Chapter 10 - SIX MISSING SECONDS
10
We never reached Riverside.
Halfway there, Samuel Rusk called again.
This time he gave us an address.
A small church outside Milwaukee.
“Come alone,” he told Luca.
Luca nearly laughed.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“Because you travel with people who have reasons to kill me.”
Anthony leaned toward the phone.
“Correct.”
Samuel sighed.
“Bring Claire. Leave Anthony outside.”
“Why Claire?”
“Because Daniel trusted her enough to hide the key where she would eventually find it.”
I looked at the black steel key.
RIVERSIDE.
We went.
The church had been closed for renovation.
Samuel sat alone in the front pew.
He looked nothing like the man from Luca’s dining room.
His suit was wrinkled.
His tie gone.
His face gray.
When Luca approached, Samuel did not stand.
“You look like my father,” he said.
Luca stopped.
“Don’t.”
“I mean when he was angry.”
“You don’t get to remember him fondly.”
Samuel lowered his eyes.
“No. I suppose I don’t.”
I sat two pews behind them.
Luca remained standing.
“Start talking.”
Samuel took a long breath.
He had met Gideon Hale in law school.
Both men were ambitious.
Gideon understood money.
Samuel understood contracts.
Together they discovered that powerful people rarely feared laws as much as they feared exposure.
Bellweather began as a financial intelligence company.
Then Gideon started collecting recordings.
“When did my father become involved?” Luca asked.
“He never joined us.”
Samuel looked at him.
“That was the problem.”
Salvatore allowed Gideon to use warehouse offices for meetings without understanding their purpose.
Later, when he discovered covert recordings had been made there, he demanded everything stop.
Gideon refused.
Samuel tried to negotiate.
Salvatore threatened to turn over records.
“So you killed him,” Luca said.
“No.”
“You sent him to Riverside.”
“Yes.”
“You used Anthony.”
“Yes.”
Samuel’s voice cracked.
“I thought we were frightening him.”
Anthony, listening through Luca’s phone from outside, cursed.
Samuel continued.
“The plan was to hold Anthony for six hours, bring Salvatore to Riverside, and convince him Bellweather could reach his family.”
“And the fire?”
Samuel looked toward the altar.
“Marcus.”
There it was.
The distinction.
Samuel had betrayed Salvatore.
Gideon had manipulated him.
Marcus had crossed the final line.
“Marcus planted the incendiary device?” Luca asked.
Samuel nodded.
“We didn’t know until afterward.”
“Did Vanessa?”
Silence.
“Samuel.”
“She saw him preparing equipment.”
My stomach tightened.
“She knew?”
“She suspected.”
“Did she warn Salvatore?”
“No.”
Luca turned away.
The wound on his face was worse than anger.
Vanessa had lied about knowing Salvatore.
In truth, she had been close enough to save him.
“Why?”
Samuel answered.
“Gideon told her Marcus was only preparing a distraction.”
“That excuse lasted twelve years?”
“No.”
“Then why stay silent?”
“Fear became loyalty. Loyalty became guilt. Guilt became habit.”
I thought of Vanessa at nineteen.
The note in her room.
I don’t know how to leave.
But at some point, not leaving becomes choosing.
Samuel reached into his coat.
Luca tensed.
Samuel removed a small digital recorder.
“This is the last thing Gideon ever gave me.”
He pressed play.
Vanessa’s voice.
Older than nineteen.
Probably five or six years ago.
“You said the fire wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Gideon answered.
“It solved the problem.”
“Two men died.”
“Two men who intended to destroy us.”
“Anthony was sixteen.”
“He survived.”
“You drugged him.”
“Marcus did.”
“You knew.”
Silence.
Vanessa continued.
“I want out.”
Gideon laughed.
“There is no out.”
“What about Luca?”
“What about him?”
“He isn’t his father.”
“No. He’s more useful.”
The recording ended.
Luca sat down.
For once, he looked like an ordinary man hearing that someone he loved had viewed him as a tool.
“Why give me this now?” he asked.
“Because Gideon died before Vanessa found the courage to leave.”
“She still didn’t leave.”
“She tried once.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
My head snapped up.
Three years ago.
My father’s stroke.
Samuel looked at me.
“She went to Daniel.”
“What?”
