Page 58 of Alessia
“Not if you are thinking about drowning yourself in the fucking bath, you stupid woman!”
“You don’t talk to me like that! I am your boss, now get the hell out of my room!”
“NO! I’m not going anywhere, not if you do stupid shit like this! Is this how you think we’ll get Harper back? By you being dead? If so, you clearly lost your mind! I don’t care if you’re my boss or if I’m stepping out of line. That woman is the best thing to happen to you in a long, long while so stop feeling sorry for yourself and DO SOMETHING!”
I’ve never seen Elio so mad at me. He has been mad at people that are under his command but never at me. I step out off the bath and grab my robe.
“I took the liberty to set up a command post in the living room. Luca is setting up all the systems as we speak. You better get dressed because we have work to do.”
I get dressed and stroll over to the bar cart in the living room where I pour myself a few fingers of bourbon. I need to stop feeling this pain. Luca gives me a small nod and continues setting up the systems.
“Where are we going to start looking for her?” I ask Elio.
“How about we start with the CCTV footage around The Ebell and see if we can find any trace of her.”
The monitors spring to life and Luca starts tapping away on his keyboard. Images flash and then we stare at all the traffic and interior camera feeds from earlier this evening. My cheeks flush when I can spot Harper and myself in the dark corner of the hallway before she walks over to the restroom. Somebody enters and then the camera feed turns to static.
“Somebody cut the feed.” Luca states. He rewinds the footage and slows it down. Elio and I lean closer to the monitors, trying to find something that was on the dark figure that went inside.
“He’s too big to be Gianni himself” I state. “Can you enhance the footage, Luca?”
“I’ll try, these aren’t the best cameras.” He types furiously and zooms in on the screen. I can see a faint neck tattoo.
“Print that please, it might be something we can go on.” I tell Luca and point to the screen. Elio grabs the paper from the printer and hangs it on the bulletin board. Our first bread crumb in twenty years. I pull out my cell and dial Manchini, maybe he has something we can work with. Luca keeps searching for more clues until it is well past two in the morning.
We sleep and search for clues for days. Coffee has been my lifesaver during the day and at night I have a friend in a bottle of bourbon. Manchini had a few leads that Elio is tracking down for the past few days and Luca has been trying to get more intel on the guy with the neck tattoo. Harper has been gone for nine days now.
“I’m going to get the mail from downstairs, I’ll be back in a minute.” I tell Luca as I walk over to the elevator. It’s been my routine since Harper’s missing. Elio made me do it the day after she was kidnapped, to assure that I get some fresh air everyday. Even if it’s just for a minute.
“Okay boss, I’ll be here.” He replies.
When I walk outside the warm ocean breeze hits me in the face. It does feel good to be outside, even though I hated Elio for making me do this. I stand in front of the house for a little while and greet my men who are keeping watch. When I walk upstairs, I sort through my mail. Nothing special between all the bills and advertising except a little black envelope.
I walk over to Luca and lean against his desk to open the bills and lastly the little envelope. There are two pictures inside, one of a headless female statue.
“I want Gianni and everyone who has ever been associated with him dead!” My voice is low and menacing.
“What is it boss?” Luca turns his head to face me. I give him the first picture of the statue.
“Search for this statue, it must be a clue to where she is.” The second picture on which Harper is bound naked on a chair, I keep to myself. To many men must have seen her like that by now. I turn the picture around and because it’s Gianni, I know he must have written something on the back.
Amore mio Alessia, Vieni a trovarci.
19 - Harper
