Chương 7
David’s old coffee mug still pushed behind the cereal bowls because I had never been able to throw it away.
A front door someone might already be standing behind.
I crouched and opened my arms.
Logan came to me.
“We’re going somewhere else tonight.”
“Hotel?”
“Maybe.”
“Hotels have waffles.”
Renee covered her mouth.
I held him tighter.
“Yes.”
“Can I push the elevator button?”
“We’ll negotiate that later.”
He seemed satisfied.
Sergeant Hall called someone over her radio and gave them my address.
Marco objected immediately.
“You’re sending marked units?”
“Yes.”
“You might as well put up a billboard.”
“They’re checking whether someone broke into her home.”
“And if someone is watching?”
“They’ll know police are involved.”
“Exactly.”
Sergeant Hall faced him.
“Your alternative is what?”
Marco did not answer.
“Men with rifles?”
“No rifles.”
The younger officer glanced down the hall at one of Marco’s men.
“That guy has a rifle case.”
Marco looked irritated.
“I said no rifles here.”
“Your organizational discipline is inspiring.”
For the first time that night, I almost smiled.
Then Marco’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
Every trace of irritation disappeared.
“What?”
He turned away.
“Say it again.”
His face went pale.
Vance watched him.
I watched Vance.
Marco ended the call.
“What happened?” I asked.
He did not answer.
“Marco.”
He looked at me.
“Peter Romano is missing.”
Vance nodded once as if a private theory had just become heavier.
“Since when?”
“Since before the shooting.”
Sergeant Hall asked, “Missing how?”
“He was supposed to supervise a shipment at eleven.”
“What kind of shipment?”
Marco looked at her.
“Olive oil.”
The younger officer stared at him.
“Seriously?”
Marco’s expression remained blank.
“No.”
Even Sergeant Hall looked briefly offended.
Marco rubbed a hand over his face.
“Nobody has seen Peter since ten thirty.”
Vance asked, “Vehicle?”
“Found near Canton.”
“Phone?”
“In the vehicle.”
Vance’s eyes moved toward me.
“Then David was right.”
Marco stepped toward him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know Peter disappeared before Alessandro’s route changed.”
Marco froze.
“How do you know the route changed?”
Vance did not answer.
That was the moment the balance in the hallway shifted.
Sergeant Hall saw it.
So did I.
Marco said very quietly, “Who told you?”
Vance looked toward the operating-room doors.
“David.”
My heart knocked once against my ribs.
“When?”
“Tuesday.”
“You said he only told you Romano had found the wrong leak.”
“I told you what was relevant.”
My anger arrived so quickly that I crossed the distance between us before anybody stopped me.
I slapped him.
The sound cracked through the corridor.
Vance’s head turned.
Marco stared.
Sergeant Hall closed her eyes briefly.
My palm burned.
“You don’t get to decide what is relevant about my husband.”
Vance touched his cheek.
“No.”
His voice was softer now.
“You’re right.”
“I don’t want you agreeing with me.”
“I figured.”
“Tell me everything he said.”
Vance looked at Logan.
“Not here.”
I almost hit him again.
Sergeant Hall caught my elbow this time.
“Mrs. Winters.”
“Catherine.”
“All right, Catherine.”
Her grip loosened.
“We need somewhere controlled.”
Marco said, “Romano has a secure property in Harbor East.”
“No.”
I said it immediately.
He frowned.
“I am not taking my child to a mafia safe house.”
“It’s a condo.”
“That does not improve the sentence.”
Vance said, “Police station.”
Marco laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
Sergeant Hall looked from one man to the other.
“She and her child are coming with me.”
Marco shook his head.
“They’ll be exposed entering.”
“Then you can follow.”
“I don’t follow police escorts.”
“You do tonight.”
Before he could answer, my phone rang from inside Sergeant Hall’s gloved hand.
We all looked at it.
The screen showed my babysitter’s name.
Maya.
My first thought was her asthma.
I reached for the phone.
Sergeant Hall hesitated, then put it on speaker herself.
“Hello?”
There was breathing on the other end.
Then a man said, “Cat?”
Every muscle in my body locked.
The world narrowed until there was only that voice.
Older.
Tired.
Alive.
I gripped the edge of the counter.
“David?”
Nobody moved.
