Chapter 20 - The Last Table
Detective Hale said no seven times.
Chloe counted.
The eighth answer was still no, but he sounded tired enough that she knew he was listening.
"Luca asked for me."
Hale stood in the hospital consultation room with both hands on his hips.
"Criminals ask for things."
"We do not have to give them what they ask for."
"If I don't go, he destroys Leo's phone."
"Maybe he doesn't have it."
"Maybe he does."
"That is not enough reason to walk into a restaurant alone with a man suspected in two murders."
Chloe folded her arms.
"Then don't let me be alone."
Hale stared at her.
Nina sat in the corner with a laptop.
Rocco leaned against the wall.
Vincent was in another room giving a formal statement.
Beatrice sat upright in the hospital bed, fully dressed again despite every nurse's objection.
Her bruised knee was wrapped.
Her expression said she had already decided she was leaving.
Hale looked at her and sighed.
"Don't."
Beatrice raised her hands.
He does that when he is losing.
Chloe smiled.
"She says you're considering it."
"That is not what she said."
Hale had learned enough sign to recognize the lie.
Beatrice laughed.
Gabriel was not in the room.
He was downstairs with his attorney and two detectives.
The warrant had not vanished simply because Luca might be guilty.
Gabriel's own records contained enough questionable transactions, intimidation payments, and concealed business arrangements to keep investigators busy for months.
He had not asked anyone to make them disappear.
That surprised Rocco more than anyone.
"He can help from downstairs," Nina said.
Hale looked at her.
"You are not helping."
"I am helping reality."
"Reality is overrated tonight."
Chloe looked at the clock.
11:31.
"We have twenty-nine minutes."
Hale exhaled slowly.
"If we do this, you wear a wire."
"Fine."
"You do exactly what I say."
"Probably."
"That word is why I regret this already."
"You can put it in the report."
Beatrice signed.
I like her more every hour.
Rocco smiled.
Hale pointed at him.
"You stay outside."
Rocco stopped smiling.
"Why?"
"Because Luca knows you."
"He knows everyone."
"He knows you are armed."
Rocco looked offended.
"I can be unarmed."
Hale gave him a long look.
"No, you can't."
Nina closed her laptop.
"I will monitor audio from the van."
Hale nodded.
"Beatrice stays here."
Beatrice immediately signed no.
Hale closed his eyes.
"I knew that was coming."
Chloe turned toward her.
"You cannot go inside."
Beatrice signed.
I know.
"Then what do you want?"
Van.
Chloe looked at Hale.
He shook his head.
Beatrice pointed at Chloe.
Then at her own eyes.
Watch her.
Hale rubbed his forehead.
"Fine."
"The van."
Beatrice smiled.
"But she does not leave the van."
Chloe signed the rule.
Beatrice nodded much too quickly.
Hale stared at her.
"I don't believe that nod."
Chloe laughed.
At 11:48, Chloe walked toward Il Canto alone.
The street was quiet.
Police vehicles waited two blocks away without lights.
Nina's surveillance van sat behind a florist shop.
Hale's officers occupied three nearby buildings.
Rocco was somewhere Chloe had not been told about.
Gabriel was supposed to remain with investigators.
Chloe doubted that last part most.
The restaurant's front door was unlocked.
She entered.
The dining room was dark except for one row of wall lamps.
Smoke damage stained the ceiling near the kitchen entrance.
The air still smelled faintly burned.
Every table was empty.
The mahogany doors to the VIP room stood open.
Light spilled through them.
Chloe's heart pounded.
She touched the tiny microphone beneath her collar.
Hale's voice whispered through the earpiece hidden beneath her hair.
"We hear you."
Chloe did not answer.
She walked through the doors.
Table 7 was set for two.
Luca sat at Gabriel's usual place.
A bottle of Barolo rested beside him.
Two wineglasses stood on the table.
In the center was a broken black phone.
Chloe stopped.
She recognized the case.
A faded sticker clung to one corner.
Leo had put that sticker on everything he owned.
A tiny blue rocket.
Her knees weakened.
Luca smiled.
"Right on time."
Chloe looked at the phone.
"Is that his?"
"Sit."
"Is that Leo's phone?"
"Sit."
Chloe remained standing.
Luca poured wine into one glass.
"Your brother was more polite."
Chloe's hands curled at her sides.
"You knew him."
"Briefly."
"How briefly?"
Luca leaned back.
"Long enough to learn he was inconvenient."
In the surveillance van, Nina looked at Hale.
Hale raised one finger.
Keep him talking.
Beatrice watched the monitor.
Her face became hard.
Chloe sat.
"Where did you get the phone?"
Luca lifted it with two fingers.
"From a man who no longer needed it."
