Chapter 4 - A House With No Address
By three in the morning, Chloe had learned that exhaustion could become so complete it stopped feeling like tiredness and became a second personality.
That second Chloe was impatient.
Suspicious.
And increasingly irritated by men who spoke in partial sentences.
“Why would Tommy walk into a police station and ask for Frank?” she demanded.
Roman drove.
Dean sat behind them.
“Because the precinct isn’t neutral,” Roman replied.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Russo has relationships there.”
“Cops?”
Dean answered before Roman could.
“Some.”
Roman’s eyes flicked toward the mirror.
Dean became quiet.
Chloe turned toward Roman.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“You met me three hours ago.”
“That excuse is going to stop working eventually.”
Roman almost smiled.
They did not go to the police station.
Instead Roman made two calls.
The first was to a lawyer named Miriam Sloan.
The second was to a federal investigator named Daniel Hart.
Chloe listened.
“Federal investigator?” she asked after Roman hung up.
“Yes.”
“You keep one of those on speed dial?”
“No.”
“You knew his number.”
“I know many numbers.”
“You’re exhausting.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Hart confirmed that Tommy had entered the precinct but disappeared through a rear entrance fourteen minutes later.
No booking.
No statement.
No official record.
Tommy Bennett—though he was not, and had never been, Chloe’s husband—had effectively vanished inside a police building.
Chloe closed her eyes.
Roman turned toward Gallagher Auto & Body.
Fire crews still surrounded the building.
Smoke hung low over the street.
They parked two blocks away.
“You stay here,” Roman told Dean.
Dean did not argue.
Chloe opened her door.
Roman looked at her.
“What?”
“You too.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“You brought me.”
“To keep you where I could see you.”
“I’m touched.”
The sidewalk was cold beneath her borrowed shoes.
Roman caught up.
“You realize stubbornness is not the same thing as courage.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“Controlling everyone around you isn’t the same thing as protecting them.”
Roman stopped.
Chloe continued walking.
For several seconds she heard nothing behind her.
Then his footsteps resumed.
“Point taken,” he said.
A fire captain allowed Roman near the rear of the building after a brief conversation Chloe did not hear.
The main floor was ruined.
The office where Tommy kept his desk was blackened.
Water poured down the stairs.
Dean’s directions were precise.
Basement.
North wall.
Old compressor.
Roman found the metal access panel.
Behind it was brick.
Chloe crouched.
“One of these isn’t real.”
Roman looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“The mortar.”
She pointed.
“Different color.”
Together they removed a loose section.
Behind it sat a narrow steel box.
Roman pulled it free.
Locked.
Chloe stared.
“You don’t happen to carry burglary tools?”
Roman reached into his coat.
She raised an eyebrow.
“You do.”
“It’s a key.”
“To Tommy’s secret box?”
Roman held up a small pry tool.
“Fine.”
Thirty seconds later the lock broke.
Inside were documents.
Hundreds.
Invoices.
Copies of signatures.
Bank transfers.
Property records.
And a black notebook.
Roman opened it.
Every page was filled in Tommy’s handwriting.
Chloe reached for it.
Roman gave it to her.
She read.
FRANK — 40K — MERCER CORRECTION
MARSTEN ACCESS — G.K.
V FREIGHT AUTH CODE
NORTHSTAR MASTER / 11-18
Her finger stopped.
“G.K.”
Roman took the notebook.
“What?”
“Marsten Access — G.K.”
Roman stared.
Chloe saw his face become empty.
Too empty.
“Who is G.K.?”
“No one.”
“Roman.”
He closed the notebook.
“Someone I need to speak to.”
“Who?”
He looked at her.
“Gabriel Kane.”
“The man you told Elena not to contact?”
“Yes.”
“What does he do?”
Roman’s voice was flat.
“He runs my security.”
Chloe looked toward the charred ceiling.
“So the person protecting your company may have given Frank access to mine.”
“It appears possible.”
“Which means your secret house…”
Roman understood instantly.
He grabbed his phone.
