Chapter 2 - The Man Who Should Have Been Dead
Vincent turned toward the hallway.
Salvatore reached beneath his jacket.
Vincent stopped him with one look.
“Not in front of the child.”
The footsteps came closer.
A man appeared in the bedroom doorway wearing a dark police windbreaker.
He was older now.
Gray at the temples.
A scar crossed the left side of his jaw.
But Vincent knew him.
“Detective Raymond Hale.”
The man smiled.
“It's Captain Hale now.”
Vincent remembered the coffin.
Twelve years earlier, Raymond Hale had supposedly died when his car went through a guardrail outside Joliet.
Vincent had attended the funeral because Hale had once worked with Vincent's father.
Closed casket.
Now the dead man stood ten feet away.
Two uniformed officers waited behind him.
Vincent glanced at Elena.
She looked terrified.
Not of Daniel.
Of Hale.
Hale noticed Lily hiding behind Salvatore.
“There she is.”
Vincent stepped directly into his path.
“No.”
Hale raised his eyebrows.
“You don't even know what's happening.”
“Then explain.”
Hale looked around.
“Domestic disturbance. Possible child endangerment.”
Vincent almost laughed.
“You came personally?”
Hale's expression did not change.
“At midnight?”
Nothing.
“For a disturbance nobody here reported?”
Elena whispered, “Vincent.”
He looked at her.
Her eyes said enough.
Hale had not come because of Daniel.
He had come because Lily had contacted Vincent.
Hale addressed the officers.
“Take Daniel downstairs.”
Daniel recoiled.
“What?”
One officer grabbed his arm.
Daniel struggled.
“I didn't call you!”
“I know,” Hale said.
Daniel froze.
Vincent caught it.
So did Elena.
Hale had just admitted too much.
Daniel was escorted from the bedroom.
He looked back at Elena.
“You think he's going to save you?”
She did not answer.
“Tell him!”
The officers dragged him toward the stairs.
“Tell him who Lily is!”
Vincent's gaze shifted to the little girl.
Elena whispered, “Please.”
“What is he talking about?”
Hale interrupted.
“This isn't the place.”
Vincent turned.
“I wasn't speaking to you.”
For several seconds the room became still.
Hale eventually smiled.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
Vincent's eyes hardened.
“My father trusted you.”
“That was his first mistake.”
Salvatore took a step.
Vincent stopped him again.
Hale said, “You should leave, Moretti.”
“I will.”
He looked toward Elena.
“They're coming with me.”
Hale's smile vanished.
“No.”
The word landed hard.
Lily pressed closer to her mother.
Vincent said, “Is Elena under arrest?”
“No.”
“Is Lily?”
“Obviously not.”
“Then you don't control where they go.”
Hale stepped closer.
“You don't understand what you're interfering with.”
Vincent answered softly.
“I understand a seven-year-old hid inside a closet because she was frightened enough to contact a stranger.”
Lily spoke from behind Elena.
“You're not a stranger.”
Everyone turned.
Vincent crouched slightly.
“What did you say?”
Lily wiped her face.
“Mama told me about you.”
Elena shut her eyes.
Vincent looked at her.
“What did you tell her?”
“Vincent, not here.”
Hale gave a humorless laugh.
“She really didn't tell you.”
Vincent straightened.
He was tired of being the only man in the room who did not understand the conversation.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
He looked directly at Elena.
“So tell me now.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
Before she could speak, Salvatore's phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His expression changed.
“Vincent.”
“What?”
Salvatore turned the screen.
Security camera footage from Belladonna.
The timestamp showed eleven minutes earlier.
A man had entered Vincent's private office.
The room should have been locked.
He went directly to Vincent's desk.
Opened the bottom drawer.
Removed a red folder.
And walked out.
Vincent watched the footage again.
“Who is he?”
Salvatore zoomed in.
The face was partly hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Hale saw the screen.
For the first time, he looked genuinely worried.
Vincent noticed.
“You know him.”
