Inside it she made something resembling a bird.
Lorenzo felt cold.
Mason Reed wore the same watch every day.
A custom silver watch with a federal eagle engraved into the face—a retirement gift from his old unit.
Sophia whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Mason’s apartment was empty.
His phone was off.
His emergency tracker had been disabled.
Rachel issued an alert.
Lorenzo ordered every one of his people to stand down.
That surprised them.
“No private search,” he said.
One lieutenant protested.
“Boss—”
“No.”
Mason had controlled Lorenzo’s security network for eight years.
If he had orchestrated Isabella’s disappearance, then charging blindly after him was exactly what he expected.
Lorenzo returned home.
Isabella sat beside Bruno near the fireplace.
The dog’s old collar hung loosely around his neck.
She kept rubbing the bent metal ring between her fingers.
Suddenly she stopped.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Isabella stared at the collar.
“When I escaped the farmhouse…”
Lorenzo waited.
“I took something.”
“What?”
“A memory card.”
She stood.
“There was a small security camera in the upstairs hallway. I ripped the card out.”
Lorenzo’s pulse accelerated.
“Where is it?”
“I thought I lost it.”
Her fingers moved over Bruno’s collar.
Then she looked at him.
“No.”
She turned the bent leash ring.
Pressed against the leather.
A tiny stitched section had been repaired crudely with black thread.
“I cut the lining with a piece of glass.”
Lorenzo understood.
“You hid it in Bruno’s collar.”
Isabella tore open the seam.
Something tiny dropped into her palm.
A microSD card.
For sixty-three days, the evidence had been traveling around Bruno’s neck.
And Emma had noticed the collar before anyone else noticed the truth.
Rachel viewed the files before Lorenzo.
That was her condition.
The final recording lasted eleven minutes.
The hallway camera showed Isabella being dragged from a room.
Anthony appeared.
Another guard appeared.
Then a third man walked into frame.
Mason Reed.
No cap.
No mask.
Nothing hidden.
His voice was clear.
“Move her tonight.”
Anthony asked:
“What about Moreau?”
Mason answered:
“By the time DeLuca starts asking questions, every road will lead to Vincent.”
Lorenzo stopped the video.
For several seconds, he could hear nothing except his own heartbeat.
Rachel touched the keyboard.
“There’s more.”
The recording continued.
Anthony hesitated.
“And the Donnelly woman?”
Mason looked directly toward him.
“She was never supposed to survive the drive.”
Lorenzo stood.
Rachel blocked the door.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“He murdered Claire.”
“And nearly murdered Isabella. Which is why you are going to let me arrest him.”
“You don’t know where he is.”
A voice behind them answered.
“Yes, you do.”
Isabella stood in the doorway.
Her face had gone pale.
“Mason called me ten minutes ago.”
Lorenzo turned.
“What?”
“He said he wants to explain.”
“Where?”
Isabella looked directly at her husband.
“The old train station.”
Rain fell when Lorenzo arrived.
Just as it had fallen the night Isabella disappeared.
Police surrounded the district unseen.
Rachel had argued against Lorenzo going inside.
Mason had demanded him.
And Isabella had said something Rachel could not ignore.
