5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Lorenzo
Donna arrives at Julian’s office a few minutes before our scheduled meeting.
Alessio and I are already seated in the chairs across from Julian’s desk. My son has been restless since we left the house, though he hides it better today than he did the first morning. He sits with one ankle over his opposite knee, his fingers tapping intermittently against the arm of the chair.
The tapping stops when Donna enters.
She wears dark trousers and a blue blouse beneath a fitted jacket, professional without looking as though she spent the morning preparing for our benefit. Her blonde hair is pulled back, and she carries a leather folder under her arm.
She looks from Julian to me, then settles her attention on Alessio.
Julian stands. “Donna.”
“Julian.”
He gestures toward us. “Lorenzo Conti, whom you know. His son, Alessio.”
Alessio rises and offers his hand.
“You must be Donna Costa.”
“I am.”
They shake hands.
Alessio gives her the smile that has opened doors for him since he was old enough to understand what charm could accomplish. It is weaker than usual today, but still there.
Donna takes the open chair beside him and places the folder on the edge of Julian’s desk.
“Thank you for meeting with us,” I say. “Did you find anything?”
Donna opens her folder.
“I wanted Alessio here because I need to hear his account directly,” she says. “Before that, I have a few things to go over from the hotel.”
Julian’s gaze sharpens slightly. “You went inside the hotel?”
“A little hard to investigate it from the sidewalk.”
Alessio leans forward, his forearms resting on his thighs. “You found something?”
“A few things that raise questions. None of them clear you on their own.”
“I’ll take questions.”
“So will the police,” Julian says. “Provided they point away from you.”
Donna pulls out the first sheet.
“I looked into the emergency call that brought the police to the Halston. It came in shortly after 2:00 in the morning.”
I glance at Julian. “That’s confirmed?”
“I confirmed when the call was received,” Donna says. “I’m still working on who placed it and exactly what was said.”
Alessio frowns. “2:00?”
“Yes.”
“But they think she died between 12:30 and 1:00.”
“That is the preliminary estimate.”
“And their footage shows me leaving at 1:30,” he says.
Donna nods. “Which means the call was made approximately thirty minutes after the time the footage claims you left.”
The room goes quiet.
Julian folds his hands on the desk. “Was it placed from inside the hotel?”
“I don’t have that information yet.”
“Genevieve could not have made it,” I say.
“No,” Donna agrees. “She was already dead.”
“And Alessio did not make it.”
“I was home,” he says. “I didn’t know anything had happened until the police came for me.”
“There was no obvious reason for hotel staff to call either,” Donna says. “According to what I learned, the police arrived and went directly to Genevieve’s room. This does not sound like housekeeping found her during a routine service or a guest complained about something happening next door.”
I look at the page in front of her, though I cannot see the details from my chair.
“The killer called.”
Donna’s blue eyes meet mine. “That is the most obvious possibility.”
Alessio’s fingers stop moving against the chair.
“Why?” he asks. “Why kill her and then call the police?”
“To make sure she was found,” I say.
“No, I understand that part.” He looks at Donna. “I mean, why wait until 2:00? If they wanted the police there, why leave her for an hour?”
Donna closes the folder and rests her hand on it.
“They needed time to stage the room.”
Alessio stares at her.
“They had to make sure anything inside supported the version of events they wanted the police to see,” she continues. “They also needed to wait until after 1:30.”
“The time on the footage,” Julian says.
“Yes. If the call came in before the recording showed Alessio leaving, the timeline would collapse immediately. Police could not be directed to a dead woman’s room before the time their suspect supposedly left. Otherwise they’d discover he wasn’t in there.”
Alessio sits back slowly.
“So they waited until the footage said I was gone.”
“They waited long enough to establish that you had left after the estimated time of death,” Donna says. “Then someone made sure the police found her.”
My jaw clenches.
The sequence is deliberate. Genevieve dies. Someone alters the recording to show Alessio in the room until 1:30. The call comes after 2:00, giving the killer time to set up the room and leave before the police arrive.
“Whoever called knew what time would appear on the footage,” I say.
“That is where the evidence points.”
“Someone inside the hotel,” Alessio says.
“Possibly,” Donna replies. “Or someone who had help from inside the hotel. The surveillance system, the emergency call, and the room all need to be examined separately before we assume one person handled everything.”
Julian picks up his pen and makes a note. “I’ll push for the call recording and the originating number.”
Donna looks at him. “Push quietly. If whoever made the call believes no one has questioned its timing, I’d prefer to keep it that way.”
Julian nods once.
She takes out another page and hands it to Julian.
“You need to get the bartender to come forward as a witness. He saw Alessio leave.”
My son’s attention sharpens. “He remembers me?”
“You were memorable,” she says.
“Does he say what time?” I ask.
“The bar closed at 1:00. He was still working when he walked through the lobby.”
“That puts me out of the hotel before 1:00,” Alessio says, his mood slightly uplifted.
“It may,” Donna corrects. “Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable, and his memory does not automatically outweigh timestamped footage. But it’ll cause doubt and reason to look into the authentication of the footage, and his statement gives us an independent timeline that conflicts with the recording. ”
Julian purses his lips. “If we can do that, we may be able to get this bartender in for a lineup.”
I study Donna sitting next to Alessio.
She has had the case only a short time. Already, she has identified a witness the police either overlooked or discounted and found a gap between the estimated death, the altered footage, and the call that brought officers to the room.
“You managed to get a hotel employee to discuss all of this with a private investigator?”
Her eyes move to mine.
“He wasn’t talking to a private investigator.”
The answer is delivered with such mildness that it takes Alessio a second to understand it.
Then he leans back. “Who did he think you were?”
“A woman waiting for a friend.”
“And he simply told you?” I ask skeptically.
“Oh, he wanted to tell someone. I just gave him someone.”
There is the slightest curve at the corner of her mouth.
I find myself intrigued despite the circumstances. Donna did not have to force answers out of people. She sees what they want and gives it to them.
Julian watches her without surprise.
He already knew what she was capable of, which is why he referred me to her.
“What else did he say?” I ask.
“That Genevieve arrived with Alessio, that Alessio left alone, and that the police came after the bar had closed. He heard later that they went directly to her room.”
“He did not see the police arrive?” Julian asks.
“No. He had already left.”
“Then his value is limited to Alessio’s departure.”
“And anything we can establish around the time of that departure,” Donna says.
Alessio looks between them. “Will he talk officially?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You didn’t tell him who you were.”
“That conversation would have ended the moment I did.”
“So how do we get him to repeat it?”
“Julian does the legal approach. Obstruction of justice, blah, blah, blah,” she says casually. “And if that doesn't work…” She pins me with her eyes. "Well, I'm sure you'll think of something.”
I hold her gaze.
Julian exhales through his nose. “Let’s try it my way first.”
“Of course,” I say, breaking eye contact and leaning back.
Alessio glances between us, some of the weight lifting from his expression for the first time since this began.
Donna reaches for her legal pad.
“Now,” she says, turning to him, “tell me about what happened that night.”
“I thought my father told you what happened.”
“Yes, now I need to hear it from you.”
Alessio glances at me.
I give him a slight nod.
Donna uncaps her pen.
“Start with the club,” she says. “Tell me why you went there, who was with you, and the first moment you noticed Genevieve.”