Hale said nothing.
Vincent moved closer.
“You know who robbed my office.”
“No.”
“You're a terrible liar.”
Hale leaned toward him.
“If that folder is what I think it is, you have a much bigger problem than me.”
“What do you think it is?”
Elena answered.
“The Ledger.”
Vincent turned.
He had never heard the name before.
Hale whispered a curse.
Elena sat on the edge of the bed.
Lily climbed beside her.
Vincent waited.
Elena spoke carefully.
“Your father kept records.”
“Everyone keeps records.”
“Not like these.”
She looked toward Hale.
“Names. Payments. Judges. Police. Contractors. Politicians. Every person who worked for the organization your father built before you inherited it.”
Vincent's jaw tightened.
“My father destroyed those files.”
“No.”
“You know this how?”
Elena swallowed.
“Because I helped him hide them.”
Salvatore stared at her.
Vincent said nothing.
Elena continued.
“Your father knew someone inside his own organization was selling information. He didn't know who. So he made one complete record and divided the evidence.”
“And you had part of it?”
She nodded.
“That was why I disappeared.”
Vincent glanced toward Lily.
The silver locket rested around the child's neck.
“And my number?”
“Your father gave it to me.”
“My private number didn't exist fifteen years ago.”
“Not that number.”
Elena opened Lily's locket and removed the photograph.
Then she peeled back the paper behind it.
There was another sequence beneath Vincent's current phone number.
Seven digits.
Vincent recognized them.
His mother's old restaurant.
Elena said, “I updated it every time your contact information changed.”
“How?”
Elena looked at Salvatore.
Vincent followed her gaze.
Salvatore's face drained of color.
Vincent did not move.
“Sal?”
Salvatore slowly shook his head.
“It isn't what you think.”
“What do I think?”
“I gave Elena the number.”
Vincent stared at the man who had served beside him for fourteen years.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“You told me you hadn't spoken to her since she disappeared.”
“I hadn't before that.”
“Why did she contact you?”
Salvatore hesitated.
Hale watched them silently.
Vincent's voice became colder.
“Why?”
“Because somebody found her.”
Elena nodded.
“Daniel.”
Vincent looked at her.
“You married the man who found you?”
“At first, I didn't know who he was.”
Vincent felt the story shifting beneath his feet.
Elena continued.
“Daniel was kind. Patient. He helped me when Lily was a baby. By the time I realized he'd been sent to watch me, we were already married.”
“Sent by whom?”
“I don't know.”
Hale interrupted.
“Yes, you do.”
Elena stared at him.
Hale stepped inside.
“You've always known.”
Vincent turned toward Hale.
“Then say the name.”
Hale smiled thinly.
“You still think this started with your father.”
Vincent said nothing.
“It didn't.”
A siren sounded outside.
Hale checked his watch.
“We're out of time.”
Vincent glanced toward the window.
Two additional vehicles had stopped outside.
Black SUVs.
Not police.
Salvatore went rigid.
“Those aren't ours.”
Marco appeared in the bedroom doorway.
“Vincent.”
“What?”
“We have company.”
Hale reached inside his jacket.
Not for a gun.
For a key.
He tossed it to Vincent.
“Back stairs. Basement exit.”
Vincent caught it.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because whoever just arrived isn't here to arrest anyone.”
A loud impact hit the building entrance downstairs.
Lily screamed.
Elena pulled her close.
Hale looked at Vincent.
“Take them and go.”
Vincent did not move.
“Tell me who's coming.”
Another crash.
Then gunfire erupted somewhere below.
Hale's officers drew their weapons.
Vincent took Lily's hand.
Salvatore moved toward Elena.
They rushed into the hallway.
Hale remained behind.
As Vincent reached the basement stairs, Hale shouted after him.
“Moretti!”
Vincent looked back.
Hale's face had lost every trace of amusement.
“The man who sent Daniel has the Ledger now.”
Vincent waited.
May you like
Hale added:
“And he knows Lily is your daughter.”
