Chapter 3 - THE SECRET HIDDEN IN FRANK'S BLOOD|
By midnight, the emergency department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital had become the most frightening place in Chicago.
Luca Moretti stood outside his father's room with his suit jacket hanging from one hand.
His expensive watch continued ticking.
But he seemed to have forgotten time existed.
I sat across from him, still wearing my black maid's uniform.
There was a faint red mark on my arm where Vanessa had grabbed me.
Neither of us had spoken for several minutes.
Finally, Luca looked at me.
"How long has my father been getting worse?"
I swallowed.
"About seven weeks."
"Seven weeks?"
He closed his eyes.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
I hesitated.
Because I knew the truth would hurt him.
"Mrs. Moretti said you didn't want to be disturbed."
Luca looked up sharply.
"She told you that?"
"Several times."
I folded my hands.
"Last month, your father asked me to bring you to his bedroom."
"He said someone was moving things and changing his medication."
"But Vanessa told me you'd already spoken to his doctor."
Luca stared at the floor.
"I never spoke to his doctor."
His voice sounded empty.
Then he asked a question I wasn't prepared for.
"Did he think I didn't care about him?"
I couldn't lie.
"Sometimes."
Luca looked away.
For a moment, he wasn't Chicago's most feared mafia boss.
He was simply a son realizing how badly he had failed his father.
The examination room door opened.
A physician named Dr. Priya Patel approached us.
"Mr. Moretti?"
Luca stood immediately.
"Is my father alive?"
"Yes."
He exhaled.
"But we're concerned about what we've found."
She explained that Frank had a sedating substance in his system that didn't appear on his prescribed medication list.
Further testing was necessary to establish exactly what he had received.
However, the preliminary findings were inconsistent with ordinary treatment for his known medical conditions.
Luca's expression hardened.
"Could someone have given it to him without his knowledge?"
"That's one possibility we're investigating."
I remembered the amber bottle.
"Doctor, there's medication at the house that doesn't have a pharmacy label."
Dr. Patel's expression became serious.
"Please make sure the authorities receive it without altering the contents."
Luca immediately called Gabriel.
A few minutes later, Detective Nina Alvarez arrived.
She was a composed woman in her forties with tired eyes and the unmistakable patience of someone who had heard every possible lie.
She listened while I explained the projector footage.
Then Luca showed her the video Gabriel had preserved.
Detective Alvarez watched without interrupting.
When Vanessa's voice asked how long it would take Frank to stop remembering, the detective paused the recording.
"Who installed the bedroom camera?"
"Frank did," Luca answered.
I looked at him in surprise.
He shook his head.
"I didn't know until Gabriel checked the equipment records."
According to those records, Frank had asked a longtime security technician to install a small camera inside his own bedroom after several possessions began disappearing.
He had also requested copies of the hallway recordings.
Mrs. Ellis had helped him transfer the files onto the same drive that held his family movies.
Frank had planned the revelation.
The old man everyone called confused had quietly been collecting evidence.
Detective Alvarez studied the screen.
"We'll need the original recordings and the equipment they came from."
"You'll have them," Luca said.
Then she asked about the stranger.
Luca hesitated.
"His name is Simon Voss."
The detective wrote it down.
"How do you know him?"
Luca stared through the hospital window.
"Twenty years ago, he worked with my father."
"He disappeared from the business after a financial scandal."
"Eight years ago, I attended his funeral."
Detective Alvarez stopped writing.
"You're telling me the man in this video is legally dead?"
"That's what I believed."
She leaned forward.
"And Vanessa knew him?"
"Apparently better than I did."
I remembered Frank's photograph.
"The photograph showed Simon standing outside a restaurant with Mr. Moretti."
Luca nodded.
"My mother's restaurant."
He turned toward me.
"Maria's Table."
I knew the name.
It had once been a small Italian restaurant on Chicago's West Side.
Frank had told me that Maria cooked there before the Moretti family became wealthy.
"Why was Simon there?" I asked.
Luca's face darkened.
"He helped manage the restaurant's finances."
Then he added something that made my stomach tighten.
"Mom fired him a few months before her death."
Detective Alvarez looked up.
"Why?"
"My father never told me."
At that moment, a nurse approached.
"Mr. Moretti, your father is awake."
We hurried inside.
Frank lay beneath a white hospital blanket, looking terribly fragile.
But when he saw me, he smiled.
"Claire."
I reached for his hand.
"I'm here."
Then Luca leaned close.
"Dad, I'm sorry."
Frank looked confused.
"For what?"
"For not believing you."
"For leaving you alone with someone who was hurting you."
Tears slipped down the old man's cheeks.
"Oh, Luca."
He reached up and touched his son's face.
"Your mother always said you had a good heart."
"You just kept it locked away."
Luca lowered his head.
For a while, neither man spoke.
Then Frank suddenly gripped my wrist.
"The blue dress."
I frowned.
"What blue dress?"
"Maria's birthday dress."
His breathing quickened.
"The one in the movie."
Luca leaned closer.
"What about it, Dad?"
Frank turned toward him.
"She hid something inside it."
"Something Simon was desperate to find."
Detective Alvarez stepped forward.
"What did she hide?"
Frank looked toward the door as though he feared someone might be listening.
Then he whispered, "A letter."
Luca frowned.
"From whom?"
Frank began crying.
"From your mother."
He looked directly at his son.
"She wrote it the night before she died."
A cold silence settled over the room.
May you like
Then Frank said something none of us expected.
"She knew somebody was going to kill her."
