Chapter 6 - MY FATHER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Walter sank into Diane’s old chair when Elsie showed him the email.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Then he whispered, “I knew.”
Elsie’s stomach turned.
“You knew someone planned to kill you?”
“I knew Adrien wanted the property.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Walter rubbed both hands across his face.
He looked seventy instead of fifty-nine.
“Salvatore came to me six months ago.”
Roman stood near the doorway.
Watching.
Not interrupting.
“He said Adrien was getting ambitious. Said the boy wanted to control access to the harbor.”
“The boy?”
“Adrien.”
“You knew what he was?”
Walter’s eyes filled.
“I knew enough.”
Elsie wanted to scream.
Instead she asked the question her mother would have asked.
“What did Salvatore want from you?”
“My signature.”
“On what?”
“Transferring the land.”
“To him?”
“No.”
Walter looked at Marissa’s childhood photograph.
“To you.”
Elsie stared.
That made no sense.
“Why me?”
“Because Diane changed the deed before she died.”
The room went silent.
Walter continued.
“She put the property into a trust.”
“For me?”
“For both girls.”
Elsie glanced at the documents.
“They say only me.”
“Because Marissa was removed.”
“Why?”
Walter began crying.
“Your mother found out Marissa was feeding Adrien information.”
Years earlier.
Long before Elsie dated him.
Marissa had remained in contact with the Manuso family.
Diane discovered it.
She changed the trust.
Then she confronted Salvatore.
Three months later, Diane became ill.
Elsie’s voice turned cold.
“Did they poison Mom?”
Walter shook his head quickly.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever ask?”
He said nothing.
That silence was unforgivable.
Roman finally spoke.
“Why was the plan to kill you canceled?”
Walter looked at him.
“It wasn’t.”
A chill crossed the room.
“What?”
Walter pulled up his sleeve.
A fading bruise covered his forearm.
“Night before the wedding, someone cut the brake line on my truck.”
Elsie stopped breathing.
“I took Marissa’s car instead.”
He laughed bitterly.
“First smart decision I made in twenty years.”
Roman immediately called Norah.
The truck was still at Walter’s contractor yard.
Evidence.
Elsie paced.
“If Adrien wanted Dad dead, why still stage the kiss?”
Roman answered.
“Because plans changed when Walter survived.”
Adrien needed Elsie angry.
Distracted.
Back inside Bellamy Holdings.
The upcoming shipment remained the larger prize.
Then Walter said something almost too softly to hear.
“There’s more.”
Elsie looked at him.
“Of course there is.”
“The tunnel doesn’t end at Bellamy’s pier.”
“Where does it end?”
Walter’s lips trembled.
“At the old federal warehouse.”
Roman’s expression changed.
Elsie noticed immediately.
“What?”
Roman looked at Walter.
“You’re sure?”
Walter nodded.
Roman cursed under his breath.
Elsie had never heard him do that.
“What is in the federal warehouse?”
Roman’s answer was quiet.
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
He looked at her.
“Every organized-crime family operating through Boston Harbor for the last twenty years.”
Elsie’s heart hammered.
Adrien was not trying to steal a shipment.
May you like
He was trying to destroy the evidence archive.
And if he succeeded, Roman Bellamy would be blamed for doing it.
