Chapter 1 – THE PERSONNEL FILE REVEALED A DEAD MAN’S NAME

Benny Santino placed the manila folder on Carmine’s desk at exactly 10:15 AM.

Carmine did not open it immediately.

He finished signing a shipping manifest.

He placed his pen exactly parallel to the edge of his leather desk mat.

Then he opened the file.

Nell Brisco.

Hired 3 years ago.

Spotless record.

No disciplinary actions.

No requested time off.

She existed in his house as a ghost who polished silver.

But Carmine was not a man who looked at the surface of things.

He flipped to the background check attached to the back.

He read the court docket number for her name change.

He picked up his desk phone and dialed his contact at the parish courthouse.

“Give me the original surname for case number 409-B,” Carmine said quietly.

He waited 4 minutes.

When the clerk answered, Carmine closed his eyes.

“Fontaine.”

Carmine hung up the phone.

He stared at the window overlooking the docks.

Emmett Fontaine had been the most brilliant baker in New Orleans.

He had owned an empire of 11 restaurants.

Twenty years ago, those restaurants had been stolen, and Emmett’s bakery had burned to the ground.

Conrad Bellarose had bought the ashes for pennies.

Carmine stood up.

“Benny.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Where does she go on Fridays at 2:00?”

An hour later, Carmine walked into the long-term care facility.

He did not bring guards.

He wore a dark suit, but he moved quietly down the linoleum hallway until he reached room 14.

He stood in the doorway.

Nell was sitting in a plastic chair.

She was not wearing her maid’s uniform.

She wore a faded yellow sweater, gently feeding a piece of pastry to a man staring blankly at the wall.

Carmine watched her.

The woman who had stared down 14 millionaires at his dining table was wiping a crumb from her father’s chin with the tenderness of a mother.

“He doesn’t like visitors,” Nell said.

She didn’t turn around.

She had seen his reflection in the window.

Carmine stepped into the room.

“I’m not here to visit him, Miss Fontaine.”

Nell stopped moving.

Her shoulders went completely rigid.

For the first time since he had met her, she looked terrified.

“Don’t use that name,” she whispered.

“It’s your name.”

“Not anymore.”

Carmine walked closer.

“You didn’t change it to hide from me.”

“No.”

“You changed it to hide from Conrad Bellarose.”

Nell stood up.

She placed the pastry box on the small table.

“Bellarose took everything my father built. He threatened to finish the job if my father ever spoke of it.”

She looked at Carmine.

“And now Bellarose is trying to partner with you.”

Carmine didn’t answer.

His eyes moved past her, landing on Emmett’s nightstand.

There was a small tray for personal items.

A pair of reading glasses.

A comb.

And a tarnished silver pocket watch.

Carmine stopped breathing.

He stepped past Nell and picked up the watch.

He turned it over.

Engraved on the back were the initials C.O.

His father’s initials.

His father’s watch.

The watch that had gone missing the night his father died of a sudden heart attack 4 years ago.

Carmine looked at Nell.

“Where did your father get this?”

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