Chapter 6 - A BROTHER'S VOICE FROM THE DARKNESS
Norah did not sleep.
At four in the morning, she sat on the bedroom floor with Elena Russo's photograph spread across her knees.
Victor had a silver signet ring.
That did not prove he was the man in the picture.
The photograph was nearly twenty years old, and the man's face was partly hidden.
But the resemblance was strong.
She wanted to show Dominic immediately.
Then she remembered how long Victor had served him.
How easily Victor moved through the house.
How every security arrangement passed through his hands.
If he was involved, confronting him without evidence could be disastrous.
Norah slipped the photograph into her medical bag.
At seven, she went downstairs.
Dominic was sitting alone at the breakfast table, reading reports.
He looked up.
"You didn't sleep."
"Neither did you."
"I had work."
"So did I."
He pushed a cup of coffee toward her.
Black.
Two sugars.
Exactly how she liked it.
Norah stopped.
"How did you know?"
"Teresa."
"You asked her?"
"I asked what you eat for breakfast."
The small gesture unsettled her more than the diamond ring had.
A man who could terrify an entire room had thought to ask how she took her coffee.
She sat down.
"Dominic, how long has Victor worked for you?"
"Eleven years."
"Did he work for your father?"
"No. Why?"
"Just curious."
Dominic studied her.
"You're a terrible liar."
"Then we're both learning something about each other."
---
At noon, a package arrived at the hospital.
No return address.
It contained a cheap prepaid phone.
And a note.
ANSWER AT 12:17. COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
Norah stared at it.
She had learned enough about threats to recognize a trap.
She took the phone into a vacant consultation room but kept the door open.
At precisely twelve seventeen, it rang.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a familiar voice.
"Nora?"
Her breath stopped.
"Liam?"
"Don't say my name."
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Are you hurt?"
A long pause.
"I'm okay."
Norah closed her eyes.
It was him.
The voice she had heard complaining about bad pizza, making terrible jokes, and calling her every birthday.
"Why did you disappear?"
"I found something I wasn't supposed to find."
"Project Harborlight?"
The line became quiet.
Then Liam whispered, "You know?"
"Some of it."
"Listen carefully. The debt isn't real. I never borrowed that money."
"Dominic told me."
"Then he knows more than he's telling you."
Norah stiffened.
"What does that mean?"
"Russo money funded the research."
"He says he didn't know."
"Maybe he didn't. But somebody close to him did."
Norah looked toward the doorway.
Nobody was there.
"Who?"
Before Liam could answer, she heard voices in the background.
A door slammed.
He spoke quickly.
"Find Evelyn. She has the patient list."
"Where?"
"The place where Mom taught us how to swim."
Norah frowned.
Their mother had taught them to swim at a small community center in Evanston.
The building had closed years earlier.
"Liam, what—"
"Don't trust the man who brings you home."
The call ended.
Norah stared at the phone.
The man who brings you home.
Victor had escorted her from the restaurant.
From her apartment.
From the hospital.
Everywhere.
---
By two, Norah had convinced Dominic to accompany her to Evanston.
She did not mention the warning about Victor.
Instead, she said Liam had contacted her and left a clue.
Dominic wanted the entire security team involved.
Norah refused.
"If they see a convoy of black SUVs, whoever is hiding there will disappear."
"Then who drives?"
"You."
Dominic looked mildly offended.
"I know how to drive."
"I assumed you paid people to do it."
"I can also make toast and operate a washing machine."
"Remarkable talents."
He almost smiled.
They traveled in an ordinary gray sedan.
For the first time, Norah saw Dominic outside the environment he controlled.
He stopped at red lights.
He complained about traffic.
He bought coffee from a gas station and grimaced after tasting it.
"This is terrible."
"It's three dollars."
"That doesn't excuse it."
"You own restaurants."
"Exactly. I recognize a crime when I taste one."
Norah laughed.
The sound surprised both of them.
---
The old community center stood behind a chain-link fence.
Its windows were boarded up.
A faded mural of children swimming remained on one wall.
Norah remembered her mother standing beside the pool, clapping whenever Liam managed another lap.
She slipped through a gap in the fence.
Dominic followed.
Inside, dust covered the reception desk.
The pool was empty.
Norah walked toward the women's locker room.
Her mother had once rented a small storage locker there.
Number seventeen.
She remembered because Liam had insisted seventeen was a lucky number.
The locker remained.
Its door was rusted.
Dominic used a screwdriver from an abandoned maintenance cart to loosen the damaged latch.
Inside was a waterproof case.
Norah opened it.
A USB drive.
A paper notebook.
And a photograph of Liam standing beside Evelyn Mercer.
The notebook contained names of patients, dates, and suspicious payment amounts.
At the back was a message written in Liam's handwriting.
NORA, IF YOU FOUND THIS, I'M SORRY I LIED. I WAS TRYING TO FIX WHAT HAPPENED TO MOM.
Norah stopped breathing.
Their mother had died of cancer.
That was what the family had been told.
What could Harborlight possibly have to do with her?
Dominic read the message over her shoulder.
His face drained of color.
"Norah."
She looked at him.
"What?"
He swallowed.
"Your mother worked with mine."
Before she could respond, a vehicle engine sounded outside.
Then another.
Dominic moved toward the doorway.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Victor.
BOSS, WHY DID YOU LEAVE WITHOUT SECURITY?
Dominic stared at the screen.
He had not told Victor where they were going.
Then a second message appeared.
May you like
YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TAKEN HER TO EVANSTON.
---
