Chapter 6 - Fulton Row
Nora Delgado had never liked Salvatore Moretti. She made that clear before Lila had even hung up her coat.
“He knew enough to stop what happened,” Nora said. “He chose not to.”
Nora lived above a pharmacy in Sunset Park, surrounded by houseplants and old photographs. She had taken in Lila and Owen after Elena's death, and although Lila paid her own bills now, she still kept a toothbrush in Nora's bathroom.
Lila put the clipping on the table. “Tell me about Teresa Reyes.”
Nora looked suddenly tired.
“Teresa ran the tenant council on Fulton Row. She organized families being pushed out so the waterfront properties could be sold. Elena helped her translate notices, watch children, make copies. Your grandfather's company wanted the building empty.”
“Did he set the fire?”
“I don't know that. Neither did Elena. What she knew was that Nico and two men were told to frighten the council into dropping its complaint. People were trapped when the fire started. Teresa went back for a boy and never came out.”
“Did my mother go to the police?”
“She tried. She had a notebook and names. Before she could give a full statement, her father's attorney showed up. He told her she would destroy the family and that nobody would believe a girl who'd spent her life in a mob house.”
“And Sal?”
“Elena confronted him. He said he had never ordered a fire, which might have been true. Then he told her not to accuse Nico without proof. She heard the rest: a dead woman mattered less than his nephew.”
Lila stared at the grain of the table. She could hear her mother telling Owen to be careful with small creatures because power was never permission.
“Why didn't she take the notebook?”
“She did. She kept it somewhere only she could reach.” Nora tapped the brass key Lila had brought. “That looks like one of the old library deposit lockers at St. Agnes. The church used them for community records before the basement flooded. Some got transferred to a storage unit.”
Lila felt the first flicker of purpose that wasn't anger. Her mother had left a trail not to invite revenge, but because she believed facts should survive fear.
As she rose, Nora gripped her wrist.
“Be careful what you want from Salvatore. People like him are very good at offering protection after they've helped create the danger.”
Outside, Lila found Owen leaning against her car. He wasn't supposed to be there; he was supposed to be in algebra.
May you like
“Someone gave me this at school,” he said.
It was a photocopy of the old fire report. Over Teresa Reyes's name, someone had drawn a thick red X.
