Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO DIED AT DINNER
Paulie Greco was alive.
That was the result of the independent identity verification.
He was forty-six.
Weak.
Recovering from a serious poisoning-related medical emergency.
But alive.
For two weeks, Gabriel had mourned his underboss.
For eight days, he'd nearly starved himself because he believed someone could poison anything he ate.
Now we were learning that the event that destroyed his trust had been surrounded by false records.
Gabriel sat beside me when Rebecca confirmed the news.
His eyes filled.
“Paulie?”
She nodded.
“He's receiving care.”
For a moment, Gabriel couldn't speak.
Then he whispered, “Thank God.”
The man I'd met at Benny's had looked incapable of tenderness.
Now he was crying for someone he thought he'd lost.
The rehabilitation center arranged contact through Paulie's patient advocate.
Gabriel asked permission to visit.
Paulie agreed.
I didn't go with him.
This wasn't my family.
Not yet.
But Gabriel called me afterward.
His voice sounded different.
Lighter.
“Norah.”
“Is he okay?”
“He's alive.”
I smiled.
“That's a start.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
Then became serious.
“He remembers what happened.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Paulie says someone approached him after dinner.”
“Who?”
“A man wearing a hospital uniform.”
Gabriel paused.
“He told Paulie the poisoning was meant to frighten me into abandoning an investigation.”
I frowned.
“Which investigation?”
“Saint Agnes.”
Of course.
The financial records.
Rosa's recipe book.
The stolen charitable money.
Everything kept leading back to the same foundation.
Gabriel continued.
“Paulie says the man gave him a name.”
My pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“Anthony Hayes.”
I stopped.
Gabriel's father.
The man who supposedly died six years earlier.
I stared at my phone.
“Gabriel, your father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then how could he be involved?”
Gabriel was silent for a long moment.
Then he whispered, “I'm starting to wonder whether he is.”
The investigation into Anthony's death records revealed several irregularities.
The burial documents were incomplete.
The physician who certified his death had also signed Rosa's certificate.
And the financial accounts connected to Anthony remained active years after his reported death.
For the first time, Gabriel began questioning the story he'd believed.
Anthony Hayes had controlled his childhood.
Separated him from Rosa.
And built businesses that relied on fear.
Now he might still be alive.
Then Rebecca uncovered a current property record.
A private residence in upstate New York.
Registered through a company linked to Anthony.
Recent utility payments.
Recent medical deliveries.
And security expenses.
I stared.
“Could he be there?”
Rebecca nodded.
“It's possible.”
Gabriel looked toward the window.
For a long time, he didn't speak.
Then he said something unexpected.
“I don't want revenge.”
I turned.
“What?”
“I want to know whether he hurt my mother.”
His voice broke.
“And I want the truth about the people who lost medical assistance because of him.”
For the first time, I understood that Gabriel's greatest fear wasn't death.
It was becoming the man his father had been.
Then an anonymous message arrived on his phone.
A photograph.
Anthony Hayes.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Sitting beside a fireplace.
Alive.
May you like
Beneath it were five words.
YOUR MOTHER NEVER DIED, GABRIEL.
