Chapter 7 - The Call Rebecca Made Before She Died
Vincent did not move for several seconds.
Anthony’s office had become unnaturally quiet.
Even the traffic outside seemed far away.
Teresa sat down.
“You knew.”
Anthony rubbed one hand over his mouth.
“I knew she died.”
“For sixteen years.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was told not to.”
Vincent’s eyes hardened.
“By whom?”
Anthony laughed once without humor.
“You think this ends with Father?”
Vincent leaned across the desk.
“Answer me.”
Anthony looked at him.
“Your father was already dead when Rebecca called me.”
Domenic Caruso had died seventeen years earlier.
Rebecca died one year later.
Vincent straightened slowly.
“Then who?”
Anthony pushed the photograph away.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“Say the name.”
Anthony looked toward Teresa.
She nodded once.
“Tell him.”
Anthony inhaled.
“The blue ledger did not only contain payments.”
Vincent waited.
“It contained leverage.”
“Against who?”
“Judges.”
“Union officials.”
“Developers.”
“Police.”
Anthony paused.
“And Carusos.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“What did Rebecca know?”
“Enough to get killed if the wrong person thought she still had proof.”
Teresa stared at him.
“How did she know anything?”
Anthony looked at the photograph.
“She saw Father meeting Leonard Valesco at the old Richmond warehouse.”
“The one in the picture?” Vincent asked.
“Yes.”
“She followed me there.”
“Why?”
“Because she thought I was helping Father keep her away from you.”
“Were you?”
Anthony did not answer quickly enough.
Vincent’s jaw flexed.
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
Teresa closed her eyes.
Anthony continued.
“At first.”
“I believed Father.”
“He said Rebecca would destroy you.”
“That she would make you weak.”
“That she was using the pregnancy to trap you.”
Vincent’s fist tightened.
“She was eight weeks pregnant.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew then.”
Anthony looked away.
“Yes.”
Vincent stepped around the desk.
Marco shifted closer.
Not to protect Anthony.
To remind Vincent of the promise he had made Grace.
Vincent stopped.
Anthony noticed.
“Grace told you not to hurt me.”
Vincent’s eyes turned cold.
“Do not say her name like you have earned the right.”
Anthony swallowed.
Then he continued.
“Rebecca followed me to the warehouse and overheard Father discussing payments with Valesco.”
“She saw the ledger.”
“She also heard your father say they needed to move money through a woman who could not be traced back to the family.”
Teresa frowned.
“What woman?”
“Rebecca.”
Vincent stared at him.
Anthony nodded.
“They created companies in her name.”
“She never signed anything.”
“Signatures were copied.”
“Accounts were opened.”
“Money moved.”
Grace’s mother, who had repaired sweaters because she would not spend twenty dollars on a new one, had apparently been made the paper owner of money she never saw.
Vincent’s voice dropped.
“How much?”
“Over the years?”
Anthony looked sick.
“Tens of millions.”
Teresa stood again.
“That is impossible.”
“No.”
Anthony’s eyes met hers.
“It was convenient.”
“Rebecca Miller vanished.”
“Everyone assumed she left the city.”
“The companies remained.”
Vincent’s mind was already moving through decades of records.
“Which companies?”
“Northstar was one.”
The name hit like a gunshot.
Vincent’s stare sharpened.
“The company that paid Eric.”
“Yes.”
Teresa whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Anthony looked at Vincent.
“That is why this started again.”
“Somebody used Northstar.”
“Somebody who knows what it was originally built for.”
Vincent’s voice was controlled.
“Who still has access?”
Anthony hesitated.
Vincent leaned closer.
“Do not make me ask twice.”
“Peter.”
Teresa’s face went blank.
“Our uncle?”
Anthony nodded.
Peter Caruso was seventy-four.
He had been Domenic’s younger brother.
For decades, he had served as the family attorney, fixer, and quiet keeper of information no one else wanted written down.
After Vincent took control of the family businesses, Peter stepped away from daily operations.
He lived outside the city now.
He attended baptisms.
Funerals.
Christmas dinners.
He gave grandchildren expensive books.
He complained about his knees.
Vincent had trusted him more than almost anyone alive.
