Chapter 19 - The Man at the Hospital
Gabriel did not run.
That surprised everyone except Beatrice.
He looked at the warrant on Hale's phone.
Then he held out both hands.
"Do it."
Hale frowned.
"I'm not putting cuffs on you in front of your mother unless I have to."
Gabriel looked at the ambulance.
Beatrice was watching his mouth carefully.
"If you don't, another officer will."
Hale nodded.
"Probably."
"Then do your job."
Hale took out the handcuffs.
Chloe felt something twist in her stomach.
Gabriel noticed.
"This is not a tragedy."
"I didn't say it was."
"Your face did."
"My face is thinking your timing is terrible."
The corner of his mouth moved.
Then Hale cuffed him.
Beatrice stood immediately despite her injured knee.
The paramedic tried to stop her.
She shoved his hand away.
She signed furiously at Gabriel.
Chloe moved beside her.
You finally listen to me and then get arrested before dessert.
Chloe almost laughed.
Gabriel looked at her.
"Translate."
She did.
He smiled for real.
"Tell her I'll work on timing."
Chloe signed it.
Beatrice shook her head.
Hopeless.
Gabriel recognized the expression if not the sign.
Hale guided him toward the unmarked car.
"This is temporary."
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
"Stay with her."
He stopped himself.
Then corrected the sentence.
"Please stay with her."
Chloe nodded.
"I will."
Beatrice went to the hospital under protest.
Smoke exposure had irritated her lungs, and the fall had badly bruised her knee.
Nothing was broken.
The doctor wanted to keep her several hours for observation.
Chloe sat beside the bed.
Beatrice hated the hospital television.
She hated the paper gown.
She hated the monitor clipped to her finger.
Most of all, she hated that staff kept speaking to Chloe instead of her.
The third time a nurse asked Chloe whether Beatrice was in pain, Chloe stopped her.
"Ask her."
The nurse blinked.
"Oh."
Chloe pointed gently.
"She can answer."
The nurse looked embarrassed.
She turned toward Beatrice.
"Are you in pain?"
Beatrice read her lips.
She held up three fingers.
Then she signed to Chloe.
Better.
Chloe smiled.
"She says three out of ten."
The nurse nodded.
"Thank you."
When she left, Beatrice looked at Chloe.
Her hands moved.
You do that automatically.
"What?"
Make people look at me.
Chloe looked down.
"Leo taught me."
Beatrice nodded.
Then she signed.
He would be proud.
Chloe swallowed.
"I hope so."
Her phone buzzed.
News alerts covered the screen.
GABRIEL COSTELLO DETAINED.
AUTHORITIES REOPEN ANTHONY COSTELLO DEATH.
NEW QUESTIONS IN LEO BENNETT HIT-AND-RUN.
Chloe turned the phone face down.
Beatrice saw enough to understand.
She signed.
Truth is ugly when it first comes out.
"That sounds like something Anthony would say."
Beatrice smiled sadly.
He said it often.
Chloe hesitated.
"Did you love him?"
Beatrice's face softened in a way Chloe had not seen before.
Very much.
Then she added.
He was difficult.
Proud.
Stubborn.
Gabriel inherited the worst parts.
Chloe laughed.
"I figured."
Beatrice continued.
But Anthony learned to sign before I did.
Chloe blinked.
"What?"
Beatrice smiled.
When doctors said I would lose my hearing, I was angry.
I refused classes.
I said I would lip-read.
Anthony went without me.
He came home every night and signed badly until I gave in.
Chloe felt a deep ache.
"So Gabriel saw his father learn."
Beatrice nodded.
That was why his refusal hurt.
"Why did he refuse?"
Beatrice's expression became thoughtful.
He was afraid.
"Of sign language?"
Of losing the mother he remembered.
Chloe sat back.
The answer complicated her anger.
Beatrice continued.
He thought learning meant accepting that I would never hear again.
So he kept waiting for medicine to fix me.
Then years passed.
Waiting became shame.
Shame became avoidance.
Avoidance became habit.
Chloe looked toward the door.
"That explains it."
Beatrice nodded.
It does not excuse it.
"No."
They sat in silence for a while.
Then a man appeared in the doorway.
Vincent.
Chloe stood immediately.
"What are you doing here?"
He looked exhausted.
His tuxedo jacket was gone.
A bruise darkened his jaw where Gabriel had hit him.
"I need to talk to you."
Beatrice signed.
Not alone.
Chloe nodded.
"She stays."
Vincent looked at his aunt.
"I assumed she would."
He closed the door.
Chloe folded her arms.
"Talk."
Vincent looked at Beatrice first.
"I lied at the boxing club."
Beatrice's face did not change.
Chloe's anger rose.
"About what?"
"The night Leo died."
Everything in Chloe went still.
"What about it?"
Vincent swallowed.
"I was there."
Chloe's fingers went cold.
"At the university?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Luca told me to follow him."
"Leo?"
Vincent nodded.
"He thought Leo had copied the ledger."
Chloe stepped closer.
"You followed my brother."
"Yes."
"In Gabriel's car?"
Vincent looked away.
"Yes."
Chloe understood the security footage now.
The Costello vehicle near campus.
The shadow over Gabriel.
"Why his car?"
"Luca said if anyone saw it, people would assume Gabriel was involved."
Chloe laughed once in disbelief.
"So the framing started before Leo was even dead."
Vincent's face tightened.
"Yes."
Beatrice watched him.
Her hands remained still.
That was more frightening than anger.
Chloe's voice dropped.
"Did you hit him?"
Vincent shook his head.
"No."
