Chapter 7 - The Godfather
I stopped hearing the room around me.
Evan’s voice filled everything.
“Do exactly what I say.”
“If you touch her—”
“I’m not interested in hurting Ilaria.”
“You already have.”
“Where is Maria?”
“Alive.”
“Put Ilaria on.”
“No.”
“Evan.”
“You always were terrible at listening.”
Elena stared at me.
She could hear his voice.
Her face had become white.
“What do you want?”
“The red case.”
“Police have it.”
“Then get it.”
“I can’t.”
“You’re Daniel Mercer.”
“You can do almost anything when you decide to.”
Quinn entered the room.
I put the call on speaker.
Evan immediately laughed.
“Hello, Detective Quinn.”
Quinn’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know I’m here?”
“Because I’m not an amateur.”
“Release the child.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When Daniel gives me what belongs to me.”
“That evidence does not belong to you.”
“Everything in that case destroys dozens of people.”
“Mostly you.”
“Not mostly me.”
I looked at Elena.
She shook her head slightly.
“There’s more?”
I asked.
Evan heard me.
“Elena didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Ask your wife why she refused to give me the real drive.”
Elena closed her eyes.
I stared at her.
“What real drive?”
Evan continued.
“The flash drive you found contains accounting records.”
“The one I want contains names.”
“What names?”
“People far more powerful than Marcus.”
“Madeline.”
“Breen.”
“Or me.”
Quinn mouthed:
KEEP HIM TALKING.
“Where is Ilaria?”
“Safe.”
“Prove it.”
There was movement.
Then Ilaria’s voice.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Is Mommy there?”
I looked at Elena.
She covered her mouth.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Mommy is here.”
Ilaria began sobbing.
“Can I talk to her?”
Elena took the phone.
“Ilaria?”
“Mommy?”
The sound my daughter made nearly broke every person in the room.
“Mommy, I’m sorry.”
Elena’s face crumpled.
“For what?”
“Madeline said you disappeared because I was bad.”
“No.”
Elena spoke with sudden strength.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Never.”
“Nothing that happened was because of you.”
Evan took the phone back.
“Touching.”
Elena’s expression turned hard.
“I’ll kill you.”
Evan laughed.
“There she is.”
I took the phone.
“You want the drive.”
“Yes.”
“I need time.”
“You have two hours.”
“How do I contact you?”
“I’ll contact you.”
The call ended.
Quinn turned immediately.
“We locate him before the deadline.”
Pike was already tracing.
“Burner.”
“Signal bounced through three towers.”
Elena tried to stand.
Her legs buckled.
I caught her.
“You need a hospital.”
“My daughter needs me.”
“You can barely stand.”
“Then give me a chair.”
No one argued.
Paramedics brought a wheelchair.
The bitter irony was not lost on me.
We moved upstairs.
Breen had been transported under guard.
Marcus had escaped into the woods.
State police were searching.
Madeline remained hospitalized after her crash.
Evan now held Ilaria.
Every person I had trusted seemed connected to the nightmare.
Quinn placed Elena in a secure interview room at the lodge.
“What drive is Evan talking about?”
Elena looked at me.
“I made two copies.”
“Of what?”
“The foundation records started it.”
“But once Thomas Carter investigated, he found something bigger.”
“What?”
“Evan wasn’t only stealing charitable funds.”
“He was laundering money through medical construction contracts.”
“For who?”
“Judges.”
“Politicians.”
“Executives.”
“Organized crime.”
Quinn’s face changed.
“That explains Breen.”
Elena nodded.
“Carter collected names.”
“He gave me the master drive.”
“Where is it?”
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
Elena looked at me.
“At home.”
My stomach tightened.
“Evan was just there.”
“He won’t find it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he never understood the hiding place.”
Quinn leaned forward.
“Does Ilaria?”
Elena looked toward her.
“Yes.”
I felt cold.
