Chapter 3
Alessandro looked at her.
“I tried.”
“How?”
“Arguments. Family obligations. Money.”
Mateo added quietly, “Mostly guilt.”
Alessandro looked at him but did not deny it.
“He left anyway,” he said.
Genevieve waited.
“And then?”
“And then Mara didn’t go with him.”
“Why?”
“I never knew.”
“Nico left alone?”
“Yes.”
“And you never saw him again?”
“Not in person.”
Genevieve studied Alessandro’s face.
“You were in contact.”
“A few emails.”
“You told me he was in Europe.”
“The emails came from Europe.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“No.”
He looked tired.
“At first he wrote every few months. Then once a year. Then nothing.”
“When was the last email?”
“Five years ago.”
Mateo stepped forward.
“Technically four years and eleven months.”
Alessandro looked at him.
“That level of precision is not helping.”
“It might matter now.”
Genevieve held out her hand.
“Can I see the security log again?”
Mateo gave her the phone.
She enlarged the entry.
“What exactly does this code mean?”
Mateo pulled the other chair closer.
“The house used two-factor manual overrides. One person could request a camera shutdown, but a second authorized user had to approve it.”
“And Nico still had a code somewhere?”
“He should not have.”
“Could someone copy it?”
“Possibly. But not easily.”
Genevieve pointed to Alessandro’s name.
“And his?”
Mateo leaned closer.
“That’s what bothers me.”
Alessandro’s jaw tightened.
“Someone used my authorization.”
“Or made the system believe they did.”
Genevieve looked between them.
“Who maintained the software?”
Mateo hesitated.
“A contractor.”
“Which contractor?”
Another pause.
Then Alessandro answered.
“Mara’s brother.”
Genevieve stared at him.
Mateo closed his eyes briefly.
“That sounds worse when you say it out loud.”
“Because it is worse.”
Genevieve put down the phone.
“What was his name?”
“Daniel Voss.”
“Is he still around?”
“No.”
“Europe?”
Alessandro shook his head.
“Connecticut.”
Genevieve blinked.
“He lives in Connecticut?”
“Last I knew.”
“And no one thought of asking him whether an obsolete security code could somehow still access your house?”
Mateo lifted a hand.
“In our defense, until ten minutes ago we thought Nico’s code was dead.”
Genevieve gave him a long look.
Mateo lowered his hand.
“Not a strong defense.”
“No.”
A nurse entered to check Genevieve’s blood pressure and the conversation stopped.
Alessandro stepped back.
Genevieve watched him move aside without being asked.
Something about that small gesture affected her more than she wanted it to.
Seven months ago, Alessandro would have remained beside the bed unless someone directly told him to leave.
He would have asked the nurse questions.
He would have wanted numbers, reassurance, certainty.
Now he stood near the window with his hands in his pockets and waited.
The change was tiny.
But real.
When the nurse finished, Genevieve said, “I want Claire here.”
Alessandro nodded.
“I’ll call her.”
“I can call my own lawyer.”
He stopped.
“Right.”
Mateo looked at the ceiling.
Genevieve sighed.
“You really are trying.”
“I told you.”
“I know.”
May you like
She picked up her phone.
Claire Bennett arrived forty minutes later wearing dark trousers, a camel sweater, and a raincoat that still carried droplets on the shoulders.
