Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO DIDN’T DIE
Paulie Caruso was alive.
Or someone wanted Gabriel to believe he was.
The photograph had yesterday’s newspaper visible beside him.
Hard to fake casually.
Not impossible.
But enough.
Gabriel stared at the image.
“I saw him die.”
Leo looked uneasy.
“You saw him collapse.”
“I saw the body.”
“At the penthouse.”
“Yes.”
“Then the ambulance took him.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
He had not seen Paulie at the morgue.
Leo had.
Or thought he had.
Norah noticed.
“Who identified him?”
Leo went still.
“I did.”
“Face?”
Pause.
“The bag was partially sealed.”
“Why?”
“Contamination concerns.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Leo.”
“I saw the tattoo.”
Paulie had a black cross on his left wrist.
Distinctive.
But tattoos can be copied.
Or the wrong person could have same mark intentionally.
Then another possibility:
A substituted body.
Why fake Paulie’s death?
To terrify Gabriel.
To trigger paranoia.
To make him stop eating.
Norah asked:
“Who told you Paulie was poisoned?”
Gabriel frowned.
“Medical examiner.”
“Directly?”
“No.”
“Who delivered the result?”
Silence.
Leo answered:
“Vincent.”
Again.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Then he called the medical examiner’s office himself.
Through lawyers.
Official cause of death associated with Paulie Caruso’s case number:
Not poisoning.
Cardiac arrest in an unidentified male.
Identity pending.
Gabriel’s face went cold.
“How did nobody notice?”
Leo looked ashamed.
“Vincent handled the family side.”
Paulie’s wife had been dead.
No children.
Few relatives.
Convenient man to fake.
Then the medical examiner revealed something stranger.
The body had been transferred for private burial before positive identity confirmation.
Authorized by:
Vincent Hayes.
Gabriel stood.
This time the doctor threatened restraints if he tried leaving.
He sat back down.
Norah nearly applauded.
Then Leo received location metadata from the photograph.
Not embedded digitally.
A visual clue.
Behind Paulie, reflected in a window:
A neon sign.
MARTY’S AUTO.
Leo knew the place.
Old garage near Cicero.
They did not go armed and storming in.
For once.
Gabriel contacted a trusted outside investigator.
Then police through a lawyer because kidnapping was now possible.
The garage was empty when authorities arrived.
But Paulie had been there.
Blood sample.
Fingerprints.
Food wrappers.
Recent medication.
Then a hidden room.
Inside:
Medical monitors.
Camera equipment.
Printed photographs of Gabriel’s penthouse.
His dining table.
His chefs.
Food deliveries.
Someone had been studying his fear.
Engineering it.
Then they found video.
Paulie alive.
Weak.
Talking into camera.
“If Gabriel sees this, tell him I never betrayed him.”
He looked directly ahead.
“Vincent did.”
Gabriel went still.
Paulie continued.
“The night I collapsed, I wasn’t poisoned.”
Norah leaned closer.
“What?”
“I was drugged.”
The specific substance was not named.
Good.
Paulie said it caused severe symptoms.
He survived.
Vincent then told him Gabriel believed Paulie had attempted a coup.
Paulie fled.
Then men captured him.
He had been held since.
Why?
To preserve the lie.
Then:
“Vincent wants Gabriel convinced everyone around him is dangerous.”
Paulie swallowed.
“He says a starving boss will lose the city without a war.”
Silence.
That was the plan.
No assassination.
Self-destruction.
Make Gabriel incapable.
Capos defect.
Board votes.
Territory fractures.
Vincent steps in as stable successor.
Elegant.
Cowardly.
Then Paulie’s eyes shifted toward someone off-camera.
Fear.
“One more thing.”
He looked back.
“Vincent isn’t doing this alone.”
Gabriel’s hands clenched.
“Who?”
Paulie answered on video:
“Leo.”
May you like
Everyone in the hospital room turned.
Leo went completely still.