“That’s why he took her.”
Elena nodded.
“He knows she remembers pieces.”
Pike entered.
“Maria has been found.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“Inside the house.”
“In the pantry.”
“She’s shaken but not seriously injured.”
“How did Evan get in?”
“Security override.”
“Marcus?”
“Likely.”
“Did anyone see where they went?”
“A neighbor saw a black SUV leaving.”
“Plate?”
“Covered.”
Quinn turned to Elena.
“We need the hiding place.”
Elena swallowed.
“It’s in Ilaria’s room.”
“Where?”
“The painted stars.”
I stared.
“We already found the brass key.”
“Not that star.”
“There are dozens.”
“I painted one using phosphorescent paint.”
“Above the closet.”
“It glows after the lights go out.”
I remembered it.
A tiny star.
Almost invisible during daylight.
“What’s behind it?”
“A wall safe.”
I had never known.
Quinn dispatched officers.
Twenty minutes later, they found the safe.
Inside was a flash drive.
A handwritten notebook.
And a sealed envelope addressed:
FOR DANIEL, IF I DON’T MAKE IT HOME.
Quinn had the materials brought directly to us.
I stared at the envelope.
Elena watched me.
“I wrote that the morning I disappeared.”
I opened it.
Daniel,
If you are reading this, something has happened.
Do not blame yourself for what you did not know.
Do not believe anyone who tells you I left willingly.
And whatever happens, protect Ilaria from Evan.
I stopped.
The final words blurred.
I looked at Elena.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night before I disappeared.”
I remembered that night.
I had been packing for Chicago.
Elena had asked me to cancel the trip.
I had refused.
We argued.
She told me something was wrong.
I told her she was exhausted.
The memory gutted me.
“You tried.”
“Yes.”
“And I left.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have listened.”
“That guilt can wait.”
Her voice sharpened.
“Our daughter cannot.”
Quinn examined the drive.
“We make a copy.”
“Then we set the exchange.”
“No.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“We don’t give Evan the actual evidence.”
“He has my daughter.”
“And handing him the only leverage protecting witnesses could get everyone killed.”
“Then make another drive.”
“We will.”
Elena suddenly spoke.
“He’ll test it.”
Pike looked up.
“How?”
“There’s an encrypted file.”
“Only Carter knew the password.”
“Where is Carter?”
No one answered.
He remained missing.
Quinn examined the notebook.
“Could Carter have written it down?”
Elena shook her head.
“He memorized everything.”
My phone rang.
Evan again.
“One hour, Daniel.”
“I need the password.”
Silence.
Then Evan said:
“So you found it.”
“You know it’s encrypted.”
“I do.”
“Then you know I can’t verify anything.”
“That’s your problem.”
“Where is Ilaria?”
“She’s watching cartoons.”
I heard television in the background.
A cartoon song.
Then something else.
A train horn.
Long.
Two short.
Quinn’s eyes widened.
She wrote on a piece of paper.
RAIL CROSSING.
Another sound came through.
Church bells.
Nine chimes.
Pike pulled up maps.
We kept Evan talking.
“Elena is alive.”
“I heard.”
“She told us everything.”
“I doubt that.”
“She told us you ordered Marcus to take her.”
“No.”
“What?”
Evan sounded almost amused.
“Marcus was Madeline’s idea.”
“You financed it.”
“I financed many mistakes.”
“But I never wanted Elena held for eleven months.”
“Then why didn’t you free her?”
“Because by the time I realized what Madeline had done, Elena had enough evidence to bury me.”
Quinn pointed at a map.
Three towns near train tracks had churches.
Pike checked bell schedules.
Only one church rang every hour.
St. Michael’s in Ridgemont.
A freight rail crossing stood two blocks away.
Quinn quietly dispatched units.
Evan continued talking.
“You know the funny part?”
“What?”
“Madeline really did want to marry you.”
