Chapter 4 - THE MAN WITH THE RED RING
Sebastian smiled at Eli.
It was the same warm smile he had used at birthdays, Christmas dinners, and hospital visits.
"Hey, sailor."
Eli's hands tightened around the blanket over his legs.
Gabriel saw it.
Sebastian saw it too.
"You okay?"
Eli did not answer.
Sebastian looked at Gabriel.
"What happened?"
"Fire in the medical corridor."
"Accident?"
"Maybe."
Sebastian stepped closer.
Gabriel shifted half a step between him and Eli.
The movement was almost invisible.
Sebastian noticed.
His eyes flicked toward Gabriel's shoulder, then back to his face.
"Where's Owen?"
"Missing."
Sebastian frowned.
"You said Eli was safe."
"He is."
"Then what aren't you telling me?"
Gabriel almost admired the performance.
Twenty-two years made deception easier because both men knew the exact shape of the other's concern.
Hannah entered carrying a tray with coffee.
Sebastian's gaze moved to her.
Nothing changed in his expression.
Not surprise.
Not recognition.
Gabriel watched anyway.
"This the new housekeeper?"
"Hannah Cole."
Sebastian gave her a polite nod.
"Long night for your first month."
"I've had worse."
Hannah poured coffee.
Her hand remained steady.
Sebastian looked toward Eli again.
"You should get him back to bed."
Eli spoke.
"Did you go to the garage before Mom died?"
Gabriel had not planned that.
Neither had Hannah.
Sebastian went still.
Then he smiled gently.
"Probably."
"Why?"
"I was here all the time back then."
"You had that ring."
Sebastian glanced at his hand.
"I've had this ring since before you were born."
"I saw it."
A silence opened between them.
Sebastian looked at Gabriel.
"What is this?"
Gabriel answered calmly.
"A question from my son."
"About something that happened eleven months ago after severe trauma."
Sebastian's tone became careful.
"You know memory can be unreliable."
Hannah placed a cup in front of him.
"Interesting choice of words."
Sebastian looked at her.
"Excuse me?"
"You didn't say children misremember."
Hannah sat across from him.
"You said memory can be unreliable."
"I read."
"So do I."
Gabriel let them look at each other.
Then he changed direction.
"Why did you tell Claire I asked for the black SUV that Thursday?"
Sebastian's fingers stopped near the coffee cup.
There it was again.
A fraction of a second.
"What Thursday?"
"The Thursday she died."
Sebastian slowly lowered his hand.
"Gabe."
"Answer me."
"I don't remember a conversation from eleven months ago."
"Claire did."
The color left Sebastian's face by a shade.
"What does that mean?"
Gabriel leaned back.
"It means my wife kept records."
Hannah wanted to kick him under the table.
Too much.
Too soon.
But Gabriel was not finished.
"Did you know she was investigating Northstar Maritime?"
Sebastian stared at him.
Then he laughed once.
"Northstar?"
"You know it."
"Of course I know it."
Sebastian shook his head.
"We looked at buying one of their terminals three years ago."
Gabriel knew that was true.
Which meant Sebastian had prepared a true answer around a dangerous lie.
"Claire found your initials in their books."
Sebastian's eyes hardened.
"And you believe that?"
"I haven't told you what I believe."
"You didn't have to."
Sebastian stood.
For the first time, anger showed.
"I held your wife while paramedics cut her out of that car."
Gabriel's heart stopped.
Hannah looked sharply at Sebastian.
Gabriel's voice became very quiet.
"No, you didn't."
Sebastian froze.
"What?"
"You weren't at the scene when paramedics arrived."
Gabriel remembered every report.
Every photograph.
Every timestamp.
"You arrived seventeen minutes later."
Sebastian's expression shifted.
"Then I remembered wrong."
Hannah spoke.
"Memory can be unreliable."
Sebastian turned toward her.
The warmth vanished completely.
For the first time, Hannah saw the man Claire had feared.
"You should be careful inserting yourself into family business."
Hannah met his eyes.
"Claire thought the same thing about you."
Silence.
Gabriel stood.
"Enough."
Sebastian stared at Hannah.
"You knew Claire."
