Chapter 4 - What Sadie Heard at Midnight
Roman held Sadie against the concrete wall with one hand over her mouth.
Not hard.
Only enough to remind her silence mattered.
Tomas stood ten feet away.
Another man entered behind him.
Then a third.
Roman could not see their faces from his position.
Tomas spoke.
“The room was opened.”
One man cursed.
“How?”
“Someone found the release bottle upstairs.”
Sadie shifted slightly.
Roman tightened his hand.
Tomas continued.
“Check the ledger.”
A drawer opened.
Silence.
Then:
“It’s gone.”
Roman felt Sadie’s heartbeat through her shoulder.
Fast.
Terrified.
Tomas said something Roman did not expect.
“Good.”
One man responded, “Good?”
“Yes.”
“If Roman has it—”
“Then he finally knows.”
A pause.
Roman frowned.
The second man lowered his voice.
“You think that helps us?”
“I think we’re out of time.”
“What about Miller?”
Sadie went rigid.
Roman felt it.
Tomas answered.
“The brother stays alive.”
“For now?”
“For as long as possible.”
The third man spoke.
“Rusk won’t like that.”
Tomas snapped, “I don’t care what Rusk likes.”
Roman’s mind moved quickly.
This was not the conversation of co-conspirators.
Or not simple ones.
Tomas continued.
“Calvin is cleaning house. Anyone who knows about the route is marked.”
“What about Roman?”
“He’s the target.”
Sadie slowly turned her eyes toward Roman.
Roman remained still.
The second man asked, “When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“At Pier Nine?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Using the Miller girl.”
Sadie’s face drained.
Tomas added, “Calvin thinks Roman will come for the brother.”
“He will.”
“I know.”
The footsteps moved.
Roman waited.
One man approached the filing cabinet.
Too close.
Sadie stopped breathing.
Roman raised his pistol.
The man stepped around the cabinet.
Roman grabbed him.
One arm locked around the throat.
Gun pressed beneath the jaw.
The man froze.
Tomas spun.
“Roman.”
The room went silent.
Roman released Sadie.
She moved behind him.
Tomas raised both hands.
Roman kept the hostage.
“Explain.”
Tomas looked at the gun.
“I was trying to.”
“Poorly.”
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because Calvin has someone inside your personal security rotation.”
Roman’s gaze hardened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer is becoming popular.”
Tomas lowered his hands slowly.
“Calvin’s been siphoning money for eighteen months.”
“You knew.”
“Three weeks.”
“And said nothing.”
“I needed proof.”
Roman held up the ledger.
“This?”
Tomas nodded.
“I planted it here.”
Roman blinked.
Sadie did too.
“The photographs?”
“Not mine.”
“Elena’s letter?”
Tomas looked confused.
“What letter?”
Roman studied him.
That reaction looked genuine.
Which meant almost nothing.
Roman released the man he held.
“Names.”
Tomas pulled out his phone.
“Seven confirmed.”
“Only seven?”
“Eight suspected.”
“Fifteen.”
Tomas nodded.
Sadie whispered, “What does number fifteen mean?”
Tomas looked at her.
“You.”
Roman stepped between them.
Tomas raised his hands again.
“Not like that.”
“Explain quickly.”
“Sadie was witness number fifteen.”
Roman stared.
Tomas continued.
“Fourteen people stumbled onto pieces of Calvin’s operation over the last year.”
“What happened to them?”
Tomas hesitated.
Sadie whispered, “They disappeared.”
“Yes.”
Roman’s face became unreadable.
“And she was next.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked at Sadie.
Her broken arm.
Her brother.
Her fear.
Fifteen witnesses.
Not fifteen traitors.
The pieces shifted.
Sadie asked, “Who were the other fourteen?”
Tomas looked away.
“Employees. Drivers. Two accountants. A bartender. One dock worker.”
“Dead?”
“I don’t know.”
Roman’s voice hardened.
“Find out.”
Tomas nodded.
Roman held up Elena’s photograph.
“Why was this here?”
Tomas stared.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Roman handed him the torn letter.
Tomas read.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Roman noticed.
“What?”
Tomas looked at him.
“Your wife knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Calvin.”
Roman stepped closer.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Tomas swallowed.
