Chapter 4 - Enzo Promised Protection, but My Mother Had Written His Name in Red
I showed Enzo the note beneath Brennan's kitchen light.
He read it without reaching for it.
"You knew her," I said.
"I met her once."
"That's not what the photograph says."
He lowered his eyes.
"My father employed her during an audit."
I waited.
He told me the audit concerned property acquisitions.
Several owners had received offers below market value.
Their leases were then altered without consent.
My mother had discovered inconsistent signatures.
She had taken concerns to his father.
"And then she disappeared," I said.
Enzo didn't deny it.
He admitted his father buried the inquiry.
He also admitted he'd believed the official story.
"I was young," he said.
"So was I," I answered.
That silenced him.
I took the note back.
I wouldn't let him purchase my trust with regret.
He offered a safe apartment while we investigated.
I refused the apartment.
I accepted a lawyer's contact number.
Hollis offered me the small room above the kitchen.
This time I said yes.
Marisol helped carry my things upstairs.
We found only two bags and a box of photographs.
She looked away before I could feel ashamed.
At night, somebody knocked on the back door.
I saw a courier's envelope beneath it.
Inside was a photograph of me entering the records office.
A red circle surrounded my face.
On the back, someone had written a date.
Tomorrow.
I called the police.
Then I called the lawyer.
Enzo arrived with Bruno and two officers.
He didn't ask me to be grateful.
He stood outside while they took my statement.
Later he asked one question.
"Do you want me to leave?"
I looked toward Hollis's dark kitchen.
"I want you to tell me everything."
Enzo nodded.
"Then start with my father's death," he said.
I felt the room tilt.
"Your father died ten years ago."
"That's what the certificate says."
May you like
He looked toward the street.
"But someone used his signature last Tuesday."
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