Chapter 5 - THE LOCKET
Daniela tore the locket from beneath her uniform collar.
It was small.
Silver.
Oval.
Cheap enough that no thief would bother stealing it.
Her father had given it to her two weeks before his death.
She had worn it through high school graduation.
Her mother’s funeral.
Every terrible job.
Every birthday.
Every night she had cried without letting Mia hear.
Adrian held out his hand.
“May I?”
Daniela hesitated.
Then gave it to him.
Arthur watched from between the guards.
That alone told Adrian it mattered.
He turned the locket over.
A tiny seam ran along the side.
Marcus’s deputy handed him a thin pocketknife.
Adrian worked carefully.
The back plate lifted.
Inside was no photograph.
Only a flat brass strip barely larger than a fingernail.
Three etched numbers.
17-9-31.
Daniela stared.
“That’s not a key.”
Evelyn came closer.
“It might be.”
“To what?”
“A deposit system.”
Arthur suddenly spoke.
“Or three meaningless numbers.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Then you won’t mind if we investigate them.”
Arthur said nothing.
Daniela was already calling Mia.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
She felt panic climbing.
Adrian noticed.
“Marcus’s team is going.”
“That’s my sister.”
“I know.”
“I should go.”
“You will.”
Arthur laughed softly.
Daniela turned.
“What?”
“You still don’t understand the game.”
She crossed the ballroom before anyone could stop her.
“You threatened my sister.”
Arthur’s expression didn’t change.
“I warned you.”
“No. You hid behind notes because you’re a coward.”
Several guests were still present.
Arthur’s face tightened.
Good.
Daniela finally understood something Victoria had learned years ago.
Men like Arthur depended on the room believing they were untouchable.
Embarrassment was dangerous to them.
“You spent thirteen years frightening women,” Daniela said. “My mother. Evelyn. Victoria. Me. A twelve-year-old child.”
Arthur’s eyes became cold.
“Be careful.”
“No.”
Adrian stepped beside her.
Not in front.
Beside.
That mattered.
Daniela continued.
“You’re done telling me to be careful.”
Arthur’s phone suddenly rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
Adrian nodded.
“Answer.”
Arthur smiled.
“No.”
One guard took the phone.
Adrian answered instead.
“Speak.”
A woman’s voice said, “Put Daniela on.”
Daniela froze.
She knew that voice.
Not from the recording.
From childhood.
From bedtime stories.
From school mornings.
From thirteen years of dreams.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then a sob.
“Oh, baby.”
Daniela’s legs almost failed.
Adrian caught her elbow.
She pulled the phone closer.
“Mom?”
“I’m sorry.”
Daniela couldn’t breathe.
“You’re alive.”
“I’m alive.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Thirteen years!”
“I know.”
“You let us bury you.”
“I know.”
“Mia thinks you’re dead.”
At the mention of her younger daughter, Elena Price began crying harder.
Daniela closed her eyes.
“Is Mia safe?”
“Yes.”
Daniela’s eyes opened.
“How do you know?”
“Because the man outside her apartment works for me.”
Arthur’s face changed.
Adrian saw it.
Daniela turned away from everyone.
“Why would you scare her like that?”
“He wasn’t supposed to. Arthur’s people were already moving toward her building. I had no time.”
“Where is she now?”
“Safe house.”
“I want to hear her.”
“You will.”
“Now.”
A pause.
Then another voice came on.
“Dani?”
Daniela covered her mouth.
“Mia.”
“I’m okay.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m furious.”
Despite everything, Daniela laughed through tears.
That sounded like her sister.
Mia continued.
“This woman says she’s Mom.”
“She is.”
Another silence.
Then Mia whispered, “What is happening?”
Daniela looked across the ballroom at Adrian, Evelyn, Victoria, Arthur and more armed security than any normal person should ever see.
“I’ll explain when I understand it.”
Elena returned to the call.
“Daniela, listen carefully. The brass insert is not a bank key.”
“Then what?”
“It’s a cipher.”
“For the ledger?”
“For the location.”
Arthur stepped forward despite the guards.
“Elena.”
The woman on the phone went silent.
Arthur smiled.
“Still hiding?”
Elena answered, “Still losing?”
His expression hardened.
Adrian took the phone.
“Mrs. Price.”
“Adrian.”
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniela cause his death?”
“No.”
Daniela looked at him.
Elena continued.
“She delivered the key because I asked her to. Someone followed her, but Carlo knew he was being watched before she ever arrived. He chose to stay.”
“Why?”
“Because he was waiting for Arthur.”
The room went still.
Arthur shook his head.
“Lies.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“Carlo confronted you at St. Matthew’s church forty-eight hours before he died.”
