Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Remembered the Harbor
“Nicholas Vescari?”
Daniel repeated the name as though it had physically hurt him.
Sophie held the phone with both hands.
“The nurse said he was an older man. Gray hair. Tall. Wearing a dark coat.”
Adrian turned to Marcus.
“Get the security footage.”
Marcus was already calling the dialysis center.
Caroline moved toward the door.
Adrian caught her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To help find Linda.”
“You're staying here.”
“Adrian, she's in danger!”
“Then you should have thought about that before threatening her daughter.”
Caroline stopped struggling.
Her face crumpled, but Adrian had no sympathy left to offer.
He had spent years defending Caroline's difficult behavior.
He had called her controlling.
Spoiled.
Stubborn.
He had never imagined she would exploit a sick woman's medical needs.
Sophie sat down again.
“My mother wouldn't leave with a stranger.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What if he wasn't a stranger?”
Adrian said nothing.
Because the possibility had already occurred to him.
Twenty-three years ago, Nicholas had vanished.
Now someone was moving through Providence using his name.
And Sophie had just revealed that Linda possessed a watch almost identical to Nicholas's.
Marcus returned with a tablet.
“The center sent the footage.”
On the screen, an older man stood near Linda's treatment chair.
His hair was gray.
His shoulders were slightly stooped.
He wore a dark wool coat.
But his face was turned away from the camera.
Linda seemed shocked to see him.
Then something surprising happened.
She reached for his hand.
Sophie covered her mouth.
“Mom?”
The man leaned close and spoke.
There was no audio.
Linda began crying.
Then she stood with his assistance.
No struggle.
No visible threat.
She went willingly.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“That's not Nicholas.”
Adrian glanced at him.
“How can you be sure?”
“My grandmother showed me old photographs. Nicholas had a crooked finger on his right hand.”
Daniel pointed.
“That man's fingers are straight.”
Marcus enlarged the image.
He was right.
Adrian felt a brief surge of relief.
Then another question replaced it.
Who was the man?
And why had Linda recognized him?
Sophie leaned closer.
“Can you go back?”
Marcus rewound the video.
“There,” she whispered.
The man had touched something hanging from Linda's neck.
A small silver pendant.
Sophie had seen her mother wear it every day.
A simple round medallion with a blue stone in the center.
“My father gave her that necklace,” Sophie said.
“When?” Adrian asked.
“Before they got married.”
Daniel frowned.
“That's strange.”
“What?”
“My grandmother had one just like it.”
He removed his phone and found an old family photograph.
Evelyn Mercer stood outside a modest house, smiling beside a little boy.
Around her neck was a matching silver pendant.
Except Evelyn's stone was red.
Sophie stared at it.
“Where did she get that?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Adrian studied both images.
Two pendants.
Two women connected to Nicholas.
And a stranger who recognized one of the necklaces.
“Find the car,” Adrian told Marcus.
Twenty minutes later, they had an answer.
Linda had left in a dark sedan registered to Dr. Samuel Keene, a seventy-one-year-old retired physician.
Sophie gasped.
“I know him.”
Adrian turned.
“How?”
“He used to visit my mother when I was little. She called him Uncle Sam.”
“Is he your uncle?”
“No.”
“Where does he live?”
“He moved away years ago. Mom said he was a family friend.”
Marcus checked his records.
“Keene operated a private medical clinic near the Providence docks twenty-three years ago.”
Daniel went pale.
“That's where my mother worked.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
They finally had a name connecting both families.
He ordered Marcus to locate Keene's current address.
But Sophie shook her head.
“Please let me call him first.”
Adrian hesitated.
“He may be dangerous.”
“He brought me birthday presents when I was a kid.”
Her voice cracked.
“And my mother trusted him enough to leave the clinic.”
Adrian looked at her injured ankle.
He could order people around.
He could move security teams across Rhode Island.
But he couldn't demand that Sophie stop worrying about her mother.
“Call him,” Adrian said.
Sophie found an old number saved in her mother's emergency contacts.
It still worked.
A man answered after four rings.
“Hello?”
“Uncle Sam?”
Silence.
Then a quiet voice.
“Sophie?”
She began crying.
“Where's my mother?”
“She's safe.”
“Then why did you take her?”
“Because someone told me Caroline Vescari had opened the painting.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Who told you?”
Keene hesitated.
“Is Adrian there?”
“Yes,” Sophie said.
Adrian took the phone.
“Doctor Keene.”
A long silence followed.
Then the older man spoke.
“You sound like your father.”
Adrian felt his jaw tighten.
“That's not a compliment.”
“No,” Keene replied. “It isn't.”
“Where is Linda?”
“At my home. She's resting.”
“Why did you sign Nicholas's name?”
“Because I wanted to know whether anyone was still watching for it.”
Adrian glanced at Marcus.
“And?”
“Someone followed us.”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“Who?”
“I didn't see his face.”
“Then give me your address.”
Keene sighed.
“There's something you should know before you come.”
“What?”
“Linda didn't keep that pocket watch because Nicholas gave it to her.”
Adrian looked toward Sophie.
“Then why?”
“Because she took it from the man who ordered Nicholas killed.”
Adrian's stomach tightened.
“Who was he?”
Keene's voice dropped.
“Your father.”
Sophie looked at Adrian's face and knew something terrible had been said.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
For most of his adult life, he had believed his father was a ruthless man who had nevertheless loved his children.
Now that certainty was falling apart.
He looked at Daniel.
“We're going to Providence.”
Caroline stepped into the hallway.
“Adrian, please don't go without me.”
He turned.
“Give me one reason.”
She looked at the silver pocket watch.
“Because if Linda remembers what happened at Pier Seventeen, she'll tell you who was inside Nicholas's car.”
Adrian stared.
“Who?”
Caroline pressed a hand against her chest.
May you like
And whispered:
“Me.”
