“Do it,” I say.
“I’ll start now,” he says and walks out.
I turn back to the rest. “The tip her boss received was more detailed than the last. They said she was carrying my baby. I need to know who knows and how. Now.”
Giovanni is already typing. “We’re tracing the tip to Hart. Could’ve come by phone, anonymous web form, or dead-drop email. I’ve got pull with two people in his IT who will tell me what the inbound looked like. IP, carrier, attachment metadata. If it was paper, we’ll have to find another way, but there’s no way they got two tips in that quickly by mail.”
“Do it,” I say. “If the photos came with it, I want the chain: who took them, who handed them off.”
Nico taps the garage stills. “Angle and lens say long glass. Could be the same freelancer who works Russo weddings on weekends. I’ve got three names; I’ll have faces by dinner.”
“Make sure he can’t find his camera tomorrow,” I say. “Antonio, the body shop.”
Antonio nods. “I’ll sit with the owner. We’ll leave with a work order, the driver’s face, and a name that isn’t ‘John Smith.’”
“And Caterina?” I ask.
“She’s on the brother,” Nico says. “Savino’s markers are spread across two rooms, and a bookie tied to Russo’s nephew. Cat’s pulling bank stubs, Venmo junk, burner top-ups. If there was a payoff for the rumor, she’ll see the bump.”
My phone buzzes. Vito.
I put him on speaker. “Talk.”
“He cracked,” he says.
“The brother?” I ask.
“Yeah, the PA is Paola Savino. Apparently, she recognized you in the corridor, told her brother Dino.”
“Dino?” I ask, dry.
“Yup. Dino sold it to a guy called Nello, who plays cards at one of Russo’s joints. Nello passed it to Russo’s people with a bonus for ‘the prosecutor is pregnant.”
“How much?” I ask.
“Five grand to Dino, two to Nello. Cash. Dino paid a chunk for his book right after.”
“The driver?” Giovanni asks.
“They don’t know. The line ends at Nello,” Vito says.
“Make sure of that,” I say coldly.
I can almost hear his smile over the phone. “My pleasure.”
The line dies.
Roberto steps back in, closing it behind him. “Levin’s in,” he says. “Conflict check clear. She’ll want to talk to Elena by end of day and file an emergency response to OPR by morning: anonymous smear, immediate disclosure to the office today, pregnancy unrelated to the charged conduct, no case taint. She wants to quarantine Elena’s devices and image them—standard defensive posture.”
“She gets whatever she needs,” I say. “You’ll be there when they talk, Roberto.”
Roberto adds, “If OPR calls Elena directly, she says nothing without counsel. Not a word. She knows this, but she might be a bit off right now. Remind her.”
“Done,” I say.
“I’ll go try CDV again and be back later, all right?” He closes his notebook and stands, clapping me on the shoulder on the way out.
Antonio rises with him. “I’ll sit on Russo’s channels and keep our name out of their mouths.”