No service.
The basement’s concrete walls blocked the signal.
He moved toward the stairs.
Too late.
Above them came footsteps.
Roman stopped.
Chloe’s heart climbed into her throat.
Not firefighters.
These were slower.
One person.
Roman switched off his flashlight.
Darkness swallowed the basement.
Chloe heard water dripping.
The footsteps reached the stairs.
A voice called down.
“Roman?”
Roman relaxed slightly.
“Miriam.”
A flashlight appeared.
A woman in a dark coat descended.
Mid-forties.
Silver-blond hair.
Sharp features.
She looked at Chloe.
“You must be Miss Bennett.”
“How does everybody know who I am?”
Miriam gave Roman a pointed look.
“Your photograph from Marsten’s website is online.”
Chloe groaned.
“Of course it is.”
Miriam handed Roman a phone.
“Your Mercer alarm triggered.”
Roman became still.
“When?”
“Seven minutes ago.”
Chloe understood.
“The house.”
Roman nodded.
“Someone entered?”
“Attempted.”
“Who?”
“The camera feed cut before facial recognition completed.”
Roman took the documents.
“We leave.”
Miriam touched his arm.
“One more thing.”
Roman looked at her.
“The authorization used to disable the first layer of security belonged to Gabriel Kane.”
Silence.
Roman did not react visibly.
But Chloe had spent three years learning how dangerous men hid anger.
Tommy became loud.
Roman became quiet.
That was worse.
They returned to Mercer Street just before dawn.
Nobody had entered the townhouse.
The gate had stopped them.
But someone had tried.
Roman stood in the kitchen studying a frozen image from the camera.
A hooded figure.
No face.
Chloe sat nearby with the black notebook.
She turned the pages carefully.
Most were meaningless without context.
Then she found a page dated six months earlier.
V + FATHER DOCS.
She stared.
“Roman.”
He came over.
“What?”
She showed him.
His expression shifted.
“My father?”
“Maybe.”
On the next line:
ORIGINALS AT NORTHSTAR.
Roman took the notebook.
Below that:
G.K. KNOWS VAULT.
Chloe watched him.
“You trust Gabriel?”
“I did.”
“How long?”
“Eighteen years.”
“That’s a long time.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe G.K. means somebody else.”
“It doesn’t.”
“How can you know?”
Roman looked toward the dark window.
“Because Gabriel is the only person alive besides me who knew my father kept a private document vault.”
Chloe felt a chill.
“Where?”
Roman’s eyes moved back to the notebook.
“That is the problem.”
“Why?”
“The vault was emptied after my father died.”
“So?”
“Nobody knew where the documents went.”
Chloe looked at the words.
ORIGINALS AT NORTHSTAR.
“Until now.”
Roman nodded.
His phone rang.
Gabriel Kane’s name appeared on the screen.
Chloe and Roman both stared at it.
Roman answered on speaker.
“Gabriel.”
“Where are you?”
A deep male voice.
Concerned.
Convincing.
“At Mercer.”
A pause.
“You told me never to mention that place on an open line.”
Roman’s eyes met Chloe’s.
“Things change.”
“I’ve been trying to find you. Russo disappeared. His people are moving.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Roman, there’s something wrong inside V Freight.”
“Tell me.”
“Someone used your credentials.”
“I know.”
“I’m heading to you.”
“No.”
Silence.
“Why?”
Roman looked at the black notebook.
“Because I’m not alone.”
Another pause.
Then Gabriel asked the question that told Chloe more than any confession could have.
“Is the woman with you?”
Roman’s face hardened.
He had never told Gabriel about Chloe.
Nobody spoke.
Gabriel realized his mistake.
The call disconnected.
Roman slowly lowered the phone.
Chloe whispered, “He knows.”
“Yes.”
“He knows about me.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Roman looked toward the security monitor.
“The better question is how long he has known.”
Then every light in the townhouse went out.
The room turned black.
May you like
And from somewhere beyond the iron gate came the unmistakable mechanical sound of the security system unlocking itself.
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