“Fifteen years ago, Calvin controlled the harbor collections.”
“I know.”
“There was an internal investigation.”
“What investigation?”
“Elena hired someone privately.”
Roman stared.
“Elena?”
“She thought Calvin was moving women through Vescari routes.”
Roman’s face emptied.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
Tomas glanced at the torn letter.
“Maybe she tried.”
Roman thought of Elena’s death.
Car accident.
Rain.
Cliff road.
Driver lost control.
Calvin had been the first person at the hospital.
Roman suddenly felt cold.
Sadie saw it.
“Roman.”
He looked at Tomas.
“Was Elena’s accident investigated?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
Tomas said nothing.
Roman already knew.
“Calvin.”
Tomas nodded.
Roman closed his eyes.
Fourteen years of certainty cracked.
Sadie spoke softly.
“That doesn’t mean he killed her.”
Roman opened his eyes.
“No.”
But it meant he could have.
Tomas changed the subject.
“We need to move Sadie.”
“Where?”
“Safe house.”
Roman shook his head.
“No.”
“Roman—”
“If Calvin has penetrated my security, no safe house is safe.”
“So where?”
Roman looked at Sadie.
“My room.”
Everyone stared at him.
Roman sighed.
“The private wing has independent locks.”
Sadie raised an eyebrow.
“That sounded less dramatic after the explanation.”
Tomas almost laughed.
Roman did not.
They returned upstairs through the wine cellar.
Roman ordered the hidden entrance sealed.
Then he placed two guards outside the private wing.
Guards he chose personally.
Sadie entered Roman’s suite.
It was large but unexpectedly plain.
Dark wood.
Books.
A desk.
Few photographs.
One of Elena near the fireplace.
Sadie stopped.
“She was beautiful.”
“Yes.”
“You loved her.”
Roman looked at the picture.
“Yes.”
Sadie nodded.
No jealousy.
No awkwardness.
Just understanding.
Roman appreciated that.
“You’ll stay here until I find Benjamin.”
“And you?”
“Pier Nine.”
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“We’ve had this conversation.”
“And you’ve been wrong every time.”
“That is objectively false.”
“You’re going into a trap designed specifically for you.”
“Yes.”
“That seems like the kind of thing people normally avoid.”
Roman removed his jacket.
“Normally.”
Sadie watched him place the ledger on the desk.
“What if Tomas is still lying?”
“I assume he is.”
“Then why trust him?”
“I don’t.”
She frowned.
Roman continued.
“I trust that his goals currently overlap with mine.”
“That’s bleak.”
“It has kept me alive.”
Sadie looked toward Elena’s photograph.
“Maybe alive isn’t always the same as living.”
Roman stared at her.
Nobody spoke to him like that.
Not anymore.
Sadie suddenly looked embarrassed.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
A knock.
Roman reached for his gun.
“Who?”
Clara.
Roman opened the door.
Clara held a tray.
“Food.”
Sadie shook her head.
“I’m not hungry.”
Clara gave her a stern look.
“You haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
Roman looked at Sadie.
She looked betrayed.
“You told him?”
“I told the room.”
Roman pointed to the tray.
“Eat.”
Sadie muttered, “You’re both unbearable.”
Clara smiled.
Then her expression changed.
She remembered something.
“Oh.”
She reached into her apron.
“I found this in the laundry.”
A small voice recorder.
Roman took it.
“Whose clothes?”
Clara looked at Sadie.
“Yours.”
Sadie stared.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Roman pressed play.
Static.
Then voices.
Sadie’s voice.
Tuesday night.
Footsteps.
A man saying, “She heard us.”
Another voice answered.
Roman recognized Calvin.
“Then make sure she never speaks.”
A crash.
Sadie screaming.
Roman’s face hardened.
The recording continued.
Another man said:
“What about her brother?”
Calvin replied:
“Take him.”
Then came a third voice.
Soft.
Calm.
Close to the microphone.
Roman froze.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it almost every day for twenty years.
“Don’t break her arm here,” the voice said. “Roman might see the blood.”
Sadie whispered, “Who is that?”
Roman did not answer.
May you like
Because the speaker was standing outside his bedroom door.
And someone had just turned the handle.
