Chapter 8 - WHAT HE IGNORED
Gabriel came alone.
Rose made him sit across from her at Ada's kitchen table.
Daniel's photograph stood between the salt shaker and an empty mug.
Ada didn't move it.
“Read it,” Rose said.
Gabriel set down a printed email.
Daniel had asked for a meeting about irregular shipments through Pier Fourteen.
He had warned that Richard was using a company registered to his daughter.
He had also said he was afraid to bring the records through normal channels.
“What did you do?” Ada asked.
“I forwarded it to Richard.”
The room seemed to contract.
“You sent him back to the man he was afraid of,” she said.
Gabriel nodded once.
“I thought he was trying to bypass his employer and demand money.”
“Why?” Rose asked.
“Because Richard said he'd threatened him before.”
“And you believed the man making you rich.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Ada got up.
For a moment, Rose thought she would leave.
Instead, she opened a drawer and took out a birthday card.
Daniel had written a joke inside, something small and silly about getting older together.
She placed it on top of Gabriel's email.
“That's who you forwarded.”
He stared at the card.
“I'm giving the message and the payment records to investigators,” he said.
“My attorney is arranging it.”
“Everything?” Lena asked from the doorway.
“Everything connected to Richard and the warehouse.”
She had come with news about the trust.
Now she set her bag down and asked him to be specific.
They went through names, dates, accounts, and what he had known when.
Rose listened to a man accustomed to controlling rooms surrender the right to control the questions.
Afterward, Ada asked him to leave.
He did.
Rose found him outside beside his car.
“Did you ever wonder whether I was afraid of you?”
“Yes.”
“And you were still going to marry me.”
He looked toward the harbor.
“I told myself you'd stop being afraid once you knew me.”
“You should've given me a reason before you bought flowers.”
She went back inside without waiting for an answer.
That evening, Lena received the first independent bank records.
The forged Wren documents had arrived through Richard's office.
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But the wedding declaration had been requested by someone else.
Cole's name was on the email.
