Chapter 5 - ADRIAN WASN’T THE MAN ROMAN THOUGHT HE WAS
Roman read the sentence twice.
Then a third time.
“Adrian.”
Gemma touched the paper.
“My father wrote that.”
Dominic nodded reluctantly.
Roman was already reaching for his coat.
Gemma caught his sleeve.
“No.”
Roman looked down at her hand.
She released him.
“If you go into the gallery angry, Adrian will know we found this.”
“I want him to know.”
“That’s because you solve problems by frightening them.”
“It’s worked.”
“Not this time.”
Dominic unexpectedly said, “She’s right.”
Roman stared at him.
Dominic shrugged.
“I’m enjoying this less than she is.”
They returned to Manhattan without calling Adrian.
When Gemma arrived for work the next morning, Adrian was already in the restoration room.
He looked exhausted.
“You went to Beacon.”
Gemma froze.
“How do you know?”
“Because Roman’s car passed a toll camera, and people in this city enjoy telling me things.”
She placed her bag down slowly.
“Why do you care?”
Adrian shut the door.
“Because there are things Roman Costa does not understand.”
“Then explain them.”
“I can’t.”
Gemma laughed bitterly.
“You men are all remarkably committed to saying that.”
Adrian glanced toward the hallway.
“Did you find the drawing?”
Gemma’s face changed.
There it was.
Confirmation.
“You knew.”
“I knew Daniel left something.”
“My father told me never to trust Roman?”
“No.”
Gemma stepped closer.
“He wrote not to bring Sofia to Roman until you were gone.”
Pain crossed Adrian’s face.
Real pain.
Not guilt.
“That was because Daniel thought I killed Matteo.”
“Did you?”
Adrian stared at her.
“No.”
“Wonderful. Mystery solved.”
“I loved Matteo.”
The words came too quickly to be rehearsed.
Gemma stopped.
Adrian sat on the edge of the worktable.
“Not romantically. He was my closest friend.”
“Then why did my father suspect you?”
“Because I gave Matteo the address where he died.”
Gemma went still.
Adrian rubbed both hands over his face.
“The night Matteo was killed, he asked me to arrange a meeting with a buyer who claimed to know who was stealing the paintings.”
“And you did.”
“Yes.”
“You sent him there.”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
Adrian looked sick.
“I was supposed to go with him.”
“But?”
“My wife went into labor.”
Gemma remembered.
Adrian had a son in college.
“I called Matteo. Told him to wait.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
Adrian looked down.
“He said he’d spent his whole life waiting for Roman to let him become his own man.”
Gemma understood something then.
Matteo had not simply been Roman’s murdered brother.
He had been a younger brother living beneath Roman’s shadow.
Loved.
Protected.
And perhaps suffocated.
Adrian continued.
“Daniel blamed me because I arranged the meeting. I blamed myself too.”
“Who was the buyer?”
“I never knew his real name.”
Gemma’s eyes narrowed.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It sounds stupid. Because it was.”
The door opened.
Roman entered.
Adrian stood immediately.
“You followed her.”
Gemma looked at Roman.
“I told you not to.”
“You told me not to storm in.”
Roman glanced at Adrian.
“I didn’t storm.”
Adrian gave a humorless smile.
“The famous Costa restraint.”
Roman shut the door.
“Where is Sofia?”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“I don’t know.”
Roman moved closer.
“You knew she existed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my brother wanted her brought to me.”
“No. I knew Matteo had a daughter. I didn’t know about the drawing.”
Roman watched him carefully.
“And the rosary?”
Adrian reached into his desk drawer.
He placed it on the table.
Wooden beads.
One dark repaired bead.
“I found this in Matteo’s car after he died.”
Roman picked it up.
His thumb moved across the worn cross.
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“Because at the funeral you told three men that whoever failed Matteo would follow him into the ground.”
Roman’s face revealed nothing.
Adrian looked at Gemma.
“He was not a gentle man ten years ago.”
“I’m not a gentle man now.”
“No,” Adrian said. “But now you know rage and justice aren’t always the same thing.”
Dominic appeared at the door but remained outside.
Roman’s stare could have broken another man.
Adrian held it.
Finally Roman asked, “Why was C17 in Gemma’s dress?”
Adrian looked genuinely confused.
“What?”
“The brass marker.”
Adrian’s eyes shifted toward Gemma.
“I saw it yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Daniel destroyed it.”
Gemma’s voice sharpened.
“You knew my father had it?”
“He showed it to me after Matteo died.”
“Why?”
“Because C17 wasn’t just an inventory marker.”
Adrian picked it up.
He pressed his thumbnail into a narrow groove along the edge.
The disk separated into two thin halves.
Gemma stared.
Inside was a tiny piece of tightly rolled photographic film.
Roman looked at Adrian.
“You knew it opened.”
“Yes.”
“And never mentioned that?”
“I thought the film was gone.”
Gemma’s hands shook slightly as she carried it to the restoration light box.
She unrolled it with tweezers.
The film contained six miniature photographs.
Documents.
Shipping manifests.
Payment ledgers.
And one image of a man entering the warehouse where Matteo had died.
Dominic leaned over her shoulder.
His face changed.
Roman saw it.
“Who?”
Dominic did not answer.
Roman came closer.
The photograph was grainy.
But the man was recognizable.
Older now.
Heavier.
Yet unmistakable.
Vittorio Costa.
Roman’s uncle.
The man who had raised Roman and Matteo after their father died.
The retired patriarch who had spent the last eight years living quietly in Florida.
Roman stared at the image.
“No.”
Dominic whispered, “Roman…”
“No.”
Adrian’s voice was softer.
“Now you understand why Daniel was afraid.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“This proves Vittorio entered a warehouse.”
Gemma looked at another frame.
“No.”
She adjusted the light.
“This proves more.”
The fifth image showed Vittorio standing beside the missing Bellini.
The sixth showed him handing an envelope to someone.
Only the second person’s arm was visible.
A distinctive silver bracelet circled the wrist.
Roman’s face changed again.
Gemma noticed.
“You recognize it.”
Roman said nothing.
“Who wears that bracelet?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
May you like
Roman finally answered.
“My mother.”
