think so.”

“Did he see you?”

Ivy’s hesitation was enough.

“The tall man did,” she whispered.

“Mr.

Rourke.

He looked right at me from his car.”

Elena immediately called private security and a contact with the Rhode Island State Police.

Meanwhile, she remained several feet from Dominic’s SUV and used her phone camera to zoom beneath it.

Behind the rear suspension, barely visible in shadow, sat a black rectangular case held against the frame by magnets.

A tiny green indicator blinked.

Ivy pointed.

“Like that.”

Dominic looked at Luca.

“Nobody follows anybody.

Nobody makes calls except Elena.

Nobody touches that box.”

One of his security men frowned.

“If Rourke did this—”

“Then getting angry is exactly what he expects.”

Dominic had barely finished speaking when blue lights appeared at the end of the block.

Two unmarked police vehicles stopped behind the SUV.

Aaron Rourke stepped out carrying a folded warrant.

He was fifty-two, broad through the shoulders, with close-cut gray hair and the practiced confidence of a man accustomed to being believed before he spoke.

“Mr.

Vale,” he called.

“Stay where you are.”

Then he saw Ivy.

For perhaps half a second, his expression failed him.

Dominic noticed.

Elena noticed.

Ivy definitely noticed.

“That’s him,” she whispered.

Rourke approached.

“We have judicial authorization to search your vehicle.”

Elena extended her hand.

“Let me see it.”

“After the scene is secured.”

“Secure it.

My client isn’t interfering.

But nobody searches until counsel reviews the warrant.”

Rourke seemed annoyed rather than surprised to find her there.

He finally handed over the document.

The affidavit relied on a confidential informant who claimed evidence connected to missing municipal financial investigator Gabriel Mora had been placed inside or beneath Dominic’s SUV.

Gabriel had disappeared six weeks earlier.

Before vanishing, he had been auditing contracts connected to Vale Harbor Logistics.

The newspapers had immediately suggested Dominic might be involved.

No evidence had ever emerged.

Until now, apparently.

Elena returned the warrant.

“Search it.

Everything gets recorded.”

Rourke gave a thin smile.

“Of course.”

Two officers searched the cabin and cargo area before one crawled partly beneath the rear of the SUV.

Seconds later he called out.

“Lieutenant.

Found something.”

The black magnetic case was removed with gloved hands and placed on the hood of a police sedan.

Rourke opened it.

Inside was a compact nine-millimeter pistol sealed in plastic.

Beside it lay a silver signet ring.

Dominic recognized the ring from dozens of newspaper photographs.

Gabriel Mora had worn it every day.

Rourke looked toward Dominic.

“That is a very unfortunate discovery.”

Dominic’s security men stiffened.

Dominic raised one hand.

Nobody moved.

That restraint surprised Rourke.

Dominic saw it.

“Place your hands where officers can see them,” Rourke ordered.

Then Ivy stepped forward.

“He put it there!”

Rourke turned toward her.

“Get the child away from this scene.”

“She is a witness,” Elena said.

“She’s a frightened child surrounded by criminals.”

Dominic’s face hardened, but Elena glanced at him once, silently warning him not to react.

Ivy reached into her backpack.

Everyone tensed.

“Slowly,” Dominic said.

She removed an old phone with a cracked screen.

“I recorded him before.”

Rourke stopped moving.

The video lasted eleven seconds.

It showed Rourke in the alley three nights earlier.

The image shook badly, but his profile was clear enough.