Chapter 6 - The Last Name on Rachel’s Tape
Beatrice ran before anyone could stop her.
Adriano caught up at the elevator.
“Theo is safe.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Security said—”
“I don’t care what security said!”
He didn’t argue.
They reached Mercy General in eleven minutes.
Police surrounded room 714.
Beatrice pushed through.
Theo sat safely with Dr. Anand.
She grabbed him.
“Aunt Bea?”
“I’m here.”
Anthony Vescari was handcuffed near the window.
He was younger than Beatrice expected.
Thirty.
Maybe thirty-two.
Blood ran from his lip.
Adriano approached.
Anthony smiled.
“You look like your father.”
“Don’t.”
“That still bothers you?”
“What were you doing here?”
“Returning something.”
He nodded toward Theo’s bed.
Captain Bitey lay on the pillow.
Beneath it was an envelope.
Beatrice picked it up.
Inside was a photograph.
Rachel.
Alive.
Taken weeks before her death.
Standing beside Carlo Vescari.
But they weren’t arguing.
Rachel was handing him something.
Beatrice looked at Anthony.
“What is this?”
“Proof your sister wasn’t as innocent as you think.”
Adriano stepped between them.
“You came here to poison her memory.”
Anthony laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“My father didn’t kill Rachel.”
“Evidence says otherwise.”
“Evidence created by the man who did.”
Adriano went still.
“Who?”
Anthony looked toward Luca.
Every person in the room followed his gaze.
Luca’s face hardened.
Beatrice whispered, “No.”
Anthony smiled.
“Ask him where he was the night Rachel Carson died.”
Adriano turned.
“Luca?”
His lieutenant said nothing.
“Answer.”
“I was there.”
Beatrice’s face emptied.
Adriano moved toward him.
“Why?”
“Your father.”
“My father was dead.”
“His instructions weren’t.”
Luca reached slowly into his coat.
Police raised their weapons.
He removed an envelope.
“Vittorio left contingency orders. Rachel was one of them.”
Beatrice stared.
“You killed her.”
“No.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
Luca looked at her.
“I tried to save her.”
The room fell silent.
He told them.
Vittorio had discovered Vescari’s theft before his death.
But Vittorio distrusted law enforcement.
He created a private network to preserve evidence.
Rachel became part of it.
After Vittorio died, Luca inherited instructions to protect her.
On the night Rachel died, she called him.
Vescari had requested a meeting.
Rachel believed Carlo was ready to surrender.
He wasn’t.
“He wanted the ledger,” Luca said.
“Did she give it to him?” Adriano asked.
“A fake.”
Anthony’s smile disappeared.
Luca continued.
“Carlo realized it. Rachel ran. I followed. A car came around the corner.”
“You saw the driver?” Beatrice asked.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Luca looked at Anthony.
“His father.”
Anthony shook his head.
“You’re lying.”
“I watched Carlo Vescari hit her.”
“No.”
“He stopped afterward.”
Anthony’s breathing changed.
“No.”
“He got out of the car.”
“Shut up.”
“He saw me.”
“SHUT UP!”
Anthony lunged.
Police restrained him.
Luca looked at Beatrice.
“I reached Rachel first. She was alive.”
Beatrice began trembling.
“What did she say?”
“She told me to protect Theo.”
Tears spilled down Beatrice’s cheeks.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
Luca swallowed.
“She said, ‘Tell Bea I kept my promise.’”
Beatrice broke.
Adriano caught her before her knees hit the floor.
She cried against his chest.
Not politely.
Not quietly.
For once she let desperation look exactly like desperation.
Anthony sank into the chair.
“My father told me Greco killed her.”
“Your father lied,” Luca said.
Anthony looked suddenly young.
Lost.
He had spent his entire life serving a story built by another man.
“Where is Carlo?” Adriano asked.
Anthony laughed bitterly.
“You think I’d tell you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he lied to you too.”
Anthony looked away.
Adriano crouched.
“He used you. He sent you into a hospital room with a six-year-old child. When this ends, you’ll take the fall and he’ll disappear again.”
Anthony’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know men like him.”
“So do I.”
That was the first crack.
An hour later Anthony gave them an address.
An abandoned private clinic outside Chicago.
Carlo had converted the basement into an archive.
Adriano wanted Beatrice to remain with Theo.
This time she agreed.
Not because Adriano ordered it.
Because Theo needed her.
Before Adriano left, she caught his hand.
“Bring him back alive.”
Adriano nodded.
“I promised.”
At the clinic, they found no Carlo.
But they found his records.
Everything.
Payments.
Bribes.
The bombing.
Rachel.
And a second plan.
Luca read it twice.
“Adriano.”
“What?”
“The Navy Pier bomb wasn’t supposed to detonate when it did.”
Adriano took the document.
The timer had been changed.
Someone advanced the explosion by eleven minutes.
“Why?”
Luca opened another file.
The original detonation time was scheduled after civilians left the service zone.
Greco had intended to kill Adriano.
Vescari changed the timer.
He wanted civilian casualties.
Chaos.
Destroyed evidence.
And a war between organizations.
Adriano felt sick.
Then they found the reason.
Insurance.
Property.
Political leverage.
Vescari had profited from the aftermath.
Millions.
All built on dead and injured strangers.
Including Theo.
Police received copies anonymously.
Federal investigators received others.
Adriano no longer cared what exposure might cost him.
Some truths were too expensive to keep hidden.
Back at Mercy General, Beatrice played Rachel’s final recording.
Rachel’s voice trembled.
“I found the name.”
Beatrice held Theo’s sleeping hand.
“The person helping Carlo inside the Sarti organization is not Adriano. If Adriano ever hears this, tell him his father knew he was trying to change things. Vittorio didn’t know how to say he was proud.”
Adriano, standing in the doorway, stopped.
Rachel continued.
“The inside man is—”
Static.
Then the name.
“Samuel DeLuca.”
Adriano looked at Luca.
“Your uncle.”
Luca’s face went white.
Samuel DeLuca had been Vittorio’s closest adviser.
He had disappeared after the bombing.
Everyone believed him dead.
Then Beatrice’s phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared from an unknown number.
Taken seconds earlier.
It showed Beatrice sitting beside Theo.
From outside the hospital window.
Underneath were six words.
YOU FOUND THE WRONG DEAD MAN.
Adriano looked toward the glass.
Across the street, a black sedan waited.
The rear door opened.
A gray-haired man stepped onto the sidewalk.
May you like
Luca whispered his name.
“Uncle Samuel.”
