Page 21 of King

I nod.“I was on a ship once as part of a deployment, and we went through.It’s quite the procedure.”

“Ah, yes.I went through as well once.I love sailing, which is why I decided to stay in my family’s business even though I could have stayed in military.We are very much alike, you and I.”

I smile.

He’s right.We are, but unlike him, I want to get out and free myself and my family from the dangers of life inside the organized crime world.

My only hope going forward is to convince Stepan to leave as well.

Family before all else, as he says.

ChapterTen

Natalia

I’m off work today and spend the morning at home, enjoying the solitude.When I’m planning what to have for lunch, I get a text.

It’s from an unknown number, and at first, I decide to just delete it without reading.Then, I think again.Who knows who might be trying to contact me from inside or outside of the underworld?

I tap on my messages icon.It opens, and there is a text from someone named Carla.

Carla: I know who you really are.We should talk.

What does she mean, who I really am?Does she mean she knows I work for the Feds?Does she mean I’m Stepan’s daughter?

Natalia: Who are you and why should I talk with you?

Carla: I work for the Medical Examiner’s Office.I have info that you might be very interested in learning.

I immediately go online and search for the local ME’s office website.It lists the administrative structure of the organization, but the lower-level positions are not identified, so there’s no way to know if this Carla person is an actual employee of the ME or someone who is trying to scam me, or worse.

Natalia: Send me some credentials, or I can’t trust you.

I wait, and in a few moments, I get another text, this time with a photo of an employee ID on a lanyard.It clearly identifies Carla Fontaine, Technician, Medical Examiner’s Office, Manhattan.

Whoever Carla is and whatever she wants, she is clearly a technician working for the ME.

Natalia: Where do you want to meet, and why do we have to meet in person?Why can’t you just send me the info?

I wait, and finally, the answer comes.

Carla: I want to live.That’s why.I assume you want to as well.Please delete this conversation as soon as it’s over.I know it won’t be truly erased, but this is the best I could do.We can talk when we meet.

Natalia: Where should we meet?When?

Carla: There are some benches across from my office on the greenway.I’ll send you the Google Maps location.How soon can you be there?I have an hour for lunch.We could meet on the greenway.

Natalia: It will take me at least thirty minutes to get to your location.

Carla: Okay.I’ll be sitting on the bench near the gas station under the bridge.I’ll be wearing a lab coat so you can identify me.I also have very pink hair, so it’s pretty hard to miss me.Don’t tell anyone.I don’t want anyone to know I contacted you.I mean it.

Natalia: Okay.I’ll take an Uber and be there asap.

Then, I take a pic of our texts just for posterity and so I can show Harrison when he gets home later tonight, and I delete the texts as Carla suggested.Of course, someone could find them if they knew how to access deleted texts, but at least they wouldn’t be immediately discoverable by a cop — or someone who shouldn’t know I was meeting with Carla.

Who the hell is she, and why does she want to meet?The only thing I can think of is that she knows something about my parents’ deaths.She works at the ME’s office.

She must know something…