Chapter 5 - UNDER THE STONE
They returned to the cemetery after dark with police liaison Detective Nora Chen and six Bellandi security men who made Chen visibly unhappy.
"I want it clear," she told Matteo, "your people observe. Mine search."
"Agreed."
"That was too easy."
"You looked ready to arrest me for breathing."
"Depends how you breathe."
Mara almost smiled.
Her mother's grave had been disturbed.
Chen's team lifted a loose granite marker at the base and found a narrow metal box.
Mara's chest sank.
Bianca had crushed them during the confrontation. One stem now lay farther away, near the neighboring grave.
Mara bent down.
Her mother's silver bracelet had fallen there too.
The hidden metal strip in the clasp carried six numbers.
Coordinates.
"These aren't six random numbers. They're section and plot markers."
Chen crouched beside her.
Ten minutes later they found a second container buried behind an abandoned family mausoleum.
And a sealed letter addressed to MARA.
If you're reading this, someone finally asked the wrong question loudly enough.
Mara swallowed.
Eleanor wrote that Senator Thorne had spent years steering public contracts to companies that returned portions of the money through fake consulting arrangements.
Carlo Bellandi's organization had been used as both partner and threat.
Eleanor discovered the accounts and copied the ledger.
Then one sentence made Matteo stop breathing.
Carlo wanted out. Richard Thorne would not let him.
Matteo took the page.
"My father tried to leave?"
Mara read the next line.
When Carlo refused one final transfer, Richard threatened his son.
Matteo looked toward the dark trees.
"Me."
A shot cracked.
Stone exploded beside Mara's shoulder.
Matteo threw her down behind the grave marker.
Security returned fire toward the tree line.
Chen shouted for everyone to stay down.
Another shot hit the metal box.
The cassette shattered.
But the safe-deposit key remained in Mara's fist.
May you like
And carved into its brass tag was one word.
THORNE.