"Raymond Cole?"
Luca smiled.
"You have been busy."
"He took it from Leo?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
Luca turned the phone over.
"Vincent."
Chloe stared.
"He said he left Leo in the road."
"He did."
"Then how did he have the phone?"
"He went back."
Chloe's chest tightened.
"When?"
"Before the ambulance arrived."
"Why?"
"Because I told him to remove anything Leo might have recorded."
Chloe went cold.
"So Vincent lied again."
"Vincent breathes."
Luca lifted his wineglass.
"Lying happens in between."
Chloe looked at the broken phone.
"And he gave it to you."
"Eventually."
"Why keep it?"
Luca's smile faded.
"Insurance."
"Against Vincent?"
"Against everyone."
The word echoed Rocco's description of Anthony's ledger.
Chloe almost laughed.
"You hated Anthony, but you copied him."
Luca's eyes sharpened.
"Careful."
"Why?"
"Because you still think you are the brave waitress who embarrassed a rude man at dinner."
"You still think I was brave?"
"No."
Luca leaned forward.
"I think you were unlucky."
Chloe held his gaze.
"You mean Leo was unlucky too?"
Luca's thumb rubbed his ring.
"Leo was curious."
"That is not a death sentence."
"In some rooms, it is."
Chloe felt anger move through her like heat.
"Did you order Raymond Cole to hit him?"
Luca smiled.
"You really think I am going to answer that while you are wired?"
Chloe's blood went cold.
In the van, Hale swore.
Nina leaned toward the audio controls.
Beatrice stared at the screen.
Luca pointed at Chloe's collar.
"Take it off."
She did not move.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then let me help."
He stood.
Chloe stood too.
Luca reached toward her.
She stepped back.
"Don't touch me."
He smiled.
"There she is."
His hand moved inside his jacket.
Chloe froze.
He removed a small signal detector.
The device blinked.
"Technology ruins trust."
He held out his hand.
"The wire."
Hale's voice came through Chloe's earpiece.
"Walk out."
Luca heard the faint sound.
His smile widened.
"Now."
Chloe removed the microphone and earpiece.
She placed them on the table.
Luca crushed the microphone beneath his glass.
In the van, the audio died.
Hale stood.
"We go."
Beatrice grabbed his sleeve.
She pointed at the video feed.
Chloe was still visible through the restaurant's security camera.
Beatrice signed.
Wait.
Hale looked at her.
"Why?"
She pointed at Chloe's hands.
Watch.
On screen, Chloe sat again.
She placed both hands on the table.
Luca returned to his chair.
He did not know the camera feed had been restored earlier by police.
Even if he had, he would have assumed it showed nothing useful without sound.
Chloe looked directly toward the camera for half a second.
Then she moved one hand casually.
Gun.
Beatrice leaned closer.
Chloe touched the underside of the table.
Second.
Weapon.
Under.
Table.
Beatrice's face changed.
She signed the translation to Hale.
Nina spoke quickly.
"She says there is another gun under the table."
Hale nodded.
He spoke into his radio.
"Second weapon under Table 7."
Beatrice pointed again.
Chloe signed another word.
Door.
Then rear.
Then man.
Hale understood enough.
"Someone at the rear door."
An officer's voice answered over radio.
"Confirmed."
"One male near service alley."
Hale looked at Beatrice.
"Good."
Beatrice did not smile.
She kept watching Chloe.
Inside, Luca poured himself more wine.
"You know what I always found interesting about your brother?"
Chloe's face remained still.
"What?"
"He never looked afraid when people shouted."
"He couldn't hear them."
"Exactly."
Luca smiled.
"Men like Gabriel use volume when they think they are losing control."
"It did nothing to Leo."
"That bothered Vincent."
"Did it bother you?"
"No."
"What bothered me was that Leo watched."
Chloe felt the words in her chest.
Luca continued.
"He watched hands."
"Faces."
"Doors."
"Reflections."
"He saw things hearing people missed because they were busy listening to themselves."
Chloe almost smiled.
"You understood him better than Gabriel did."
Luca's expression changed.
"For a while."
"Then why did you underestimate him?"
Luca's thumb stopped moving over his ring.
Chloe had touched the nerve.
"Because he was a kid."
"A deaf kid."
"Yes."
"You thought that made him easier."
"It made him isolated."
"Not the same thing."
Luca leaned forward.
"It was enough."
Chloe looked at the phone.
"Enough to have him killed?"
Luca smiled slowly.
"You want the sentence so badly."
"Which sentence?"
"The confession."
"I don't need one."
"Then why come?"
Chloe looked at the broken phone.
"For him."
Luca studied her.
Then he pushed the phone across the table.
Chloe stopped breathing.
"Take it."
