Chapter 5 - The Empty House
Dante called again.
No answer.
He called Tomas.
Nothing.
He called the kitchen line.
Nothing.
The color left his face so fast Clara felt her own fear sharpen.
"Sophia."
Dante was moving before he finished the name.
Detective Mercer blocked the apartment doorway.
"Mr. Vancini, Ms. Hale isn't free to leave yet."
Dante stopped.
He looked at the detective.
"Move."
Mercer did not.
"There is stolen property in her apartment."
"Someone just threatened my daughter."
"Then call 911."
Dante's expression became almost calm.
"I am looking at a police officer."
Mercer's hand moved toward his belt.
Two of Dante's men stepped forward.
Clara raised her voice.
"Stop."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed at Mercer.
"You have my phone number."
Then at the apartment.
"You have my home."
Then at the evidence bags.
"You have whatever somebody wanted you to find."
She grabbed her coat.
"If you want to arrest me, arrest me after we know a seven-year-old girl is safe."
Mercer stared at her.
For one moment, Clara thought he would do it.
Then a uniformed officer appeared behind him.
"Detective."
Mercer turned.
The officer handed him a phone.
Mercer listened.
His expression shifted.
"When?"
He looked at Clara.
"Understood."
He ended the call.
"The bracelet's owner withdrew the complaint."
Clara blinked.
"Already?"
Mercer looked irritated.
"Apparently she found another bracelet and no longer believes the one recovered here belongs to her."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"Convenient."
Mercer handed Clara a card.
"Do not leave the city."
Dante walked past him.
"She isn't planning a vacation."
They were in the car twenty seconds later.
The drive back felt twice as long as the drive out.
Dante called every guard assigned to the house.
No one answered.
Then Elias picked up.
His voice was low.
"I'm not at the house."
"Where are you?"
"You sent me to the secure lab with Elena's phone."
Dante closed his eyes for half a second.
"Can you see the residence cameras?"
"Give me thirty seconds."
Clara stared through the windshield.
Traffic crawled ahead.
Dante swore under his breath and turned onto the shoulder.
The SUV behind them followed.
Elias came back on the line.
"I have exterior feeds."
"Talk."
"Front gate is closed."
"People?"
"Nobody visible."
"Vehicles?"
"Tomas's SUV is still there."
Dante's knuckles whitened on the wheel.
"Sophia?"
"No visual."
Elias paused.
"Wait."
Dante gripped the phone.
"What?"
"The internal camera system went offline seventeen minutes ago."
"How?"
"Manual shutdown from inside the security room."
Dante pressed harder on the accelerator.
"Who has access?"
"You."
"Who else?"
Elias hesitated.
"Tomas."
The answer hung between them.
Clara remembered the guard who had opened the front door for Julian and Vincent.
The guard Dante had trusted enough to leave with Sophia.
"You think Tomas did this?"
Dante did not answer.
Elias did.
"I think somebody used his credentials."
Dante ended the call.
They reached the estate in nineteen minutes.
The iron gates opened normally.
That made everything worse.
No guard stepped out to meet them.
Dante parked before the engine fully stopped.
He ran toward the front door.
Clara followed.
One of his men caught her arm.
"Stay behind us."
"Sophia is inside."
"That's why."
The front door was unlocked.
Dante pushed it open.
The foyer was empty.
No blood.
No broken furniture.
No signs of a struggle.
The house looked exactly as they had left it.
Except it was silent.
Dante called his daughter's name.
"Sophia!"
Nothing answered.
They cleared the first floor room by room.
Kitchen.
Dining room.
Library.
Study.
Empty.
In the security room, Tomas sat in a chair.
His wrists were zip-tied behind him.
Gray tape covered his mouth.
He was alive.
Dante tore the tape away.
Tomas gasped.
"They took her."
Dante's face went white.
Clara grabbed the back of a chair.
"Who?"
Tomas looked at her.
"Two men in maintenance uniforms."
"How did they get inside?"
"Service gate."
Dante cut the ties.
"You opened it?"