“No,” Vincent said.
Anthony gave him a bitter smile.
“That was my reaction too.”
“You have proof?”
“No.”
“Then you have suspicion.”
“I have Rebecca’s last phone call.”
Anthony opened a drawer.
Marco immediately moved closer.
Anthony removed an old digital voice recorder.
Vincent stared at it.
“You recorded her?”
“I recorded every threatening call after Father died.”
“Rebecca threatened you?”
“No.”
Anthony looked down at the device.
“She begged me.”
He placed it on the desk.
“I never deleted it.”
Vincent pressed PLAY.
Static filled the room.
Then Rebecca’s voice emerged.
Older.
Breathless.
Terrified.
Anthony, listen to me.
Do not call Vincent.
Not yet.
They found the storage place.
I moved Grace.
She doesn’t know anything.
Please keep it that way.
Anthony’s younger voice answered.
Rebecca, who found you?
There was a pause.
Then Rebecca whispered.
Peter.
Teresa covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
Peter knows I copied pages from the ledger.
He thinks I still have them.
I don’t.
I mailed them years ago.
Anthony’s recorded voice became urgent.
To who?
Rebecca breathed heavily.
If I tell you, you become useful to him.
I won’t do that.
Anthony asked another question.
Where is Grace?
Rebecca’s voice sharpened.
Do not say her name again.
Not on a phone.
Do you understand me?
Then came a sound in the background.
A door.
Rebecca gasped.
The recording ended.
No goodbye.
No click.
Only silence.
Vincent stood over the recorder with both hands flat on the desk.
Teresa was crying now.
Anthony looked away.
“You heard that sixteen years ago,” Vincent said.
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing.”
“I went to Camden.”
“After she died?”
“Yes.”
“What did you find?”
“An apartment already cleaned out.”
“Grace?”
“Gone.”
“She entered foster care under her legal name three days later.”
Vincent stared at him.
“You knew where she was.”
“I found out months later.”
“And you left her there.”
Anthony’s face twisted.
“I thought it was safer.”
“You left my daughter in foster care.”
The word came out before Vincent could stop it.
Daughter.
The room went silent.
Anthony’s eyes lifted.
“You believe she is yours.”
Vincent did not answer.
Teresa did.
“So did Rebecca.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
Vincent stepped back.
“Where are the copied ledger pages?”
“I don’t know.”
“She mailed them somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Vincent turned toward Marco.
“Get a full security team to Peter’s house.”
Anthony stood abruptly.
“No.”
Vincent looked at him.
“If Peter thinks you know, going after him openly could make him move first.”
“He already moved first.”
“He canceled Grace’s appointment?”
“I don’t know.”
“He paid Eric?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just named him.”
“I named the man Rebecca feared sixteen years ago.”
Anthony leaned across the desk.
“That does not mean he is the only one using Northstar now.”
Vincent’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Hannah Mercer.
His stomach tightened.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
Hannah’s voice was clipped.
“Grace’s blood pressure spiked.”
Vincent’s face changed.
“Is she conscious?”
“Yes.”
“The baby?”
“We are monitoring her.”
“I’m coming.”
He ended the call.
Teresa was already reaching for her coat.
Anthony looked at Vincent.
“What can I do?”
Vincent stared at him.
“For sixteen years, you did nothing.”
Anthony flinched.
Vincent continued.
“Start by finding every transaction Northstar made in the last thirty years.”
“I can do that.”
“And Anthony?”
“Yes?”
“If one document disappears, I will assume you helped make it disappear.”
Anthony nodded slowly.
Vincent turned to leave.
Anthony spoke behind him.
“There is one more thing.”
Vincent stopped.
Anthony’s face had gone pale again.
“The day after Rebecca died, someone sent me a photograph.”
“Of what?”
“Grace.”
Vincent turned fully.
“She was twelve.”
“She was standing outside her first foster home.”
Teresa whispered.
“Who sent it?”
Anthony’s answer chilled all three of them.
“There was no name.”
“Only a sentence.”
Vincent’s voice was barely audible.
“What sentence?”
Anthony looked directly at him.
May you like
“THE GIRL LIVES AS LONG AS EVERYONE STAYS QUIET.”
