Chapter 4 - THE SECRET BEHIND THE RED COAT
By midnight, Chloe understood that the recording was more dangerous than she had imagined.
Aaron wasn't merely trying to conceal an affair, a bribe, or a conversation with Gabriel Marchesi.
He was trying to protect something connected to a seven-year-old disappearance.
Lorenzo stood beside the hospital window while Special Agent Carter reviewed the messages.
“Don't respond,” Carter advised.
Chloe nodded.
Carter photographed the screen.
“We'll preserve these.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Can you recover the recording?”
“We can request the appropriate warrant.”
“How long?”
“That depends on the judge.”
Lorenzo's expression tightened.
“People could die while we're waiting.”
Carter met his gaze.
“And evidence could become useless if we handle it improperly.”
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Lorenzo nodded.
“Understood.”
Chloe watched the exchange.
It was strange seeing someone as powerful as Lorenzo accept an answer he disliked.
Aaron never did.
The next afternoon, investigators obtained authorization to search the apartment.
Chloe remained at the hospital.
She didn't want to see the place where she had spent two years learning to be afraid.
Carter called three hours later.
“We found the coat.”
Chloe gripped the phone.
“And the recording?”
A pause.
“The lining had been cut open.”
Chloe's heart sank.
“No.”
“The device wasn't there.”
She closed her eyes.
Aaron had found it.
Of course he had.
He searched everything.
Her drawers.
Her purse.
Her phone.
Even the pockets of clothes she hadn't worn in months.
“I should have known,” she whispered.
Carter continued.
“But we found something else.”
Chloe looked up.
“What?”
“A photograph hidden in the coat's inner pocket.”
Chloe frowned.
“I didn't put a photograph there.”
“Someone did.”
The image arrived on Carter's secure tablet later that evening.
It showed a young woman standing beside a lake.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A familiar smile.
Lorenzo stared at the screen.
“Sofia.”
The photograph had been taken three months earlier.
Chloe looked at him.
“She's alive.”
Lorenzo didn't move.
For seven years, he had imagined his sister dead.
He had attended memorial services.
Visited investigators.
Followed false leads across three states.
Now he was looking at proof that she had survived.
His hands began shaking.
Matteo quietly stepped closer.
“Boss?”
Lorenzo sat down.
He couldn't speak.
Chloe watched the man everyone feared struggle to breathe.
Finally, he whispered, “She's alive.”
Then he covered his face.
Chloe didn't touch him.
She sat beside him and waited.
After several minutes, Lorenzo lowered his hands.
“Where was this taken?”
Carter examined the background.
“We're working on it.”
The photograph showed a narrow wooden dock, a red boathouse, and a mountain ridge.
It could have been anywhere.
But on the back, someone had written a single word.
HARBOR.
Matteo frowned.
“Harbor?”
Lorenzo looked up.
His expression changed.
“Harbor House.”
Chloe turned toward him.
“What is that?”
“A rehabilitation center my father funded years ago.”
“Where?”
“Wisconsin.”
Carter began typing.
Lorenzo stood.
“We need to go.”
Carter raised a hand.
“Not without a plan.”
Lorenzo looked toward the photograph.
“My sister could be there.”
“And if someone is using her to lure you into a trap, charging in could get her killed.”
He stopped.
Chloe could see the conflict in his face.
Seven years of grief.
Seven years of guilt.
And now a possibility so precious he could barely stand still.
She spoke softly.
“Lorenzo.”
He looked at her.
“If she's alive, she needs you to think clearly.”
His expression softened.
Carter nodded.
“Exactly.”
The investigation continued through the night.
By morning, agents discovered that Harbor House had closed four years earlier.
Its property records led to a nonprofit organization.
The nonprofit was controlled by a holding company.
And that holding company belonged to Gabriel Marchesi.
Lorenzo stared at the documents.
His younger brother had controlled the property for years.
Years during which Lorenzo had searched desperately for Sofia.
Matteo stood beside him.
“There's more.”
He placed another file on the desk.
Harbor House had received monthly payments from a police charitable foundation.
The foundation's director was Detective Aaron Miller.
Lorenzo looked toward Chloe.
She was standing near the doorway, listening.
For a moment, he seemed unable to speak.
Then he said, “They've been hiding her together.”
Chloe felt a chill move through her.
Aaron had once told her he knew how to make people disappear.
May you like
She had thought he was threatening her.
Now she wondered whether he had been confessing.
