Chapter 2 - THE MAN WITH THE BROKEN STAR
Peter Sloane was waiting in the security office when Dante arrived.
He sat at the end of a narrow table, his hands folded in front of him.
He was thirty-eight, broad-shouldered, and clean-shaven. A thin white
scar crossed his right eyebrow, exactly where Lily had pointed.
Peter had been hired after a security contractor recommended him. His
record was clean. His references were strong. He had worked at the
mansion for twenty-two months without a formal complaint.
Dante entered alone.
“Peter.”
“Mr. Moretti.”
“Do you know why you’re here?”
“No, sir.”
“Where were you at seven this morning?”
“West corridor. I checked the service entrance, then the front hall.”
“Did you enter the library?”
Peter shook his head. “No.”
Dante sat opposite him.
“Someone saw you.”
Peter’s expression did not change. “Who?”
“A child.”
For the first time, Peter blinked.
Dante placed Lily’s drawing on the table. The small figure beside the
window was little more than a black outline, but the white mark through
the eyebrow was clear.
Peter looked down.
“That’s a child’s drawing.”
“It is.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m asking you a question. Did you enter the library?”
“No.”
Dante waited.
Peter leaned back. “You have cameras everywhere. Check them.”
“We are.”
“Then why am I being questioned?”
“Because I want to hear your answer before I hear what the cameras say.”
Peter’s jaw tightened.
Dante placed the copper device in a clear evidence bag on the table.
“Do you recognize this?”
Peter glanced at it. “No.”
“Someone installed it inside my tie.”
“That sounds like a problem for the tailor.”
“Someone asked a child to describe my clothing schedule. Someone entered
the library and closed a window. A child drew the person with your
scar.”
Peter stared at the drawing.
“Maybe she saw me in the hall.”
“Perhaps.”
Dante stood.
“Until the footage is reviewed, you are suspended from duty. You will
surrender your access card and remain available to the investigators.”
Peter’s composure slipped.
“Mr. Moretti, I’ve worked for you for almost two years.”
“I know.”
“I’ve protected this house.”
“Then you’ll understand why I need to establish what happened.”
Peter placed his access card on the table.
“Of course.”
Dante left without another word.
Marco was waiting outside.
“We have the footage,” he said. “The library camera shows Peter entering
at 8:11. He stayed for forty-three seconds. He opened the east window,
looked outside, then closed it.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know. But he was carrying a small black case.”
“Where is it?”
“His locker.”
“Secure it. Do not open it without the investigators present.”
Marco nodded.
“What about the tailor?”
“Giuseppe says he delivered the ties exactly as ordered. He denies
opening any seams after they left his shop.”
“Did he mention the man with the ring?”
Marco opened his notebook. “He says a customer came in after closing
last Tuesday. The man claimed to be collecting a package for Victor
Romano.”
Dante stopped walking.
“Victor?”
“Giuseppe says the man showed a written authorization. He remembers a
silver ring with a star.”
“Did he describe the man?”
“Tall. Brown coat. Dark hair. He couldn’t see the face clearly.”
Dante looked toward the front staircase. Victor had been his father’s
closest lieutenant. He had guided Dante through the first difficult
years after the funeral. He had stood beside him at every important
meeting and knew the family’s routines better than anyone.
“Call Victor,” Dante said.
Marco hesitated. “Now?”
“No. Ask him to come for lunch. Tell him I want to discuss Thursday’s
meeting.”
Marco understood. “And Peter?”
“Keep him separate. If Victor is involved, I don’t want either of them
warned.”
Back in the library, Elena was helping Lily arrange her drawings. The
little girl had begun a new picture: the mansion’s front hall, with the
staircase, the chandelier, and four small men standing in a row.
Dante paused at the door.
“Are those the guards?”
Lily nodded.
“You remembered all four?”
“They stand in different places.”
She pointed to each figure. “This one is near the stairs. This one sees
the front door. This one watches the garden. This one watches the hall.”
Dante looked at Elena.
“She draws what she sees,” Elena said softly. “She doesn’t always know
why it matters.”
Dante crouched beside Lily.
“Do you remember the man who came into the library?”
“Yes.”
“Would you recognize him if you saw him again?”
She nodded.
“Would you like to draw him?”
Lily looked toward her mother. Elena gave her a small nod.
The child selected a pencil and began.
This drawing was more detailed. She made the man’s hair dark and short.
She drew a narrow nose, a straight mouth, and a small white line through
the eyebrow. Then she added his right hand.
The ring had a star in its center.
But one point was missing.
Dante leaned closer.
