Chapter 5 - THE GIRL WHO REFUSED TO BE BAIT
Anthony’s first instinct was violence.
Five cars.
Ten men.
Block off Sunset Park.
Find Richard.
Break everyone between.
Old instincts did not disappear because a maid told truth.
Maya saw it on his face.
“No.”
Anthony stared.
“What?”
“You’re doing something stupid.”
Frank actually looked offended on Anthony’s behalf.
Anthony did not.
“What would that be?”
“Sending men everywhere.”
“My fiancée may be kidnapped.”
“My mother is being watched.”
“Yes.”
“And the message demands the ring.”
“Yes.”
Maya held his gaze.
“So whoever sent it wants you angry.”
That stopped him.
“Why?”
“Because angry people stop noticing things.”
Anthony almost smiled grimly.
Her father had taught her more than electronics.
“Your suggestion?”
“Police.”
Frank looked away.
Anthony stared at Maya.
“You know who I am.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re telling me to call police.”
“Yes.”
“Bold.”
“My mother doesn’t care about your reputation.”
Fair.
Anthony called a detective he trusted as much as men in his world trusted any cop: Lena Ortiz.
Organized crime.
Had investigated DeLuca companies twice.
Never proved enough.
They respected each other’s intelligence.
She arrived at old social club with two investigators.
Looked at ring.
Letter.
Photographs.
Threat message.
Then Anthony.
“You managed to turn jewelry repair into kidnapping.”
“Talent.”
Ortiz looked at Maya.
“You got the threat?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother safe?”
“Frank’s men moved her.”
Ortiz stared at Anthony.
“You already moved the potential target.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling us.”
“You were driving.”
She sighed.
“Fine.”
Gabrielle’s status remained unclear.
Her phone off.
Last camera showed her leaving DeLuca estate voluntarily through kitchen entrance while Richard was being transported.
Meaning she may have gone after father.
Or fled with him.
Maya said:
“She may be trying to stop him.”
Anthony looked at her.
“Why defend woman who slapped you?”
“I’m not.”
Good.
“She can be cruel and still not be part of kidnapping.”
Again, inconvenient nuance.
Anthony remembered Gabrielle’s face when hearing mother’s letter existed.
Richard had lied to her entire life.
Maybe she left to confront him.
The threat to Maya’s mother could have come from Richard alone.
Ortiz traced message through prepaid phone.
Cell tower near Red Hook.
Of course.
Bennett Construction maintained an old equipment yard there.
Anthony knew it.
His father had refused waterfront deal because yard sat adjacent to DeLuca-controlled pier.
“Don’t go storming it,” Ortiz warned.
Anthony said nothing.
“That silence is not agreement.”
“It’s reflection.”
“Try more.”
Maya suddenly held up ring.
“I have an idea.”
Everyone looked.
“The copies recorded audio when worn.”
“Yes.”
“What if original did too?”
Anthony frowned.
Forensics had found no electronics.
Maya shook head.
“Not electronic.”
She pointed black stone.
“My father repaired hinge.”
“The compartment holds film and key.”
“But why three scratches inside?”
Anthony stared.
“Wear.”
“Maybe.”
She examined with loupe from shop bag she carried.
Then:
“One scratch is deeper.”
“So?”
“Could be deliberate.”
She angled light.
Three scratches.
Not random.
Roman numerals?
No.
Tiny lines with spacing.
Frank said:
“Looks like nothing.”
Maya turned ring.
“Dad used scratch codes on watch backs.”
“Numbers.”
Anthony leaned.
“What number?”
“3-1-7.”
Anthony’s pulse changed.
317.
Storage unit? We already used Unit 317? Coincidence. In current story, Burbank? no that's previous. Here unused. Good.
“Locker?”
Ortiz said.
“Could be address.”
Frank thought.
“Pier 3, berth 17.”
Red Hook.
Anthony stared.
His father controlled Pier 3.
Berth 17 had an old crane house.
Closed years.
Maybe.
They went with police.
No black convoy.
Two unmarked cars.
Anthony hated it.
Useful.
At Pier 3, berth 17, rusted maintenance shed.
Inside:
An old metal cabinet.
No lock.
One shelf.
A portable tape player.
And a photograph of Salvatore wearing ring.
Behind photograph, handwritten:
A — IF I DIE BEFORE I TELL YOU, LISTEN BEFORE YOU ACT.
His father.
Anthony swallowed.
Tape player contained cassette.
He pressed.
Salvatore’s voice.
“Anthony.”
His throat closed.
“I’m recording this because I have become exactly the kind of old man I used to mock.”
Frank looked down.
Maya stayed still.
Salvatore continued.
“Richard Bennett believes I have Catherine’s letter.”
“I do.”
“He believes the ring tells him where.”
“It does.”
“Good.”
A faint laugh.
“I always liked making greedy men work.”
Anthony almost smiled.
Then:
“Your mother’s death.”
Anthony’s chest tightened.
“I spent twenty-one years telling you it was weather and speed.”
“It was not.”
Silence.
“I do not know who cut the brake line.”
“I know Richard was there.”
“I know Paul Marino followed her.”
“I know Catherine followed Richard.”
“And I know I made a choice afterward that may have kept the truth buried.”
Frank went pale.
“My father.”
Tape:
“Paul came to me the next morning.”
“He had taken photographs.”
“He said Richard forced Elena toward shoulder after realizing brakes were failing.”
“He believed Richard caused crash.”
“I wanted Richard dead.”
Anthony closed eyes.
