Chapter 455: Dogs Do sleep

"I know."

"I am doing what I must. I would have you understand that."

"I understand it," Dimitri said. "I understand that you have always done what you must, and that someone else has always paid."

The room was very quiet.

"Careful," Antonio said softly.

"I’m being careful."

"You are being insolent."

"I’m being honest." Dimitri did not raise his voice. "I accept your terms. I don’t have to pretend I’m grateful."

Antonio watched him a moment longer. Then, slowly, he leaned back in his chair.

"No," he said. "You don’t."

...

He thought it was over.

He had half turned toward the door when Antonio spoke again, pleasantly, almost idly.

"Your brother toasts well."

Dimitri stopped.

"Enzo?"

"Last night. I was about to take a call, and he rose and gave a speech about the family." Antonio’s tone was mild. "A most unusual thing for him. He is not a man for speeches."

"He was raised to host."

"So he was." Antonio picked up a pen and turned it once between his fingers. "The call, as it happened, concerned a fault at the cold storage facility in Frascati. A lapse in the camera feed. Eleven minutes."

Dimitri did not move. He kept his hands loose and his face blank.

"Eleven minutes?" he said.

"The guard checked. He found nothing. The dog was asleep in its kennel." Antonio’s gaze rested on him, level and unhurried. "Dogs do sleep."

"Dogs do."

"A coincidence, no doubt."

"No doubt."

"I mention it only because I dislike coincidences."

"Of course."

The pen went still in Antonio’s fingers. His eyes did not leave his son’s face.

"I have asked that the contents of that facility be moved," he said. "Tonight. To the laboratory. It’s wiser to keep the important things where I can see them."

Something cold slid through Dimitri’s chest. He let it pass. He kept his shoulders where they were, and his hands, and the exact angle of his head.

"That seems sensible," he said.

"I thought you’d agree."

"It’s your property."

"So it is." Antonio set the pen down. "You may go."

Dimitri bowed his head a fraction, the smallest courtesy he could manage, and walked to the door. He did not hurry. He did not look back. His hand found the handle, and the door opened without a sound, and he stepped out into the corridor and closed it behind him.

He walked the length of the house with his shoulders square.

...

Marco was waiting at the car.

Dimitri slid into the back seat. He did not speak until the gates had closed behind them and the estate was a smear of green in the rear window.

"He bought it," Marco said. It was not quite a question.

"He didn’t buy it."

"Boss?"

"He accepted it. That’s different." Dimitri leaned his head against the seat and closed his eyes. "He knows something’s wrong. He doesn’t know what. He’s testing."

"How?"

"He’s moving the contents of Frascati to the laboratory tonight."

Marco swore, low and quick. His hands tightened on the wheel.

"The case," he said.

"Yes."

"The decoy."

"Under the lights at Prometheus, with his own people looking at it." Dimitri opened his eyes. "It won’t survive. Saline looks like saline. The seal, the weight, the band, those were enough for a shelf. They won’t be enough for a laboratory."

"How long?"

"Hours. He’ll have it opened tonight." Dimitri pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. "Is the real case clear?"

"With Luca by now. He collected it from the locker an hour ago. The doctor’s guiding the first dose this evening."

"Then it’s already out of reach." Dimitri exhaled. "That’s something."

"And after?"

"After, he finds the saline." Dimitri’s voice was even, almost tired. "And he knows."

"The camera lapse," Marco said. "That was the loop. Mike released it at eleven fifty-one, and the system logged the gap."

"Eleven minutes."

"Twelve, he’d say. It flagged on release." Marco’s jaw worked. "He’ll take it personally."

"It wasn’t his fault. No one hides a feed without leaving a seam."

"And the dog?"

"The guard patted it and called it lazy. It’s in his report." Dimitri’s mouth twisted. "My father built a case out of a pat on the head."

"He’s thorough."

"He always has been."

Marco was silent for a block. When he spoke, his voice was careful.

"What will he do?"

"I don’t know." Dimitri looked out the window at the passing street. "But I think I’m about to find out what it costs to lie to my father."

"It’s not too late to stop it."

"It was too late the moment I took the case."

"Boss...."

"Drive," Dimitri said quietly. "I need to see Eve."

...

Eve was waiting on the terrace when he came in.

She didn’t ask. She looked at his face and took his hand and led him to the table, where lunch had been laid and gone untouched. He told her in six sentences. When he finished, she sat very still for a moment with her fingers around her glass.

"He’s moving the case tonight," she said.

"Yes."

"And when he opens it?"

"He’ll know."

"Then it’s a matter of what he does."

"Yes." Dimitri rubbed his face with both hands. "I want Marco’s men around the penthouse. Not inside. Around. And I don’t want you going anywhere alone."

"I’m not leaving Rome."

"I’m not asking you to leave. I’m asking you to be careful."

"He won’t hurt me," Eve said. "I’m not the one who took his case."

"He told me love gets people killed." Dimitri’s voice was low. "I’ve never been sure he was only warning me."

Eve was silent. She turned her glass slowly on the cloth.

"Then we’ll be careful," she said at last.

"Thank you."

"Was it hard?"

"What?"

"Lying to him." She looked up. "Standing in that room and saying yes."

He thought about it honestly. "It was the easiest thing I’ve done all week," he said. "And I hated it."

"Why?"

"Because he believed me for about a minute." His mouth twisted. "He raised me to lie like that. He’s the one who taught me how."