Chapter 17 - The Names Beneath the Names
Matteo's body was not found.
The police recovered the decoy ledger, the weapons, and enough evidence to arrest four men connected to the harbor network. Ruiz took the original ledger into federal custody.
Victor survived the gunshot. The bullet had passed through his shoulder, missing the artery by inches.
Lily sat beside his hospital bed while the morning news played without sound.
"You should go home," Victor said.
"I don't have a home to go to."
"You have a room at the apartment."
"That's a safe house."
"Then we'll find you a real one."
Lily looked at him. "You keep saying we'll."
Victor shifted, wincing. "Habit."
She almost smiled.
Ruiz entered carrying a folder. "We found the person who paid Matteo."
Lily stood.
"Who?"
Ruiz placed a photograph on the blanket.
A smiling man in a navy suit stood beside a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Northstar Relief. Behind him was a banner with the city seal.
Mayor Richard Harlan.
Lily recognized him from the charity dinners at Castellano's. He had once shaken her hand and thanked her for serving the guests.
"He funded the network?" she asked.
"Not all of it," Ruiz said. "He protected it. He made sure inspections disappeared, witnesses were transferred, and shipping records were altered."
Victor stared at the photograph.
"Matteo worked for him."
"More than that," Ruiz said. "Harlan arranged the warehouse fire that supposedly killed Matteo. He needed a scapegoat and a ghost."
Lily looked at the hospital window.
Matteo had not been the top of the chain.
May you like
He had been a middleman.
And the man at the top was still in office.
