Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO CLEANED UP THE CRASH
Frank Delaney had changed his name.
Formerly Frank Marchetti.
Salenzo’s nephew.
The same missing mechanic everyone assumed had disappeared.
He had not.
Salenzo hid him.
Julian nearly exploded.
“You brought Tommy’s killer into my building?”
Salenzo answered:
“I brought my nephew somewhere I could watch him.”
Again.
Containment.
Dileia wanted to ban the word from Chicago.
Frank confessed after federal investigators confronted him.
Vincent threatened his family.
Ordered him to weaken Tommy’s brake line gradually so failure would look mechanical.
Frank did it.
He claimed he believed Vincent only wanted to scare Tommy.
Dileia stared at him.
“That sentence has killed a lot of people in this story.”
Frank cried.
She felt nothing.
Then he revealed Tommy’s final call.
After the crash began, Tommy called Frank.
Not Dileia.
Why?
Because Tommy knew exactly what was happening.
He shouted:
“If I die, don’t let them touch Dee.”
Frank hung up.
Cowardice.
Then anonymously called emergency services after the crash.
Too late.
Frank gave authorities Vincent’s current contact route.
Marianne.
She had not vanished to escape Julian.
She had gone to meet Vincent.
Why?
To trade the forty-million evidence archive for Mrs. Ruth’s safety.
Except Ruth was currently inside Julian’s secured medical facility.
Safe.
Or so they thought.
Dileia called.
No answer.
Doctor unreachable.
Security camera feed frozen.
Julian’s face changed.
They raced there.
Ruth’s room was empty.
No forced entry.
A wheelchair missing.
One nurse unconscious.
On the bed lay an envelope.
Dileia opened it.
Inside:
A photograph of Marianne.
Bound to a chair.
Mrs. Ruth beside her.
Awake.
Terrified.
Written beneath:
BRING JULIAN THORNE AND THE ORIGINAL LEDGER.
No mention of Dileia.
Vincent still considered her irrelevant.
That made her useful.
Julian prepared to go.
Dileia said:
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He doesn’t expect me.”
“Exactly why you stay safe.”
She stared at him.
“I spent fourteen months burying a husband who died because powerful men kept deciding what women were allowed to know.”
Julian went silent.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
They followed Vincent’s coordinates to Harbor 17.
The original docks.
The place where everything began.
But when they arrived, Marianne wasn’t tied anymore.
May you like
She was standing beside Vincent.
And Mrs. Ruth was pointing a gun at Julian.