The breathing on the line broke.
“Oh, God.”
My knees gave out.
Marco caught my arm before I hit the floor.
I ripped free of him.
“David, where are you?”
A sound came through the phone that might have been a laugh or a sob.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Cat—”
“No, you do not get to start with that.”
“I know.”
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“You’re alive.”
“I know.”
I could not seem to stop saying it.
Logan looked up at me from Renee’s arms.
David heard his voice in the background.
“Is that him?”
I closed my eyes.
“You don’t get to ask that either.”
The line went quiet.
When David spoke again, his voice was barely there.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
“Where are you?”
Another pause.
Then the sound of a car horn somewhere behind him.
“I’m close.”
Marco leaned toward the phone.
“David, listen to me.”
“Marco?”
“Yes.”
“Is Alessandro alive?”
Marco looked toward the operating room.
“For now.”
David exhaled.
“Then Peter failed.”
Vance stepped closer.
“David.”
The silence on the line changed.
Not surprise.
Fear.
“Why is he there?”
Vance said, “You called me.”
“I told you to warn her, not go near her.”
“You vanished.”
“I had to.”
Marco cut in.
“Where are you?”
David ignored him.
“Cat, take Logan and leave the hospital.”
My anger turned cold.
“You know his name.”
“Of course I know his name.”
“You left when he was six weeks old.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
“I don’t know what else to say.”
“Try the truth.”
There was a long silence.
Then David said, “The truth is I didn’t leave to protect you from Romano.”
Vance closed his eyes.
Marco went very still.
I stared at the phone.
“Then who were you protecting us from?”
David took one unsteady breath.
May you like
“Me.”
I stared at the phone as if his last word had physically changed its shape.“Explain.”David breathed once into the receiver, slow and uneven.“When I found out what Vance’s task force was doing, I didn’t just report it.”Marco’s eyes narrowed.“What did you do?”“I copied everything.”Vance looked down at the floor.David continued before anyone interrupted.“Accounts, transfer logs, shell companies, names of informants, people inside agencies, people inside Romano’s operation.”Marco moved closer to the phone.“You had access to our internal accounts?”“For nine months.”Marco’s face hardened.“You son of a bitch.”“I know.”I slapped the counter with my free hand.“Stop saying that.”Silence answered me.Logan had begun humming to Captain Bear again.The sound reached through the open consultation-room door and made what David was saying feel even less possible.“What does any of this have to do with leaving us?”“I was supposed to hand the files to an inspector general.”“Supposed to?”“I got scared.”The admission was so simple that nobody reacted at first.David’s voice dropped.“I had names that could ruin people who don’t get ruined.”Vance’s jaw tightened.David said, “I thought if I held the files back, I could make them leave us alone.”I closed my eyes.“You blackmailed them.”“Yes.”The word hurt more than I expected.Not because of the crime.Because it sounded nothing like the man who apologized when grocery-store cashiers gave him too much change.Marco gave a low laugh.“So this whole thing started because the insurance investigator decided to become ambitious.”“Not ambitious.”David sounded tired.“Terrified.”Vance finally spoke.“You demanded immunity.”“I demanded protection for Catherine and the baby.”“You demanded money.”“That came later.”I opened my eyes.Money.There it was.The ugly detail nobody had wanted to place in front of me.“How much?”David went quiet.“David.”“Three hundred thousand.”Renee stopped folding the wrapper.Marco stared at the phone.Even Sergeant Hall’s expression changed.I thought of our apartment.The collection notices.The winter I wore two sweaters indoors because turning the heat above sixty-five made me nervous about the bill.The pediatric copay I had split across two credit cards.“You had three hundred thousand dollars.”“No.”“You just said—”“I asked for it.”“Did you get it?”“Yes.”My fingers went numb.“Where is it?”“I don’t know.”A laugh escaped me.It was not amusement.“You don’t know where three hundred thousand dollars went?”“I gave it back.”“To whom?”“No one.”“That is not an answer.”“I left it in a storage unit with the files.”Vance looked sharply at Marco.Marco noticed.