.
Emma looked toward me.
“I didn’t know any of it involved you.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
But I was already thinking about Noah.
The truck that destroyed his legs had belonged to a subcontractor hauling refrigerated cargo through Queens.
I knew the accident vaguely because Lucia once mentioned Emma spent months fighting an insurer.
I had never asked which company.
By sunrise, Marco brought me something found near the alley.
A heavy silver Zippo lighter.
Engraved snake around a letter K.
“Kolov,” he said.
Detective Ramirez put on gloves before touching it.
“Where exactly did you find this?”
“Near the loading entrance.”
“You picked it up?”
Marco’s face barely changed.
“I didn’t want it disappearing.”
Ramirez looked at him for a long second.
“You understand that means we now have to document your handling.”
“Of course.”
She bagged it.
I said nothing.
But the lighter bothered me.
Sergei Kolov had spent twenty years trying to erase visible associations with the street crews his uncle once used.
His people wore tailored suits now.
They did not carry engraved snake lighters like movie villains.
And Marco knew that.
Later, while Emma slept, Lucia pulled me into the hallway.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“Marco knew she had been attacked before anyone told him.”
I stared at her.
“How?”
“He called the house at 8:16 and said he was bringing Emma in.”
“So?”
“The hospital estimated the attack happened around eight.”
Lucia lowered her voice.
“How did he know where to look?”
May you like
That was the second thought I pushed aside.
My second mistake.
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