Chapter 3 - THE KEY THAT DIDN'T EXIST
The following morning, Mateo met Dominic in his office.
A folder lay open between them.
Victor Bellamy.
Sixty-three.
Shipping magnate.
Philanthropist.
Chairman of the Bellamy Foundation.
And one of the most dangerous men on the East Coast.
Dominic looked grim.
“Victor's been searching for something for years.”
Mateo glanced up.
“What?”
“A missing archive.”
Mateo frowned.
“Financial records?”
“Possibly. Nobody knows.”
Dominic opened another file.
“Four years ago, a storage facility in Newark burned down. Bellamy lost several employees. Rumor was someone stole information before the fire.”
Mateo stared.
“Sophia.”
Dominic nodded.
“Maybe.”
Upstairs, Sophia stood in the guest room staring at the clothes Mateo's housekeeper had arranged for her.
She almost laughed.
For three years, she'd been the housekeeper.
Now she was a guest.
The irony felt unbearable.
A knock sounded.
“Come in.”
Mateo entered.
“Did you sleep?”
“A little.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
She hesitated.
“Mr. Vital—”
“Mateo.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You can call me Mateo.”
She looked down.
“I don't know if I can.”
He almost smiled.
“Take your time.”
He sat in the chair near the window.
“Your father sent men looking for a key.”
Sophia nodded.
“Do you know what it opens?”
“No.”
“Did Gabriel give you anything?”
She hesitated.
“A necklace.”
Mateo looked up.
“What necklace?”
“A silver pendant. He told me never to lose it.”
“Where is it?”
Sophia looked toward the dresser.
“In my apartment. Or it was.”
Mateo's expression changed.
“Did the men find it?”
“I don't know.”
He stood.
“We'll ask the police whether it was recovered.”
Sophia grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
She swallowed.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“The pendant wasn't silver.”
Mateo frowned.
“What was it?”
“Platinum.”
He stared.
“How do you know?”
“My father had it made for my eighteenth birthday.”
Sophia's voice lowered.
“And the back had a tiny engraving.”
“What did it say?”
She closed her eyes.
Then whispered:
Remember the blue room.
Mateo went still.
May you like
Because he knew exactly what the blue room was.
And it had been sealed for seventeen years.