“What storage unit?”David hesitated.Then he said, “That’s what Peter wants.”The hallway changed again.Not visibly.Nobody moved.But every person listening understood that the missing money was no longer money.It was leverage.Marco asked, “Peter knows where the files are?”“No.”“Then why hit Alessandro?”“Because Alessandro found out Peter had been searching for them.”Marco’s face tightened.“When?”“Last week.”Vance said, “How?”“I told him.”Marco turned toward Vance.“You knew?”Vance shook his head.“No.”David continued.“I called Alessandro from a clean number and told him somebody inside his logistics network was accessing old transport records.”Marco swore.“Peter had access.”“Exactly.”I forced myself to follow.“You contacted Alessandro after hiding from him for sixteen months?”“I contacted him because Peter found Maya.”My body went cold.“What?”David’s breathing changed.“He’s been watching people around you.”I looked at Renee.Then at Logan.My hand went to my mouth.“Maya had an asthma attack tonight.”“I know.”“You know?”“I was outside her building.”The floor seemed to slide beneath me.“You were there?”“Yes.”“You were near us?”“For the last three days.”A hot, vicious anger pushed through everything else.“You watched me go to work?”“Yes.”“You watched me take Logan into the hospital?”“I saw you get off the bus.”I covered my face with one hand.For three days, my dead husband had been close enough to watch me carry our son through Baltimore.Close enough to see the cheap stroller with the broken left wheel.Close enough to see me drag groceries home.Close enough to remain hidden.“Why didn’t you come to me?”“Because Peter’s people were watching.”“You were watching too.”“Yes.”“Do you hear how that sounds?”“I do.”“Good.”My voice broke anyway.“I hope it sounds terrible.”“It does.”No defense.No justification.That hurt differently.Sergeant Hall leaned toward the phone.“David, where are you physically located right now?”He did not answer.“I need an address.”“I can’t give you one.”“You called from a compromised person’s phone.”“Borrowed.”“From whom?”“A man who is going to be very annoyed when he wakes up.”The younger officer looked at Sergeant Hall.She rubbed her forehead.“You assaulted someone?”“No.”“Then why is he asleep?”“Because he works nights.”For one absurd second, the tension cracked.Marco looked annoyed that the answer was boring.I nearly laughed.Then David said, “Cat, you need to listen to me now.”“No.”“Please.”“You had two years.”“I know.”“Say that again and I will hang up.”He stopped.The threat gave me a strange little piece of control.I needed it.“What do you want?”“I need you to leave with Hall.”Sergeant Hall looked surprised.“You know me?”“No.”“You knew her name.”“Catherine said it earlier.”Hall accepted that reluctantly.David continued.“Do not go with Marco.”Marco’s expression went flat.“Careful.”“Peter still has someone close to Alessandro.”“You don’t know that.”“The route was changed after Peter disappeared.”Marco said nothing.David pressed.“Who knew the new route?”“Six people.”“Name them.”“No.”“Then keep pretending this is about loyalty.”Marco stepped away from the phone.His face had gone pale beneath the anger.I realized he was counting those six people.Perhaps one of them was a friend.Perhaps all of them were.Vance asked, “David, where is the storage unit?”“No.”“If Peter is searching for it—”“I said no.”“You trusted me once.”“I trusted you before I understood you.”Vance flinched.It was the first emotion I had seen on him that did not appear managed.Sergeant Hall noticed too.“What did you do?” she asked.Vance said nothing.David answered for him.“He buried a federal investigation.”Hall’s attention sharpened.“Which investigation?”“The one into Romano.”Marco looked almost amused.“You’re surprised?”“I’m surprised a former federal agent is standing in a hospital admitting proximity to obstruction.”Vance turned to her.“I admitted nothing.”David laughed quietly through the phone.“There he is.”My eyes moved between them.“Why would Vance bury an investigation into Alessandro?”Neither man answered.I looked at Marco.His expression told me he knew.“What?”Marco rubbed the bridge of his nose.“It wasn’t really about Alessandro.”Vance said, “That’s enough.”“No,” I said.Marco looked at me.“The task force used Romano as cover.”“For what?”“To move money.”Vance’s face hardened.Marco continued anyway.“Seized assets.”Sergeant Hall frowned.“Asset forfeiture?”“Some legitimate.”“And the rest?”Marco looked at Vance.“The rest disappeared before it reached evidence accounts.”Hall’s voice became very quiet.“You’re saying federal agents skimmed seizures.”