It was not a question.
Hannah did not answer.
Sebastian looked at Gabriel.
"Who is she?"
"Someone I hired."
"You're lying."
Gabriel almost smiled.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
Sebastian stepped closer.
"Gabe, listen to me."
His voice dropped into the private tone he had used a thousand times when business became dangerous.
"Someone is turning you against people who have spent their lives protecting you."
"Who?"
"I don't know yet."
"Convenient."
"You think I'm behind Northstar? Fine."
Sebastian spread his hands.
"Audit every account."
"I will."
"You think I touched that SUV? Pull every garage record."
"I already did."
That was a lie.
Sebastian did not know it.
He continued.
"But do not let a stranger use Claire's death to get close to Eli."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"Why Eli?"
Sebastian realized the mistake immediately.
"Because he's vulnerable."
"You said close to Eli."
Gabriel stepped forward.
"I never told you Hannah worked with him."
Sebastian said nothing.
The room became very still.
Hannah felt her pulse in her throat.
Sebastian recovered.
"She's a housekeeper in a house with one child."
"Thirty-eight rooms."
Gabriel's voice was ice.
"Twelve staff."
"She could spend every day here without seeing Eli."
Sebastian looked toward the hallway.
Eli was gone.
At some point during the argument, the boy had quietly rolled himself away in a temporary chair.
Sebastian exhaled.
"You're exhausted."
Gabriel almost laughed.
"There it is."
"What?"
"The sentence people use when they need me to doubt my own eyes."
Sebastian's expression hardened.
"And what exactly did your eyes see?"
Gabriel thought of Owen.
The red note.
Claire's recording.
The red ring.
He decided not to give Sebastian any of it.
"Not enough yet."
Sebastian nodded slowly.
"Good."
He picked up his gloves.
"Then don't destroy twenty-two years over not enough."
Gabriel watched him walk toward the door.
"Sebastian."
The man stopped.
"Take off the ring."
Sebastian looked over his shoulder.
"Why?"
"Humor me."
After a moment, Sebastian slid the garnet ring from his finger.
Gabriel held out his hand.
Sebastian placed it in his palm.
The ring was heavy.
Old gold.
Square red stone.
Inside the band were two engraved letters.
A.R.
Gabriel frowned.
"Whose initials?"
"My father's."
"Your father was Michael Rourke."
Sebastian's face went blank.
Hannah felt the shift before Gabriel spoke again.
"Who is A.R.?"
Sebastian reached for the ring.
Gabriel closed his fist.
"Who is A.R.?"
Sebastian's jaw flexed.
"My grandfather."
"Name?"
"Anthony."
Gabriel stared at him.
He knew Sebastian's family history.
There was no Anthony Rourke.
Sebastian's grandfather was Patrick.
Gabriel had attended the funeral.
"Get out."
Sebastian blinked.
"Gabe."
"Leave."
"You're making a mistake."
"Probably."
Gabriel slipped the ring into his pocket.
"I've made several lately."
Sebastian looked at Hannah one last time.
Then he left.
The front doors closed behind him.
Gabriel immediately activated a secure internal channel.
"Follow him."
No answer.
Gabriel waited.
"Mason, respond."
Static.
Hannah felt cold.
"Another security channel?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Private."
"How many people know it?"
"Three."
"You."
"Yes."
"Owen?"
"Yes."
"And Sebastian?"
Gabriel looked toward the front door.
"Yes."
A crash came from upstairs.
They ran.
Eli's temporary wheelchair sat outside Claire's sealed room.
The door was open again.
Inside, Eli sat on the floor beside the shattered blue coffee cup.
He held one ceramic piece in his hand.
"Don't touch that."
Gabriel rushed toward him.
Eli looked up.
"It has writing."
Gabriel stopped.
The broken base of Claire's cup contained a thin rolled strip of paper sealed inside the ceramic.
Hannah carefully pulled it free.
Claire had hidden another message.
The paper contained an address in East Boston.
Beneath it were four words.
THE RED ROOM ISN'T HERE.
Gabriel read the address.
He knew the building.
Warehouse 17.
A property he had sold six years earlier.
May you like
To Sebastian Rourke.
