Chapter 15 - THE LAST VISITOR
I confronted Gabriel before sunrise.
He did not run.
He did not deny visiting.
He did not deny being alone with my mother.
That made the question harder.
“Did you kill her?”
His face collapsed.
“No.”
“Jonathan says she had weeks.”
“She probably did.”
“Then why did she die that night?”
Gabriel looked toward Thomas.
“Because Alessandra asked for something.”
My stomach turned.
“What?”
He closed his eyes.
“She asked me to take a package to the nurses’ station.”
“What package?”
“Medication.”
Thomas stiffened.
“What medication?”
“I don’t know.”
“You carried unknown medication into a hospice?”
Gabriel looked ashamed.
“She said it was part of her pain management.”
“Did you give it to a nurse?”
“Yes.”
“Which nurse?”
He stared at me.
“Margaret.”
Everything stopped.
Maria.
Marco’s daughter.
The woman who had lied about her identity.
The woman currently missing.
Thomas immediately began making calls.
I stared at Gabriel.
“You handed her medication.”
“Yes.”
“You never questioned it.”
“No.”
“My mother died that night.”
“Yes.”
“You never told anyone.”
“I didn’t know it mattered until now.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I stepped backward.
Vivian stood nearby.
She watched me carefully.
For once she didn’t speak.
Thomas returned.
“St. Anne’s records show no nurse named Margaret Sloan working that night.”
Gabriel went pale.
“What?”
“No Margaret Sloan was employed there.”
“Then who did I give the package to?”
I already knew.
Maria.
“She followed my mother.”
Thomas nodded.
“Likely.”
My voice shook.
“Did she poison her?”
“We don’t know.”
I hated those words.
“Can we find out?”
“Possibly.”
My mother had been cremated.
There would be no exhumation.
No easy toxicology.
But hospice blood samples sometimes remained in laboratory storage.
Thomas began checking.
Hours passed.
Vivian stayed.
She brought me coffee.
I stared at it.
She realized why.
“Oh.”
She took a sip herself.
I almost laughed.
“You think I poisoned it?”
“At this point, I think the chandelier might be working for your father.”
That actually made me smile.
She sat beside me.
“My mother wants to see you.”
“Why?”
“She remembers something about Teresa’s last year.”
I looked over.
“What?”
“She won’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“She says it belongs to you.”
Camille waited in another room.
Her hands trembled.
“I’m sorry.”
I sat.
“For what?”
“For not finding you sooner.”
“You were hiding.”
“Yes.”
“So was my mother.”
Camille looked down.
“That’s why I should have understood.”
“What did you want to tell me?”
She took out an old phone.
“I received this eight months ago.”
A voicemail.
My mother’s voice.
“Camille, I know you’re alive.”
“I don’t know whether you’ll ever hear this.”
“My daughter has started asking questions.”
“I think Julian found me.”
“If anything happens before I can tell Isabella everything, please make sure she knows Daniel came back.”
Camille paused the message.
I stared.
“She knew Gabriel was alive before the hospice.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“At least eight months.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She was deciding whether she could trust him.”
“What else?”
Camille resumed.
“He says he has spent years working inside Belladonna House to find evidence.”
“I believe some of it.”
“I don’t believe all of it.”
“Daniel knows who Maria Sloan really is.”
Gabriel’s face entered my mind.
He had claimed only fragments.
The voicemail continued.
“If he tells Isabella he discovered Maria recently, he is lying.”
My hands went cold.
Camille stopped the recording.
“That’s all.”
I stood.
Gabriel had known.
I walked into the hall.
He saw my face.
“What?”
“You knew Maria.”
His expression froze.
“That’s not a question.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
My anger erupted.
“You knew who she was.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Marco’s daughter was near Elena.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she had access to my mother.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because Maria was working with me.”
Silence.
I stared.
“What?”
“Maria contacted me fourteen years ago.”
“She hated Marco.”
“She wanted to destroy him.”
“So she became your informant?”
“Yes.”
“Did she kill my mother?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Alessandra trusted her.”
“My mother’s voicemail says she didn’t trust you.”
Pain crossed his face.
“I know.”
“Then stop using her trust to defend yourself.”
Gabriel rubbed his forehead.
“Maria helped Alessandra disappear several times.”
“She protected you as a child.”
“She created new addresses.”
“She intercepted Marco’s people.”
“She was on our side.”
“Then why is she running?”
“I don’t know.”
Thomas approached.
“We found the hospice sample.”
I turned.
“And?”
“It was preserved.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“Can you test it?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Broad toxicology first.”
“How long?”
Thomas hesitated.
I hated waiting.
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
He stepped away.
Returned quickly.
His expression had changed.
“What?”
“Maria surrendered.”
Everyone froze.
“Where?”
“A federal field office in New Jersey.”
“Why?”
“She says Marco has Elena.”
I looked around.
Elena had been under federal protection.
“When?”
Thomas spoke into the phone.
His face became worse.
“Thirty minutes ago.”
Vincent entered.
“What happened?”
Thomas looked at him.
“The transport vehicle carrying Elena was diverted.”
“By whom?”
“Someone issued an authenticated federal reroute order.”
Thomas looked furious.
“The order came from inside my office.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“Another infiltrator.”
Thomas nodded.
My phone buzzed.
A video arrived.
Elena sat inside a dark room.
Marco stood behind her.
This time there was no disguise.
He looked old.
Tired.
But dangerous.
“Hello, Isabella.”
His voice was softer than expected.
“You have spent several days listening to people who blame me for everything.”
He smiled.
“So I thought you deserved to hear from the villain.”
Elena glared at him.
Marco continued.
“Your mother did not hide for twenty-eight years because she feared me.”
“She hid because she discovered what Vincent’s father built.”
Vincent stepped closer to the screen.
Marco smiled.
“And she discovered who would inherit the consequences.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“You.”
The recording ended.
Vivian looked at me.
“What consequences?”
Nobody knew.
Then Thomas’s phone rang again.
A laboratory technician.
He listened silently.
His eyes moved toward Gabriel.
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Thomas ended the call.
He looked at me.
“Your mother’s blood sample contained a medication inconsistent with her treatment plan.”
Gabriel went pale.
“Which medication?”
Thomas answered.
“A powerful sedative.”
I barely breathed.
“Was it enough to kill her?”
“Combined with her condition…”
He paused.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Gabriel whispered.
“Maria.”
Thomas shook his head.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“The medication was prescribed to one patient at St. Anne’s that month.”
“Who?”
Thomas stared at Gabriel.
May you like
“Daniel Caruso.”
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