Page 15 of Lorenzo

This morning, he looks like a man who just realized that one single night can tear your entire life apart.

The door opens, and Julian walks in carrying a folder beneath one arm and Alessio's phone in his hand.

He closes the door behind him and crosses to his desk. He has removed his suit jacket since the station, but the rest of him remains exactly as it was before dawn. His tie is straight. His sleeves are buttoned. There is no sign that he has gotten any more sleep than the rest of us.

Alessio moves away from the window. “How did you get that? I thought it was evidence.”

Julian places the phone on the desk. “The police couldn't come up with a substantial enough reason to admit it into evidence.”

I look at the phone, then at him. “What changed?”

Julian takes his seat and places the folder on the desk between us. “There may be benefit to having a judge in the family after all.”

“Hmm” is all I say.

Who could have guessed that after Julia married Ricardo and had the baby, her father, Judge Patrick O’Brien, would be more open to dealing with our family?

“You said you had something,” I say, moving on.

“I do.”

Alessio returns to the chair beside mine. He sits forward, forearms braced on his thighs, his attention fixed on the folder.

Julian opens it.

“I got my hands on some of the evidence the police have against you.”

“What evidence?” Alessio asks.

Julian turns one page, then slides a photograph across the desk.

It is a still image taken from hotel security footage. The angle is high, looking down on part of a hallway. Alessio is in the frame, his head turned slightly as he walks beneath one of the cameras.

A timestamp runs along the bottom.

1:30 a.m.

Alessio takes the page before I can reach for it.

He stares at the image.

“What is this?”

“Footage from the hotel,” Julian says. “According to the timestamp, you left at 1:30 this morning.”

Alessio looks up sharply. “No.”

“That is what the recording shows.”

“No.” He drops the page onto the desk and points at the time. “That’s wrong.”

Julian folds his hands in front of him. “How so?”

“I left just after midnight.”

“How long after?”

“I don’t know. A few minutes. I wasn’t checking the exact second when I walked out.”