Chapter 7 - THE EXIT
Dominic pulled his father to the floor.
Glass rained across the desk. Outside, Ruiz shouted for them to stay down. Another shot struck the wall, followed by the sound of a car engine racing away.
For several seconds, neither man moved.
Then Dominic looked at Vittorio. “You said Celeste threatened the baby. Why didn’t you come to me?”
“Because she had proof I’d signed the payments that started all of this.”
“You were afraid I’d see what you did.”
“Yes.”
The answer was so plain that Dominic had nothing to say.
Ruiz entered with her weapon raised. “Shooter’s gone. Both of you hurt?”
“No,” Dominic said.
She called for an ambulance anyway. Vittorio had glass cuts on his forehead, and one hand shook so badly he could barely stand.
At the precinct, Ruiz told Dominic that the vehicle used in the shooting had been abandoned two blocks away. Celeste’s fingerprints were on the inside of the passenger door. Whether she had been in the car during the attack, Ruiz could not yet say.
June arrived carrying a paper cup of coffee she had forgotten to drink.
“They’re going through the thumb drive,” she said. “Mara gave me another copy two weeks ago.”
“She trusted you.”
“She wanted to trust you, too.”
Dominic looked down.
June’s voice softened. “She’d ask about you after every doctor visit. Then she’d get angry at herself for asking.”
“Celeste answered her call.”
“Yes. Mara tried once more after that.”
“I never got it.”
“I know.”
Ruiz came into the room with an officer. “We found the deleted voicemail in a phone backup.”
Dominic took the phone Ruiz offered. Mara’s voice came through the speaker, thin with exhaustion.
“Dom, I don’t know what Celeste told you. I found something worse than the payments. Peter Walsh gave me a file before he disappeared. I need to know if you signed off on it. Please call me yourself. I’m pregnant.”
There was a pause long enough for him to hear traffic in the background.
“I’m scared,” Mara said. “And I still love you. Those two things shouldn’t have to live in the same sentence.”
The recording ended.
Dominic stared at the silent phone.
Ruiz waited before speaking. “Mr. Walsh is alive.”
Dominic looked up.
“He’s been in protective custody for six months. Mara helped him get there. According to him, she collected enough evidence to identify who ordered the threats.”
“Celeste?”
“Walsh says she approved the payments. But the original authorization on the account belongs to someone else.”
She placed a printed signature on the table.
May you like
Dominic recognized it at once.
It was his own.
