Chapter 17 - The Price of Silence

The book wasn't a diary. It was a record of payments, dates, and the people my father had tried to erase from his business.

Teresa had copied the entries seventeen years ago after finding the originals in his study. She had included check numbers, account names, and notes about a planned "clearance" at Pier Nine.

One page made me sit down.

Mateo Morales had warned management that teenagers were inside the building after hours. Two days later, a payment to Victor's crew was moved forward.

"Your father knew Camille was there?" Bell asked.

"He knew she sometimes went there," I said. "I don't know what he knew that night."

I wouldn't turn suspicion into certainty just because it made a better villain. We would prove what could be proved.

Abigail sat beside me as investigators reviewed the book against banking records and Nico's copied contracts. One transaction matched a payment to a company Victor had controlled for nearly twenty years.

Shaw, now under investigation, asked for counsel and eventually agreed to give a recorded statement. He admitted he had followed Victor's unauthorized orders concerning Teresa's care and had signed false records. He disputed that he intended to kill her.

That distinction belonged to a court, not to me.

Later I visited my mother at the protected residence. Elena was reading her a mystery novel and doing different voices for the characters. Teresa rolled her eyes at the detective in the story. I laughed before I could stop myself.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

Elena closed the book and went to make tea.

I told my mother what we had found.

"I think Dad knew enough to stop the fire. He didn't."

Tears shone in her eyes.

"And you stayed quiet because he threatened me."

A nod.

"You should have told me," I whispered.

She nodded again, harder.

I had prepared angry speeches. Her agreement stole them all.

"I needed you," I said. "Not the version of our family you were protecting. You."

She squeezed my hand.

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In the hall, Elena waited with two cups of tea. Before she could speak, Bell called.

"Victor's leaving the state tonight," she said. "We have a possible location, but he's taking hostages. One of them is Nico."