Of course.
“Paul stopped me.”
“He said Catherine and Gabrielle would become collateral.”
“He begged for forty-eight hours.”
“We waited.”
“Richard disappeared.”
“Catherine refused to testify.”
“And I let silence begin.”
There it was.
Then:
“Years later Catherine wrote me.”
“She said she found photograph of cut brake line in Richard’s safe.”
“I still did not act.”
“Why?”
A pause.
“Because by then Bennett Construction was tied to half our legitimate projects.”
Anthony laughed bitterly.
There.
Money.
Power.
“Truth would cost millions.”
“I told myself I was protecting you.”
“I was protecting what I built.”
Anthony looked at floor.
His father too.
Different man, same disease.
Then Salvatore:
“Eighteen months ago, Catherine’s daughter Gabrielle became engaged to you.”
“I nearly ended it.”
“I didn’t.”
“Because I saw you happy.”
Anthony closed eyes.
Gabrielle.
Maybe some love had been real.
“I also saw opportunity.”
“I thought if Richard believed families were joining, he might finally stop digging.”
“Instead he started swapping my ring.”
Anthony’s pulse changed.
Salvatore knew.
“I noticed first copy immediately.”
Maya smiled faintly.
Of course.
“He thought I didn’t.”
“I let him continue.”
Everyone stared.
Salvatore had knowingly worn bugged rings.
Why?
“Because I wanted him to hear what I chose.”
Anthony nearly laughed.
His father turned surveillance back.
Then:
“I used fake meetings to feed him wrong information.”
“I hoped he would expose what he wanted.”
“That was stupid.”
“Yes, Anthony.”
“Your father admits stupidity.”
Anthony’s eyes filled.
Then voice softened.
“The night before I die—if timing of this is what I fear—Richard came to demand waterfront deal.”
“I told him no.”
“He threatened to tell you I killed your mother.”
“He has spent twenty years using that story to protect himself.”
“I gave him original ring deliberately.”
Anthony stopped breathing.
What?
Tape:
“I told him my hand was swollen.”
“He took it.”
“I wanted him to open it.”
“Because film and key would lead to Catherine’s letter.”
“I believed if Richard saw Catherine’s truth, he might finally understand she had left him emotionally long before death.”
“This was naive.”
“Men like Richard do not become honest because evidence is elegant.”
Anthony looked at Maya.
Her father later got ring through Eddie.
So Richard opened? Couldn’t. Sent Eddie. Yes.
Then Salvatore said:
“If Richard gives ring to Eddie Russo, Eddie will take it to Luis Torres.”
Maya gasped.
“He knew my father?”
Not personally.
Tape continued.
“Luis is the only jeweler Eddie trusts for mechanisms.”
“I met Luis once.”
“He is stubborn.”
“Good.”
Maya started crying.
Her father had been chosen deliberately by Salvatore because trusted reputation.
Then:
“I told Luis months ago, through a customer, that if DeLuca ring ever reached him, do not return contents to Eddie.”
Maya covered mouth.
Her father had not stumbled into this.
Salvatore quietly recruited him without Maya knowing.
Then:
“Anthony, if you hear this, something went wrong.”
“No.”
“I need you to know one more thing.”
Anthony leaned.
“My death may not be natural.”
Room chilled.
“I have been dizzy for two weeks.”
“My doctor says blood pressure.”
“I say bullshit.”
Frank swore.
Salvatore continued.
“Richard brought wine last Sunday.”
“I drank one glass.”
“Felt sick.”
“Gabrielle brought tea Tuesday.”
“Same.”
Anthony’s face hardened.
Gabrielle.
No.
“Do not blame her yet.”
His father anticipated him.
“She may not know.”
“Richard uses people.”
“Find out.”
Then:
“If I die, test what remains in blue bottle behind bar.”
Anthony looked at Frank.
“Was it there?”
Frank went pale.
“I cleared bar after funeral.”
“Where?”
“Stored cellar inventory.”
Potentially still.
Ortiz immediately called evidence team.
Then Salvatore’s final words:
“And Anthony?”
He stopped breathing.
“Do not avenge me until you know whether there is anything to avenge.”
“You have spent too much of your life proving you are my son.”
“Try proving you are better.”
Tape clicked off.
Silence.
Anthony could barely breathe.
Then Maya’s phone rang.
Unknown.
She answered on speaker.
Gabrielle.
“Maya?”
Anthony stepped forward.
“Gabrielle.”
Silence.
Then she whispered:
“He has me.”
Richard.
“Where?”
“Equipment yard.”
Anthony’s jaw tightened.
Gabrielle continued fast:
“Don’t bring the ring.”
A muffled sound.
Then Richard’s voice.
“Anthony.”
Cold.
“Your father should have left dead women alone.”
Anthony looked at Ortiz.
She was already signaling officers.
Richard continued.
“Bring the original ring.”
“And I give you Gabrielle.”
Anthony’s voice stayed quiet.
“What about Rosa Torres?”
Richard laughed.
“She was never in danger.”
Maya went still.
Photograph had been bluff.
Good.
“And Gabrielle?”
“Depends how sentimental you are.”
Gabrielle shouted:
“Don’t—”
Call ended.
Ortiz looked at Anthony.
“We do this my way.”
He stared at father’s ring.
Then nodded.
“Your way.”
Maya watched him.
“You mean it?”
Anthony looked at her.
“My father asked me to be better.”
May you like
A faint bitter smile.
“I can disappoint him tomorrow.”