“Among other things.”Vance said, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”“David had ledgers.”“That doesn’t make them authentic.”David’s voice came through the phone.“You authenticated three of them yourself.”Vance went still.Nobody needed clarification after that.I looked at him.“You knew.”He did not meet my eyes.“You knew David was telling the truth.”“Yes.”“And you helped fake his death.”“Yes.”The answer came almost gently.“Why?”Vance finally looked at me.“Because by then people had already started dying.”My anger hesitated.Not disappeared.Just changed shape.“Who?”“A forensic accountant in Virginia.”David said, “Melissa Crane.”Vance nodded.“A contractor in Delaware.”“Samir Patel.”Dr. Patel was no longer nearby, but the shared surname made Sergeant Hall glance toward the operating room.Vance continued.“They looked like unrelated deaths.”David said, “They weren’t.”I pressed my fingers against my forehead.“And you decided pretending David was dead would fix it?”“No.”Vance’s voice lowered.“I decided it might buy him enough time to disappear with the evidence.”I looked at the phone.“Did he ask you to tell me he died?”David answered.“Yes.”I wished he had lied.I wanted one betrayal I could assign entirely to somebody else.Instead, my husband had chosen the coffin.The condolences.The life insurance paperwork.The months when Logan would not sleep more than ninety minutes at a time and I walked the apartment until my feet hurt.I sat down.Renee moved closer to Logan without being asked.David said my name.“Don’t.”He stopped.I stared at my shoes.The right one had a gray streak of floor wax near the toe.I had meant to clean it before work.Suddenly that mattered.Stupidly, desperately, I wanted my life to contain problems that could be fixed with soap.Sergeant Hall asked, “Why surface now?”David took a breath.“Because Peter found Catherine’s address.”I looked up.“He already had my address if he had Maya.”“No.”David’s voice tightened.“He found the old address.”Marco understood first.“What old address?”“The apartment Catherine and I had before Logan.”My skin prickled.We had moved four months before Logan was born.“What was there?”“My storage receipt.”I stared at the phone.“You kept evidence in our apartment?”“Not the evidence.”“The receipt is enough.”“It didn’t have the unit number.”“Then what did it have?”“A company name.”Marco swore.Vance asked, “Which company?”David ignored him.“Peter traced the facility.”My pulse quickened.“So he knows where the files are.”“He knows the building.”“How many units?”“More than eight hundred.”Marco said, “He’ll tear the place apart.”“He already started.”A noise came through the phone.David stopped speaking.It sounded like a car door.Then footsteps.Sergeant Hall straightened.“David?”No answer.“David?”I stood so quickly the chair scraped the floor.The connection remained open.I heard breathing.Not David’s.Slower.Closer to the phone.Then another voice said, “Catherine?”Every hair on my arms rose.Marco whispered, “Peter.”The man on the phone chuckled softly.“Marco always was quick.”I gripped the counter.“Where is David?”A pause.“Nearby.”“Put him back on.”“I don’t think he wants to talk.”Behind the voice came a muffled sound.A grunt.Then something heavy striking metal.My stomach turned.“David.”Peter said, “He made this very complicated.”Marco stepped toward the phone.“If you touch him—”“Marco, please.”Peter sounded almost bored.“You have spent your adult life threatening people on behalf of a man who doesn’t know your mother’s birthday.”Marco’s face changed.Peter laughed.“I know it’s March twelfth.”“Where are you?”“Not your concern.”“You shot Alessandro.”“No.”The denial came immediately.Marco froze.Peter continued.“I arranged for Alessandro to be frightened.”“He was hit three times.”“Yes.”For the first time, irritation entered Peter’s voice.“That was not the instruction.”Vance frowned.“You hired amateurs?”Peter laughed again.“Elliot.”Vance went rigid.“I wondered when you’d crawl out.”“You knew I was here.”“I invited you.”I looked at Vance.He seemed genuinely surprised.Peter said, “The hospital guest log was for you, not Romano.”Sergeant Hall’s eyes narrowed.“Why?”Peter answered although she had not introduced herself.“Because Catherine needed witnesses.”My stomach dropped.“Witnesses to what?”A pause.Then David cried out somewhere near the phone.I clutched the counter.Peter’s voice returned, calm and almost polite.“To the moment she learns her husband was never the victim in any of this.”
