The first slice of Ethan Moretti's eighth birthday cake never reached his mouth.

Dominic did not tell Sophia what Frank had found.

He told her only that the situation was more serious than expected, that additional security would be added overnight, and that she and Lily should stay in the staff wing until further notice.

She looked at him the way she sometimes did — reading something in his face that he hadn't said out loud — but she nodded and didn't push.

He was grateful for that.

That evening, Ethan came downstairs for the first time since the party.

He was pale and moved carefully, the way children do when they've been frightened and are trying not to show it.

He went directly to the kitchen, where Lily was sitting at the staff table eating toast with the focused seriousness of a child who considered toast a significant undertaking.

Ethan sat across from her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," said Lily.

"Thank you for what you did."

Lily looked up.

She seemed to consider whether this required a response.

Then she pushed her plate across the table so the toast was closer to him.

Ethan took a piece.

Sophia, standing near the counter, turned away so neither child would see her face.

Dominic stood in the doorway and watched his son eat toast with a three-year-old who had saved his life, and felt something crack open in his chest that he didn't have a name for.

He went back to his study.

At nine that evening, Marco came in and closed the door.

"The original accident report on Elena," he said.

"I found something."

He placed a manila folder on the desk.

"The responding officer noted black marks on the road consistent with braking.

But the final report attributed them to another vehicle that had passed through earlier." Marco pointed to a line in the document.

"The officer who wrote the initial notes — Officer Reyes — he filed a supplemental report two weeks later.

It was never added to the official file."

"Where is it now?"

"It took some doing.

But I found it." Marco opened the folder to a second page.

"Reyes noted that the brake line on Elena's car showed signs of interference.

He flagged it for the accident reconstruction team."

"And?"

"The reconstruction team's report makes no mention of it."

Dominic read the supplemental report.

It was three pages.

Careful, precise, written by someone who had noticed something wrong and put it in writing because he didn't know what else to do.

"Where is Reyes now?"

"Retired.

Lives in Yonkers." Marco paused.

"He kept a copy of the supplemental report.

He told me he kept it because he always felt the case was closed too fast."

Dominic looked up.

"He'll talk to us?"

"He said he's been waiting for someone to ask."

Dominic sat back.

Seven years.

Elena had been gone for seven years, and somewhere in Yonkers a retired police officer had been sitting with a copy of a report that no one had ever come to collect.

"Set up a meeting," Dominic said.

"Somewhere private.

Not here."

"Already done.

Tomorrow morning."

After Marco left, Dominic sat alone for a long time.

He thought about the night Elena told him about the will.

They'd been in this same study.

She'd been sitting in the chair across from him, laughing at something, her hair loose around her shoulders.

She'd said, *Vincent will be furious, but it's the right thing to do, and he'll get over it.*

She had been so certain people eventually did the right thing.

He had loved that about her.