She did not move.
"Why?"
"Because it doesn't matter anymore."
"You wouldn't be here if it didn't matter."
Luca smiled.
"Smart."
Chloe looked at the phone.
"What is on it?"
"A video."
"Of what?"
"Me."
Chloe's pulse jumped.
"Doing what?"
Luca's eyes held hers.
"Telling Raymond Cole where Leo would be."
In the van, no audio carried the words.
But Beatrice saw Luca's mouth.
Her entire body went rigid.
She grabbed Nina's arm.
Nina looked at her.
Beatrice signed quickly.
He said Raymond.
Leo.
Video.
Nina turned to Hale.
"She lip-read part of it."
"Luca says the phone has a video connecting him to Cole."
Hale spoke into his radio.
"Stand by."
Inside, Chloe forced herself to stay still.
"Why did Leo have that video?"
"He followed me."
"After you followed him?"
"Your brother was annoyingly symmetrical."
"And you found out."
"Eventually."
"Then you paid Cole."
Luca's eyes narrowed.
"The company paid Cole."
"You authorized it."
"Companies authorize things."
"People run companies."
"You sound like Nina."
"She sounds smart."
Luca smiled faintly.
"She is."
"That is why I ruined her career."
Chloe felt another admission land.
"You framed Nina."
"She was becoming inconvenient too."
"Like Anthony."
"Anthony became sentimental."
"About what?"
"Truth."
Luca took a drink.
"Men become obsessed with truth when they get old enough to fear what their children will inherit."
"Anthony wanted Gabriel to know."
"Anthony wanted absolution."
"He had spent decades building a family on fear."
"Then suddenly he wanted honesty at the dinner table."
Luca laughed softly.
"Hypocrisy is expensive."
Chloe looked at him.
"So you killed him."
Luca stopped smiling.
Silence.
Then he leaned back.
"I made sure his car failed."
Chloe's breath caught.
There it was.
Not elegant.
Not dramatic.
Just a sentence spoken by a man who believed no one could hear him anymore.
Luca continued.
"He should have accepted the arrangement."
"He should have let me manage Gabriel."
"He should have let Vincent steal his little percentage."
"He should have let Beatrice sign into the air until everyone got tired."
Chloe felt sick.
"And Leo?"
Luca's face became flat.
"Leo should have deleted the photographs."
"He didn't."
"No."
"So you had Cole hit him."
Luca looked toward the camera.
For the first time, Chloe wondered if he knew exactly where it was.
He smiled.
"You should ask Vincent."
Chloe's anger flared.
"I'm asking you."
"And I am telling you that your family and Gabriel's are not as different as you want to believe."
"Vincent watched."
"Gabriel ignored messages."
"Beatrice hid evidence."
"Rocco hid a phone."
"Matteo kept secrets."
"Marco stayed quiet."
"Everyone had one little reason not to act."
Luca leaned closer.
"That is how people like me survive."
Chloe stared at him.
The words were true enough to be horrifying.
Luca had built his power in the spaces between other people's excuses.
He had not needed everyone to be evil.
He had needed them to be afraid, proud, busy, ashamed, or silent for five minutes at the right time.
Chloe looked at Leo's phone.
"Then why keep this?"
"Because Price wanted insurance too."
"He copied the video before giving me the phone."
"I kept the original so he could never pretend his copy was fake."
Chloe's pulse quickened.
"Where is Price now?"
Luca smiled.
"Far away."
"Alive?"
"Probably."
"You don't know?"
"I stopped caring."
Chloe moved one hand beneath the table.
She signed another message toward the camera.
Confession.
No audio.
Beatrice saw.
She looked at Nina.
"She says he confessed," Nina told Hale.
Hale's jaw tightened.
"Without audio, that is not enough."
Beatrice pointed at her own mouth.
Lip read.
Nina shook her head.
"She can testify to what she read, but we need corroboration."
Hale looked at the screen.
Then Gabriel's voice came from behind them.
"You have it."
Everyone turned.
Gabriel stood at the open van door.
His attorney was behind him, furious.
Hale stared.
"Why are you here?"
"Because Nina has the live video."
"You are supposed to be downstairs answering questions."
"I answered."
"For forty minutes."
"I am efficient."
His attorney muttered something obscene.
Gabriel ignored him.
He looked at the monitor.
Chloe's hands moved beneath the table.
Gabriel leaned closer.
He recognized confession.
Then gun.
Then door.
Not all of it.
Enough.
He looked at his mother.
"She's telling us what he cannot hear."
Beatrice nodded.
Gabriel watched Luca speak.
No audio.
He looked at Hale.
"The phone is evidence."
"We know."
"Then go in."
"We need probable cause for an armed entry."