"The work order was in the system."
"What work order?"
"HVAC inspection."
Dante's voice rose for the first time.
"At ten in the morning after a security breach?"
Tomas flinched.
"It had your authorization code."
Dante stopped.
Elias's voice came through the speakerphone from Clara's hand.
"I can confirm that."
Dante turned.
Clara had called him without realizing it.
"The work order was entered at 7:14 a.m. under Dante's administrator key."
Dante stared at the floor.
"I was in the library at 7:14."
"Then someone has your key."
Tomas rubbed his wrists.
"They asked where the west corridor was."
Clara's blood ran cold.
"The linen closet."
Tomas nodded.
"I thought they were checking a vent."
"Where was Sophia?"
"Upstairs with Maria."
"Who's Maria?"
"Her nanny."
Dante turned toward the staircase.
"Where is she?"
Tomas looked down.
"We can't find her either."
The search moved upstairs.
Sophia's bedroom was empty.
Her bed had been made.
The paper bird Clara had folded the night before sat on the pillow.
Beside it was Clara's order pad.
One page had been torn out.
Clara searched the room.
"She had this with her downstairs."
Dante looked at the pad.
"Then she came back here."
They found the torn page under the bed.
Sophia had drawn a car.
Four wheels.
Two figures inside.
One small.
One tall.
Above the car was a single word.
BLUE.
Dante looked at Clara.
"Blue room."
Clara shook her head.
"Maybe blue car."
Elias spoke through the phone.
"I can search exterior traffic cameras for blue vehicles."
"Do it."
Clara turned the paper over.
There was another drawing on the back.
A church.
A bell tower.
Three trees.
Dante stopped breathing.
"I know that place."
"Where?"
"The old family chapel in Westchester."
Tomas stared at him.
"Nobody uses it anymore."
"Exactly."
Dante was already moving.
Then Clara noticed one more mark in the lower corner of the page.
A tiny rectangle.
Three lines.
Julian's symbol.
She caught Dante's sleeve.
"Wait."
He turned.
Clara pointed.
"She drew Julian's mark."
Dante's expression hardened.
"Then he's there."
"Or she wants us to think of him."
"Why would she do that?"
"Because she's seven and terrified."
Clara looked at the church drawing.
"We don't know if she's showing where they took her or something she remembers from three years ago."
Dante stared at the page.
That possibility hurt him visibly.
A guard appeared in the doorway.
"Sir."
Dante looked up.
"We found Maria."
"Where?"
"Laundry room."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
They found Sophia's nanny sitting on the floor with a blanket around her shoulders.
She was in her sixties and shaking badly.
A paramedic checked her blood pressure.
Dante crouched in front of her.
"Maria."
She looked at him and began crying.
"I'm sorry."
"Tell me what happened."
"A man came upstairs."
"What man?"
"He said there was a gas leak."
"Describe him."
Maria shook her head.
"Cap. Mask. Gray uniform."
"Did Sophia know him?"
Maria's expression changed.
Dante saw it.
"What?"
"She didn't run."
Clara felt her stomach twist.
"Why not?"
Maria looked at Dante.
"Because he used the name Elena used when Sophia was little."
Dante went still.
"What name?"
Maria swallowed.
"Sofi-bird."
Dante stood slowly.
Clara understood immediately.
Only someone close to Elena would know that.
Maria reached beneath the blanket.
"He dropped this."
She held out a small brass key.
Not the hidden-compartment key.
This one was larger.
A blue enamel disk hung from the ring.
Stamped into the metal were two numbers.
11-42.
Elias went silent on the phone.
Dante stared at the numbers.
"What?"
Elias finally spoke.
"The original police report says Elena's estimated time of death was 11:45 p.m."
Clara looked at the key.
"And this says 11:42."
Elias inhaled.
"That's not the only reason I'm worried."
"Tell me."
"I just pulled the archived house security logs from the night Elena died."
Dante's face tightened.
"There is a three-minute gap."
Nobody moved.
"What time?"
May you like
Elias answered.
"11:42 to 11:45."
