Chapter 14 - THE FIRE IN THE GLASSHOUSE
Before Rios could bring Vittorio in for questioning, an alarm sounded at the Romano estate. Smoke was rising from the glasshouse where the staff kept storage boxes from the old seasonal offices.
Mara was already inside, helping Lidia and Nina retrieve employment records before they were cataloged.
"Get low!" Mara shouted.
Nina coughed. Lidia pulled her sweater over her mouth. Mara found a side pane cracked by winter frost and smashed it with a metal watering can. The glass broke outward. She pushed Nina through first, then Lidia. By the time she climbed out, her sleeves were singed and smoke burned her throat.
Firefighters took over. Alessandro arrived to find Mara on the lawn wrapped in a blanket, furious because everyone kept asking whether she was all right before asking about the staff.
"They're with the paramedics," he assured her. "All three of you are out."
"Someone locked the doors."
"I believe you."
For once he didn't order a hunt. He stepped back so the fire marshal and Rios could work. Investigators recovered a damaged electronic timer.
Security footage showed a delivery driver wearing a Sterling Catering jacket entering the service road thirty minutes earlier. The company denied making a delivery. The plate was stolen.
The documents inside the glasshouse were lost, but Elena had scanned the crucial files that morning. Mara had insisted on it after the payroll theft.
At the hospital, Nina reached for Mara's hand. "Victoria said people like us were replaceable."
"We're not," Mara answered. "And we'll prove it without getting ourselves killed."
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Rios received an anonymous call as she left the ward. A distorted voice offered a meeting place, saying he had evidence about the glasshouse fire.
The caller ended with one sentence: "Tell Alessandro to come alone if he wants to hear his sister's last words."