Adrian looked at Arthur.
“He was meeting you?”
Arthur said nothing.
Elena continued.
“Carlo told Arthur he had copies of the financial records.”
Adrian asked, “What happened next?”
“Arthur threatened both our families.”
Victoria stared at her father.
“You said Carlo threatened you.”
Arthur looked at his daughter.
“He did.”
“About what?”
“Nothing you understood.”
“I understand you stole my daughter.”
“I saved her.”
Victoria’s face twisted.
“You saved no one.”
Elena said, “Daniela, the cipher.”
Daniela looked at the numbers.
17-9-31.
“What do I do?”
“Your father used a book cipher.”
“What book?”
“You already have it.”
She thought.
Her apartment contained hundreds of cheap paperbacks.
Then a memory surfaced.
A hardcover book that had belonged to Thomas.
The one object her mother had insisted Daniela keep.
A battered copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Her father’s favorite.
“It’s at my apartment.”
“Then don’t go there.”
“Why?”
“Because Arthur’s men searched it this afternoon.”
Daniela stared at Arthur.
“You were in my home?”
“I personally haven’t visited North Philadelphia in years.”
Adrian’s gaze turned lethal.
Elena continued.
“I removed the book months ago.”
Daniela nearly screamed.
“Then where is it?”
“With someone you trust.”
“Who?”
“The person who has been warning you.”
Daniela thought of the voice.
Wait until he starts the toast.
If Daniela hears this, she’ll know what to do.
“Who sent the warning?”
Elena hesitated.
That hesitation was answer enough.
“Mom.”
“I needed someone inside Adrian’s house.”
“Who?”
“Someone Arthur would never suspect.”
Daniela looked around.
Marcus?
Tyler?
One of the staff?
Then she remembered one detail.
The note in her locker.
Victoria hadn’t written it.
Arthur admitted he had.
But the warning on the audio had reached the sound booth exactly when Daniela was nearby.
That required knowledge of her work schedule.
Household access.
Someone who knew when she cleaned the music room.
Daniela looked toward the ballroom’s service entrance.
An older woman stood there.
Mrs. Russo.
The DeLuca estate’s sixty-two-year-old head housekeeper.
She had hired Daniela fourteen months ago.
She had protected her after the bracelet incident.
And she had been absent from the ballroom when Daniela grabbed the microphone.
Mrs. Russo slowly walked forward carrying a familiar hardcover book.
Daniela whispered, “You?”
Mrs. Russo’s eyes filled.
“I promised your mother I would watch over you.”
Daniela stared at the book.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
“How long?”
“Since the day you applied for the job.”
Daniela felt betrayed all over again.
“My job here wasn’t an accident?”
Mrs. Russo shook her head.
“No.”
Adrian turned to Elena’s voice on the phone.
“You placed Daniela in my house.”
“For both your sakes.”
Arthur laughed.
“There it is.”
Daniela ignored him.
“Why me?”
Elena answered.
“Because Carlo’s last message said the only person he trusted to finish what he started was his son.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“And you needed Daniela to bring me the ledger.”
“Yes.”
Mrs. Russo handed Daniela the novel.
Her father’s handwriting filled the margins.
Daniela opened to page seventeen.
Line nine.
Thirty-first word.
She counted.
The word was:
LIBERTY.
Page nine.
Line thirty-one did not exist.
Adrian frowned.
“Maybe the order repeats.”
Daniela looked at the brass strip.
17-9-31.
Three numbers.
Page.
Line.
Word.
But one combination impossible.
Unless 17-9-31 was a date.
September 17, 1931.
Mrs. Russo suddenly whispered, “The station.”
“What?”
“Philadelphia’s old Liberty Station opened in 1931.”
Marcus looked it up.
“September seventeenth.”
Daniela stared.
Liberty.
17-9-31.
Adrian said, “Your father used two clues pointing to Liberty Station.”
Elena’s voice became urgent.
“Don’t go tonight.”
Arthur smiled.
Adrian looked at him.
“You want us to.”
Arthur said nothing.
Daniela understood.
“It’s a trap.”
Elena replied, “Yes.”
“Then where’s the ledger?”
Silence.
“Mom?”
Elena finally answered.
“The ledger was never hidden at Liberty Station.”
Arthur’s smile vanished.
“It was hidden in something Carlo knew Arthur would never touch.”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
Elena said, “His wife’s coffin.”
Evelyn went completely still.
Adrian looked at his mother.
Arthur’s face drained of color.
Evelyn whispered, “My coffin has been in the DeLuca mausoleum for nine years.”
May you like
Elena answered.
“And the blue ledger has been inside it the entire time.”
