Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN AT THE DOOR
Ava kept one hand on the hotel telephone.
The woman outside knocked again.
Not loudly.
Not impatiently.
Three measured taps.
"Ava, I know you have questions."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Mara Bell."
The name meant nothing.
But the voice carried a rhythm Ava remembered from childhood.
The way certain adults pronounced her name.
The way her mother had said it when she wanted Ava to listen.
Ava pressed the intercom.
"Why are you here?"
"Because your mother asked me to find you if the black rose key ever appeared."
"How would you know it appeared?"
"Because somebody called me."
"Who?"
"I can't tell you through a door."
"Then you can't come in."
The woman sighed.
"Fair enough."
Footsteps retreated.
Ava waited.
Then the telephone rang.
Niko.
"Don't open it."
"I didn't."
"Good."
"Who is she?"
"Someone who used to work with your mother."
"You said you didn't know where the cabinet was."
"I don't."
"Do you know Mara?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I needed to know whether she was still alive."
Ava closed her eyes.
"Still alive?"
"Stay where you are. I'm coming upstairs."
Ava hung up.
Through the peephole, the hallway appeared empty.
Except for a small envelope on the carpet.
Her name was written across it.
In handwriting she recognized.
Her mother's.
***
Niko arrived with Matteo six minutes later.
Ava opened only after seeing both men.
Niko's eyes went immediately to the envelope.
"Don't touch it."
"I haven't."
Matteo photographed it and checked the hallway camera.
Inside was a photograph.
Three women stood outside a brick building.
Eleanor Monroe.
A woman Ava didn't recognize.
And Mara Bell.
Behind them was a sign.
THE BLACK ROSE ATELIER.
Ava stared.
"My mother owned a business?"
Niko looked at the photograph.
"Part of one."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"Because it closed before you were old enough to remember."
Ava pointed to the third woman.
"Who's she?"
"Elena Russo."
"And?"
Niko's jaw tightened.
"She disappeared nineteen years ago."
"Like my mother's things?"
Niko didn't answer.
Ava examined Elena's face.
Something about her looked familiar.
The eyes.
The mouth.
Then she realized.
She looked like Niko.
"Who was she to you?"
His expression changed.
"My sister."
Silence.
"You had a sister?"
"Yes."
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Was she kidnapped?"
"Possibly."
"Was she killed?"
"I don't know."
Ava sat down.
For the first time, she understood that Niko wasn't merely helping her solve a mystery.
He was trapped inside one himself.
"Elena discovered financial irregularities involving the atelier," he explained.
"Money laundering?"
"Among other things."
"Your family's business?"
"Yes."
She waited.
He didn't look away.
"Your grandfather used the atelier to move money."
"And my mother worked there?"
"Yes."
"Did she know?"
"Eventually."
"Then why stay?"
"Because Elena convinced her they could document everything and stop it."
Ava looked at the photograph.
Three women.
Smiling.
Unaware of what was coming.
"What happened?"
"Elena vanished. The atelier closed. My grandfather died years later. Eleanor kept the key."
"And Mara?"
"She disappeared from public life."
"Until tonight."
"Apparently."
Ava studied him.
"You're afraid of her."
He didn't deny it.
"Why?"
"Because the last time Mara Bell contacted my family, two men died."
***
They found Mara at a diner three blocks from the hotel.
She sat alone in a booth.
Gray hair cut short.
Plain black coat.
Hands around a coffee mug.
She looked about sixty.
Ordinary.
Nothing about her suggested danger.
That made Ava more nervous.
Niko approached first.
Mara looked up.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she smiled sadly.
"Nicolo."
Niko's jaw tightened.
"Don't call me that."
"You used to hate being called Niko."
"People change."
"Yes."
Mara looked past him.
At Ava.
Her face softened.
"Oh, Eleanor."
Ava stopped.
Mara's eyes filled.
"Forgive me. You look so much like her."
Ava slid into the booth.
"Did you know my mother?"
"Very well."
"Then tell me what happened."
Mara looked at Niko.
He said nothing.
She turned back to Ava.
"Your mother was the most talented conservator I ever worked with."
Ava swallowed.
"Why hide a key in my dress?"
"Because she knew Richard would search everything else."
"My father?"
"Yes."
Mara's expression hardened.
"Richard Whitmore wasn't merely involved with the atelier's financial records. He arranged the transactions."
"Why?"
"Because he was being paid."
"By whom?"
Mara looked at Niko.
"His grandfather."
Ava stared at the man beside her.
Mara continued.
"Elena discovered the arrangement. Eleanor helped gather evidence."
"What happened to Elena?"
"We believed she was killed."
Niko's hands tightened.
"Believed?"
Mara looked at him.
"Until last month."
Silence.
Niko leaned forward.
"What are you saying?"
Mara reached into her coat.
Matteo immediately moved.
She stopped.
"Just a photograph."
Niko nodded.
Mara placed it on the table.
A recent image.
A woman leaving a church in northern Italy.
Older.
Thin.
Silver streaks in her dark hair.
But unmistakably Elena Russo.
Niko stared.
Ava watched the color drain from his face.
May you like
Mara whispered:
"Your sister is alive."
