Chương 13
“To who?”
“That was the problem.”
Daniel pointed at the index in Roman’s hand.
“He wasn’t.”
Roman looked down at the page.
“He was paying people.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To change records.”
Roman’s eyes lifted.
Daniel continued.
“Inspection reports.”
“Customs?”
“Some.”
“Police?”
“Some.”
“Courts?”
“Some.”
Roman felt the old structure of his father’s empire rearranging itself in his mind.
Not a hierarchy of force.
A hierarchy of silence.
“What did Gabriel see that scared Anthony?”
Daniel rubbed his thumb against the side of his hand.
“I think he found a connection between those payments and a warehouse fire.”
Roman froze.
“What warehouse?”
“Port Newark.”
“No.”
Daniel watched him.
“Sixteen years ago.”
Roman’s voice went flat.
“I know the fire.”
Everyone in the organization had known it.
Three dead.
Two dockworkers and a night supervisor.
Official cause, electrical.
Anthony had lost inventory and collected insurance.
Gabriel had attended one of the funerals.
Roman remembered that because Anthony had mocked him afterward for wasting time on sentiment.
Daniel continued carefully.
“The fire report was altered.”
Roman’s throat tightened.
“How do you know?”
“Because I copied an invoice that paid the inspector who signed the final report.”
“Why would my father pay him?”
Daniel looked at him.
“I think the fire wasn’t an accident.”
Luis shifted near the door.
Roman did not.
For a few seconds, the clock on the wall seemed unbearably loud.
“My father killed three men?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just implied it.”
“I’m telling you what the records suggest.”
Roman stepped closer until only the library table separated them.
“Don’t hide behind careful language.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Careful language is why I’m alive.”
Roman stopped.
That landed.
Daniel exhaled.
“I copied what I could.”
“Why?”
“Because I was stealing from Anthony.”
Roman gave a humorless laugh.
“At least one thing is simple.”
“I was twenty-six and stupid.”
“You stole two hundred forty thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“And then you stumbled into a ledger.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened him.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he kill you?”
Daniel looked toward the dark windows.
“He tried.”
Luis’s posture changed.
Roman studied Daniel’s face.
“What happened?”
“Car accident.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“That wasn’t in the civil file.”
“It wouldn’t be.”
Daniel rubbed the left side of his ribs.
“I spent eleven days in a hospital under another name.”
“Sabrina arranged that?”
“My sister arranged everything.”
Roman said nothing.
Daniel’s mouth twitched without humor.
“She’s good at making people disappear.”
“She’s also good at making people believe things that aren’t true.”
“Yes.”
“Like your death.”
“Yes.”
“And that she cared about me.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“That part I wouldn’t assume.”
Roman looked at him.
Daniel shrugged.
“She can lie and care at the same time.”
Roman hated the sentence because it sounded too much like something Elena would say.
“What does Sabrina want now?”
“To finish what we started.”
“Which is?”
“Find out who inherited Anthony’s payment network.”
Roman looked at the index.
“You think someone kept using it.”
“We know someone did.”
“The Baltimore transfers.”
“One test.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“Sabrina used my credentials.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“She entered my house without authorization.”
“Yes.”
“She lied about why.”
“Yes.”
“And she expected me not to react?”
Daniel gave him a tired look.
“She expected you to react exactly the way you did.”
Roman went still.
Daniel continued.
“You were supposed to distrust Elena.”
Roman’s hand tightened around the paper.
“Explain.”
“The moment Elena started asking questions, Sabrina knew someone else would notice.”
“Who?”
“We didn’t know.”
“So her solution was to move into my house and sleep in my wife’s room?”
Daniel winced.
“That part was not the plan.”
Roman laughed once.
“Good to know there was a plan.”
“Sabrina wanted proximity.”
“She had proximity.”
“Not enough.”
“To what?”
“You.”
Roman stared at him.
Daniel continued.
“She thought if whoever was inside your systems believed she had influence over you, they would approach her.”
“They did?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Two months ago.”
Roman’s voice lowered.
“And she didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
“Who approached her?”
“A man using the name Ellis Ward.”
“Real?”
“Probably not.”
“What did he want?”
“To know whether Anthony left physical copies of old consortium documents.”
“The Baltic contracts.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked toward the safe.
“Why?”
“Names.”
“The aliases.”
“Yes.”
Roman folded the index slowly.
“And Elena found this before Sabrina did.”
Daniel nodded.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“That seems to be everybody’s favorite answer tonight.”
Daniel ignored the jab.
“Sabrina thought the index was destroyed.”
“Why?”
“Anthony told Vincent to burn it.”
Roman’s eyes sharpened.
“Vincent.”
“Yes.”
Roman looked toward the gate monitors visible through the partially open study door.
Vincent was still outside.
Waiting.
“Why would Vincent bring you here if his name is on the index?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“That’s what bothers me.”
Roman looked at him.
“You came anyway.”
“I needed to know whether the index still existed.”
“And now you do.”
“Yes.”
Daniel glanced toward the page.
“So does Vincent.”
Roman’s gaze moved to the window.
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
“He brought me here.”
“He doesn’t know I found it.”
Daniel went still.
Roman continued.
“You told me where to look after you entered.”
A faint understanding crossed Daniel’s face.
Luis stepped closer.
“Mr. Marino.”
Roman raised a hand.
Not yet.
He looked at Daniel.
“Did Vincent know about the book?”
“No.”
“Did Sabrina?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Anthony.”
“And you.”
Daniel nodded.
“How?”
“I heard him tell Vincent where he’d hidden it.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“You just said Vincent didn’t know.”
Daniel froze.
Luis moved his hand toward his jacket.
Roman’s voice became very quiet.
“Try again.”
Daniel stared at him.
Then he closed his eyes.
“Damn.”
Roman did not move.
Luis said, “Hands where I can see them.”
Daniel lifted both hands.
“Roman, listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“Vincent knew about the book years ago.”
“But?”
“I thought he forgot.”
Roman almost laughed.
“You thought?”
May you like
“It was one conversation.”
“You built your entire reason for coming here around a man forgetting the location of evidence that could destroy him.”
