Chapter 3 - Nine O’Clock
Chloe did not sleep.
She checked every window.
Every closet.
Under the bed.
Behind the shower curtain.
Twice.
Nothing was missing.
Her laptop remained on the desk.
The seventy dollars in her kitchen drawer was untouched.
Leo’s old watch still sat beside her bed.
Whoever had entered her apartment had not come to steal.
They had come to make a point.
At 7:14 in the morning, Chloe called Marco.
He answered on the fifth ring.
“If this is about getting your shift back, absolutely not.”
“Someone broke into my apartment.”
Silence.
Then Marco’s voice changed.
“What?”
Chloe stared at the envelope on her kitchen counter.
“They left me a message.”
“What kind of message?”
“A very unfriendly Hallmark card.”
“Chloe.”
She read it to him.
Marco swore.
“I told you.”
“I know.”
“I told you not to get involved.”
“I know.”
“You need to call the police.”
“And tell them what?”
“That someone broke into your apartment.”
“They didn’t steal anything.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Chloe rubbed her eyes.
“I have somewhere to be at nine.”
Marco exploded.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Beatrice is trying to tell Gabriel something.”
“Then let Beatrice tell him.”
“She can’t.”
“She has hands.”
“He doesn’t understand them.”
Marco went quiet.
Chloe stared at Leo’s photograph on the refrigerator.
Her brother was seventeen in the picture.
Grinning.
Holding up two fingers behind Chloe’s head.
She remembered the last argument they had.
Leo had wanted to drive to Milwaukee with friends.
Chloe told him it was stupid.
He signed that she acted like their mother.
She signed back that somebody had to.
He left angry.
The drunk driver crossed the center line six hours later.
Chloe never got to apologize.
She had spent two years avoiding ASL because every movement reminded her of everything she had lost.
Now Beatrice’s hands had brought it all back.
But not only the grief.
The responsibility.
The strange, beautiful responsibility of being able to understand someone the rest of the room could not.
“I’m going,” Chloe said.
Marco exhaled.
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“At least text me the address.”
“I will.”
“And if you disappear, I’m telling every cop in Chicago exactly where you went.”
“That’s very comforting.”
At 8:47, Chloe stepped outside.
A black SUV was parked at the curb.
A man in a charcoal suit stood beside it.
Chloe stopped.
He opened the rear door.
“Ms. Bennett.”
“You people really need to stop appearing outside my home.”
“Mr. Costello sent me.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel safer?”
The man considered it.
“No.”
Chloe almost smiled.
She climbed inside.
Gabriel was waiting.
He wore a dark overcoat.
No tie.
Coffee in one hand.
He looked like he had slept less than she had.
His eyes fell immediately on the envelope in Chloe’s lap.
“What’s that?”
She handed it to him.
Gabriel read the sentence once.
Then again.
His face became very still.
“When did you get this?”
“Last night.”
“Inside your apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Was the door forced?”
“No.”
“Anything missing?”
“No.”
Gabriel handed the note to the man in the front passenger seat.
“Dante.”
The man looked back.
“Find out who entered her building.”
Chloe leaned forward.
“Wait.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“I don’t need your people investigating my neighbors.”
“Yes, you do.”
“You could ask.”
“You’d say no.”
“That doesn’t mean you stop asking.”
Gabriel studied her.
Then he looked toward Dante.
“Ask the building manager for footage.”
Dante nodded.
Chloe raised an eyebrow.
Gabriel took a drink of coffee.
“What?”
“Progress.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
They drove north toward Lincoln Park.
Beatrice lived in an old stone house on a quiet street.
It was elegant without being enormous.
Flowers filled boxes beneath the windows.
A blue ceramic bird sat beside the front steps.
Chloe noticed immediately that the house did not look like Gabriel.
It looked warm.
Human.
The door opened before they reached it.
Beatrice stood there wearing a pale green cardigan.
The instant she saw Chloe, relief crossed her face.
You came.
Chloe signed.
I said I would.
Beatrice hugged her.
Gabriel watched.
There was something almost wounded in the way his mother embraced a woman she had met once.
Inside, the walls were covered with photographs.
Gabriel as a boy.
Gabriel beside a man Chloe assumed had been his father.
Gabriel at sixteen.
Gabriel at twenty-five.
Beatrice in every stage of his life.
Chloe paused in front of one picture.
A much younger Beatrice stood beside Gabriel at his high school graduation.
