Marchetti Holdings was supposed to be a civilian run money-laundering operation. No Bonaccorso men are to frequent the spot.
"Charlotte."
"Yes."
"I need you to do something for me."
"What?"
"I need you to identify him now. Formally. Face to face, through controlled conditions. A photograph isn't enough. Leone needs you to see Salvatore in person and confirm that the man at the Marchetti meeting is the same man who handles security logistics for the Bonaccorso family."
"I know."
"That means going back to the compound."
"I know that too."
"Are you ready?"
She looks at me across the table. Coffee in her hands. My shirt on her body. Her feet bare on the cold cabin floor. She looks like a woman sitting in a kitchen having a normal morning conversation, except the conversation is about identifying a traitor in a mafia family and the woman is the only living witness to a conspiracy that spans both sides of a war.
"I've been ready since the county road," she says. "I just needed to finish being scared first."
"And now?"
"Now I'm angry. Angry is better. Angry gets things done."
She grins at me. Sharp. Wolfish. The grin of a woman who has spent three years being hunted and has just decided to start hunting back.
I pick up the burner and call Leone.
He answers on the second ring. "Tell me you have something. We’ve been tracking Salvatore. He is most definitely he mole, but Aurelio won’t move without her. There’s suspicion he’s talking to Giovanni."
"Charlotte's ready to talk. Full identification. But you need to make sure it’s safe for her there.”
Leone is quiet for three seconds. "How do you want to do this?"
"One-way glass. The compound's interrogation wing has the setup. We bring Charlotte in through the east garage, keep her off the main corridors. Salvatore attends Aurelio's morning briefings every day at nine. We position her behind the glass before the briefing starts. She sees his face. She confirms. Then we move."
"And if she confirms?"
"Then you and I have a conversation with Salvatore that he's not going to enjoy."
Charlotte is watching me from across the table. She can hear Leone's side of the conversation. She doesn't flinch.
"I'll set it up," Leone says. "How soon can you get back?"
I look at Charlotte. She holds up two fingers.
"Two days," I say. "We'll take the back roads. No highway, no toll cameras, no digital footprint."
"I'll have the room ready. And Claudio?"
"What."
"Aurelio's out of patience. If this doesn't identify Salvatore with certainty, he's going to lose his shit. He expected you’d be back by now."
"Yeah, well, sometimes getting away from the danger helps the memory. Besides after the attacks, it was safer for her."
