Chapter 15 - Walter's Sin
Police filled the mansion until it no longer felt like Nicholas's home.
Dominic was taken away first.
Claire sat in the library with an attorney on speakerphone, refusing to answer questions.
Nicholas refused medical transport until Walter spoke.
"Tell me," he said.
Walter stood near the fireplace.
"Rebecca died with three substances in her blood. Two were prescribed after a minor surgery. One was not."
Hannah felt cold.
"The same one found in Nicholas's pills?"
Walter nodded.
Nicholas's face went white.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"You signed the cremation authorization."
"Your aunt was listed as next of kin while you were overseas. She asked me to handle it. I did."
"Why?"
Walter's voice broke for the first time.
"Because Dominic had men watching the funeral home. Because two of your crews were already loading weapons. Because I believed that if you saw a toxicology report you couldn't explain, Chicago would have bodies in the street by sunrise."
Nicholas stared at him.
"So you protected everybody except Rebecca."
Walter closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The single word carried more weight than an excuse.
"Did you know about the brake report?" Nicholas asked.
"Not before the crash. Afterward, yes. I requested it because the tow yard called me. The report disappeared from the official file two days later. I kept a copy."
"And still said nothing."
"I told myself I needed certainty. Then you were in intensive care. Then you woke unable to move your legs. Then Claire became the saint who never left your bedside."
Walter looked at Hannah.
"And I made the worst mistake old men make. I confused caution with wisdom."
Nicholas turned away.
"Get out."
Walter nodded.
"I understand."
"No. You don't. But get out anyway."
After Walter left, Hannah helped Nicholas into his chair.
He was shaking, not from medication this time.
"I should have listened to Rebecca," he said.
"You were manipulated."
"I ignored her because she insulted Claire at dinner. That's the truth."
Hannah crouched in front of him.
"Then carry that truth. Don't turn it into a weapon against yourself."
Nicholas looked at her.
"You always have an answer?"
"No. I just talk when I'm scared."
"You're scared?"
"A man pointed a gun at us twenty minutes ago. Yes."
That made him breathe out something close to a laugh.
Detective Ruiz entered holding Dominic's confiscated phone.
"We got a warrant for the cloud account tied to this device."
"And?" Nicholas asked.
Ruiz placed the phone on the table and played a video.
A mechanic stood beside Nicholas's black sedan the night before the crash.
Dominic's voice came from behind the camera.
"Make sure the warning light doesn't come on."
Then Claire's voice answered from nearby.
"He takes the lake road at six."
Nicholas went completely still.
May you like
Ruiz stopped the video.
"Mr. Valenti, this was not an accident."
