Chapter 3 - What Lily Saw at the Tailor's Shop
Giuseppe Falcone was seventy-three years old, with thick white eyebrows and fingers permanently curved by decades of holding needles.
He had dressed three generations of Moretti men.
And he was terrified when Dante arrived at his shop.
The visit took place the next morning, with Dante's attorney present and without the usual display of armed security.
Giuseppe stood behind the counter.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Giuseppe.”
The old man looked toward the street.
“Is Victor with you?”
“No.”
Some of the tension left his shoulders.
Dante placed Lily's drawing on the counter.
Giuseppe stared at it.
His face went gray.
“Where did you get this?”
“A child drew it.”
Giuseppe lowered himself onto a stool.
Then he began crying.
---
Victor had visited the shop three days before the ties were delivered.
He arrived carrying a small case and demanded privacy.
Giuseppe assumed the matter concerned alterations.
But Victor took one of the black ties from the worktable and instructed the tailor to open its lining.
Inside the case was the copper-colored device.
Giuseppe refused.
Victor reminded him how long his family had depended on Moretti business.
Then he threatened to ruin the shop and harm Giuseppe's grandson if he talked.
“I thought he wanted to record a meeting,” Giuseppe whispered. “I didn't know what would happen afterward.”
Dante looked at him.
“Who installed it?”
Giuseppe closed his eyes.
“Victor had a technician do the work. I only repaired the stitching afterward.”
Dante waited.
Giuseppe continued.
“The little girl was sitting behind the pattern table. I thought she was drawing flowers.”
“And you didn't know she'd seen?”
“No.”
“Why did Victor push you?”
The old man looked at the drawing.
“Because I told him the tie wasn't finished properly. He said I wasn't being paid to question him.”
Dante took a breath.
“Do you still have the other two ties?”
Giuseppe shook his head.
“They were delivered together.”
“Were all three altered?”
A long silence followed.
Then Giuseppe nodded.
Dante felt cold.
Three identical ties.
Three opportunities to carry a concealed device.
And only one had been destroyed by a four-year-old girl.
---
At the mansion, qualified technicians examined the other ties under controlled conditions.
Both had alterations.
The exact capabilities of the devices required forensic analysis, but the findings supported the possibility of repeated unauthorized surveillance.
Dante ordered relevant records preserved and consulted counsel about reporting the discovery.
Then he sat alone in his study.
He remembered his father's last months.
Victor had managed the medications.
Controlled visitors.
Filtered calls.
He had also been the person who first told Dante that his father, Antonio Moretti, had died peacefully in his sleep.
For ten years, Dante accepted that explanation.
Now he wasn't certain what to believe.
---
Elena received a telephone call that evening.
The number was unfamiliar.
A man spoke in Spanish.
“Mrs. Castellanos?”
“Yes?”
“Your daughter has a remarkable memory.”
Her throat tightened.
“Who is this?”
“A friend of the family.”
She looked toward Lily, who sat at the kitchen table coloring.
“What do you want?”
“Tell her not to draw any more pictures of men she doesn't know.”
The call ended.
Elena stood frozen.
Then she grabbed Lily and held her so tightly the child complained.
“Mama, you're squishing me.”
Elena loosened her arms.
“Sorry, baby.”
“Are you scared?”
Elena looked at her.
For a moment, she considered lying.
Then she nodded.
“A little.”
Lily touched her cheek.
“Like when Daddy went away?”
Elena's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The child considered this.
Then whispered, “I don't want you to go away too.”
Elena began crying.
---
The next morning, Elena met with an attorney she had previously consulted after Jorge's workplace death.
Her name was Patricia Reyes.
Patricia listened to the account of the phone call, the tie, and Lily's drawings.
Then she asked an unexpected question.
“Elena, did your husband's employer ever give you a complete accident report?”
Elena frowned.
“They gave me a summary.”
“Did it explain why the crane chain failed?”
“They said the equipment was defective.”
“Who investigated?”
“The port company.”
Patricia looked down.
“Jorge's compensation claim was never fully resolved. I remember being unable to obtain several maintenance records.”
Elena felt cold.
“What does that have to do with Dante Moretti?”
Patricia hesitated.
“Pier Seven was operated through a company connected to the Moretti shipping businesses.”
Elena stared.
She knew her employer was wealthy.
She knew his family controlled logistics companies.
But she had never connected his fortune to the pier where Jorge died.
“Are you saying Mr. Moretti killed my husband?”
“No. I'm saying the records deserve another look.”
Elena looked toward the window.
For eighteen months, she had believed Jorge's death was a terrible industrial accident.
Now she wondered whether the missing documents meant someone had something to hide.
That evening, Lily opened her shoebox and showed her mother one more drawing.
A large crane.
A falling box.
May you like
And a man standing beside a black car.
On his wrist was a silver watch.
