Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Knew the Truth
Dominic moved in front of Nora.
The bathroom door opened.
A woman stepped out.
She was perhaps seventy.
Thin.
White hair.
Dark coat.
No weapon.
She lifted both hands.
“Please.”
Dominic did not relax.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at him for a long moment.
Then tears appeared in her eyes.
“You have Vincent’s face.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Name.”
“Isabel Mercer.”
Nora stared.
Thomas’s mother.
Gabriel’s lover.
Dominic slowly lowered his hands.
“You’re Eli’s grandmother.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Gabriel?”
Isabel looked toward the tape recorder.
“Alive.”
Dominic stopped breathing.
Nora asked, “Where?”
“Safe.”
“From whom?”
Isabel looked at Dominic.
“Your mother.”
The silence that followed seemed to swallow the room.
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
Isabel stepped forward.
“Your father did terrible things.”
“I know.”
“But one thing he did not do was betray Gabriel.”
“Then why did Gabriel disappear?”
“Because Margaret demanded it.”
Dominic’s eyes became dangerous.
“Careful.”
“I have spent twenty-eight years being careful.”
“What happened?”
Isabel sat on the edge of the bed.
“Vincent and Gabriel built businesses together. Some legal. Some not. Vincent wanted out. Gabriel didn’t trust the people surrounding them.”
“Charles?”
“He was one.”
“Who else?”
Isabel looked directly at Dominic.
“Margaret.”
“No.”
“Your mother handled the accounts.”
“She was a homemaker.”
“That was the public story.”
Dominic laughed once.
Without humor.
“Everyone in this family seems to have had a public story.”
Isabel nodded.
“Margaret was smarter than either brother. Vincent trusted her completely.”
“What did she do?”
“She created offshore accounts without telling him.”
“For herself?”
“No.”
“For whom?”
“Men who wanted control of the ports Vincent owned.”
Dominic went silent.
The Callahan shipping terminals had been the foundation of his father’s fortune.
“Gabriel discovered it,” Isabel continued. “He confronted Margaret. She told Vincent that Gabriel was stealing.”
“Father believed her?”
“At first.”
“And then?”
“He investigated.”
Dominic looked toward the tape recorder.
“He found out.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Vincent forced Gabriel to disappear because anyone who knew the truth would be killed by the men Margaret had been working with.”
Nora frowned.
“Why protect Margaret?”
Isabel’s expression softened.
“Because she was pregnant with you.”
Dominic looked away.
For the first time since Nora had met him, he appeared genuinely lost.
“My father protected her.”
“Yes.”
“Even after she betrayed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he loved her.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“And Gabriel?”
“He went underground.”
“Why stay hidden after Father died?”
“Because Margaret inherited everything.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No. I inherited.”
“Not immediately.”
He stopped.
Isabel continued.
“For eighteen months, Margaret controlled the holding company.”
Nora could see Dominic replaying his own history.
Dates.
Signatures.
Board meetings.
Everything.
“What did she do during those eighteen months?”
“Moved money. Destroyed records. Paid Charles.”
Dominic looked toward the hotel window.
“Charles worked for her.”
“For years.”
“Then why threaten her tonight?”
Isabel hesitated.
Nora noticed.
“You’re leaving something out.”
Isabel looked at her.
“You’re Nora Bennett.”
Nora went cold.
“How do you know my name?”
“Because Gabriel does.”
Dominic turned sharply.
“What?”
Nora stepped forward.
“How?”
Isabel reached into her coat.
Dominic blocked her.
“Slowly.”
She removed an envelope.
On the front:
NORA BENNETT.
Nora took it.
Inside was an old photograph.
Her mother.
Twenty-five years younger.
Standing in Bellamy House.
Beside Gabriel Callahan.
Nora’s hands shook.
“No.”
She turned the photograph over.
One sentence.
ELLEN KEPT THE ORIGINAL.
Nora whispered, “My mother worked here.”
Isabel nodded.
“You knew?”
“I knew she helped Gabriel.”
“My mother died when I was twenty.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She never said anything about this.”
“She was protecting you.”
Nora stared at the photograph.
Her mother, Ellen Bennett, had been a waitress.
Just like Nora.
She had worked nights.
Raised Nora alone.
Never talked about Bellamy House.
Nora had applied there years after her death because the pay was better.
She had thought it was coincidence.
Now she wondered if anything had been.
“What original?”
Isabel shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Gabriel does?”
“Yes.”
“Then take us to him.”
Isabel hesitated.
Dominic said, “Now.”
“You aren’t ready.”
“I stopped being interested in ready an hour ago.”
She looked at Nora.
“Your mother hid something before she died.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Dominic’s attention sharpened.
“The records.”
“Not all of them. The original ledger that showed who authorized the payments.”
“Margaret?”
Isabel nodded.
“Gabriel believed Ellen hid it because she didn’t trust anyone.”
“Where?”
“He never found out.”
Nora thought of her mother’s tiny apartment.
The boxes after the funeral.
Her mother’s jewelry.
Photographs.
A cookbook.
One old sewing chest Nora had kept.
Nothing else.
“She left me nothing.”
Isabel said, “Maybe she did.”
Nora stared at the picture.
Then she remembered something.
Her mother had given her one item before she died.
Not valuable.
Not obviously important.
A brass serving key from Bellamy House.
Nora had used it as a keychain for years.
It had broken when Maya was five.
Nora placed the pieces in a kitchen drawer.
She had never thrown them away.
“What?”
Dominic was watching her.
“My mother gave me a key.”
“What kind?”
“Old brass.”
Isabel stood.
“Was there a number on it?”
Nora’s heart began pounding.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Sixteen.”
Isabel closed her eyes.
“Locker sixteen.”
“Where?”
“Bellamy House.”
Dominic immediately called security.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Nora tried Eli.
No answer.
Her stomach dropped.
Dominic called his mother.
Voicemail.
Then his security chief.
Nothing.
Nora whispered, “Something’s wrong.”
Dominic called Bellamy House’s main number.
It rang.
Someone answered.
No one spoke.
Dominic said, “Who is this?”
Silence.
Then Charles Whitcomb’s voice.
“You really should have stayed at the restaurant.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“You were arrested.”
“I was placed in a patrol car.”
“What did you do?”
“What your mother taught me.”
Dominic’s knuckles whitened around the phone.
“Where is she?”
Charles laughed softly.
“Ask Nora where locker sixteen is.”
Nora froze.
Dominic looked at her.
Charles continued.
“And hurry.”
A muffled sound came through the phone.
Margaret’s voice.
May you like
“Dominic—”
The line went dead.
