Chapter 8 - ROSA’S LAST NIGHT
Norah remembered the phone call.
Three years ago.
Unknown man.
Calm voice.
“Rosa fell. She’s gone.”
Norah had been at nursing class.
By the time she reached the hospital, Rosa’s body had already been moved.
The doctor said stroke.
Age.
No suspicion.
The man who called never gave his name.
Now Norah knew.
Rafael.
Her stomach twisted.
“Did he kill her?”
Gabriel answered:
“We don’t know.”
Interesting.
He had learned her language.
Evidence first.
They requested old records through legal channels.
Rosa had hypertension.
Previous transient ischemic episode.
A stroke was plausible.
No unexplained toxin recorded.
No injury suggesting violence.
Not every death was murder.
That mattered.
But Rafael had been with her.
Why hide that?
A retired nurse remembered the night.
“Tall man in a gray coat.”
Rafael.
“He was crying.”
That surprised Norah.
“He kept saying, ‘I’m sorry.’”
For what?
Then the nurse remembered Rosa briefly regained consciousness.
She said one word repeatedly:
“Recipe.”
The notebook.
Rafael may have been searching for it.
But he did not take it.
Why?
Maybe he could not find it.
Or chose not to.
Then Gabriel’s team found Rafael.
Not through violence.
Through money.
He used a corporate card at a private marina.
Security camera caught him entering an old boatyard warehouse.
Police were notified because Paulie might be held there.
Gabriel wanted to go.
Norah stared at him.
“You can barely walk to the bathroom.”
“I am improving.”
“You nearly lost a fight with a nutritional shake.”
Leo coughed.
Gabriel glared.
Hospital discharge remained a day away.
He stayed.
Reluctantly.
Police entered the warehouse.
No Rafael.
But Paulie.
Alive.
Dehydrated.
Bruised.
Conscious.
Hospital transport.
When Paulie arrived, Gabriel tried standing.
Norah pushed him back.
“Sit.”
“This is my underboss.”
“And you’re still a patient.”
Paulie was placed in another private room.
Hours later, he asked for Gabriel.
Wheelchair.
Norah insisted.
Gabriel threatened to fire her.
She reminded him she did not work for him.
Excellent stalemate.
Paulie looked terrible.
But alive.
Gabriel stopped in the doorway.
Neither man spoke.
Then Paulie said:
“You look worse than me.”
Gabriel laughed.
For the first time in days, genuinely.
Then:
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
“Your cousin is terrible at paperwork.”
Silence.
Paulie explained.
Rafael orchestrated the poisoning illusion.
Vincent accepted money to handle the fake medical report and burial.
Paulie was kept hidden because Rafael needed access codes to several shell accounts Paulie discovered.
“Why didn’t he kill you?”
“I lied.”
“What?”
“Told him I had a dead-man file.”
Smart.
Did he?
“No.”
Paulie smiled weakly.
“But he believed me.”
Then Gabriel asked about Rosa.
Paulie’s face changed.
“You know.”
“Some.”
“Rosa recruited me.”
Gabriel stared.
Paulie began investigating Rafael after Rosa approached him four years ago.
She suspected money was disappearing from Gabriel’s operations the same way Michael once stole from Elena’s trust.
Rosa wanted to protect Gabriel without revealing herself.
Why not tell Gabriel directly?
Paulie answered:
“She said you weren’t ready.”
That hurt.
Again.
Then:
“Rafael discovered us.”
“What happened to Rosa?”
Paulie shook his head.
“He didn’t kill her.”
Norah exhaled.
“But he did something worse.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“He told her you knew she was alive.”
Gabriel froze.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
Paulie continued:
“He told her you refused to see her.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Another separation built through lies.
Rosa died believing Gabriel rejected her too.
Then Paulie said:
“Rafael learned it from someone else.”
“Who?”
“Vincent.”
Gabriel’s cousin had discovered Rosa years earlier.
Instead of telling Gabriel, he used the secret.
Why?
Paulie looked at him.
May you like
“Because Rosa knew what Vincent’s father did to your mother.”
And Vincent would lose everything if those records became public.
