Chapter 6 - THE MAN ACROSS THE LAKE
The house across the lake had no visible lights.
It sat behind dead winter trees on a narrow strip of shoreline less than half a mile from Luca’s estate.
Luca had seen it thousands of times.
He had watched snow collect on its roof.
He had watched summer storms darken its windows.
He had watched fishing boats pass between the two properties.
He had never once wondered who lived there.
Now he could not look anywhere else.
“Dominic Caruso bought it eleven years ago?”
Harris nodded.
“Through a trust.”
“Bellweather?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A personal holding company registered in Delaware.”
“Utilities?”
“Minimal.”
“Vehicles?”
“One.”
“Registered to?”
“Another company.”
“Security?”
“We can see cameras.”
“Armed?”
“Unknown.”
Damian stood behind Luca.
“He was supposed to be dead.”
Luca did not look at him.
“You seem to know many people who were supposed to be things.”
Damian accepted the blow.
Elena entered carrying coffee.
She put one cup beside Luca.
He looked at it.
She noticed.
“So this is our life now?”
“What?”
“You staring at everything anyone gives you like it contains poison.”
Luca looked at the coffee again.
Then at her.
“Wouldn’t you?”
Elena had no answer.
He picked it up.
Drank.
The choice was small.
But Elena understood what it cost.
Harris pointed toward the aerial photographs.
“There is a boat dock.”
“Tunnel?”
“Possible.”
“Connection to our property?”
“We haven’t found one.”
“Yet.”
“No.”
Luca looked toward the lake.
“Bring Caruso in.”
Damian shook his head.
“That’s a bad idea.”
Luca turned.
“I don’t remember requesting advice.”
“If he spent eleven years hiding across the lake, he did not stay there because he wanted conversation.”
“Good.”
Luca’s voice went cold.
“I have questions.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“You’re not going.”
Luca looked at her.
“That sounded dangerously like an order.”
“It was.”
Damian glanced between them and wisely said nothing.
Elena continued.
“You were dosed within the last three weeks.”
“We don’t know who did it.”
“You had a blackout last night.”
“We know.”
“Somebody entered Maya’s room.”
“Yes.”
“And now you want to roll into the house of a man who helped hide your poisoning?”
Luca raised an eyebrow.
“Your phrasing makes it sound unwise.”
“It is unwise.”
“Noted.”
“You’re still going.”
“Yes.”
Elena stared.
“You are impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“By everyone?”
“Mostly women.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
“Then I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You do not get to investigate twelve years of my life without me.”
“This is dangerous.”
“So was poverty.”
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Poverty doesn’t usually carry a gun.”
Her voice remained quiet.
“But it teaches you something people with money forget.”
“What?”
“You survive by noticing when other people are deciding your life for you.”
She looked toward the photographs of herself.
“Your father decided I should be watched.”
“Caruso decided I should never know why.”
“Someone decided where I would live.”
“Someone decided where I would work.”
“I am done being the last person told what is happening to me.”
Luca held her gaze.
“Fine.”
Damian blinked.
“That worked?”
Luca looked at him.
“Do not become encouraged.”
They crossed the lake by boat shortly before noon.
Harris went first with four security men.
Luca hated the transfer from wheelchair to boat seat.
He hated needing assistance.
He hated even more that Elena watched him pretend he did not.
She said nothing.
That kindness was worse than pity.
When they reached the opposite dock, Harris’s team had already secured the exterior.
“No movement.”
“Cars?”
“One in the garage.”
“Warm?”
“Yes.”
“Someone is here.”
They approached the house.
Luca used a compact powered chair designed for rougher terrain.
The path was narrow but accessible.
That bothered him.
The property had ramps.
Wide doors.
Low thresholds.
It had been modified for someone who expected a wheelchair.
Elena noticed too.
“This house is accessible.”
“Yes.”
“For him?”
“Maybe.”
“Or you.”
Luca looked at her.
The possibility chilled both of them.
Harris opened the front door.
Unlocked.
Inside smelled like dust, coffee, and old paper.
No television.
No photographs on the walls.
No obvious personal objects.
The living room windows faced directly across the lake.
Toward Luca’s porch.
Toward the baseball diamond.
A long-lens camera sat on a tripod.
Elena stopped.
“That’s where the pictures came from.”
Harris checked the camera.
“Memory card missing.”
Luca moved toward a desk.
Stacks of notebooks covered it.
Dates.
Times.
Vehicle descriptions.
Names.
His name appeared repeatedly.
8:10 A.M. — L.C. PORCH.
9:45 A.M. — DR. MERCER ARRIVES.
3:20 P.M. — CHILD ON FIELD.
4:02 P.M. — E.H. JOINS CHILD.
Elena read silently.
“He watched us.”
Luca turned pages.
Years of observations.
Medical deliveries.
Staff changes.
Visitors.
Damian’s arrivals.
Maya’s first day through the hedge.
Everything.
“He knew.”
Elena whispered.
Harris entered from the hallway.
“Basement.”
“What?”
“You need to see it.”
The basement contained monitors.
Twenty-four feeds.
Some showed the exterior of Luca’s estate.
Some showed public roads.
One showed the employee parking lot.
Another showed the baseball diamond.
Luca stared.
“Inside feeds?”
“Two.”
Harris pointed.
Kitchen service hallway.
Medical storage room.
Someone had access to the Costello security system.
“Can we trace it?”
“Now that we have the equipment.”
“Do it.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Harris lifted a hand.