Her hair had already started turning white.
Her smile was enormous.
Gabriel noticed Chloe looking.
“She lost her hearing when I was thirteen.”
Chloe turned.
“Completely?”
“Almost.”
“Did you learn to sign?”
Gabriel looked away.
“A little.”
“How little?”
He lifted one hand awkwardly.
“I know hello.”
“That’s finger spelling.”
“I told you.”
“Why didn’t you keep learning?”
He did not answer.
Beatrice tapped Chloe’s shoulder.
She signed.
Come.
They moved into a small sitting room.
Beatrice closed the door.
Gabriel remained standing.
Chloe sat beside the older woman.
You said there was danger.
Beatrice nodded.
Her hands moved.
Three weeks ago, I went to Gabriel’s office because we were supposed to have lunch.
Chloe translated sentence by sentence.
Gabriel’s attention sharpened.
Beatrice continued.
He was late.
I waited outside his office.
Two men came inside.
They did not know I was in the next room.
Chloe’s pulse started rising.
Who were they?
Beatrice hesitated.
Then signed a name.
Vincent.
Gabriel went completely still.
“Moretti?”
Chloe nodded.
Beatrice continued.
And another man.
She struggled to remember the name.
Then she finger-spelled it.
C-A-R-L-O.
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Carlo Vescari.”
Chloe translated.
Beatrice nodded.
Gabriel moved closer.
“What did they say?”
Chloe signed the question.
Beatrice looked directly at her son.
Then her hands began moving.
Vincent said everything would happen after the harbor transfer.
Carlo asked if Gabriel suspected anything.
Vincent said no.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Beatrice continued.
Then Carlo asked about me.
Chloe slowed.
Gabriel noticed.
“What?”
Chloe did not answer yet.
Beatrice’s fingers trembled.
Vincent said I did not matter because Gabriel never listened to me anyway.
Chloe felt something cold move through her chest.
Gabriel did not move.
Beatrice signed again.
Then Vincent said, once the papers are signed, Gabriel can have an accident.
Silence.
Gabriel looked as though every muscle in his body had turned to stone.
Chloe translated softly.
“He said once the papers are signed, you can have an accident.”
Gabriel stared at his mother.
“You’ve been trying to tell me this for three weeks?”
Beatrice’s eyes filled.
Her hands moved sharply.
Every day.
Chloe translated.
Gabriel flinched.
Barely.
But unmistakably.
Beatrice continued.
You told me not now.
You told me later.
You gave me bread.
Chloe stopped.
The last sentence almost hurt more than the warning.
Gabriel lowered himself into the chair across from his mother.
For the first time since Chloe had met him, he looked less like a feared man and more like a son who had just realized exactly how badly he had failed someone.
“I’m sorry.”
Beatrice watched his lips.
She could read them.
Her expression did not soften.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“How do I say it?”
Chloe showed him.
She moved her hand slowly.
Sorry.
Gabriel copied the sign badly.
Beatrice stared.
He tried again.
Better.
Sorry.
His mother looked away.
But her mouth trembled.
A phone rang in the hallway.
Dante entered.
His face was tense.
“Gabriel.”
“What?”
“We pulled the cameras from Chloe’s building.”
Chloe stood.
“And?”
Dante looked at her.
“The man who entered your apartment wore a maintenance jacket.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
Dante continued.
“But we know who drove him there.”
Gabriel stood.
“Who?”
Dante held up his phone.
The image showed a black sedan.
The driver’s face was visible through the windshield.
Chloe recognized him immediately.
She had seen him the night before.
Sitting at Table 7.
Silver tie.
Quiet expression.
Vincent Moretti.
Beatrice saw Chloe’s face.
Her hands moved urgently.
He knows I told you.
Gabriel looked toward the windows.
At the same moment, something cracked outside.
The front window exploded.
Gabriel lunged forward.
“Down!”
Glass flew across the room.
Chloe hit the floor beside Beatrice.
Dante drew a weapon.
Another impact shattered the lamp beside Gabriel.
Men shouted outside.
Gabriel crawled toward his mother.
Chloe covered Beatrice’s head with both arms.
The old woman was shaking.
Then, suddenly, the shooting stopped.
Only the security alarm remained.
Gabriel lifted his head.
His eyes were no longer tired.
They were terrifyingly awake.
Someone had just fired into his mother’s home.
May you like
Someone had tried to silence her.
And this time Gabriel Costello had understood the message perfectly.