"Did you pay Raymond Cole?"
"No."
"Did you know Luca had hired him?"
Vincent closed his eyes.
"Not until I saw the car."
Chloe's heart began pounding.
"What car?"
"A gray sedan."
"It was parked two blocks from campus."
"Cole was inside."
"I knew him from Valenti."
Vincent's voice became rough.
"I called Luca."
"I asked what Cole was doing there."
"Luca told me to keep following Leo and mind my business."
Chloe's hands curled into fists.
"And you did."
Vincent nodded.
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
He looked at her.
"Leo left a coffee shop around eleven."
"He walked toward the bus stop."
"Cole drove past once."
"Then turned around."
Chloe could barely breathe.
Vincent continued.
"I knew."
The words came out broken.
"Before it happened, I knew."
Chloe stepped closer.
"And what did you do?"
Vincent's eyes filled with shame.
"Nothing."
Chloe slapped him.
He did not resist.
"You did nothing?"
"I froze."
"You had a car."
"I know."
"You had a phone."
"I know."
"You could have warned him."
"I know."
"Stop saying that!"
The words tore out of her.
Beatrice's eyes filled.
Vincent looked at the floor.
"Cole accelerated."
Chloe's breath caught.
"Leo never saw him."
"He was looking at his phone."
"The car hit him."
"Cole kept going."
Vincent's voice broke.
"I stopped."
Chloe stared.
"You stopped?"
"Half a block away."
"I got out."
"I walked toward him."
"Then Luca called."
Chloe felt hatred rising so sharply it scared her.
"And?"
"He said if I went near Leo, he would tell Gabriel everything I had stolen."
"He said I would lose the family."
"The money."
"Everything."
Chloe's eyes burned.
"So you left him there."
Vincent could not look at her.
"Yes."
Beatrice turned her face away.
For the first time, she looked unable to look at Vincent.
Chloe's voice shook.
"Was he alive?"
Vincent's silence answered.
Chloe grabbed his shirt.
"Was my brother alive when you left?"
Vincent looked at her.
Tears stood in his eyes.
"Yes."
Chloe hit him again.
This time Beatrice caught her wrist before she could do more.
Chloe turned on her.
Beatrice held her firmly.
Her hands moved.
Not for him.
For you.
Chloe was shaking.
Beatrice repeated.
Do not become what they made.
Chloe pulled away and paced to the window.
She could not look at Vincent.
She could not look at Beatrice.
She could barely see through the tears.
Behind her, Vincent spoke.
"I called an ambulance anonymously."
Chloe turned.
"Do you want a medal?"
"No."
"I want you to know the truth."
"The truth is you chose your position over my brother."
Vincent nodded.
"Yes."
No defense.
No excuse.
It made Chloe hate him differently.
Beatrice finally looked at Vincent again.
She signed.
Tell police.
Vincent watched Chloe.
"What did she say?"
Chloe translated coldly.
"Tell the police."
Vincent nodded.
"I will."
Beatrice continued.
Everything.
"Everything," Chloe said.
Vincent nodded again.
"Everything."
The hospital door opened.
Detective Hale entered with Nina behind him.
Hale saw Vincent.
"Convenient."
Vincent held out his hands.
"I need to make a statement."
Hale looked at Chloe.
She nodded once.
"A long one."
Hale took Vincent into the hall.
Nina remained.
She carried a tablet.
"Gabriel's archive came through."
Chloe wiped her face.
"And?"
"Enough to prove Luca manipulated Valenti transfers."
"Enough to prove he paid Cole?"
"Almost."
"What does almost mean?"
Nina showed her a transaction chain.
"The shell company that paid Cole was authorized with two digital signatures."
"One belongs to Luca."
Chloe's chest tightened.
"And the other?"
Nina looked toward the hallway where Vincent had gone.
"Vincent."
Chloe closed her eyes.
Of course.
Nina continued.
"He may claim Luca used his credentials."
"The timing will matter."
"His statement will matter."
Beatrice signed.
He knew enough.
Chloe nodded.
"Yes."
Nina swiped to another screen.
"There is more."
A security log from Il Canto appeared.
One access code had been used twenty minutes ago.
The restaurant was closed.
The code belonged to Luca.
Chloe frowned.
"He's back there."
Nina nodded.
"Or someone using his code."
Chloe's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"What?"
Luca's voice came through.
"Your temper is becoming predictable."
Chloe looked at Nina.
Nina motioned for her to keep him talking.
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere familiar."
"You have the ledger."
"I do."
"Then why call me?"
Luca laughed softly.
"Because the ledger is useful."
"But Leo left something even better."
Chloe's heart tightened.
"What?"
"His original phone."
"Police returned his phone."
"They returned a phone."
Chloe went still.
Luca continued.
"Leo carried two that night."
"One was found in the street."
"The other was taken before the ambulance arrived."
Chloe looked toward the hall.
Vincent had said he left before the ambulance.
"Who took it?"
"Come ask me."
"Where?"
Luca paused.
Then he said the words that brought the entire story back to its beginning.
"Table 7."
Chloe closed her eyes.
Nina shook her head vigorously.
Don't go.
Luca continued.
"Midnight."
"Come alone."
"If I see Gabriel, police, or Rocco, the phone disappears."
Chloe's voice went cold.
"Why would you give it to me?"
"I didn't say I would."
"I said you could ask me who took it."
The line went dead.
Beatrice watched Chloe's face.
Her hands moved.
What did he say?
Chloe looked at the clock.
11:18 p.m.
Then she looked at the woman whose hands had started everything.
May you like
"He wants me back at Table 7."
