Chapter 1 - THE LITTLE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED EVERYTHING
“He looked around three times before he put it in.”
Dante Moretti studied the drawing.
The tailor's face was surprisingly detailed for something made by a four-year-old. Lily had drawn the round glasses, the brown vest, and even the tiny silver pin on the man's lapel. The yellow measuring tape hung exactly as it had in the shop.
“Can you show me what happened?” Dante asked.
Lily nodded. She took another sheet of paper and placed it on the rug.
“First he had the tie.” She drew a long black shape. “Then he opened it here.” Her small finger tapped the place beneath the knot. “He put the bug inside. Then he pushed the cloth together.”
“Did he see you watching?”
“No. I was coloring.”
“Did he say anything?”
Lily thought for a moment. “He said, ‘This one is for Thursday.’”
Dante's expression did not change, but something cold moved through him.
Thursday was the day the meeting had been rescheduled.
The tailor had known the tie would be worn to that meeting. Someone had told him.
“Did you see anyone else?”
Lily pointed to the edge of her drawing. There was another figure, smaller than the tailor, standing near a curtain.
“Who is that?”
“I don't know his name. He had a shiny watch. He talked to the tailor outside.”
Dante leaned closer.
“Can you draw his face?”
Lily shook her head. “He was far away. But his watch had a blue stone.”
Dante remembered Victor's watch. The silver watch his father had given him for his thirtieth birthday. It had a dark blue sapphire set into the clasp.
He did not react in front of Lily.
Instead, he asked her to draw the watch.
She did.
The shape was simple, but the blue stone was unmistakable.
Dante stood and went to the library door. Marco was waiting outside.
“Bring Elena,” he said quietly. “And don't tell her why.”
A few minutes later, Elena entered, holding Lily's little cardigan.
“Señor Moretti, I hope she hasn't caused more trouble.”
“She hasn't.”
Dante showed her the drawings.
Elena's eyes widened. “Lily, you drew all this?”
“She saw something important,” Dante said. “I need to ask you something. Has she always remembered details like this?”
Elena hesitated.
“Since she was very small. She remembers faces, colors, where people put things. At preschool, she can repeat a story after hearing it once. Her teacher says she notices patterns other children don't see.”
“Has anyone tested her?”
“No. We don't have money for special programs. And I don't want people treating her like she's strange.”
Dante looked at the child.
“She isn't strange.”
Lily was busy arranging her crayons by color.
“She has a gift,” he continued. “But she's still a little girl. She should be allowed to be one.”
Elena's shoulders loosened slightly.
Dante placed the drawing of the watch inside a folder.
“Marco will take you both home this afternoon. Until then, stay in the library. No one is to question Lily without you present.”
Elena looked alarmed. “Is someone in danger?”
Dante glanced at the drawing again.
“I believe someone has been trying to learn what I know.”
He did not tell her that he now suspected the man who had stood beside him for ten years.
Nor did he tell her that Thursday's meeting might have been a trap.
That evening, Dante reviewed the mansion's visitor records. The tailor had entered the residence twice in the previous month. Victor had been present both times.
One detail stood out.
On the day the ties arrived, Victor had asked Elena to sign for the delivery, then instructed her to leave the box in Dante's dressing room.
He had made sure the tie reached Dante's hands.
At 11:38 p.m., Dante received a message from an unknown number.
The meeting is back on. Thursday. Don't disappoint the families again.
Dante stared at the screen.
He had not authorized the meeting.
He had not told anyone it was back on.
He looked through the glass wall toward the library, where Lily had fallen asleep on a cushion beside her mother.
Then he called Marco.
“Find out who sent that message.”
Marco answered immediately.
“And Marco?”
May you like
“Yes, boss?”
“From now on, nobody knows what I plan to do. Not even the people who think they already know.”
