Chapter 2 - The Eviction
Twenty minutes later, a black sedan stopped before a deteriorating brick apartment building in Bridgeport.
Vincent stepped onto the sidewalk.
He knew the neighborhood.
Thirty years earlier, his father had collected debts three streets away.
Emily raced toward the entrance.
“Third floor!”
The stairwell smelled of damp plaster, cabbage, and old radiator pipes.
Emily climbed quickly.
Vincent followed.
Halfway down the third-floor hallway, she stopped.
Her apartment door stood open.
“Mom?”
No answer.
Emily ran.
Vincent moved faster.
Inside, a thin brunette woman stood backed against the kitchen wall while a heavyset man in a gray overcoat held several documents in his hands.
“You can’t do this,” she said.
“You’ve received notice.”
“This isn’t legal.”
“It becomes legal when nobody stops it.”
Then the man saw Vincent.
His face lost all color.
“Romano.”
Vincent stepped inside.
Emily’s mother looked between them.
“You know him?”
The man swallowed.
Vincent slowly removed his leather gloves.
“Emily,” he said without looking away from the stranger, “stand behind me.”
The man raised both hands.
“I didn’t know the girl was yours.”
Vincent’s gaze became ice.
“She isn’t.”
He placed Emily’s coin jar gently on the kitchen table.
“But now you have a different problem.”
Something metallic struck the wooden floor.
A handgun.
It had slipped from beneath the stranger’s coat.
Nobody breathed.
The stranger glanced down.
Vincent saw the thought form before the man moved.
“Don’t.”
The man lunged.
Marco kicked the weapon beneath the refrigerator.
Sal slammed him against the wall.
Emily screamed.
Her mother pulled her close.
“It’s okay, baby.
It’s okay.”
Vincent picked up the weapon using his handkerchief.
Then he noticed the papers scattered across the floor.
Eviction notices.
He crouched.
The first document looked ordinary.
The second did not.
Vincent read the heading twice.
PROPERTY TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION
Purchaser:
Northstar Urban Development LLC.
His face changed.
Emily’s mother noticed.
“What?”
Vincent lifted the paper.
“Who gave him this?”
The stranger remained silent.
Vincent looked at Emily’s mother.
“What’s your name?”
“Claire Bennett.”
“This building isn’t being emptied because your landlord wants tenants gone.”
Claire swallowed.
“Then why?”
“Someone is buying it.”
Emily tugged Vincent’s sleeve.
“Does Mom still have to leave?”
Vincent looked down at her.
At the worn shoes.
The hopeful eyes.
The jar containing everything she owned.
“No.”
Then he turned toward Claire.
“But I need to know something.”
He showed her the document.
Claire read the company name.
Her face went white.
“Oh God.”
“You recognize it.”
She backed into a chair.
“Yes.”
“From where?”
Claire looked at Emily.
Then at the man pinned against the wall.
Her voice broke.
“Emily’s father.”
Vincent went completely still.
“He disappeared before Emily was born.”
The stranger suddenly laughed.
Vincent turned.
“What’s funny?”
The man’s mouth curved into a bloody smile.
“Her father didn’t disappear, Romano.”
Silence.
Then:
“You made him disappear.”
Claire stared at Vincent.
“What does he mean?”
Vincent didn’t answer.
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Because eleven years earlier, Northstar had belonged to Daniel Mercer.
And Vincent remembered Daniel Mercer very well.