“Vanessa learned he had kept the Bellweather master. She believed if she could obtain it, she could use it against Marcus.”
“Why was Dad hurt?”
“She brought Marcus with her.”
My blood turned cold.
“She led him there?”
“She thought she could convince Marcus they needed Daniel alive.”
“Did Marcus cause the stroke?”
Samuel hesitated.
“He confronted Daniel. There was a struggle. Daniel collapsed.”
I stood.
“You left him there?”
“I wasn’t present.”
“Vanessa was?”
“Yes.”
“Did she call an ambulance?”
“No.”
My hatred sharpened.
Dad could have died.
Vanessa had walked away.
Whatever fear she lived under did not excuse that.
“What happened afterward?” Luca asked.
“She told Marcus Daniel had destroyed everything.”
“Why?”
“To protect him.”
Me.
My father.
Maybe Vanessa had tried to protect us.
Too late.
After helping bring danger to the door.
“She arranged Claire’s placement later,” Samuel said.
I stared at him.
“You said you did.”
“I processed it.”
“Why?”
“Vanessa wanted you near Luca.”
“For the master?”
“At first.”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“Later, I think she hoped you would recognize something.”
“The fake recordings.”
“Yes.”
Anthony’s voice came through the phone.
“She was testing Claire because she wanted help?”
Samuel nodded.
“She could not openly betray Marcus. She believed he monitored her communications.”
That complicated everything.
Vanessa had insulted me.
Manipulated me.
Used me.
But perhaps the memory card in her sitting room had not been forgotten.
Perhaps she had left it.
For me.
“Why call me a floor scrubber?” I asked.
Samuel almost smiled.
“Vanessa performs cruelty when she is afraid.”
“That’s a convenient diagnosis.”
“I’m not excusing her.”
“Good.”
Luca leaned forward.
“The wedding recording.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“Marcus planned to play it after the ceremony.”
“What does it say?”
“Enough manufactured material to make it appear you ordered Anthony’s death, bribed officials, and arranged Salvatore’s murder.”
Luca laughed in disbelief.
“My father’s murder?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it would destroy your legitimacy inside your own organization and make Vanessa the sympathetic widow if anything happened to you.”
Widow.
There it was.
The final plan.
“What was supposed to happen to me?” Luca asked.
Samuel looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
“That means you do.”
“I refused to participate.”
“After twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“What changed?”
Samuel’s eyes moved toward me.
“Daniel survived.”
I didn’t understand.
Samuel continued.
“Marcus always considered survivors unfinished work.”
A chill ran through me.
“When Daniel survived, I realized Marcus would never stop.”
“So you developed a conscience?”
“No.”
Samuel looked at Luca.
“I developed fear.”
At least he was honest.
Luca stood.
“Where is my father’s archive?”
“Riverside.”
“We know.”
Samuel stared at the black key.
“You found it.”
“Claire did.”
“The key opens a fireproof utility room beneath the original warehouse foundation.”
“The warehouse burned.”
“The basement survived.”
“What’s inside?”
Samuel looked toward me.
“Gideon’s list.”
“And?”
“Records of every fabricated conversation.”
Anthony’s voice came through the phone.
“Then we can clear Dad’s name.”
Samuel’s face darkened.
“You can do more than that.”
“What?”
“You can prove who actually started the Riverside fire.”
Luca went still.
“Marcus.”
“Yes.”
Samuel swallowed.
“But there is something you should know before you open that room.”
“What?”
“Your father left one final recording.”
“The second reel?”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Six seconds.”
I felt the hairs rise on my arms.
Six seconds.
Everything had started because I asked Luca to replay six seconds.
“What’s on it?”
Samuel stared at Luca.
“Salvatore naming the person who knew Marcus intended to burn the warehouse and still allowed him inside.”
Luca didn’t ask.
He already knew.
Vanessa.
Samuel nodded anyway.
And then the church door opened.
A slow clap echoed through the empty room.
Marcus Vale stood in the aisle.
Behind him was Vanessa.
Her face was bruised.
Her hands were free.
And pressed against her side was my father’s cane.
Daniel stepped in behind them.
Alive.
Angry.
And pointing directly at Samuel.
May you like
“He,” Dad said slowly, forcing the word out.
“Lies.”