“She convinced herself that once Elena disappeared, she deserved the life Elena had.”
“Your home.”
“Your name.”
“Your daughter.”
My hands tightened.
“And you let her.”
“I used her.”
“She used me.”
“That’s how people like us survive.”
“We are nothing alike.”
Evan laughed.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
The call ended.
Quinn watched a live map.
Units approached Ridgemont.
The town contained warehouses.
Shops.
Apartments.
And an abandoned movie theater beside the tracks.
Then I remembered Ilaria said she was watching cartoons.
Maybe not television.
Maybe a screen.
The old Regent Theater had once been purchased by Grayson Development.
I pointed at it.
“That building.”
Quinn redirected officers.
We drove toward Ridgemont.
Elena insisted on coming.
No one could stop her.
When we reached the town, police had surrounded the theater.
Quinn ordered us to remain in the vehicle.
This time I obeyed.
Then my phone rang.
Evan.
“You brought police.”
“I brought the drive.”
“You had one instruction.”
“Ilaria first.”
“No.”
A window on the second floor opened.
Evan appeared.
He held Ilaria in his arms.
My daughter saw me.
“Daddy!”
Every instinct in my body screamed to move.
Quinn stopped me.
Evan held no visible weapon.
But another figure stood behind him.
Marcus.
His crooked finger rested on Ilaria’s shoulder.
My vision narrowed.
Evan shouted from the window.
“Drive.”
I held it up.
“Let her go.”
“Bring it inside.”
Quinn whispered:
“No.”
Elena pushed open the car door.
I grabbed her.
“What are you doing?”
“They want me.”
“No.”
“They always wanted me.”
She stepped into the street.
Evan saw her.
His face changed.
“Elena.”
She looked up at him.
“Let my daughter go.”
Evan smiled slowly.
“Bring me the real drive.”
Elena lifted an empty hand.
“You’re too late.”
His smile disappeared.
“I sent everything to the FBI months ago.”
Evan stared at her.
Then Marcus suddenly turned toward him.
“What did she say?”
For the first time, the two men looked afraid of each other.
Elena continued.
“You were never protecting evidence.”
“You were only delaying the inevitable.”
Marcus grabbed Ilaria.
Evan shoved him.
A struggle broke out near the window.
Quinn shouted into her radio.
Officers moved.
Ilaria screamed.
Then Marcus disappeared from the window.
Evan grabbed for her.
A shot rang out from inside the building.
I ran.
Quinn yelled my name.
I ignored her.
I reached the theater lobby as tactical officers stormed the stairs.
Another shot echoed.
Then I heard Ilaria crying.
I followed the sound.
At the top of the stairs, Marcus lay restrained by officers.
Evan stood against a wall.
Blood ran from a cut across his forehead.
Ilaria sat on the floor.
I dropped beside her.
“Daddy.”
I lifted her.
She wrapped both arms around my neck.
“You came.”
“I will always come.”
Behind me, police placed Evan in handcuffs.
He looked at Elena.
“You ruined everything.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“You did.”
Quinn searched him.
Then she frowned.
“Where’s the phone?”
“What phone?”
“The burner you called Daniel from.”
Evan smiled.
“Wrong question.”
Quinn’s expression hardened.
“What’s the right question?”
Evan looked directly at me.
“Where’s Madeline?”
My stomach tightened.
“She’s in the hospital.”
“Was.”
Pike checked his phone.
His face changed.
“She escaped twenty minutes ago.”
Evan laughed quietly.
Then he looked at Ilaria.
“Ask your daughter what Madeline was really looking for.”
I held Ilaria closer.
“What is he talking about?”
Ilaria stared at Evan.
Then she whispered:
“Mommy’s recording.”
Elena froze.
“What recording?”
Ilaria looked at her mother.
“The one you hid inside my bunny.”
May you like
And somewhere in our house sat a stuffed rabbit that Madeline had spent eleven months trying to find.
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