Chapter 9 - Vincent's Last Night
Vincent Costello had been thirty-one when he died.
Gabriel kept one photograph of him on his desk and avoided looking at it.
That photograph was suddenly in the center of the library table.
Vincent had Gabriel's dark hair and Beatrice's smile.
He wore a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and stood beside a fishing boat.
Chloe could not reconcile the face with the word warehouse.
Gabriel could not reconcile it with the word murder.
Dr. Rinaldi sat under guard in a guest room while Matteo contacted a lawyer and an investigator Gabriel trusted outside the family network.
Beatrice refused to rest.
She sat across from Gabriel with Vincent's photograph between them.
For the first time all night, Gabriel asked Chloe to interpret without being told.
"Ask her everything."
Chloe looked at Beatrice.
"He wants the whole story."
Beatrice's answer came slowly.
"He should have asked six years ago."
Chloe hesitated.
Gabriel saw it.
"Translate."
She did.
He accepted the blow without reacting.
Beatrice continued.
"Vincent came to me three weeks before he died."
"He had found missing cargo in the company books."
"Not drugs."
"Not weapons."
"Money."
Gabriel frowned.
"Missing money?"
Beatrice nodded.
"Dominic created fake losses."
"He reported damaged cargo and insurance claims."
"Then he sold the same cargo through other companies."
Gabriel leaned back.
"We audited those claims."
Beatrice signed, "Dominic selected the auditors."
Chloe translated.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
The pattern was becoming painfully obvious.
Dominic had not simply stolen from the business.
He had built the systems that verified his own lies.
Beatrice continued.
"Vincent wanted to tell you."
"I told him to bring proof because you trusted Dominic more than you trusted questions."
Gabriel's mouth tightened.
"He did bring me something."
Beatrice stopped.
"What?" Chloe asked.
Gabriel looked at Vincent's photograph.
"A folder."
"He said there were inconsistencies in the insurance accounts."
"I gave it to Dominic to review."
Beatrice covered her face with both hands.
Gabriel looked as if he wanted the floor to open beneath him.
Chloe said nothing.
There was no useful sentence for that kind of mistake.
Beatrice lowered her hands.
"Three days later, Vincent told me Dominic knew."
"He was frightened."
"Vincent was never frightened."
"That frightened me."
Gabriel whispered, "Why didn't he come back to me?"
Beatrice signed, "He did."
Gabriel looked up.
"When?"
"The night he died."
Beatrice pointed toward the clock as if the hour were still visible there.
"He called your office at 8:14."
"Dominic answered."
Gabriel's face changed.
"I was in Boston that night."
"I know."
"Dominic told Vincent you would call back."
"Did I?"
Beatrice shook her head.
"Dominic told you Vincent had been drinking."
Gabriel remembered.
Chloe saw it in his face.
"He told me Vincent was angry about being excluded from a deal."
"He said Vincent needed a night to calm down."
Beatrice's eyes filled.
"Vincent did not drink that night."
Gabriel stood and walked away from the table.
He pressed both hands against the mantel.
Chloe kept translating because Beatrice kept signing.
"At 10:40, Vincent went to Warehouse Nine."
"He had copied the original shipping records."
"He hid them somewhere there."
"At 11:05, Dr. Rinaldi arrived."
"Why would his doctor go to a warehouse?" Chloe asked.
Beatrice shook her head.
"Rinaldi was not Vincent's doctor."
Gabriel turned.
"Then why was he there?"
Beatrice signed, "Dominic sent him."
"How do you know?"
"I followed Vincent."
Gabriel stared at her.
"You followed him?"
"He would not let me come."
"So I followed him."
For the first time, Chloe saw exactly where Gabriel's stubbornness came from.
Beatrice continued.
"I parked across the street."
"I saw Vincent enter."
"I saw Samuel's car arrive."
"I saw Dr. Rinaldi leave."
"Then I saw Dominic."
Gabriel's face went white.
"Dominic was there?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Eleven minutes."
"He left at 11:31."
"The fire began at 11:43."
Chloe translated the times carefully.
Gabriel stared at his mother.
"Why did you never tell me?"
Beatrice's hands stopped.
Then she signed one sentence.
"I did."
Gabriel did not move.
"When?"
"At Vincent's funeral."
Gabriel shook his head.
"You were in shock."
"You would not look at anyone."
"You kept signing the same thing."
Beatrice's expression broke.
"I kept signing Dominic was there."
Gabriel stared at her.
Chloe felt something inside the room fracture.
"I thought you were asking where Dominic was."
Beatrice nodded once.
Tears slipped down her face.
"You brought him to me."
Gabriel sat down as if his legs had failed.
Beatrice continued through tears.
"I tried again at the house."
"You told me to rest."
"I tried at dinner."
"Dominic said grief was making me confused."
"Then he brought Rinaldi."
Gabriel covered his mouth.
Chloe looked away because the moment felt too private to witness.
But Beatrice reached across the table.
She took Gabriel's hand.
She forced him to look at her.
Then she signed slowly enough for a child to understand.
"Look at me."
Gabriel recognized it.
His eyes lifted.
Beatrice repeated the sign.
"Look at me."
Gabriel's shoulders shook once.
He did.
She touched his cheek.
Then she signed, "I was not silent."
Chloe translated softly.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"I know."
Beatrice shook her head.
She tapped his chin until he looked again.
Gabriel raised his hand.
He did not know the sign for I know.
Chloe showed him.
He copied it badly.
Beatrice corrected his finger position.
He tried again.
"I know."
Then Gabriel added aloud, "I was the one who was not listening."
Beatrice understood enough from his face to know what he meant.
She held his hand.
Matteo entered the library five minutes later with a laptop.
He stopped when he saw Beatrice crying.
"I can come back."
Gabriel wiped his face with one hand.
"No."
"What did you find?"
Matteo set down the laptop.
"Warehouse Nine was demolished three years ago."
"But the fire investigation archive still exists."
"There was one detail the family copy never included."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"What detail?"
Matteo opened a scanned evidence log.
"The fire department found the alarm panel manually disabled."
"Who had the override code?"
"Four people."
"You."
"Vincent."
"Dominic."
"Samuel."
Gabriel looked at Beatrice.
Matteo continued.
"The system recorded which code was entered."
"Whose?"
Matteo turned the screen.
The override belonged to Samuel Greco.
Chloe exhaled.
"So Samuel disabled the alarm."
"Maybe."
Matteo scrolled down.
"But there is more."
"The panel logged the code at 11:29."
Beatrice's hands moved immediately.
Chloe translated.
"She says Dominic left at 11:31."
Matteo nodded.
"Exactly."
Gabriel stared at the time.
"Then Samuel disabled it while Dominic was still inside."
Matteo looked grim.
"Yes."
"And Rinaldi?"
"We checked traffic cameras from the archived investigation."
"His car is visible leaving the block at 11:07."
Beatrice had remembered every minute correctly.
Gabriel looked at her.
No one in the room said the word dementia.
No one ever would again.
Then Matteo opened one final file.
"There was a body recovered from the warehouse."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Vincent."
Matteo did not answer immediately.
That pause changed everything.
"What?" Gabriel asked.
"The body was identified by dental records."
"Yes."
"Those records were supplied by Dr. Rinaldi."
Gabriel slowly turned toward the hallway where the doctor was being held.
Chloe felt the air leave the room.
Matteo spoke the next sentence carefully.
May you like
"No independent DNA test was ever done."
