Chapter 3 - THE LIBRARY WITHOUT WINDOWS
Dante's private library occupied the mansion's eastern wing.
It had no exterior windows.
The room was lined with antique books, locked cabinets, and portraits of Valerio ancestors who looked as though smiling might have cost them money.
Selene stood beneath a chandelier while Luca checked the doors.
Dante placed the parchment on a reading table.
"Show me."
Selene requested a magnifying glass, blank paper, and the original photograph of the manuscript before it had been removed from his father's belongings.
Dante produced the photograph.
She compared the two.
Then pointed to a faded mark near the parchment's edge.
"See this?"
"An ink stain."
"No. It's a correction mark. The scribe deliberately wrote a false character and placed the true character above it."
Dante leaned closer.
"What does that mean?"
"Whoever reads the manuscript needs to understand that the obvious message is incomplete."
She wrote several symbols on the paper.
"The first layer tells us to distrust the son wearing the ring. But the second layer changes the meaning of the sentence."
"To what?"
Selene looked at him.
"'Beware the man who makes the son wear the father's ring.'"
Dante went still.
Luca frowned.
"That's not the same accusation."
"No," Selene said. "It isn't."
Dante slowly removed the ring.
He turned it over.
Inside the band was a tiny engraving.
A.V.
"Alessandro Valerio," he said. "My father."
Selene studied the engraving.
"Who gave you the ring?"
Dante hesitated.
"My uncle."
"Name?"
"Massimo Valerio."
Luca's expression changed.
Massimo was the family's senior adviser. He had managed the syndicate's financial relationships since Dante's father became ill.
He was also the man urging Dante to accept the Commission's Friday vote.
Selene looked between them.
"Where is your uncle?"
Dante's voice was flat.
"At a meeting with the Commission."
Luca checked his watch.
"He'll return by midnight."
Selene felt a chill.
"Then you have less time than you think."
Dante studied her.
"Why?"
"Because the person who created this cipher knew you would eventually find it. And the message wasn't written to reveal where the money is."
She turned the parchment over.
Under ultraviolet illumination from a conservation lamp, faint marks emerged along the lower edge.
Numbers.
Dates.
Initials.
Selene's breath caught.
"It's a ledger index."
Dante stared.
"An index to what?"
She looked up.
"To payments. Transfers. Names. Whoever controls the original records controls the truth about your father's death."
For the first time, Dante looked less like a feared criminal and more like a son realizing that his inheritance might be a lie.
Then Luca's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and turned pale.
"Boss."
Dante looked up.
"What?"
"Someone broke into Loro."
Selene felt the blood drain from her face.
Luca swallowed.
"They searched the staff lockers."
Dante's eyes moved toward her.
"Anything missing?"
May you like
Luca hesitated.
"Miss Rostova's apartment keys."
