Chapter 14 - The Price of a Signature
Santiago read the financial statement three times.
The transfer was genuine.
The account belonged to a Moretti holding company.
The authorization bore his electronic signature.
The payment had been made eight days before Daniel Brennan died.
Santiago gripped the paper.
"I didn't authorize this."
Elena sat across from him.
"Can you prove that?"
He looked up.
"I don't remember it."
"That's not proof."
"I know."
Ruby stood beside the window.
She had been silent since seeing the transaction.
Santiago turned toward her.
"Ruby—"
"Don't."
He stopped.
She looked at the document.
"Your money paid the people who killed my family."
"We don't know that yet."
"The account is yours."
"Yes."
"The signature is yours."
"Apparently."
Ruby's eyes flashed.
"Then stop talking about what you didn't know."
Santiago lowered his head.
She continued.
"Find out what you signed."
Elena opened another page.
The payment had been included in a larger transfer marked as a security expenditure.
Three years earlier, Santiago had approved emergency security spending following a series of threats against his organization.
Julian had prepared the paperwork.
Santiago remembered signing a thick package of documents without reading every page.
At the time, he had been distracted by negotiations with a rival group.
He had relied on Julian.
Now the consequences of that decision sat in front of him.
"I signed the authorization," Santiago said quietly.
Ruby closed her eyes.
He continued.
"I didn't know what the money would be used for. But I approved the transfer without checking."
Elena recorded the statement.
Ruby turned away.
Santiago wanted to tell her he was sorry.
He wanted to explain that he had been manipulated.
He wanted to insist that he would never have authorized a shooting near a playground.
But the facts did not need his intentions to become real.
His empire had supplied the money.
His negligence had helped conceal it.
And Ruby's family was dead.
He sat silently as Elena continued questioning him.
Several hours later, his attorney arrived.
Her name was Claire Bennett.
She had represented the Moretti family for twelve years.
She was practical, brilliant, and famously difficult to intimidate.
After reviewing the evidence, she asked everyone else to leave the room.
Then she turned toward Santiago.
"Do you understand how exposed you are?"
"Yes."
"No, you don't."
She placed the statements on the table.
"Prosecutors can use your financial approvals to investigate conspiracy, racketeering, and other offenses. Your cooperation may matter, but it does not erase your past."
"I understand."
Claire studied him.
"Julian may try to blame the entire operation on you."
"He probably will."
"And some evidence may support that claim."
Santiago nodded.
Claire leaned forward.
"Why are you doing this?"
He looked at her.
"Because my sister deserves a life that isn't built on lies."
Claire waited.
"And?"
"Because a little girl died."
He paused.
"Her name was Ellie."
Claire said nothing.
Santiago looked down.
"I can't bring her back."
"No."
"But I can stop protecting the system that killed her."
Claire closed the folder.
"Then we need to prepare for the possibility that you will go to prison."
Santiago nodded.
"I know."
At the hospital, Tomas gave investigators another piece of evidence.
A recording he had secretly made of Julian six months earlier.
In it, Julian discussed payments to Patrick Keene and several private contractors.
But the most important detail came near the end.
Julian mentioned a person identified only as "the archivist."
According to Tomas, the archivist had been keeping a private copy of every Bellweather transaction.
The individual was still alive.
Still hidden.
And possibly willing to testify.
"Who is it?" Elena asked.
Tomas looked exhausted.
"I don't know her real name."
"Her?"
He nodded.
"Julian said she was the only person who knew where all the children went."
Elena leaned forward.
"Where can we find her?"
Tomas hesitated.
"There's a facility outside Rockford. It used to be part of Bellweather."
"Name?"
"The Haven House."
Elena wrote it down.
Tomas looked at her.
"Be careful."
"Why?"
"Julian once told me that if the archivist ever disappeared, every politician and businessman tied to his network would start looking for her."
Elena stood.
"Then we need to reach her first."
As she left the room, Tomas called after her.
"Detective?"
She turned.
"There's something I never told Santiago."
"What?"
Tomas swallowed.
"His mother wasn't the only person who kept copies of the evidence."
Elena waited.
"Ruby's husband sent a set to someone before he died."
"Who?"
May you like
Tomas looked toward the hospital window.
"To a woman named Marissa Cole."
