Chapter 2 - The Boy in the Locked Room
Vincent moved Charmian into the east wing before breakfast.
She refused at first.
"I can't stay in there."
"You can."
"It's not appropriate."
"Nothing about this is appropriate."
She stood in the center of the guest room while Vincent's security team quietly installed a new lock on the door.
"I have to go to work."
"No."
"I need the money."
"You have a bigger problem."
"My brother needs me."
"Your brother needs you alive."
She looked at him.
"You're keeping me prisoner."
"No."
"Then why is there a guard outside?"
"Because someone sent me a picture of your brother and asked for you."
Charmian's face went pale.
Vincent softened his voice.
Not much.
Just enough.
"If I wanted you prisoner, you wouldn't be standing."
She stared at him.
Then looked away.
He left.
For the next two hours, he sat in his office reading everything his people could uncover about Gideon Voss.
The ledger mattered.
He knew that much.
But there were thousands of financial records moving through Chicago every month.
Why would a sixteen-year-old steal one?
At noon, Matteo walked in.
"You were right."
Vincent looked up.
"About what?"
"Elias Reyes is not where the official records say he is."
"Where is he?"
"At a storage property on the south side."
"Owned by?"
"Gideon Voss."
Vincent stood.
"Let's go."
Matteo frowned.
"You want to go personally?"
"Yes."
"That's reckless."
"Probably."
They drove with six men.
Charmian was not told.
The storage property appeared abandoned.
Broken windows.
Rusting gates.
No obvious cameras.
Vincent entered through the rear.
Inside, they found three rooms.
Empty.
Then one locked door.
Behind it was a mattress.
A water bottle.
A school backpack.
And a teenage boy with a swollen face sitting against the wall.
"Elias?"
The boy looked up.
His first expression was fear.
His second was disbelief.
Then he recognized Vincent from television reports and whispered:
"You're Costa."
Vincent crouched.
"You're coming with me."
Elias shook his head.
"They'll kill her."
"Who?"
"Voss."
"Your sister?"
Elias nodded.
"He knows she took the ledger."
"She didn't."
Elias stared at him.
"She knows where I hid it."
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
"Where?"
The boy hesitated.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
Elias swallowed.
"Voss's men came to our apartment."
"They wanted the ledger?"
"They wanted names."
"What names?"
"The names of cops he owns."
Vincent went silent.
Elias continued.
"The ledger has payments."
"To police?"
"Police. Judges. Union people. Lawyers. City inspectors. Everybody."
Vincent glanced at Matteo.
That changed everything.
A document like that could destabilize half the city.
"Where is it?"
Elias shook his head.
"I don't know."
Vincent waited.
The boy looked at him.
"But Charmian does."
Back at the house, Vincent found her sitting alone at the dining table.
"Your brother is safe."
Her eyes closed.
For one second she looked relieved.
Then she noticed Vincent's expression.
"What happened?"
"He says you know where the ledger is."
Charmian stood.
"Where is Elias?"
"I'll take you to him after you tell me the truth."
She shook her head.
"No."
"Charmian."
"I can't."
"Voss sent men after you."
"I know."
"He has your brother."
"I know."
"He came to my house."
"I know."
Vincent stared at her.
"You knew he would?"
Her silence was answer enough.
"You deliberately got yourself hired here."
She looked down.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I needed somewhere safe."
"You knew who I was."
"I knew what people said about you."
"And you still came."
"I had nowhere else."
Vincent walked toward her.
"Did you intend to steal from me?"
"No."
"Spy?"
"No."
"Use my house as cover?"
She hesitated.
He saw guilt.
"I didn't know how else to survive."
He stopped.
"Who put you up to it?"
"No one."
"Then why?"
Charmian's voice broke.
"Because my brother was going to die."
Silence.
She wiped her cheek.
"Three months ago, my brother worked deliveries for one of Voss's clubs. He saw something he shouldn't have seen."
"What?"
"Men bringing cash through a back entrance."
"Money laundering."
She nodded.
"Elias stole one book."
"The ledger."
"Yes."
"And gave it to you."
"He gave me the pages he thought were important."
Vincent's expression sharpened.
"How many?"
"Twenty-three."
"Where are they?"
Charmian looked at him.
"Somewhere nobody would think to look."
"Where?"
She shook her head.
"Not until you promise my brother stays safe."
Vincent hated ultimatums.
Especially from people who should have been afraid of him.
But this time he understood.
"You have my word."
Charmian looked at him for a long time.
Then she said:
"The pages are hidden inside the kitchen."
Vincent's eyebrows rose.
"The same kitchen?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"The old flour container behind the pantry wall."
He looked at Matteo.
Matteo went.
Three minutes later he returned holding a sealed plastic sleeve.
Inside were handwritten names.
Dates.
Payments.
Amounts.
Vincent read the first page.
Then the second.
By the third, his expression had gone cold.
One name appeared again and again.
His own uncle.
Marco Costa.
Vincent felt the floor shift beneath him.
Marco was his father's younger brother.
He was family.
He had been one of Vincent's most trusted advisers.
"He sold us," Vincent said quietly.
Matteo looked at the pages.
"Looks like it."
Vincent looked toward Charmian.
"Who else knows?"
"Voss."
"Who gave him the name?"
"I don't know."
Vincent realized something.
If Marco was working with Voss, the entire threat was inside his organization.
His own men.
His own house.
His own blood.
And suddenly Charmian's presence made sense.
She had not chosen his house because it was convenient.
She had chosen it because she believed the only place dangerous enough to frighten Voss might be the only place capable of hiding her brother.
A security alarm sounded.
Vincent turned.
"Boss."
One of the guards ran in.
"There are cars approaching."
"How many?"
"Six."
Vincent looked at Charmian.
"Stay here."
She caught his wrist.
"Please."
He looked down at her hand.
"Do what I say."
"They'll kill you."
He stared.
"Why?"
"Because Voss doesn't negotiate when he's afraid."
Vincent looked at the guards.
"Lock the house."
The gates closed.
Outside, six black vehicles stopped.
A man stepped from the first.
Gideon Voss.
He smiled through the iron bars.
Then raised his hand.
Inside the house, every phone began ringing at once.
Vincent's men looked at their screens.
All of them showed one message.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME.
Vincent looked at Charmian.
She whispered:
"He knows."
May you like
Vincent chambered a round.
"Good."
