Chapter 7 - The Phone Call From the Dead
Someone Was Using Carmela's Voice
Dante listened to the recording nine times.
Same voice.
Same breathing.
Same slight rasp.
Same pause before his name.
Carmela.
Or someone who knew her perfectly.
“Can it be traced?” he asked.
One of his men shook his head.
“It bounced through six servers.”
Dante's eyes turned cold.
“Then find all six.”
Matteo stood across the room.
“We shouldn't go to the blue house.”
Dante looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly where they want you.”
“And Sophia?”
“They want the child there too.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“They threatened her.”
“They threatened you.”
Dante stepped toward him.
“I know the difference.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Sophia woke.
She stared at Dante.
“Don't go in the basement.”
Dante froze.
“Why?”
“Pretty lady doesn't like it.”
Matteo's face changed.
He looked genuinely afraid.
“There is no basement.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“The blue house doesn't have a basement.”
Sophia frowned.
“Yes it does.”
Dante knelt beside her.
“Who told you?”
“Pretty lady.”
“What else?”
Sophia whispered.
“She locked the bad man underneath.”
Every person in the room went still.
Dante looked at Matteo.
“Show me the blue house.”
They drove there before dawn.
The house sat outside the city on land Dante had not visited since Carmela's childhood.
The windows were boarded.
The garden was dead.
A faded blue door hung crooked on its hinges.
Inside, everything smelled of dust.
Sophia held Dante's finger.
She had become strangely attached to him.
“Left,” she said.
Dante looked at her.
“Left where?”
She pointed.
They walked through a hallway.
Three doors.
Sophia stopped at the middle one.
“Here.”
Dante opened it.
An empty bedroom.
Except for a piano.
He stared.
“Carmela played here.”
Sophia walked to the piano.
She pressed a key.
A panel popped open.
Inside was a small cassette.
Dante stared.
Matteo whispered, “She planned this.”
Dante inserted the cassette into an old player.
Carmela's voice filled the room.
“If you're listening to this, then I'm dead.”
Dante closed his eyes.
Sophia smiled.
“There.”
Carmela continued.
“Dante, you will want revenge. Don't take it.”
A pause.
“You will think Matteo betrayed us. He didn't.”
Dante looked at Matteo.
The tape continued.
“The person who did this has been beside you longer than either of us realizes.”
I held my breath.
Then Carmela said:
“His name begins with D.”
Dante stopped the tape.
“Daniel.”
Matteo nodded.
But before Dante could restart it, the lights went out.
A gunshot shattered the window.
Dante grabbed Sophia.
“DOWN!”
Men rushed through the back door.
Gunfire erupted.
Matteo fired toward the hallway.
I ran into the bedroom.
Someone grabbed me from behind.
A hand covered my mouth.
I struggled.
Then a voice whispered into my ear.
“Rosa.”
I froze.
The voice was familiar.
Not Dante.
Not Matteo.
Daniel.
“You really don't remember me?”
He turned me around.
I saw his face.
And suddenly memory crashed over me.
Six years ago.
The diner.
Carmela in my apartment.
And another woman standing behind her.
Daniel.
He had been there.
He had watched me hide Carmela.
He had known my name.
Daniel smiled.
“You shouldn't have brought the child.”
He raised a gun.
Then Sophia stepped into the doorway.
“Mommy.”
Daniel looked at her.
His expression changed.
For the first time, he looked terrified.
Sophia pointed behind him.
“Pretty lady says you're late.”
Daniel slowly turned.
Nobody stood there.
He fired.
The bullet hit the wall.
Dante stormed into the room and shot Daniel in the shoulder.
Daniel collapsed.
Dante dragged him away from me.
“Where is Carmela's evidence?”
Daniel coughed blood.
“You think that's why she died?”
Dante grabbed his collar.
“Then why?”
Daniel smiled.
“Because she found out what happened to Sophia.”
Dante froze.
Daniel whispered:
“She wasn't your child.”
The room fell silent.
Then Sophia said softly:
“Yes, I am.”
May you like
Daniel looked at her.
And screamed.
