Chapter 3 - THE BROTHER WHO DISAPPEARED
By sunrise, Owen's phone was off.
His apartment was empty.
His supervisor claimed he had called in sick.
But Owen had never missed a shift without telling me.
I knew because I had practically raised him.
Our mother died when I was nineteen.
Our father had disappeared long before that.
Owen was twelve.
I became the adult.
The one who signed school forms.
The one who made dinner.
The one who explained why there wasn't money for birthday presents.
Now I was thirty-one, and I still checked whether he'd eaten.
Dominic listened as I explained.
He didn't interrupt.
When I finished, he asked:
“Why didn't you tell me your brother worked at the docks?”
“Because I didn't want special treatment.”
He gave me a long look.
“You think I would have treated him differently?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you're Dominic Falcone.”
For the first time that morning, he almost smiled.
“Fair.”
Then his expression hardened.
“But your brother is missing.”
I nodded.
“Which makes this my problem.”
He picked up his phone.
Within an hour, a team began checking hospitals, transit records, and legitimate security footage around Owen's workplace.
Dominic also contacted his attorney.
He wanted the disappearance reported to the police.
I stared at him.
“You're involving the police?”
“My employee's brother may have been threatened. Why wouldn't I?”
I almost laughed.
“Because you're—”
“Dominic Falcone?”
I nodded.
He looked toward the window.
“People have very simple ideas about complicated men.”
I didn't know what to say.
Then he added:
“Some of those ideas are deserved.”
The honesty startled me.
By noon, we learned that Owen had last been seen leaving the docks with a woman in a blue raincoat.
She had approached him near the employee parking lot.
He had followed her voluntarily.
The security camera captured her face.
Dominic recognized her immediately.
His expression changed.
“That's impossible.”
I looked at the screen.
“Who is she?”
He swallowed.
“Her name is Elena Voss.”
“And?”
He looked at me.
“She was my father's accountant.”
I frowned.
“Was?”
May you like
Dominic's voice dropped.
“She disappeared seventeen years ago.”
