Chapter 16 - The Box
Chloe had not opened her mother's safety deposit box in four years.
She had almost forgotten it existed.
The box had belonged to her mother first.
After the funeral, Chloe transferred it into her own name and put the key in a sealed envelope with tax documents.
Leo knew about it.
He had teased her for keeping a bank box that contained nothing valuable.
At least, Chloe had believed it contained nothing valuable.
"What's in it?" Gabriel asked.
They were already moving toward the cars.
"My mother's papers."
"Anything Leo could have added?"
"I don't know."
"When did you last open it?"
"Before Leo died."
Gabriel's expression sharpened.
"Then he had time."
Chloe looked at him.
"The bank doesn't open for another hour."
Rocco held up his phone.
"It does if someone knows the regional director."
Chloe stared.
"Why do I feel like your entire life is a collection of phone numbers that shouldn't exist?"
"Networking."
"Threatening people is not networking."
Rocco looked almost offended.
"Sometimes I send Christmas cards."
Beatrice touched Chloe's wrist.
She signed.
Luca may know about the box.
Chloe nodded.
"He probably does now."
Gabriel opened the rear door for his mother.
She stopped before getting in.
Her hands moved.
No more moving me like furniture.
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
He had understood only one word.
No.
He frowned.
"What did she say?"
Chloe translated.
Gabriel looked at his mother.
"Fair."
Beatrice's eyebrows lifted.
He signed one clumsy word.
Sorry.
Then he pointed to the car and signed question with an uncertain tilt of his hands.
Beatrice stared at him.
It was awkward.
It was incomplete.
It was also the first time in years that her son had asked instead of assumed.
She nodded.
They drove to the bank with Detective Hale following in an unmarked sedan.
Hale was in his late fifties, gray-haired, and visibly unimpressed by Gabriel Costello.
Chloe liked him immediately for that.
He met them in the underground garage.
"I want this clear," Hale said.
"You are witnesses, not investigators."
Gabriel looked at him.
"Then investigate faster."
Hale did not blink.
"And you are not in charge of me."
Rocco coughed into his fist.
Chloe hid a smile.
Gabriel looked irritated.
Beatrice watched Hale's mouth.
Then she signed to Chloe.
I like him too.
Chloe laughed.
"She approves."
Hale looked at Beatrice.
"Good."
Then, to Chloe's surprise, he signed slowly.
Nice to meet you.
Beatrice's face brightened.
Gabriel stared at Hale.
"You sign?"
"A little."
"Why?"
Hale shrugged.
"My granddaughter is deaf."
Gabriel looked away.
The answer seemed to shame him all over again.
Hale noticed.
He did not comment.
The bank manager led them through a private corridor to the vault.
Chloe's hands were cold when she inserted her key.
A second bank key turned beside it.
The metal drawer slid out.
Inside were her mother's birth certificate, an old insurance policy, a string of costume pearls, two family photographs, and a sealed brown packet Chloe had never seen.
Her name was written across it.
Not by Leo.
By her mother.
Chloe's breath caught.
She opened it carefully.
Inside was a letter dated eight years earlier.
CHLOE AND LEO.
IF YOU EVER NEED THE MONEY IN THIS ACCOUNT, USE IT TOGETHER.
DO NOT FIGHT OVER IT.
LEO, STOP ROLLING YOUR EYES.
Chloe laughed through tears.
Beatrice squeezed her shoulder.
Behind the letter was a bank statement for an account Chloe did not know existed.
The balance had been modest.
Nothing criminal.
Nothing connected to Costello.
Chloe exhaled.
"This isn't it."
Then Rocco pointed to the bottom of the drawer.
"That wasn't there originally."
A thin black envelope had been taped beneath the metal lip.
Chloe peeled it loose.
Leo's handwriting covered the front.
BOSSY SISTER.
She closed her eyes.
"He was here."
Hale moved closer.
"Before his death?"
"He must have been."
Chloe opened the envelope.
Inside was a small brass token stamped with a number.
7.
A folded note accompanied it.
IF BEATRICE IS WITH YOU, ASK HER WHERE ANTHONY ATE HIS LAST PEACEFUL DINNER.
Everyone looked at Beatrice.
Chloe signed the question.
Beatrice's face changed.
She answered immediately.
Il Canto.
Table 7.
Gabriel stared.
"Table 7?"
Chloe felt a chill.
The same table where she had met Beatrice.
The same table where the entire nightmare had begun.
Beatrice continued signing.
Anthony built that table.
Not himself.
He had it made with a hollow center.
He said a man should always have one place at dinner where business could not follow him.
Chloe translated.
Rocco laughed without humor.
"Anthony's idea of peace was a hidden compartment."
Gabriel looked at the brass token.
"The ledger is inside Table 7."
Beatrice nodded.
Hale held out his hand.
