Chapter 14 - THE WOMAN WHO PLAYED BOTH SIDES
Federal investigators interviewed Cecilia for nine hours.
She asked for immunity.
They refused.
She asked to speak to Anthony.
He refused.
Then she asked to speak to me.
I agreed.
We met through glass.
No threats.
No raised voices.
I wanted truth.
That frightened Cecilia more than anger would have.
“You met Edward Romano.”
She stared at me.
“Isabelle told you?”
“Isabelle told me he was alive.”
Cecilia looked exhausted.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victor wanted to find him.”
“So you helped Victor?”
“At first.”
“When did that change?”
“When Edward showed me the confession.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“What confession?”
“Salvatore’s.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Edward never gave it to me.”
“What did it say?”
“That Victor had been stealing.”
“What else?”
She hesitated.
“That Salvatore helped cover it up.”
My father.
Not innocent.
But apparently remorseful.
“Why did Edward meet Isabelle?”
“Because she convinced him Dominic was different.”
“Different from my father?”
“Yes.”
“What happened the morning Isabelle died?”
Cecilia looked toward the camera in the interview room.
“Victor came because I told him about the meeting.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
“So you betrayed Isabelle.”
“I thought Victor would negotiate.”
“You thought wrong.”
“Yes.”
“What did Edward do?”
“He never arrived at the preschool.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where did he go?”
“I truly don’t know.”
Then something in her face told me there was more.
“What?”
She swallowed.
“I got a message from him that afternoon.”
“What did it say?”
“Run.”
One word.
“When?”
“Forty minutes after what happened to Isabelle.”
“Do you still have it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Victor made me delete everything.”
“But?”
She looked at me.
“I wrote down the number.”
She gave it to investigators.
It belonged to a prepaid phone.
Inactive for fourteen months.
Until that evening.
At 7:03 p.m., the phone turned on.
For twelve seconds.
Carlo traced the signal to upstate New York.
A small town near the Canadian border.
Edward had heard Victor was in custody.
And he was testing whether it was safe to return.
I sent one message.
THIS IS DOMINIC.
ISABELLE FOUND THE TRUTH.
YOUR BROTHER TRIED TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT.
SO CAN YOU.
Nothing.
Then, twenty-three minutes later, a reply.
COME ALONE.
A location followed.
Anthony objected.
Carlo objected.
Grace objected.
I went anyway.
Not because I trusted Edward.
Because my wife had.
The address led to a cabin overlooking a frozen lake.
A man opened the door.
He was seventy-eight.
Thin.
Gray-bearded.
But I knew those eyes.
My father’s eyes.
“Dominic.”
“Uncle Edward.”
He smiled sadly.
“You look like Salvatore.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“He would be proud.”
“I’m not sure I care anymore.”
Edward nodded.
“Fair.”
Inside the cabin was a metal case.
He placed it on the table.
“Isabelle asked me to give you this.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was afraid.”
“Everybody was afraid.”
“Yes.”
“That seems to be the family tradition.”
Edward looked down.
“The morning she died, I was supposed to meet her.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Victor found me first.”
My pulse sharpened.
“What happened?”
“He threatened you.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“The girls.”
“Isabelle.”
Edward’s hands trembled.
“I ran.”
“And left her?”
“Yes.”
His shame looked genuine.
“What’s in the case?”
“Everything your father wanted you to know.”
I opened it.
Documents.
Audio recordings.
Letters.
And an old cassette.
SALVATORE - FOR DOMINIC.
My father’s voice began after a hiss of static.
“Dominic.”
“If you are hearing this, then I waited too long.”
I closed my eyes.
“I made decisions in the name of protecting our family.”
“Some were wrong.”
“One was unforgivable.”
“I protected Victor Hale because exposing him would also expose me.”
“He learned from that.”
“He learned that respectable men will pay almost any price to keep their mistakes private.”
“I am done paying.”
Then my father said the sentence that finally explained why Victor had fought so desperately to keep control.
“I have documented every account.”
“Every payment.”
May you like
“Every person he used.”
“And tomorrow, I am giving it all to my son.”
