Chapter 4 - Someone Threatened Her Mother-in-Law—And the Mafia Boss Broke His Own Rules
Holloway drove through Chicago without speaking. Dileia called her neighbor three times before the woman answered. Ruth was safe, sitting at the kitchen table and insisting that Tommy would arrive for lunch.
Only then did Dileia breathe.
Julian met them at the apartment building twenty minutes later. He had exchanged his tailored jacket for a dark coat, but he still looked painfully out of place beside the broken elevator and peeling paint.
“You came yourself?” Dileia asked.
“The threat was made because of my investigation.”
“That's not an apology.”
“No. This is. I'm sorry.”
She had expected an excuse, perhaps a command. Instead he offered a choice: a secured apartment paid for through a documented consulting relocation allowance, or discreet protection at her existing home. She would decide; Ruth would not be moved without consent.
Dileia stared at him. “You make everything sound like a contract.”
“Contracts are easier to trust than promises.”
“Not when powerful men write them.”
“Then have your lawyer write this one.”
Inside, Ruth greeted Julian as if he were a visiting schoolteacher. She asked whether he had eaten. Julian, who had apparently faced gunmen without flinching, seemed bewildered by the question.
“No, ma'am.”
“Then sit. No one should work on an empty stomach.”
Dileia watched the feared Julian Thorne accept a chipped mug of tea and a slightly burned piece of toast. For a moment, the apartment felt almost ordinary.
Then Ruth looked at his face and whispered, “You're one of the tower men.”
Dileia froze.
“What do you mean, Ruth?”
The older woman's hands began to tremble. “Tommy said the tower men wanted the blue notebook. He told me never to give it away.”
“Where is it?” Julian asked gently.
Ruth's expression clouded. “What notebook?”
Dileia knew better than to force a memory that was slipping away. She changed the subject, but the phrase remained lodged in her mind.
That afternoon, she and Holloway searched the apartment with Ruth's permission. They found Tommy's tools, his union cards, old photographs, and a box of receipts. No blue notebook.
Meanwhile Julian ordered an independent security review. Holloway discovered that the photograph used in the threat had been printed on a machine inside Thorn Tower. Only three departments had access to that printer: executive administration, finance, and the private security office.
“Which means?” Dileia asked when Julian called.
“Someone close enough to know our movements wants you frightened.”
“It's working.”
“I know.”
“I'm still not stopping.”
“I know that too.”
Dileia's attorney, Marissa Cole, reviewed the consulting contract and insisted on strict terms: no access to unlawful transactions, a protected exit clause, independent payment, and immediate referral to law enforcement if criminal activity was uncovered. Julian signed every amendment.
Marissa looked at him over her glasses. “You understand she is not your employee to command?”
“Completely.”
“Good. Because I don't scare easily.”
“Neither does she,” Julian said.
That evening Dileia returned to the tower with Marissa's contact information in her pocket and a new awareness of how little she knew about the man beside her. Julian showed her the access logs. One user had opened Tommy's credential file the night before the warning appeared. The account belonged to Salenzo.
Julian did not defend his longtime adviser. He did not condemn him either. He asked Holloway to preserve the logs and requested a formal explanation.
Salenzo claimed he had been searching for the source of the breach. His explanation was plausible. Too plausible, Dileia thought.
While examining the maintenance records, she found a curious entry: the electrical panel Tommy had repaired was located in an old basement storage area closed after a fire. The job description read, “Emergency rerouting, archive circuit.”
“Why would a shipping company hide its financial archive in an electrical maintenance room?” she asked.
Julian's expression darkened. “It wouldn't.”
They went downstairs with Holloway. The basement smelled of dust and old concrete. Behind a locked door, a row of cabinets stood beneath a fluorescent light. Most were empty.
Dileia found a faint blue thread caught in the hinge of the last cabinet. Beneath it was a rectangular patch of clean metal where something had recently been removed.
Someone had beaten them there.
A phone vibrated in Julian's pocket. He listened without speaking, then handed it to Dileia.
It was the neighbor, sobbing. Ruth had wandered away while she was taking out the trash. The front door stood open.
Dileia's world narrowed to a single terrible thought.
May you like
The threat had not been a warning after all.
It had been a schedule.
Related Stories
