Chapter 9 - The Night Elena Died
Leo had been in the second car.
That was true.
What nobody remembered was that the two vehicles were parked beside each other before leaving the charity event.
Elena had opened Leo’s door.
She kissed him.
Leo remembered her face changing.
“Mommy said run.”
Clara did not ask:
She asked:
“What happened next?”
Then moved a small plastic man between them.
“Bird.”
Vittorio had claimed he was across Manhattan that night.
But maybe Leo saw someone else with the falcon symbol.
Harbor Meridian supervisors wore falcon badges.
Vittorio’s old company logo.
“Did Bird talk to Mommy?”
“Mad.”
“What did Mommy do?”
Leo pushed the toy woman into the first car.
Then whispered:
“Phone.”
Elena called him at 7:42 p.m.
The shooting happened twenty-one minutes later.
Guilt arriving with arithmetic.
“Don’t.”
“You were about to do it again.”
“What?”
“Make yourself the center of what happened.”
“My wife called me before she died.”
“Yes.”
“And I didn’t answer.”
“Yes.”
“That matters.”
“It matters.”
“But it isn’t the same as causing it.”
“Okay.”
Dante came in with a location.
Paul Gallo’s mother still lived in Staten Island.
She had received money every month since Elena’s death.
Always under reporting limits.
Same source company:
Harbor Meridian Employee Relief Fund.
Rico laughed without humor.
“Relief.”
Dante said:
“We can’t assume Vittorio made the deposits.”
“No.”
Then Paul’s mother agreed to speak.
She had not seen her son in six months.
But she had received postcards.
The last one included a photograph.
Behind him, a sign reflected in glass.
SUNSET MOTOR LODGE.
They found three with that name.
At the second, the clerk remembered him.
Paul had checked out two days earlier.
Older.
Silver hair.
Clara’s stomach tightened.
The clerk described a gold bird ring.
May you like
Rico whispered:
“Vittorio.”
