Chapter 13 - The Man Who Ordered Riley Dead
Riley answered.
“Ms. Hayes.”
Crane sounded calm.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“We have reason to believe Anthony Valente had another accomplice.”
Dominic watched her.
Riley said, “Really?”
“Yes. Come to my office immediately.”
“Of course.”
She hung up.
Nobody moved.
Daniel spoke first.
“He knows.”
“How?”
“Someone told him you found the film.”
Only four people knew.
Riley.
Dominic.
Daniel.
Marco.
Riley slowly looked toward Marco.
He saw it.
“No.”
Dominic’s face became unreadable.
Marco removed his gun.
Placed it on the table.
Then his phone.
“Search everything.”
They did.
Nothing.
Then Daniel admitted he had called Elena.
Elena knew.
But Elena had not betrayed them.
Her federal protection officer had overheard.
Crane controlled part of the task force.
They couldn’t trust official channels.
Riley devised the solution.
She went to Crane.
Wearing a wire transmitted not to federal agents but to three independent journalists and a state attorney general’s office.
Dominic hated every second.
Crane welcomed Riley.
She told him Anthony had destroyed the microfilm.
Crane relaxed.
Then he made his mistake.
“You’re more troublesome than Ethan.”
Riley looked at him.
“You knew my father?”
Crane realized too late.
He tried to recover.
“From the investigation.”
“You called him Ethan.”
Silence.
Crane locked the office door.
Riley remained calm.
Just as she had when Dominic entered her butcher shop.
Crane told her Ethan had been naive.
Daniel too.
Men like them believed criminal systems could be dismantled without bringing down the respectable institutions profiting from them.
Judges.
Politicians.
Developers.
Prosecutors.
Crane had protected Harbor because Harbor financed influence.
Riley asked the question.
“Did you order my father killed?”
Crane smiled.
“I authorized a problem to be solved.”
The confession transmitted.
But Crane discovered the wire.
He tore it away.
Pulled a gun.
Dominic entered before he could fire.
Crane aimed at Riley.
Dominic aimed at Crane.
For several seconds no one moved.
Then police filled the corridor.
Not Crane’s officers.
State investigators.
Crane was arrested.
Riley walked outside.
Dominic followed.
She turned and punched him in the chest.
“You were supposed to wait.”
“I did.”
“For how long?”
“Almost thirty seconds.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then he kissed her.
The case exploded nationally.
Harbor collapsed.
Crane’s arrest triggered dozens more.
Dominic prepared to testify about his own crimes as well.
Riley knew cooperation wouldn’t erase his past.
Neither did he.
Then Daniel received a message.
He read it.
His face drained.
Dominic noticed.
“What?”
Daniel handed him the phone.
A photograph showed Elena entering a courthouse.
A red target had been drawn over her chest.
Underneath were four words.
ONE CASTELLI STILL OWES.
Then a second photograph arrived.
May you like
This one showed Riley.
Taken less than a minute earlier...
