Chapter 4 - THE PARTNER WHO KNEW EVERY DOOR
“Victor?”
Marcelo repeated the name as though he had misheard.
Milton nodded.
“I know what I saw.”
For a moment, the powerful Mafia boss looked less like a man feared across Pittsburgh and more like someone receiving terrible news about his own family.
Victor Salerno had worked beside Marcelo for twenty-two years.
He had helped build the Vieieri shipping business.
He had attended Marcelo's father's funeral.
And nine years earlier, he had carried Marcelo's younger brother's coffin.
“Are you certain?” Marcelo asked.
“I'm sixty-one, not blind.”
Milton's voice trembled.
“I saw him standing beside the freight elevator. He handed something to the younger man. Looked like an access card.”
Elias exchanged a glance with Marcelo.
“Victor was in the dining room when the attack happened.”
“Before it,” Milton corrected. “Not during.”
Marcelo turned toward Elias.
“Bring him downstairs.”
Victor arrived seven minutes later.
He wore an expensive navy suit and a silver tie pin.
His expression was controlled, almost offended.
“Marcelo, what's going on?”
“You opened the freight elevator for the man carrying that gun.”
Victor looked at Milton.
Then he laughed softly.
“Is that what this is about?”
Milton stiffened.
“I saw you.”
Victor sighed.
“Yes, Milton. You did.”
The admission startled everyone.
Marcelo moved closer.
“Explain.”
“Boyd Gable told me hotel security had identified a suspicious delivery. I was helping coordinate an inspection.”
Sadi turned toward him.
“My husband told you?”
“That's correct.”
“He says he doesn't work here.”
Victor spread his hands.
“Perhaps he didn't want to worry you.”
The words made Sadi's skin crawl.
Boyd used exactly that explanation whenever she discovered something he had concealed.
Victor continued.
“I checked the service entrance because I believed there was a security concern. I had no idea the man was armed.”
Marcelo studied him.
“Why didn't you warn me?”
“I didn't want to disrupt an important meeting over an unconfirmed problem.”
“That problem was a pistol aimed at my head.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Marcelo, we've known each other for more than two decades. You cannot seriously believe I would arrange your murder.”
The room fell quiet.
Sadi watched Marcelo.
The difference between suspicion and betrayal was written across his face.
Victor knew precisely which memories to touch.
“I was there when Tomas died,” he said quietly.
Marcelo's expression tightened.
“Don't bring my brother into this.”
“I loved Tomas, too.”
For the first time, Sadi heard the dead man's name spoken with real emotion.
Tomas Vieieri.
Marcelo's younger brother.
A dock supervisor who had died in a warehouse fire nine years earlier.
Everyone in Pittsburgh remembered the rumors.
The Falco family had supposedly been responsible.
The tragedy had nearly started a war between two powerful criminal organizations.
Victor lowered his voice.
“You've already buried one person you loved because of the Falcos. Don't let them make you turn against your own people.”
It was an effective argument.
Too effective.
Marcelo said nothing.
Then Margot Ren appeared carrying a hotel tablet.
“Mr. Vieieri, we found something.”
On the screen was a security image from the service corridor.
The timestamp read 12:44 p.m.
Thirty-one minutes before the attack.
A woman in a gray housekeeping uniform stood beside a freight elevator.
She carried folded white linens.
Her dark hair was tucked beneath a plain black cap.
And clipped to her chest was a name badge.
SADI GABLE.
Sadi stared.
“That isn't me.”
Margot looked uncomfortable.
“The badge is yours.”
“No.”
Victor stepped closer to examine the photograph.
“Well,” he said, “that changes things.”
Marcelo looked sharply at him.
“Don't finish that thought.”
Victor raised his hands.
“I'm simply suggesting we consider every possibility.”
Sadi's heart pounded.
She had been cleaning rooms on the second floor at 12:44.
Three guests had asked her for towels.
She had also been pushing a cart that squeaked every fourth rotation because the left front wheel was damaged.
But the woman in the photograph had no cart.
She carried only the folded linens.
“Can you enlarge it?” Sadi asked.
Margot hesitated.
Elias adjusted the image.
Sadi studied the woman's sleeves.
Something was wrong.
Her own uniform had been washed so many times that the gray fabric had faded almost silver at the elbows.
The woman's jacket was dark.
New.
Then Sadi noticed another detail.
Three small buttons on the left cuff.
Her housekeeping jacket had only two.
“That's not a housekeeping uniform,” she whispered.
Marcelo looked at her.
“What?”
“It's one of the supervisor jackets. Somebody put my name on it.”
Margot's face changed.
Sadi looked directly at her.
“Miss Ren, how many people can print replacement staff badges?”
Margot didn't answer.
Victor shifted toward the door.
But Elias stepped in front of him.
And Sadi realized the most frightening part of the photograph.
May you like
Someone hadn't merely tried to kill Marcelo.
Someone had prepared evidence to make Sadi look responsible if the assassination failed.
