Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Photograph
By noon, the Russo estate had become a fortress inside a fortress.
Norah watched from the library window as security vehicles formed a second perimeter around the property.
Dominic had doubled the guards.
Then doubled them again.
Every delivery was stopped at the outer gate. Every employee was questioned. Cameras were reviewed minute by minute.
Norah hated it.
She also understood it now.
That frightened her more.
Lily sat on the rug coloring a purple dinosaur.
“Does the baby like dinosaurs?”
Norah looked down.
“What baby?”
Lily gave her the expression only a four-year-old could manage.
“The one in your tummy.”
So much for secrecy.
Norah sat beside her.
“The baby hasn’t told me yet.”
Lily considered this.
“Babies are bad at talking.”
“Very.”
“Can I teach it?”
Norah smiled.
“I think it would like that.”
Lily leaned against her.
“Can it be my baby?”
Norah’s heart squeezed.
“It can be your brother or sister.”
Lily’s crayon stopped.
Her eyes widened.
“My sister?”
“Maybe.”
“My brother?”
“Maybe.”
Lily gasped as though Norah had offered her the moon.
Then Dominic appeared in the doorway.
He had heard everything.
Norah knew from his face.
Lily ran toward him.
“Daddy! Nora’s baby can be mine!”
Dominic looked at Norah over his daughter’s head.
“Yes, Bug.”
He crouched.
“It can.”
Lily hugged him.
For several seconds, Dominic closed his eyes.
Norah saw something vulnerable in him she had not been prepared for.
Then Marco entered.
“We found something.”
Dominic stood.
“In my office.”
“No,” Norah said.
Both men looked at her.
“If this concerns the threat against my child, I’m coming.”
Dominic opened his mouth.
Then apparently remembered the hospital.
“Fine.”
His office smelled of coffee and leather.
Marco placed photographs across the desk.
“The ultrasound image originated from a burner phone. But the angle tells us the photograph was taken inside the house.”
Norah studied it.
Part of the foyer carpet was visible.
“So someone picked it up.”
“Yes.”
“Who was in the house?”
Dominic answered.
“Sixteen staff. Nine security. Lily. Me. You.”
“And family?”
Silence.
Marco looked at Dominic.
“Victor.”
Dominic’s uncle.
Norah remembered him as charming in a way that made her uncomfortable.
“Where is he?”
“Gone,” Marco said.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“He left at 11:40 last night.”
“Before lockdown?”
“Seventeen minutes before.”
Norah looked between them.
“You think your uncle did this?”
“I think coincidences are for people who can afford them.”
Marco slid another photograph forward.
A traffic camera showed Victor entering a restaurant three weeks earlier.
Beside him was a woman.
Norah stared.
She knew her.
“Dr. Aris.”
Dominic looked sharply at her.
“The clinic doctor?”
“Yes.”
Marco cursed.
Dominic picked up his phone.
“Bring her in.”
“No.”
Norah grabbed his wrist.
Dominic looked down at her hand.
“Do not kidnap my doctor.”
“She met my uncle.”
“That doesn’t make her guilty.”
“It makes her interesting.”
“Then ask her.”
Dominic stared at Norah.
“Politely,” she added.
Twenty minutes later, Dr. Aris answered on speakerphone.
Her reaction to Victor’s name was immediate.
“Victor Russo?”
“Yes,” Dominic said.
“I don’t know him personally.”
“We have photographs.”
Silence.
Then the doctor sighed.
“He approached me outside the clinic.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Norah felt cold.
“What did he want?”
“Information about a patient.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. Patient confidentiality still exists, Mr. Russo, even when wealthy men dislike it.”
Norah almost smiled.
“What happened after that?”
“He offered money. I refused.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand dollars.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“For what?”
“To notify him if Norah Hayes ever became a patient.”
Norah gripped the chair.
“He already suspected.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
“Find Victor.”
A crash came from downstairs.
Dominic moved instantly.
Gunfire followed.
One shot.
Then three.
Marco drew his weapon.
“Stay here.”
Dominic reached for Norah.
“Bathroom. Lock it.”
“What about Lily?”
Dominic froze.
Lily.
Norah ran before anyone could stop her.
“Norah!”
She reached the hallway.
Smoke drifted from the west wing.
Security shouted below.
Norah raced toward the playroom.
“Lily!”
Empty.
Her stomach dropped.
“Lily!”
A small cry came from the conservatory.
Norah ran.
She found Lily beneath a table.
A masked man stood ten feet away.
He turned.
Norah grabbed the nearest object—a brass lamp—and swung.
It struck his arm.
He cursed.
Norah threw herself over Lily.
Then Dominic appeared.
The confrontation ended almost instantly.
The intruder fled through shattered glass as Dominic’s security closed in outside.
Dominic rushed toward them.
“Lily!”
His daughter sobbed.
Norah lifted her.
“I’ve got her.”
Dominic wrapped both of them in his arms.
For one second, the three remained together on the floor.
Then Norah noticed something.
The intruder had dropped a photograph.
She reached for it.
It showed Dominic twenty years younger beside two teenage boys.
One was clearly Victor’s son.
The other had Dominic’s eyes.
Written across the back:
ASK HIM WHICH BROTHER REALLY DIED.
Norah handed it to Dominic.
His face changed.
“Who is that?”
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“My brother.”
Norah looked at the message.
“But you said your brother was murdered.”
May you like
Dominic lifted his eyes.
“I thought he was.”
