Chapter 6 - THE GUARD WHO KNEW TOO MUCH|
Hazel didn't answer Marcus Dane's message.
Instead, she photographed Rosa's note and sent it to Detective Brooks.
Then she called Gabriel Voss.
The attorney answered on the second ring.
“Miss Keen?”
“Where is Raymond?”
“At the medical center.”
“Is Marcus Dane with him?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Why?”
Hazel looked at Marisol.
“Because Rosa wrote his name down before she died.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel asked, “Are you somewhere secure?”
“Yes.”
“Do not leave.”
“I'm not planning to.”
“Tell me exactly what you found.”
Hazel described the photograph.
The silver bird.
The black ring.
The handwritten warning.
Gabriel listened without interruption.
Then he said, “I'll verify where Marcus is.”
“Don't confront him.”
“I won't.”
Hazel swallowed.
“And don't tell Raymond until you know he's alone.”
Another silence followed.
“Understood.”
She ended the call.
Marisol stared at her.
“Do you think Marcus killed Mom?”
“I don't know.”
Hazel hated saying those words.
But she refused to accuse someone of murder based on a ring and a note.
Not without evidence.
Not when the consequences could be deadly.
Detective Brooks called ten minutes later.
“Hazel, I received the photographs.”
“Is it enough?”
“Enough to investigate.”
Hazel heard papers moving.
“Where are you?”
“With Marisol.”
“I want you both to remain inside.”
“We are.”
“Officers are coming to take statements.”
Hazel looked toward the window.
A delivery van was parked across the street.
It had been there since she arrived.
For the first time, she wondered whether anyone inside was watching the building.
“Detective.”
“Yes?”
“Can you make sure the officers identify themselves before coming upstairs?”
“Of course.”
Hazel exhaled.
“Thank you.”
She ended the call.
Marisol sat quietly beside her.
After a while, she whispered, “Mom used to say the dangerous people weren't always the loud ones.”
Hazel looked at her.
“She did?”
Marisol nodded.
“She said sometimes the person who smiled at you every day was the one you needed to watch.”
Hazel thought of Marcus Dane.
Always polite.
Always composed.
The kind of man who opened doors and remembered names.
She hadn't given him much thought.
Which was probably the point.
An hour later, two detectives arrived.
They examined Rosa's photographs and took the original note as evidence.
Hazel explained what she remembered from the hospital.
Then Detective Brooks called.
“We have something.”
Hazel stood.
“What?”
“Marcus Dane left the medical center twenty minutes ago.”
“Where is he going?”
“We're tracking his movements.”
Hazel looked toward Marisol.
“Does Raymond know?”
“His attorney is with him.”
“Is he safe?”
“For now.”
The answer frightened Hazel more than she expected.
She had saved Raymond once.
But she wasn't certain she could do it again.
That evening, Gabriel called from a number Hazel didn't recognize.
His voice was tense.
“Marcus has disappeared.”
Hazel closed her eyes.
“What happened?”
“He left his assigned post without permission.”
“His company vehicle was found abandoned.”
“Raymond?”
“Safe.”
Gabriel paused.
“But Marcus had access to confidential security schedules.”
Hazel looked toward the window.
“He knows where I am.”
“We've already notified Detective Brooks.”
Her stomach tightened.
“And Marisol?”
“She's being protected too.”
Hazel sat down.
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
Then Gabriel said, “There's something else.”
She waited.
“Raymond found an old photograph.”
“Of Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“And Vivian.”
Hazel leaned forward.
“Together?”
“Taken six years ago.”
“Before Marcus worked for Raymond.”
Hazel stared at the floor.
“What were they doing?”
“Standing outside a warehouse in Newark.”
“Why is that important?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Because the building belonged to North Harbor Logistics.”
The same company connected to the suspicious shipments.
The same company tied to Vivian's financial interests.
The same company Rosa had apparently been investigating.
Hazel rubbed her forehead.
“Then Marcus wasn't recruited recently.”
“No.”
“He may have been working for Vivian for years.”
Hazel looked at the photograph of Rosa on Marisol's refrigerator.
A smiling woman holding a birthday cake.
“She knew,” Hazel whispered.
