Chapter 6 - The Last Night of Lucia Moretti
Elina did not sleep.
Neither did Adrian.
Rosa lay upstairs after a doctor confirmed she was bruised but otherwise unharmed.
D’Angelo had taken Leo to another safe location with Adrian’s aunt.
For the first time since this began, Elina had nothing to do except think.
It was unbearable.
At four in the morning, she found Adrian sitting outside beneath a covered porch.
Rain moved across the dark lawn.
A cup of untouched coffee rested beside him.
“You should sleep,” he said.
“So should you.”
“I stopped being good at that six months ago.”
She sat.
For a while, they listened to the rain.
“What was she like?”
Adrian knew immediately who Elina meant.
“Lucia?”
“Yes.”
He stared into darkness.
“Stubborn.”
Elina smiled weakly.
“My mother says I’m stubborn.”
“She hated people telling her what she couldn’t do.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“She burned toast constantly.”
“I burn toast.”
“She pretended to understand wine.”
“I do understand wine.”
He looked at her.
“Then finally one difference.”
Elina laughed.
It surprised both of them.
The laugh became a sob before she could stop it.
She covered her mouth.
Adrian looked away, allowing her dignity.
“I feel stupid,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“I miss someone I never met.”
“That isn’t stupid.”
“I keep thinking about all the ordinary things.”
“What things?”
“Calling her.”
“Shopping.”
“Arguing.”
“Borrowing clothes.”
She wiped tears.
“I didn’t know I wanted a sister until I learned I’d already lost one.”
Adrian’s voice became quiet.
“She wanted you.”
Elina looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“She talked about you.”
“What?”
Adrian finally faced her.
“I didn’t know your name.”
“Then how?”
“She said she had a sister somewhere.”
Elina stared.
“She told you?”
“Not everything.”
“She said she’d discovered she was a twin.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Until last night, I had no reason to believe you were that sister.”
Adrian reached into his jacket.
He removed a folded piece of paper.
“I found this after she died.”
Elina opened it.
Lucia’s handwriting.
Things I want to do when this is over:
Take Leo to the ocean.
Make Adrian take one full week away from work.
Find my sister.
Tell Rosa I forgive her.
Learn to make pancakes without burning them.
Elina laughed through tears.
“She burned pancakes too?”
“Spectacularly.”
Elina pressed the note to her chest.
“What happened the night she died?”
Adrian’s expression closed.
“I want everything.”
He hesitated.
Then began.
Lucia had left home around seven.
She told Adrian she was meeting a friend.
They argued.
Not violently.
But badly.
Lucia accused him of becoming consumed by family business.
Adrian accused her of hiding something.
“She said I didn’t trust her.”
He swallowed.
“I told her she was right.”
Elina winced.
“Those were the last words you said?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
Lucia drove north.
At 8:17, she called Adrian.
He was still angry.
He didn’t answer.
At 8:21, she called again.
He ignored it.
At 8:24, there was a third call.
“I answered.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing.”
Elina frowned.
“I heard breathing.”
“Then?”
“Lucia whispered, ‘He knows.’”
Adrian’s hands tightened.
“Then the line went dead.”
“Did you call back?”
“Twenty-seven times.”
The car was found at 9:10.
It had gone through a barrier on a mountain road.
Lucia did not survive.
“I have wondered every night what would have happened if I answered the first call.”
Elina shook her head.
“You didn’t cut the brakes.”
“I could have helped her.”
“Maybe.”
He looked at her sharply.
“That isn’t comforting.”
“I’m not trying to comfort you with a lie.”
Something in his expression softened.
“You really are her sister.”
The words hurt.
“Don’t compare us too much.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want to become a substitute for her.”
“You aren’t.”
“Leo looks at me like I am.”
Adrian’s gaze lowered.
“I know.”
“And you?”
He looked surprised.
“What about me?”
“When you look at me, who do you see?”
The question hung between them.
Adrian answered carefully.
“At first?”
“Yes.”
“Lucia.”
Elina looked away.
“But not now.”
She faced him.
“It’s been two days.”
“Exactly.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“My wife would have thrown that coffee at me an hour ago for refusing to sleep.”
Elina looked at the cup.
“I was considering it.”
“That’s not the same.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
He continued.
“You look alike.”
“But you don’t move alike.”
“You don’t speak alike.”
“You don’t become angry the same way.”
“How did she?”
“Quiet.”
“And me?”
“Like a courtroom prosecutor.”
Elina almost laughed.
Then Adrian became serious.
“You are not Lucia.”
“Good.”
“I need you to believe I know that.”
Before she could respond, Rosa appeared in the doorway.
“You need to hear something.”
They went inside.
Rosa held an old photograph.
It showed a young man with dark hair and intense eyes.
Rafael Valdez.
Elina’s father.
She studied him.
There was something familiar about the shape of his mouth.
“You said he let you go.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wanted me to warn you.”
“About what?”
Rosa hesitated.
“He says Carlo has gone too far.”
Adrian laughed coldly.
“Convenient.”
“He says Lucia’s death wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Elina stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Rafael helped Carlo search for the documents.”
“But he says Carlo ordered the brakes cut without telling him.”
Adrian’s expression became lethal.
“Where is Rafael?”
“I don’t know.”
“He contacted me after I was taken.”
Rosa looked at Elina.
“He said he wants to meet you.”
“No.”
“Adrian—”
“No.”
Elina turned.
“You don’t decide.”
“Your father has been involved with Carlo for decades.”
“He may know where the evidence is.”
“He may be setting a trap.”
“I still need answers.”
Rosa pulled a piece of paper from her pocket.
An address.
An abandoned train station two hours south.
Tomorrow.
Seven in the morning.
Adrian stared at it.
“You’re not going alone.”
“I assumed.”
Rosa looked relieved.
Then she said something neither expected.
“Rafael told me something else.”
“What?”
“He said Lucia was alive after the crash.”
Adrian’s face went white.
“No.”
“He said the impact didn’t kill her.”
Elina felt cold.
“What happened?”
Rosa shook her head.
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
Adrian stood.
His chair scraped backward.
“Then Rafael knows who did.”
Rosa nodded.
“And he says Lucia spoke one final sentence before she died.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What sentence?”
Rosa swallowed.
“She said, ‘Tell Elina where I hid the red book.’”
Elina frowned.
“What red book?”
Rosa stared toward Lucia’s recorder.
“I don’t know.”
But Adrian did.
His face changed.
Elina noticed immediately.
“You know what she meant.”
He looked toward her.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Adrian’s voice was barely above a whisper.
May you like
“In Leo’s nursery.”
---
