Page 94 of Little Dove

“What gets me is that they were all willing to work together to do this,” Pietro says with a deep frown. “Especially over different territories.”

“Maybe they don’t know about it,” Urso suggests. “If you look at the map, you can see that it avoids the major areas of each territory, sticking to the outskirts. Even in Gallo and Armani territory.”

“They wouldn’t want to chance getting caught,” I agree. “Especially something as big as this. The question is, did Leonardo and Ivan know about this?”

“Maybe we can find something in all this,” Zeno says, waving the papers in his hand around.

“Um, sorry,” Amara says nervously, making us all look at her. “I just, I just was looking at the map again, and there’s four smalldots that look out of place. They’re not drawn on, they almost look like they’re poked in.” She hands me back the phone and points at them. “And if I’m looking at it right, that’s one per territory, right?”

“I thought those were just pixilated spots, or dust,” Massimo says. “But you’re right, Amara.”

“Do you see anything else,cara mia?” Pietro asks her.

She hesitates. “Go ahead,colombina,” I encourage her. “Don’t worry, just say whatever you’re thinking.”

“Well, it’s just that if you zoom the map all the way out, you can kind of make out that the paths make a kind of pattern. They’re all close to major landmarks that would be near the water, or a major highway.”

“That would make sense,” Alessio agrees with a quick nod. “The ports and the highways are the easiest ways to get in and out of the city with the people they’re trafficking. Good catch, Amara.” He gives her a warm smile, mirrored by Sienna.

“They’re also in areas that wouldn’t be patrolled by the police much,” Rori chimes in, looking at the image on Alessio’s phone over his shoulder. “Police in any city focus on the high crime areas, and they send out the majority of their officers there. Others do patrols in areas that aren’t considered as high risk, and are done at set intervals. All someone would have to do is watch or have an in with the ones on those runs to know what they are. You can move people through quickly and know exactly how much time you have to get it done. On the other hand, you can also create a distraction at one of the points so that the cops are busy with it and give you more time if you need it.”

“And you know this from your cop family?” Nico asks her sarcastically. He ignores Gia when she scolds him.

Before Rori can answer, Alonzo snaps, “Do not disrespect her, Nico, or we are going to have a problem. Her history has nothing to do with her here and now. This is information we canuse.” Rori looks at him with an odd expression, like she’s pissed he dared to speak up, but also grateful he did. Alonzo never once looks at her.

Nico doesn’t reply to that, but he looks at Rori and waves at her to continue. She rolls her eyes. “Yes, I did learn that from watching my family. Like I said, my family also work for the Belovs and they know every way to keep the other cops away from them. A lot of them know the score and just turn a blind eye, but the ones that are out to change the world, they make sure they’re kept busy elsewhere. Gives the Belovs the chance to move their products without detection, and the cops get a big buy-off payment in their account. I’m sure you do something of the same here, even if it’s not that blatant,” she adds pointedly. Then she looks around the room. “Just like the rest of you.”

No one disagrees with her.

“How do you know those areas wouldn’t be patrolled well here specifically?” Alonzo asks her.

“I studied the city before I came here,” she shrugs. “If I couldn’t get in here to get to Sienna, then I was going to make sure I knew this city and the cops well so I could avoid them. If my name comes up in searches, it will set off alarm bells, and someone is going to contact my family. I don’t need that hassle. As far as they are concerned, I took some much-needed time off, and I’m travelling somewhere far away from here. Nothing different than normal.”

Alonzo frowns at that, but says nothing.

“I want to know what those dots are,” Sienna interjects. “I mean, Amara is right, now that you look at them. But the picture isn’t clear enough in those areas to overlap them on a map.” She jumps to her feet. “Let’s go back and look at the map.”

Alessio gets to his feet. “Good idea,coniglietta.”

“I’ll go with you,” Massimo offers. “I want another look too.” The three of them take their leave.

“I don’t think you’re going to find anything in amongst most of these papers,” Sofia suddenly says, her eyes looking critically at everything in front of her. “Other than how they moved people through, or when. Most of this is simply keeping records and counting money. And from what I’ve seen so far, that money was substantial. So where did it go?” She looks at Nico. “And is it still there?”

Nico’s scowl deepens. “I closed out all the accounts we were able to find, but if she hid this, then she hid that money too.”

“Urso, Aurelio,” Pietro orders.

“Already on it,” Urso calls. “I’ve got a message out to our team to start digging. From the look of all this paper though, I’d have to say she probably marked the account down somewhere.”

“What we need to do is get this all digitized and run a scan on it,” Aurelio says. He looks at Nico and Dante. “Your men have anything we can use?”

“I’ll see to it they do,” Dante answers, pulling out his phone. “Just give me the specs you need. If we don’t already have it, I’ll rush order it.”

Suddenly, Amara stands up, drawing our attention. She’s focused on the oldest trunk that was placed in front of the desk. “What is it,colombina?” I ask her, moving to crouch down beside her when she kneels in front of it, running her hand over it.

“This trunk, it’s been opened far more than the others ever were,” Amara tells me absently. “See how worn the edges are? The others are nearly pristine, even with age. Those were rarely opened. The lock on this is old and scratched up way more than the others. And there are older and newer marks on it, see?” She points to a few scratches, one deeper and the other lighter. “This is an old metal lock, and you can see that the older ones are corroded, but there are a few that aren’t, or aren’t as much,which suggests that they were made later than the others. But none of these kinds of scratches are on the other two.”

“Maybe the others are just full, and she didn’t need to open them?” Zeno suggests. “They were all heavy when we pulled them in.”

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