Chapter 5 - THE PHOTOGRAPH INSIDE THE COAT
"Was your sister the one who betrayed you?"
Emma's question hung inside the SUV.
Daniel looked through the windshield.
"I don't know."
"But you suspect her."
"I suspect someone lied about what happened that night. That's not the same as knowing who did it."
Emma studied him.
For a man who shouted at almost everyone, Daniel was surprisingly careful with the truth.
"Then let's find out," she said.
Forty minutes later, they arrived outside Emma's apartment building.
It stood above a laundromat on Chicago's northwest side.
The stairwell smelled of detergent and old cooking oil.
There was no elevator.
Daniel looked at the narrow staircase, then at Emma.
"I'll wait here."
She noticed the brief expression of frustration crossing his face.
He hadn't complained.
Somehow, that made it worse.
"You can come back when I find a place with an elevator," she said.
Daniel looked surprised.
"Was that an invitation?"
Emma blushed.
"It was a statement about building accessibility."
For the first time in days, Daniel laughed.
Emma disappeared upstairs.
She returned carrying a battered cardboard box and a folded blue wool coat.
The coat was old-fashioned, with large buttons and a faded velvet collar.
"My father bought this for Mom when they got married," she explained. "She kept repairing it because she couldn't bear to throw it away."
Daniel watched her smooth the fabric across the back seat.
Emma examined the collar, sleeves, and pockets.
Everything appeared ordinary.
Then she noticed the stitching near the inside cuff.
Six small crooked stitches.
Bright yellow thread against dark blue wool.
"My mother would never leave a sleeve like this."
She carefully opened the seam with a small sewing tool from her mother's old kit.
A folded piece of paper slipped out.
Then another.
Daniel leaned forward.
"What are they?"
Emma unfolded the first.
It was an old coat-check ticket from the Halstead Hotel.
Number 417.
The date matched the night of Daniel's shooting.
Beneath the number, somebody had written two words.
Green gown.
The second item was a small photograph.
Its edges were worn.
Emma turned it toward the light.
Three people stood near a service corridor.
One was a woman wearing an emerald evening dress.
The woman's face was partially turned away.
Beside her stood a tall man holding a black security case.
And across from them was Luke.
Daniel's expression changed.
"Give me that."
Emma handed him the photograph.
He studied it.
Luke had sworn he spent that evening protecting the west driveway.
Yet here he stood near the east service corridor, apparently handing something to another man.
Daniel recognized the man with the case.
Grant Mercer.
Owner of Northline Protection, a private security company that had occasionally worked with Moretti businesses.
Grant had disappeared from Daniel's professional circle shortly after the shooting.
Not because Daniel had dismissed him.
Because Luke had said Grant's contract had ended.
"That man had access to the hotel," Daniel said quietly.
Emma pointed toward Luke's hand.
"What's he giving him?"
Daniel looked closer.
A rectangular security pass.
The kind that opened service doors after midnight.
He reached for his phone.
"Luke. Come to Emma's apartment building. Bring your security records from the Halstead."
There was silence.
Then Luke asked, "Why?"
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
"Because I want you to explain why you're standing beside Grant Mercer minutes before I was shot."
Luke arrived twenty-five minutes later.
He took one look at the photograph and stopped breathing normally.
"Where did you get this?"
"Rose Carter kept it," Daniel replied.
Luke stared at Emma.
"Your mother?"
Emma stepped forward.
"She apparently thought somebody might need it someday."
Luke passed a hand over his face.
Daniel's voice grew cold.
"Start talking."
Luke looked at the photograph.
"Vivian asked me to give Grant a temporary security pass."
"For what?"
"She said the east exit needed a second security team."
"Why didn't I know?"
"She told me it was a surprise precaution because someone had threatened the charity event."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"And you believed her?"
"Back then? Yes."
"After I was shot?"
Luke said nothing.
Daniel stared at the man who had been his closest friend for nearly twenty years.
"Luke."
Luke finally raised his head.
"After the shooting, Vivian told me Rose Carter had taken money from someone connected to our enemies."
Emma stiffened.
"That's a lie."
"I know that now."
"Did you know it then?"
Luke couldn't look at her.
"I didn't check."
Emma stepped backward as though he'd struck her.
Daniel's voice hardened.
"You let an innocent woman take the blame."
"I thought I was protecting you."
"You were protecting yourself from admitting you were wrong."
Luke accepted the accusation without arguing.
Then he said something neither expected.
"There's another reason I came tonight."
Daniel waited.
Luke looked directly at Emma.
"You didn't get your job at the Moretti mansion by accident."
Emma felt a chill.
"What?"
"Mrs. Price wanted someone with night-shift experience. I recommended the agency where you had applied."
"Why?"
Luke swallowed.
"Because six months ago, I found your mother's name in the old investigation file."
He looked toward Daniel.
"And I started wondering whether the woman everyone called confused was the only person who had told us the truth."
Emma stared at him.
"You brought me into that house to investigate my mother?"
Luke nodded.
Daniel's expression darkened.
"You used her."
Luke looked ashamed.
"I thought it might lead us to an answer."
Emma picked up the blue coat and held it against her chest.
For the first time, she understood something frightening.
She hadn't simply stumbled into Daniel Moretti's life.
May you like
Someone had quietly opened the door.
And now she wondered who else had been watching her walk through it.
