Chapter 5 - The Man Dominic Trusted Too Long
Marcus Bell arrived at the Moretti shipping office at nine the next morning.
He smiled when he entered.
“Good to see you alive.”
Dominic sat behind his desk.
“That makes one of us.”
Marcus stopped.
Victor stood near the window.
Marcus glanced at him.
“Something wrong?”
Dominic gestured toward the chair.
“Sit.”
Marcus remained standing.
“I’ve got a meeting at Pier Seven.”
“Cancel it.”
“Dominic—”
“Sit.”
Marcus sat.
Dominic placed the photograph of Lily on the desk.
Marcus looked at it.
Only for a second.
But Victor saw the recognition.
Dominic saw it too.
“Know her?”
“No.”
“Look again.”
Marcus leaned back.
“She’s a child.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I don’t know her.”
Dominic put Anna’s old photograph beside Lily’s.
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
There.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
But it was enough.
“You thought she was dead,” Dominic said.
Marcus looked at him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You went to the church shelter.”
“No.”
“You wore the anchor ring.”
Marcus glanced at his hand.
The ring was gone.
Dominic smiled without humor.
“You took it off.”
“I have several rings.”
“You’ve worn that one for fifteen years.”
Marcus stood.
“This conversation is ridiculous.”
Victor locked the door.
Marcus turned.
Dominic remained seated.
“Sit down.”
“You think you can accuse me because some old woman remembers jewelry?”
“No.”
Dominic placed a stack of records on the desk.
“I can accuse you because the contractor who serviced the bridge barrier received ninety thousand dollars from a shell company you controlled.”
Marcus stopped.
“Then there’s the mechanic who worked on my car.”
Silence.
“He disappeared two days after the crash.”
Marcus said nothing.
“We found him yesterday.”
That was a lie.
Marcus didn’t know it.
His face changed.
Dominic saw everything he needed.
“He talked?” Marcus asked.
Victor almost smiled.
Dominic leaned back.
“Interesting question.”
Marcus realized the mistake.
“You set me up.”
“No. You answered me.”
Marcus paced toward the window.
“You have no idea what Claire was doing.”
Dominic’s expression became stone.
“Tell me.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“She found the offshore accounts.”
“So?”
“She was going to give everything to federal investigators.”
“Money can be replaced.”
“It wasn’t only money.”
Dominic stared.
Marcus continued.
“She found names. Politicians. Inspectors. Union officials. People who would have buried all of us.”
“All of us?”
Marcus shook his head.
“You always had the luxury of pretending your hands were clean because other people handled the dirt.”
Victor stepped forward.
Dominic raised one hand.
“Let him talk.”
Marcus looked at Lily’s photograph.
“I never knew the kid survived.”
“You went to the shelter.”
“I heard a fisherman found a child.”
“So you went to finish what you started.”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“I went to see if it was her.”
“And when Eleanor hid her?”
“I assumed she’d been transferred.”
“Until three days ago.”
Marcus laughed.
“The warehouse was supposed to make you sign over the port contracts. Then some little scavenger walks in and suddenly you’re asking questions about a crash everyone forgot.”
“You recognized her.”
“Of course I recognized her.”
Dominic’s fingers tightened beneath the desk.
Marcus leaned closer.
“She looks exactly like Claire.”
Victor watched Dominic carefully.
One wrong word could change everything.
Marcus knew it too.
So he pushed harder.
“You lost your wife because she couldn’t stop digging.”
Dominic stood.
“You lost your daughter because you couldn’t hold onto her.”
Dominic moved around the desk.
Victor stepped forward.
“Boss.”
Dominic stopped.
Marcus smiled.
“There he is.”
Dominic understood.
Marcus wanted violence.
A beating.
A disappearance.
Something that would destroy the evidence and turn Dominic into the criminal Marcus always claimed he was.
Dominic stepped back.
“You’re right.”
Marcus blinked.
Dominic pressed a button under his desk.
A door opened.
Two federal investigators entered with four officers.
Marcus’s face emptied.
Dominic said, “You talk too much.”
Marcus stared at him.
“You recorded this.”
“Every word.”
“You think they’ll protect you?”
“I’m not asking them to.”
The investigators approached.
Marcus looked toward Victor.
“You’re going to let them take me?”
Victor shrugged.
“You confessed in an office with three cameras.”
Marcus turned back to Dominic.
“You think this ends anything?”
“No.”
Dominic picked up Lily’s photograph.
“But it ends you getting close to my daughter again.”
Marcus was led toward the door.
Then he stopped.
“The fire wasn’t me.”
Dominic looked up.
Victor frowned.
Marcus smiled.
“You’ve got another problem.”
The officers pulled him away.
The door closed.
Victor immediately grabbed his phone.
Dominic was already moving.
“Call the house.”
Victor dialed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dominic’s face changed.
May you like
“Get the car.”
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