Chapter 6 - WHAT MARA FOUND
Detective Ruiz advised Dominic to meet his father only with officers nearby. Dominic agreed. He had spent enough years assuming he could handle every problem himself. Mara and their daughter were paying for that arrogance.
Vittorio chose the family’s old shipping office. Ruiz waited outside with two officers while Dominic went in wearing a recorder.
His father stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back.
“I saw the photograph,” Dominic said.
“Then you know I met Celeste.”
“Why was she with the truck that hit Mara?”
Vittorio turned. He looked older than he had at dinner two nights before.
“She told me Mara was selling company records.”
“Was she?”
“She was giving them to a federal investigator.”
Dominic kept his face still. “That isn’t selling.”
“You have no idea what’s in those records.”
“Then tell me.”
Vittorio sat down. “For years, our shipping company moved goods for people I should never have dealt with. I tried to cut them off. They threatened you. They threatened Mara. I kept paying to make it stop.”
“And the accountant?”
Vittorio looked away.
“His name was Peter Walsh,” Dominic said. “What happened at Pier Nine?”
“He found out the payments continued after I told the board they had ended.”
“Who continued them?”
“I thought Celeste was managing old accounts. I didn’t realize how much control she had.”
“People are missing, Dad.”
Vittorio slammed a hand on the desk. “I know what I’ve done.”
Dominic waited.
“I went to that garage because Celeste said she had a way to bring Mara in safely. She showed me the truck. Said it was carrying documents Mara had stolen.”
“You believed her?”
“She had helped this family for eleven years.”
“So had Mara. You didn’t believe her.”
Vittorio had no answer.
Dominic’s phone buzzed. A message from Ruiz, who was monitoring the recorder.
Ask him who owns the private security firm.
Dominic did. Vittorio’s expression changed.
“I signed the first contract,” he said. “Celeste bought the company through another business two years ago. I found out last week.”
“Did you tell Mara?”
“No. Celeste said if I warned her, she’d give the people I owed a way to find the baby.”
Dominic leaned forward. “You knew Mara was pregnant?”
Vittorio’s eyes filled, but Dominic felt no comfort in it.
“Yes,” his father said. “Celeste told me Mara was hiding the child from you.”
Before Dominic could answer, a heavy impact sounded outside the office door.
A voice shouted, “Police!”
May you like
The handle turned.
Then three shots cracked through the glass beside Vittorio’s head.
