Chapter 3 – THE TICKET IN THE COAT POCKET

The red and blue lights slashed through the living room windows.

“Dad,” Lauren panicked, pulling Ella tighter. “They think you broke in here.”

“Stay behind me,” Gabriel said. He didn’t drop Eric’s watch. He slid it into his pocket.

Two officers came through the splintered door, hands resting on their holstered weapons.

“Gabriel Mancini?” the older officer asked.

“Yes.”

“We received a call that you were en route to this address with intent to cause physical harm to Eric Tanner. Where is he?”

“He left five minutes ago,” Gabriel answered calmly. “This is my daughter’s home. My holding company owns the deed. Eric Tanner forced his way in. I came to secure the property.”

The officer looked at the shattered door, the broken lamp, and Lauren trembling on the floor.

“Is this true, ma’am?” he asked Lauren.

“Yes,” Lauren said, her voice shaking. “My husband and I are separated. He broke in.”

The officer turned his attention to me. I was standing near the kitchen, still wearing my black server’s uniform, my bandaged knee visible.

“And who are you?”

“Erin Maddox. I work for Mr. Mancini.”

“You drove here with him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did Mr. Mancini threaten Eric Tanner at any point tonight?”

I looked at Gabriel. Then at the officer.

“No. Mr. Mancini pulled Mr. Tanner away from his daughter. He saved her life.”

The officers exchanged a look. They took down our statements. They took photos of the broken door. Because Gabriel was who he was, and because Lauren corroborated the story, they didn’t put him in handcuffs. They told us they would put an APB out for Eric Tanner and left.

As soon as the cruisers pulled away, Gabriel turned to Lauren.

“Pack your things. We are leaving.”

While Lauren hurried to the bedroom, Gabriel looked at me.

“Thank you,” he said.

“I just told the truth, sir.”

“Sloane set this up perfectly,” he murmured, pacing the small living room. “She knew if I found out Eric was here, I would come in hot. She wanted me arrested for assault. That would give her the leverage she needed to take control of my operations while I was dealing with the fallout.”

“But why run away from the estate?” I asked. “If she thought you were getting arrested, why wouldn’t she stay and play the concerned fiancée?”

Gabriel stopped pacing.

“Because Eric mentioned the marina.”

I remembered what Eric had shouted before he left. Ask your new fiancée where she was that weekend.

Lauren emerged with a duffel bag and a sleepy Ella.

We piled back into the SUV. The drive back to the estate was silent, heavy with the weight of fifteen years of secrets.

When we reached the massive iron gates of the Mancini estate, Martin was waiting in the rain.

“Sir, the guests were escorted out,” Martin said as Gabriel rolled down the window. “Mrs. Davis found a letter on your desk. But Sloane took one of the sedans. She’s gone.”

Gabriel drove up to the main house.

I helped Lauren carry Ella upstairs while Gabriel went to his study.

When I came back down, I went into the staff room to grab my purse. I needed to get home to my son.

Sitting on the staff room couch was a dark gray cashmere coat.

I recognized it immediately. It was the coat Sloane had worn earlier that afternoon when she went to the pool house to meet Eric.

I reached out to move it.

As I lifted the heavy wool, a small piece of stiff paper fell out of the pocket and landed on the linoleum floor.

I picked it up.

It was a baggage claim ticket for the Philadelphia International Airport lockers.

But it wasn’t the location that made my breath catch.

It was the date stamped on the back in faded red ink.

October 14th.

Fifteen years ago. The exact weekend Gabriel’s first wife drowned at the marina.

I turned around, intending to take the ticket to Gabriel.

Standing in the doorway of the staff room, dripping wet from the rain, was Sloane.

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