Chapter 8 - THE EVIDENCE IN THE POCKET
The other three senior officers sitting at the table slowly turned their heads toward Marcus. Their expressions shifted from confusion to deep, dark disgust as they realized what had taken place.
"Marcus..." the Vice President, an older biker with graying hair, growled softly. "Tell me you didn't plant the President's family watch on a housekeeper."
"I didn't!" Marcus shouted, rising frantically to his feet, his chair sliding back against the floor with a loud scrape. "This is insane! You're taking the word of a damn dog and a four-year-old child over your own Sergeant-at-Arms?!"
The moment Marcus stood up violently, Pino launched forward two paces, his massive jaws snapping shut four inches from Marcus's thigh with a sound like a gun closing.
Marcus gasped, jumping back against the sofa, his hands flying up in surrender.
Lorenzo didn't even flinch. He held Sophia securely against his chest, reaching down with his free right hand to gently rest two fingers against Pino’s collar, keeping the lethal war dog poised on a razor's edge.
"Sophia," Lorenzo spoke softly, leaning his head down near the little girl's ear. "When you saw the man put the watch in your mommy's locker... which pocket did he put his key into?"
Sophia lifted her head from Lorenzo’s shoulder. She looked at Marcus’s terrified, sweating face, then raised one small, delicate finger, pointing directly at the right front pocket of Marcus’s black leather vest.
"He put the silver key in that pocket," Sophia whispered clearly, her voice cutting through the silent room like a blade. "The key with the yellow tag."
Every man in the room froze.
The locker keys for the domestic staff were unique brass keys with yellow plastic tags—keys kept exclusively in the Manager's office on the ground floor.
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Marcus’s hand twitched reflexively toward his right vest pocket.
Lorenzo’s gray eyes locked onto the movement. "Take your hand away from your vest, Marcus," Lorenzo ordered, his voice dropping into a register of total, unyielding command. "Or I let go of Pino’s collar."