Two guards moved toward the stairs.
Another sound.
A door.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Uneven.
Harris raised his weapon.
“Dominic Caruso.”
No answer.
“We know you’re here.”
A shadow appeared.
An elderly man stood at the top of the staircase.
He was thinner than Luca remembered.
White hair.
Bent shoulders.
A cane in his right hand.
He looked down at them.
Then at Luca.
For several seconds, his face showed nothing.
Finally, he smiled.
“You look like Enzo when you’re angry.”
Luca stared.
“You’re dead.”
Caruso began descending.
“People have been saying that for years.”
“Why?”
“Because it was safer.”
“For whom?”
“All of us.”
Harris stepped closer.
“Hands where we can see them.”
Caruso looked irritated.
“I’m seventy-four.”
“You can still have a gun.”
“I also have arthritis.”
“Hands.”
Caruso obeyed.
Luca moved forward.
“You poisoned me.”
Caruso stopped.
“No.”
“You kept the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“You tracked the dosing.”
“Yes.”
“You monitored Elena.”
“Yes.”
“You monitored Maya.”
“Yes.”
Elena stepped toward him.
“Why?”
Caruso looked at her.
Regret entered his face.
“You were never supposed to become part of this.”
“I became part of it the day Enzo had me followed.”
“Yes.”
“Did he know I was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Did Luca?”
“No.”
“Did you stop my letters?”
Caruso looked at Luca.
Then back at Elena.
“Yes.”
Luca’s breathing changed.
Elena stared.
“I wrote six.”
“I know.”
“You intercepted them.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Enzo ordered it.”
“He was dead when I wrote the last two.”
Caruso closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Elena’s voice became harder.
“Then why?”
Caruso did not answer.
Luca moved closer.
“Why?”
The old man looked at him.
“Because by then it was no longer Enzo’s plan.”
“Whose?”
Caruso’s eyes moved toward Damian.
Damian had stayed behind at the main estate.
That somehow made the answer worse.
“Not your brother.”
Luca frowned.
“Then who?”
Caruso walked toward the desk.
Harris blocked him.
“My heart medication.”
He pointed.
“Top drawer.”
Harris retrieved it.
Caruso took one pill.
Waited.
Then sat.
“You think Enzo did this because you wanted to leave the business.”
“He did.”
“That was part of it.”
“What was the rest?”
Caruso looked at Elena.
“You.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“Explain.”
“Your father could tolerate rebellion.”
“He could tolerate anger.”
“He could tolerate you wanting legitimate companies.”
“What he could not tolerate was losing the Costello bloodline.”
Luca stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“You planned to leave Chicago.”
“Yes.”
“With Elena.”
Luca looked at her.
He had never told Elena how close he had come.
She saw it.
“You were going to ask me?”
“I had a ring.”
Elena’s face changed.
Caruso continued.
“Enzo knew.”
“He believed Elena would take you away.”
“So he poisoned me.”
“No.”
Caruso leaned forward.
“He ordered Vale to give you something that would cause weakness for three weeks.”
“Not paralysis.”
“No.”
“Vale gave too much.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“Enzo panicked.”
“Because I might die?”
“Because if you survived and learned what happened, you would destroy him.”
Luca’s face went still.
“So he covered it.”
“Yes.”
“Why continue dosing?”
Caruso hesitated.
“That was not Enzo.”
Luca stared.
“Who?”
Caruso’s eyes shifted toward the basement monitors.
“Someone realized your condition could be useful.”
“Useful how?”
“You remained head of the family.”
“Every captain remained loyal to your name.”
“But you could not travel.”
“You could not personally inspect operations.”
“You relied on reports.”
“On intermediaries.”
Luca’s stomach tightened.
“Someone built an empire underneath mine.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Caruso stood slowly.
“I need protection.”
Luca almost laughed.
“You spent twelve years helping bury my life.”
“And I spent the last six trying to keep your daughter alive.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Caruso looked at Maya’s image on one of the monitors.
“Bellweather was activated after Enzo died.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“You controlled the trust.”
“On paper.”
“Who gave orders?”
“Encrypted instructions.”
“That is convenient.”
“It is true.”
Luca’s patience snapped.
“Name someone.”
Caruso stared at him.
“Marcus Vale.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who paid him?”
“Bellweather.”
“Who controlled Bellweather?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
Luca moved closer.
“You told me you were a coward.”
“I asked who held the leash.”
Caruso looked at him for a long time.
Then he whispered a name.
“Samuel Pierce.”
Luca stopped.
Elena frowned.
“Who is that?”
Luca did not answer immediately.
Samuel Pierce had been Luca’s attorney for seventeen years.
He drafted Luca’s will.
Managed his trusts.
Negotiated hospital agreements.
Approved confidential medical expenses.
He had sat beside Luca after the collapse and promised no one would take advantage of his weakness.
He had been in Luca’s study three days earlier.
He had met Maya.
He had shaken Elena’s hand.
“No.”
Luca said.
Caruso gave him a sad look.
“That is exactly what you said about your father.”
Harris’s phone rang.
He listened.
Then looked at Luca.
“Samuel Pierce just entered the estate.”
Luca’s eyes hardened.
“Why?”
Harris listened again.
His face changed.
“He says you called him.”
“I didn’t.”
Another voice crackled through the radio.
Then Harris swore.
“What?”
Luca demanded.
“Pierce went upstairs.”
“To where?”
May you like
Harris met his eyes.
“Maya’s room.”
