Chapter 3 - One Night Only

I agreed to go because Leo started screaming the moment I stepped toward the kitchen.

“One night,” I told Ricardo. “I help him settle down, then I leave.”

Ricardo nodded once. “Fine.”

Victor looked less pleased.

The Moretti townhouse in Brooklyn Heights was larger than my entire apartment building. Security cameras covered the entrances. Two men checked the street before we got out of the SUV.

Inside, Leo refused to let go of my sleeve.

“Where does he sleep?” I asked.

Ricardo pointed upstairs.

Leo’s room was full of expensive toys that looked untouched. He crawled into bed clutching a stuffed fox with one ear missing.

I sat in the chair beside him.

“Clara?”

It was the first time he had said my name.

“I’m here.”

He pointed toward the hallway. “Door open.”

“Okay.”

Ricardo stood outside, listening.

Twenty minutes later, Leo finally slept.

I walked into the hall and nearly collided with Ricardo.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“Nothing magical. I gave him choices.”

“He doesn’t listen to doctors.”

“Maybe doctors keep telling him what to do.”

Ricardo glanced toward Leo’s room. “You think he remembers the shooting?”

“I think his body remembers even when he can’t explain it.”

Something in Ricardo’s face cracked, just for a second.

Then a voice came from the stairs.

Victor.

“Boss, we checked the button.”

Ricardo straightened. “And?”

Victor hesitated.

“It wasn’t recovered from Sofia’s coat after the shooting.”

“So?”

“So someone removed it before the police logged her clothing.”

Ricardo went very still.

I looked back toward the bedroom.

From inside, Leo whispered in his sleep.

“Blue car.”

Ricardo and I stared at each other.

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The house felt less like a home than a fortress somebody had tried to decorate. Family photos stood beside security panels. Leo's toys were arranged perfectly, as if no child had touched them in months. I wondered how many nights Ricardo had stood outside this room unable to cross the distance between being feared by grown men and comforting one frightened little boy.

Victor did not.