Page 31 of Corso DeLuca
Gaundice should be Jaundice.
Esteoporosis change the e, the word is Osteoporosis
Lipotuction sounds interesting, but the women in the family liked their lipoSuction.
Werdneg-Hoffman disease was spelled werdnIg.
Incephalopathy, quickly I corrected the spelling to Encephalopathy.
Tingles of dread start to snake over my skin. When each letter is corrected, I line them up in my head, J-O-S-I-E.
Jessie notices my concentration. “Maybe he was in a hurry when he generated this puzzle. Now that I know you’re a doctor, I understand why he used medical terminology, but I don’t get why he selected random words and then misspelled them.”
“And the letter I received. Your thoughts?”
She picks it up, peering at the page. She studies it and then says, “I need some paper.”
“These first columns look like transaction numbers.”
Adjacent to the table is a business center with a commercial printer. Opening the letter-sized paper tray, I return with a small stack.
“Thanks,” Jessie says, taking the white sheets from my outstretched hand. “I’m sure these are block chain transaction numbers. How much you want to bet every one of these monetary exchanges happened on the network belonging to that new cryptocurrency company Greg and I visited together?”
“Laundering dirty money through an online cryptocurrency platform? Smart.”
“Very good, Corso.”
“Don’t get spanked.”
“I’m game. But after we crack this case. Whoever helped Esposito design this system is brilliant, but there’s something familiar—” she said absently. “These other blocks are IP addresses. It might take me a minute, but I can trace the transactions back to the internet protocol addresses of Mattia’s known associates.”
While she examines the running list of digits, I focus on the puzzle. There are six words pre-filled in bold dark ink. I imagine what Gregorio was thinking as he prepared for his untimely death. When did he know he had become a target? Weeks? Months? Days? Answers may never come, considering neither letter is dated.
Balinski reflex, from l to B.
Dacryoadinitis, change the first i to an E.
Sauyer’s extractor, that should be a W instead of the u.
Selaam, all A’s remove the e.
Aneuiysm, R replaces the i. My chest tightens as the message becomes crystal clear.
Piricardial, pEri, not piri.
The word beware echoes in the silence of my mind. I link both together, JOSIE BEWARE. Beware of Josie.
Again, I make the mental adjustments, careful to triple check the spelling before building the next word, like a hangman’s noose.
“Princess, sit down.” My brother has given me the name of at least one of his killers. Greg may have dedicated his life to the FBI, but he grew up a DeLuca. He understood that disappearing doesn’t equate to dead. My woman’s sister helped to murder my brother.
“No. I’m fine. In fact,” her voice hitches, “all these digital signatures have corresponding longitude and latitude coordinates. Corso,” her voice is lighter, made higher with excitement, “Greg figured it out. These are the financial accounts of people and businesses in the Esposito network. This is the key to hundreds of arrests and bringing Mattia down.”
She’s basically vibrating with excitement. Maybe it’s me who needs something solid to hold me up. My brother sacrificed his life to give me and Jessie justice. Thanks to him the Espositos’ fall will be an international headline for the alphabets to take credit for their excellent police work. But my family, my blood brother has been taken from me. I need to understand what happened that night. Someone will pay. “Tell me about the night that Gregorio was killed.”
Jessie talks, and I listen. “An anonymous tip was phoned into the office about a small cryptocurrency app design company in Vienna. We arrived during business hours, but the cubicles were empty. Before we could locate anyone, a gunman opened fire, fatally wounding Greg. The gunman stayed hidden.”
You sure it was a lone gunman? Male? Female?”