“Is the star broken?”
Lily nodded.
“It had a little piece gone. Like somebody bit it.”
Dante remembered the ring Victor wore on his right hand. It had belonged
to his older brother, who died when they were young. The silver star was
worn at one point, leaving a small notch.
He looked at Elena.
“Please keep Lily here with you. Marco will arrange a room where she can
draw without being interrupted.”
Then he stepped into the hall and called Marco.
“Victor’s ring. Check it.”
Marco’s voice lowered. “You think—”
“I think we verify everything.”
At noon, Victor arrived wearing a dark brown suit and carrying the same
silver watch. He greeted Dante with familiar warmth.
“It’s been a difficult morning.”
Dante gestured toward the sitting room.
“Sit.”
Victor looked around. “Where’s the tie?”
“Destroyed.”
“That’s a shame. It was a good piece.”
Dante watched him.
“Did you know there was a device inside it?”
Victor’s expression remained still for a moment too long.
Then he laughed softly.
“What?”
“A listening device. Hidden beneath the lining.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Who would do that?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Victor leaned forward. “You should have told me immediately.”
“Why?”
“Because I can help.”
Dante folded his hands.
“You ordered the ties.”
“I handle your wardrobe. You know that.”
“You arranged the delivery.”
“Yes.”
“You knew which one I would wear.”
“It’s on the schedule.”
Dante let the silence stretch.
Victor finally said, “Are you accusing me?”
“I’m asking questions.”
“After twenty years?”
“After someone put a microphone in my clothing.”
Victor stood and walked toward the window.
“You’re letting a child’s story get into your head.”
Dante did not move.
“A child’s drawing matched the security footage.”
Victor turned.
“What footage?”
Dante watched his face.
“The library camera.”
Victor’s eyes shifted toward the hall. It was quick, but Dante saw it.
“Peter was in there,” Victor said. “He probably went in to check the
window.”
“He denied entering.”
“Then he’s a fool.”
Dante rose.
“Your ring. May I see it?”
Victor looked at his right hand.
“Why?”
“I want to look at it.”
For a moment, neither man moved.
Then Victor removed the ring and placed it on the table.
The silver star had a missing point.
Dante stared at it.
Victor smiled without warmth.
“You think a child can identify a ring?”
“I think a child can notice a detail adults ignore.”
Victor picked up the ring.
“Be careful, Dante. You’re looking for a traitor so badly you may invent
one.”
He left the ring on the table and walked out.
Dante did not stop him.
He waited until the front door closed, then called Marco.
“Victor knows about the camera.”
Marco went quiet.
“He shouldn’t.”
“No.”
“Do you want him detained?”
“Not yet. Follow him. Quietly. And find out who gave Giuseppe the
authorization.”
Dante returned to the library.
Lily was coloring a row of stars. One had a missing point.
She looked up.
“Did you find the man?”
“Not yet.”
“He was scared when he saw the picture.”
Dante crouched.
“How do you know?”
“His mouth got tight. And he touched his ring.”
Dante felt the weight of the answer.
A child had noticed a movement that his security men had missed, and a
reaction that he himself might have overlooked.
“Thank you, Lily.”
She returned to her drawing.
Dante stood, understanding that the next move had to be careful. Victor
had been part of his life for so long that suspicion felt like betrayal.
But if Victor had helped place a device in his tie, the man had not
merely violated a business arrangement.
He had entered Dante’s home, used its routines, and brought danger
within reach of a four-year-old child.
That was something Dante could not forgive.
After Victor left, Dante remained in the sitting room until the staff
had cleared the lunch service. He asked Marco to retrieve the old family
photograph albums from the upstairs office. One photograph showed Victor
standing behind Dante’s father at a summer gathering, his hand resting
on the older man’s shoulder. Another showed Victor holding Dante as a
toddler beside the pear tree.
The pictures made the betrayal harder to understand, not easier.
Marco found him looking at the second photograph.
“You trusted him,” Marco said.
“I did.”
“Your father did too.”
Dante returned the picture to its sleeve. “That is why he could get so
close.”
Marco said nothing.
Dante instructed him to preserve the photograph but not to use it as
evidence. It proved a history, not a crime. He wanted the investigation
built on what Victor had done, not on the fact that he had once been
loved by the family.
When he returned to the library, Lily had drawn the same star again,
this time with all its points except one. She looked at the page and
then at Dante.
“It’s not a good star,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because one part is missing.”
Dante looked at it.
“Sometimes the missing part is what helps you recognize it.”
May you like
Lily considered that, then added a small line where the point should
have been.
