Chapter 4 - Beneath the Garden
Valentina crossed the lawn before Evelyn finished speaking.
“Nico. Tomas. With me.”
Marco took one step after them.
Valentina turned.
“You stay here.”
His jaw worked once.
“You are walking underground based on the word of a woman who lied to you for years.”
“Yes.”
“That is reckless.”
“So is poisoning my father’s memory with excuses.”
The storage building had been locked since Domenico died.
Nico broke the padlock.
Inside were stacked chairs, cracked planters, a rusted lawn roller, and an old freezer that no longer worked.
Tomas swept the floor with a flashlight.
“Fresh dust disturbance.”
They moved the freezer.
Under it was a concrete panel with a brass keyhole.
The G7 key turned once.
A hidden latch released.
Cold air pushed upward.
Stairs disappeared into darkness.
Valentina drew her pistol.
Nico went first.
The room below was larger than the building above.
Steel shelving lined both walls.
Most of it was empty.
A metal burn barrel sat in the center.
Ash inside was fresh enough to stain Tomas’s glove black.
“Someone cleaned this place.”
Valentina ran a finger along one shelf.
Dust everywhere except a rectangular patch.
“Recently.”
Nico pointed his flashlight toward the far wall.
One steel box remained.
No lock.
Valentina opened it.
Inside lay a photograph.
Domenico stood on the garden steps ten years younger, one hand on Marco Bellini’s shoulder.
On the back, in Domenico’s handwriting:
IF I DIE, ASK HIM WHY.
Nico read it over her shoulder.
“Jesus.”
A sound came from the stairs.
All three guns rose.
Marco stood at the top landing.
Valentina’s voice dropped.
“I told you to stay upstairs.”
“I heard the panel open.”
“You also seem to hear every secret in this house.”
Marco walked down one step.
Nico blocked the rest.
Marco looked at the photograph in Valentina’s hand.
For the first time that day, his face genuinely changed.
“Where did you get that?”
Valentina almost smiled.
“Wrong question.”
Tomas crouched near the shelves.
“Boss.”
He pointed at a shoe print in the dust.
Deep heel. Narrow toe. Hand-cut leather sole.
Nico looked down at Marco’s shoes.
Same pattern.
Marco followed their eyes.
Then looked back at Valentina.
“You think a shoe proves murder?”
“I think it proves you’ve been here.”
“No.”
“Take off your shoe.”
Marco laughed once.
Nobody else did.
Valentina raised her pistol slightly.
“Take it off.”
He bent slowly.
That was when the lights underground went out.
Darkness slammed over them.
A door clanged somewhere behind the shelves.
Nico shouted.
Valentina heard running feet.
Then Marco’s voice came from much closer than it should have been.
“Valentina, don’t move.”
May you like
A second later, a gun fired in the dark.
