Chapter 17 - The Man Who Signed the Certificate
Samuel Pierce looked smaller than Alessandro remembered.
Eleven years ago, he had seemed like authority in a white coat. Now he was an old man gripping a cane with both hands.
“I heard Enzo was arrested,” Pierce said. “I assumed you would find the recording.”
Alessandro sat across from him in a hospital conference room.
“Did you kill my father?”
Pierce flinched. “No.”
“Did you change his medication without consent?”
“Yes.”
“Did Enzo pay you?”
“Yes.”
“Then explain the difference.”
Pierce took a shaky breath. He said Enzo believed Alessandro Sr. was becoming paranoid and unstable during a brutal family dispute. Enzo pressured Pierce to keep him sedated enough to “calm down.” Pierce complied. The medication interacted badly with a heart condition that had not been properly monitored.
“Could it have contributed to his death?” Alessandro asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you know that when you signed natural causes?”
Pierce stared at the table.
“Yes.”
Alessandro stood.
Grant stepped closer, ready in case anger became action.
But Alessandro did not touch the old man.
He was suddenly tired of men solving shame with silence.
Pierce agreed to give a full statement.
That evening Enzo finally asked to see Alessandro.
They met through glass at the detention center.
“You’re digging up bones to destroy living people,” Enzo said.
“No. I’m stopping living people from using the dead as an excuse.”
Enzo leaned closer. “Your father was going to ruin everything. He wanted to expose private family matters, remove me, shut Carlo out.”
“Maybe he should have.”
“You think truth makes you clean?”
Alessandro paused.
“No.”
That answer surprised Enzo.
“I protected Carlo,” Alessandro continued. “I buried complaints. I moved him instead of firing him. I let reputation matter more than people. I helped build the room you operated in.”
Enzo smiled faintly. “Then we’re the same.”
“No.” Alessandro stood. “Because I’m done calling it loyalty.”
As he turned to leave, Enzo said, “You think this ends with me?”
Alessandro stopped.
Enzo’s smile disappeared.
“The youth center opens Friday.”
“The contract is frozen.”
“I’m not talking about the contract.”
May you like
He leaned toward the glass.
“I’m talking about the building.”
