Chapter 5
“This morning?” Harris whispered.
I watched the timestamp again.
My brain refused to accept it.
This morning.
Hours before the funeral.
“Elena is dead,” Tony said, but his voice cracked.
I looked at the coffin photo in my mind.
The pale face.
The still hands.
The message scratched into the lining.
“Maybe not when they closed it.”
Harris grabbed his radio.
“I need units at Greenlawn Funeral Home now.”
I was already moving.
Tony ran after me.
“Boss!”
Bruno jumped into the SUV before I even opened the door fully.
I drove like the city had become glass beneath my wheels.
At the funeral home, patrol cars already crowded the curb.
Luis stood outside screaming at officers.
His wife was gone.
“Where is she?” I demanded.
Harris arrived behind me, breathless.
An officer turned.
“The body was removed.”
Luis grabbed my jacket.
“They took my daughter!”
“Who?”
“The funeral director said the state examiner came early.”
Harris shouted, “There was no removal order!”
I ran inside.
The coffin was empty.
The stuffed bunny was gone.
Bruno went wild.
He leapt at the white satin, barking, clawing, then turned toward the back hallway.
I followed.
He tore through the prep room, past metal tables, past cabinets, straight to the loading dock.
Tire marks.
Fresh.
Black van.
No plates.
I turned to Harris.
“Find it.”
He was already on the phone.
Tony held up something from the floor.
A tiny purple shoelace.
Elena’s.
My chest burned.
“She’s alive,” I said.
Luis stared at me.
“Don’t say that if you don’t know.”
“I know enough to fight.”
He grabbed my arm.
“You bring her back.”
“I will.”
“No.” His eyes filled. “Not as the man I owed money to. As a father.”
I looked at him.
I had no children.
No wife.
No soft place left in me.
But in that moment, I understood enough.
“As a father,” I said.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Victor’s voice slid through the speaker.
“Still chasing dead girls, Dante?”
My hand tightened.
“Where is she?”
“Safe, if you behave.”
“She is seven.”
“She is evidence.”
I looked at Bruno.
He was shaking with rage.
Victor laughed softly.
“You always loved loyalty. Tell me, does your dog still remember my scent?”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger your father hid from me.”
My stomach dropped.
“My father is dead.”
“So was I.”
The line went quiet.
Then Elena’s small voice came through, weak and terrified.
“Daddy?”
Luis screamed.
Victor returned.
May you like
“Midnight. Come alone.”
Then the call ended.