"Then we go with a warrant and retrieve it."
Gabriel shook his head.
"Luca is watching the restaurant."
"That is why we bring officers."
"And if he sees police arrive, he moves my mother before we reach her."
Hale's jaw tightened.
"We don't trade evidence for hostages."
"She's not a hostage to you."
"She is exactly a hostage to me."
Hale stepped closer.
"And I would like to get her back alive."
Gabriel went silent.
Chloe looked at Beatrice.
She signed.
Hotel first.
Ledger later.
Chloe translated.
Hale nodded.
"Agreed."
Gabriel looked at his mother.
He signed slowly.
Your choice.
Beatrice stared at him.
Then she nodded.
Chloe felt something shift between them.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But respect finally moving in the correct direction.
They left the vault through a private exit.
A woman was waiting near Hale's car.
Tall.
Silver hair cut sharply at her jaw.
Red glasses.
Black coat.
Rocco stopped.
"Nina."
Nina Vale looked him over.
"You look terrible."
"Good to see you too."
Gabriel stared at her.
"You ignored our calls."
"I was deciding whether helping you was worth being killed."
"And?"
"Still undecided."
Chloe liked her immediately.
Nina looked at Beatrice.
Then she signed fluently.
You look exactly the same.
Beatrice laughed and signed back.
You lie beautifully.
Gabriel's face went blank.
"She signs too?"
Nina looked at him.
"Yes."
"Apparently every stranger in my life knows my mother's language except me."
Nina did not soften.
"That sounds like a problem you created."
Chloe had to look away.
Gabriel closed his eyes briefly.
"I am discovering that."
Nina's expression shifted slightly.
"Good."
She turned to Hale.
"I verified the files Rocco sent me."
Hale nodded.
"And?"
"The Valenti records are real."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Nina continued.
"Luca was feeding selected evidence to Special Agent Price for at least eight years."
"In exchange, Price kept investigations away from Luca's accounts."
"Vincent moved money through Valenti."
"Anthony discovered it."
"Then Anthony died."
Hale looked at Gabriel.
"And Leo Bennett?"
Nina's expression darkened.
"I found a payment from a Valenti shell company to a man named Raymond Cole."
Chloe's stomach dropped.
"Who is Raymond Cole?"
Hale answered.
"The driver convicted in your brother's hit-and-run."
Chloe stopped moving.
Everything around her became quiet.
Nina continued gently.
"The payment was made four days after Leo died."
"Twenty-five thousand dollars."
Chloe stared at her.
"He was paid."
Nina nodded.
"It appears so."
Chloe's hands shook.
For two years she had hated a stranger she believed had been drunk, careless, and cowardly.
Now the shape of that hatred changed.
Leo's death had not been random.
Someone had decided it.
Someone had paid for it.
Beatrice wrapped an arm around Chloe.
Gabriel looked stricken.
"Can you tie the payment to Luca?"
Nina shook her head.
"Not yet."
"Vincent?"
"Not yet."
Hale looked at his watch.
"We have two hours before Luca's deadline."
Nina pulled a folder from her bag.
"Then you need one more thing."
She handed it to Chloe.
Inside was a photograph of Raymond Cole leaving a restaurant three nights before Leo died.
He was shaking hands with a man in a dark coat.
The man's face was turned away.
But the square black ring was visible.
Vincent and Luca both had matching rings.
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
"Still two possibilities."
Nina shook her head.
"No."
She pointed to the man's left wrist.
A watch with a distinctive cracked white face.
"Vincent never wore a watch."
Gabriel stared.
"Luca did."
Chloe's breath left her.
Hale closed the folder.
"Now we have probable cause."
Gabriel looked at him.
"Not until my mother is safe."
Beatrice slapped his arm.
He turned.
She signed.
I am standing here.
Chloe blinked.
For one second, everyone had forgotten.
They had rescued no one.
Beatrice was already with them.
Then realization hit.
The video at the boxing club.
Beatrice had been taken.
But she was standing here now.
Chloe stared at her.
"How did you get out?"
Beatrice frowned.
She signed.
I walked out.
Everyone went silent.
Gabriel looked confused.
"What?"
Chloe translated.
Beatrice continued.
The man who took me from the boxing club was not Luca's man.
Chloe's pulse jumped.
Who?
Beatrice pointed across the parking garage.
A black sedan rolled slowly from behind a concrete column.
Vincent was driving.
He stopped twenty feet away.
Beatrice signed one more sentence.
Vincent helped me escape.
Gabriel stared at the car.
The driver's door opened.
Vincent stepped out.
"Before anyone hits me again," he said, "Luca thinks she is still at the Saint Agnes."
Hale's hand moved toward his jacket.
Vincent lifted both hands.
May you like
"And if we want him to expose himself, we have to let him keep thinking that."