"He has two guns."
"We know."
"He has a murder victim's phone."
"We know."
Gabriel's patience snapped.
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Hale looked at him.
"For my officer at the rear exit to confirm Luca's second man is away from civilians."
A radio crackled.
"Rear suspect moving."
Another voice.
"Clear."
Hale grabbed his vest.
"Now."
Inside the VIP room, Luca's expression changed.
He had seen something through the window reflection.
Blue light.
Movement.
He looked at Chloe.
"You lied."
"About what?"
"You didn't come alone."
"I walked in alone."
"Cute."
His hand disappeared beneath the table.
Chloe moved back.
Luca pulled the second gun from the hidden bracket.
He pointed it at her.
In the van, Beatrice stood.
Gabriel grabbed her arm.
"No."
She tore free.
Her hands moved.
She is my friend.
Gabriel understood friend.
Then he signed.
Police.
Go.
He pointed toward Hale.
Beatrice shook her head.
Gabriel looked at the screen.
Luca was saying something to Chloe.
The camera had no sound.
Then Chloe raised her hands where Luca could see them.
She signed deliberately.
You still don't understand.
Luca frowned.
"Stop that."
Chloe continued.
People are listening now.
Luca stepped closer.
"I said stop."
Chloe looked directly at him.
Then she spoke.
"She had a voice before I arrived."
"Leo had a voice before you killed him."
"You survived because the people around you refused to listen."
Luca's face twisted.
"And you think Gabriel is different now?"
"I think he is trying."
"Trying doesn't change blood."
"No."
Chloe looked at the phone.
"But truth changes choices."
Luca raised the gun.
The mahogany doors exploded inward.
Hale entered with officers behind him.
"Police!"
Luca grabbed Chloe.
His arm locked around her shoulders.
The gun pressed against her side.
"Back!"
Hale stopped.
Officers spread across the doorway.
"Let her go."
Luca dragged Chloe backward.
"You have nothing."
Hale looked at Leo's phone.
"We have that."
Luca smiled.
"Not yet."
He kicked the phone off the table.
It skidded beneath a chair.
Chloe watched it stop near the wall.
Luca pulled her toward the service door.
"Move."
Then Gabriel appeared behind the officers.
Luca laughed.
"Of course."
Gabriel's face went cold.
"Let her go."
"You never could leave a room alone."
"This is between us."
Chloe felt Luca's grip tighten.
"No," she said.
Both men looked at her.
"That is the whole problem."
She stared at Gabriel.
"It was never just between you."
Gabriel understood.
He nodded.
Then a movement appeared behind him.
Beatrice stepped into the doorway.
Gabriel turned in shock.
"Ma."
Hale swore.
"Who let her out of the van?"
Rocco's voice came from the hall.
"No one lets her do anything."
Beatrice looked directly at Luca.
Her hands rose.
He laughed.
"Still talking to the air?"
Beatrice signed slowly.
Chloe watched.
Gabriel watched too.
Luca did not.
Beatrice signed one word Gabriel knew.
Look.
Then she pointed with her eyes toward Luca's right knee.
Gabriel followed.
Luca's weight was uneven.
His right foot was turned outward.
Chloe remembered the table leg behind him.
Beatrice signed another word.
Now.
Gabriel knew that one too.
He moved.
At the same instant, Chloe dropped her weight.
Luca stumbled backward over the table leg.
His grip loosened.
Chloe twisted free.
Hale lunged.
Luca fired.
The shot shattered a wall lamp.
A second shot followed.
Gabriel jerked backward.
Beatrice's face changed.
He hit the floor.
Hale and two officers tackled Luca.
The gun skidded across the carpet.
Rocco kicked it away.
Chloe ran to Gabriel.
Blood spread across his white shirt near the shoulder.
"Gabriel."
His eyes were open.
He looked stunned more than anything.
"That hurt."
Chloe almost laughed and cried at the same time.
"Stay still."
"I am."
"For once."
Beatrice dropped to her knees beside him despite her injured leg.
Her hands shook.
She signed his name.
Gabriel looked at her.
She signed.
Look at me.
He understood.
He looked.
She touched his face.
Then she signed.
Stay.
Gabriel tried to lift one hand.
His fingers formed an imperfect sign.
Here.
Beatrice began to cry silently.
Behind them, Hale read Luca his rights.
Luca shouted that the phone proved nothing.
Nina entered and picked Leo's phone up with gloved hands.
Chloe barely noticed.
Paramedics rushed into the room.
They moved Beatrice aside.
Gabriel's eyes began to close.
Beatrice signed his name again.
He did not answer.
May you like
And for one terrible second, in the same room where he had ignored her hands at dinner, Gabriel Costello could no longer see them.