“Rosa knew something was wrong.”
Gabriel's voice softened.
“And she tried to report it.”
Hazel swallowed.
“Can I speak to Raymond?”
A pause.
“Of course.”
A few seconds later, his voice came through.
“Hazel.”
She closed her eyes.
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Gabriel is sitting beside me.”
“Good.”
Raymond sounded tired.
But there was something steadier in his voice now.
“I understand you found Rosa's note.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Hazel looked down.
“I wish I'd found it sooner.”
“You couldn't have known.”
“Maybe.”
Raymond was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, “I'm beginning to understand how many warnings I ignored.”
Hazel didn't answer.
“I thought Marcus was loyal.”
“He worked for me for eleven years.”
“He attended family funerals.”
“He knew my brother.”
His voice hardened.
“And now I wonder how much information he passed to the people responsible for Daniel's death.”
Hazel felt a chill.
“Do you think Vivian ordered that too?”
“I don't know.”
There was a pause.
“But the possibility is getting harder to ignore.”
Hazel thought about the black phone Vivian carried.
The recording Raymond believed had disappeared.
“What if Daniel discovered Marcus was working for Vivian?”
Raymond went silent.
Hazel continued.
“Maybe that's why he was killed.”
Raymond exhaled slowly.
“That's one possibility.”
“And what if Rosa saw Marcus at the loading dock?”
“Then she became another witness Vivian needed to silence.”
Hazel looked toward Marisol.
The younger woman was sitting by the window, hugging her mother's cardigan.
The thought made Hazel's chest ache.
Raymond spoke again.
“Hazel, I want you to know something.”
“What?”
“Rosa's daughter will receive financial support while the investigation continues.”
Hazel stiffened.
“From you?”
“From a fund Gabriel is establishing through independent administrators.”
“Marisol shouldn't have to sign away her rights.”
“She won't.”
Hazel closed her eyes.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me.”
His voice became rough.
“That money doesn't bring her mother back.”
Hazel looked toward Rosa's photograph.
“No.”
“It doesn't.”
A knock sounded at Marisol's apartment door.
Both women froze.
The detectives stationed nearby had already announced their arrival earlier.
This knock was different.
Three slow taps.
A pause.
Three more.
Hazel felt her blood turn cold.
The same rhythm she'd heard from Raymond beneath the basement stairs.
Marisol stood.
“Who is it?”
Hazel grabbed her wrist.
“Don't.”
A man's voice came through the door.
“Marisol Delgado?”
Neither answered.
“Your mother asked me to give you something.”
Marisol's face crumpled.
“My mother?”
Hazel shook her head.
The man continued.
“It's important.”
Hazel stepped closer to the door without opening it.
“Identify yourself.”
A pause.
“My name is Anthony Vale.”
Hazel stopped breathing.
Anthony Vale.
The warehouse clerk who had disappeared seven weeks earlier.
The man whose car had been found near the river.
The man Raymond believed might be dead.
Hazel looked toward Marisol.
Then she called Detective Brooks.
The detective answered immediately.
“Hazel?”
“There's a man outside the apartment.”
“Who?”
“He says he's Anthony Vale.”
Silence.
Then the detective's voice sharpened.
“Do not open the door.”
Hazel swallowed.
“He says Rosa left him something.”
“Officers are on their way.”
Hazel looked through the peephole.
A young man stood in the hallway.
Sandy hair.
Tired eyes.
A dark bruise along his jaw.
He looked exactly like the photograph on the missing-person notice.
Except thinner.
And frightened.
He held a small envelope.
Hazel spoke through the door.
“If you're Anthony Vale, why did you disappear?”
The man looked directly at the peephole.
“Because the last person who helped me was murdered.”
Marisol covered her mouth.
Hazel felt cold.
The man continued.
“Rosa Delgado saved my life.”
His voice broke.
“And I came back because I couldn't save hers.”
He lowered the envelope.
“But I can tell you who locked that door.”
Hazel stared.
“Who?”
Anthony looked over his shoulder.
Then back toward the peephole.
“Vivian Castellano gave the order.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“But Raymond's own brother was supposed to be the first person she killed.”
