The little blue sweater draped over the chair.
My life, small and carefully hidden, opened by a stranger’s hand.
I gripped the table.
Giovanni turned to me. “Did anyone know you were coming here last night?”
“No. I just ran.”
“Who has a key?”
“My landlord. My friend Nora. The sitter, but she’s seventy and terrified of elevators. That’s it.”
Marco’s phone buzzed. He read the message, and something in his expression darkened.
“What?” I demanded.
He looked to Giovanni first.
“Tell me,” I said.
Marco handed me his phone.
The photograph showed my apartment nursery.
Luca’s crib stood in the center. His mobile hung above it, little felt moons and stars suspended in the dim light. On the wall, someone had taped a white envelope.
Written across it in black marker were three words:
HE HAS RIGHTS.
I sat down hard.
Giovanni took the phone from my hand. The air around him changed, growing dangerously still.
“No,” I said immediately.
He looked at me.
“I know that look. Do not become the man I ran from.”
His eyes held mine, and for one second I saw the battle in him—old instinct against the new promise he had not yet learned how to keep.
Then he set the phone down carefully.
“You are right,” he said.
Marco looked surprised.
So was I.
Giovanni took out his phone. “Send everything to Detective Ames. Full cooperation. No private action.”
Marco nodded and stepped away.
I stared at Giovanni. “Detective Ames?”
“I have worked with him during the transition away from my father’s old network.”
“You have a detective now?”
“I have several apologies that require law enforcement.”
Despite myself, a breath of laughter escaped me. It sounded almost painful.
Giovanni sat again, slower this time.
“Whoever entered your apartment knows about Luca,” he said. “They may have known before last night.”
The room tilted.
“No.”
“Lauren.”
“No. I was careful. I changed neighborhoods. I used my maiden name. I paid cash for the sitter. I didn’t post pictures. I didn’t tell anyone connected to you.”
“You told your attorney.”
“Caroline would never—”
“I am not accusing her.”
I closed my eyes.
The walls I had built around Luca suddenly seemed made of paper.
Giovanni’s voice softened. “You protected him well.”