Chapter 8 - THE MAN WHO KNEW HOW MOM DIED
Salvatore chose a church.
Not a warehouse.
Not a restaurant.
Not some dark alley Elsie would have expected from every story people told about men like him.
Saint Leonard’s.
North End.
Wednesday afternoon.
Roman entered first.
Elsie followed.
Salvatore sat alone in the third pew.
He looked smaller than his reputation.
Thin face.
Expensive coat hanging from shoulders that had lost too much weight.
He glanced at Roman.
“I said bring Elsie.”
“I did.”
“Without you.”
“No.”
Salvatore almost smiled.
“That is why your father respected Bellamys.”
Elsie sat two pews behind him.
“My mother.”
He stared toward the altar.
“Diane Parker was annoying.”
Elsie stiffened.
“She kept copies.”
A faint laugh.
“She kept copies of copies.”
“What happened to her?”
Salvatore’s expression changed.
“I scared her.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I threatened your father. Threatened the house. Threatened to take Marissa.”
Elsie hated how calmly he said it.
“But I did not kill Diane.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I loved Teresa.”
Marissa’s biological mother.
Salvatore’s eyes filled with something that looked almost like grief.
“Teresa found out my brother was stealing from our companies. She kept records. Then she disappeared.”
“Your brother killed her?”
“I believe so.”
“Adrien’s father?”
Salvatore turned.
“I am not Adrien’s father.”
Elsie went still.
Roman did too.
“Then who is?”
“My brother.”
Salvatore’s younger brother, Dominic Manuso.
Dead sixteen years.
That meant Marissa and Adrien were cousins, not half siblings.
Still family.
Still grotesque as a performance.
But another lie exposed.
“Why raise Adrien as yours?”
“Dominic died. His wife disappeared. Families like mine solve problems badly.”
Elsie swallowed.
“And Diane?”
“She found Teresa’s financial records. Then she found evidence Dominic had arranged Teresa’s death.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Why would Diane threaten you with it?”
“She didn’t.”
Salvatore turned toward Elsie.
“She offered me a deal.”
“What deal?”
“She would keep Marissa safe if I stayed away from both girls.”
For the first time, Elsie understood why Diane had taken Marissa into their home despite everything.
Not because Walter forced her forever.
Because at some point, Diane decided Marissa was also a child trapped inside adult crimes.
“Then how did Mom get cancer?”
Salvatore looked down.
“She had cancer.”
Elsie’s shoulders dropped slightly.
Natural.
Cruel.
But natural.
Then Salvatore added, “The cancer didn’t kill her.”
Roman stepped closer.
“What did?”
Salvatore’s voice became almost inaudible.
“An overdose.”
Elsie stopped breathing.
“She was receiving morphine.”
“I know.”
“Are you saying somebody—”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Salvatore looked toward the confessional booth.
“Ask your father why he visited Diane alone the night she died.”
Elsie felt the church move around her.
“No.”
Salvatore nodded sadly.
“Walter was there.”
Her hands began shaking.
Then another voice came from behind the confessional screen.
Walter.
“I was.”
Elsie turned.
Her father stepped out.
May you like
Tears running down his face.
And in his hand was the medical syringe he had kept hidden for four years.
