Chapter 6 - THE VOICE OF A DEAD MAN|
Rebecca Vale was waiting outside Eleanor's hospital room when Luca arrived from the security office.
She was sixty-three years old.
Her hair was cut short, her coat was damp from the rain, and a bruise darkened the side of her cheek.
In her hands was a small cassette tape.
Luca stopped several feet away.
"Rebecca?"
She nodded.
"You have Anthony's eyes."
He studied her.
"And you have something that belongs to my family."
Rebecca looked down at the cassette.
"It belonged to your father."
Luca hesitated.
"Which one?"
Her expression softened.
"The one who loved you before you were born."
Those words struck him harder than he expected.
He glanced toward Eleanor's hospital room.
"How did you get past Salvatore's men?"
Rebecca gave a bitter smile.
"I've spent thirty-nine years learning how."
Luca motioned toward a private consultation room.
They entered together.
Daniel had already arranged for an old cassette player to be brought from the hospital's administrative office.
Luca placed it on the table.
Rebecca stared at the machine.
"Anthony used one just like that."
"Where did you find the tape?"
"At the mansion."
Luca frowned.
"Olivia said someone stole it."
Rebecca nodded.
"I know."
"Then explain."
She sat down.
"After I called Olivia, two men entered my motel room."
Luca's expression hardened.
"Were you hurt?"
She touched her bruised cheek.
"Nothing serious."
"Who were they?"
"Men working for Salvatore."
"How did you escape?"
Rebecca smiled faintly.
"I climbed through the bathroom window."
Luca studied her.
She looked like a retired school librarian.
Not someone who had just escaped two dangerous men.
"I drove straight to Chicago," she continued.
"How did you know where to go?"
"Margaret had given me the estate address."
Luca frowned.
"Then what?"
"I reached the property shortly after Olivia escaped."
"You went inside?"
"Through the old service courtyard."
"How did you know the entrance?"
Rebecca looked at him.
"Anthony helped Giovanni renovate that wing."
Luca fell silent.
Rebecca continued.
"I saw a man carrying the blue sewing box toward a service vehicle."
"What man?"
"Dark hair, gray jacket, silver pin."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"One of Salvatore's people."
"He stopped beside the vehicle to answer his phone."
She held up the cassette.
"So I took what I could."
Luca stared at her.
"You stole it back?"
Rebecca nodded.
"I couldn't get the envelope."
"What about the brass key?"
"I didn't see it."
Luca looked toward the tape player.
"Do you know what's recorded here?"
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"Only the beginning."
"Have you heard it?"
"Thirty-nine years ago."
Luca inserted the cassette.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he pressed play.
A faint mechanical hiss filled the room.
There was a clicking sound.
Then a man's voice.
"June nineteenth."
Luca stopped breathing.
The voice was young.
Careful.
A little nervous.
"My name is Anthony Vale."
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
Luca stared at the machine.
"If you're hearing this, something has gone wrong."
The tape crackled.
"I've made copies of the financial records."
A pause.
"Giovanni knows where one set is hidden."
Luca leaned forward.
Anthony continued.
"Salvatore Bellini has been stealing from pension funds connected to the waterfront unions."
"He uses false shipping invoices to move the money through companies registered under other names."
Rebecca began crying quietly.
Luca didn't move.
"Some of the money goes to public officials."
"Some goes to people who make witnesses disappear."
The recording hissed.
Then Anthony spoke again.
"But Salvatore isn't the only one involved."
Luca's hands tightened.
"There's another man."
Rebecca stopped crying.
"A man close to Giovanni."
Luca felt his heartbeat accelerating.
Anthony continued.
"I believed he was our friend."
"I trusted him with everything."
A long pause followed.
Then Anthony's voice changed.
"I was wrong."
The tape crackled sharply.
Luca leaned closer.
"The man helping Salvatore is—"
A burst of static interrupted the recording.
Then silence.
Luca stared at the machine.
"No."
He pressed stop.
Then rewound it.
He played the section again.
The same burst of static swallowed the name.
Rebecca wiped her eyes.
"It's damaged."
Luca looked at her.
"Can it be repaired?"
"Possibly."
"Then I'll have someone examine it."
Rebecca nodded.
"There's more."
She pointed toward the player.
Luca pressed play again.
Anthony's voice returned.
"If my son ever hears this, I want him to know something."
Luca went completely still.
"I haven't met you yet, little man."
His throat tightened.
"But I already love you."
Rebecca began sobbing.
Anthony continued.
"Your mother says you kick every time she hears music."
"She says you're going to be stubborn."
A small laugh followed.
"And I hope you are."
Luca lowered his head.
"I hope you never let powerful people tell you that cruelty is strength."
He closed his eyes.
"Strength is protecting someone who cannot protect themselves."
The room became silent except for the soft hiss of the tape.
"And if I'm not there to teach you that, I hope someone else will."
Anthony paused.
"Maybe Giovanni."
Luca looked up.
"He knows what matters."
A faint sound followed.
Someone knocking.
Anthony spoke quickly.
"I have to go."
Then, almost in a whisper:
"Remember that your name belongs to you, not to any man who claims to own you."
The tape ended.
Luca remained motionless.
For thirty-nine years, he had imagined his origins as a story already completed.
Now he understood that people had suffered, sacrificed, and disappeared long before he could remember them.
Rebecca reached across the table.
"Anthony would have been proud of you."
Luca shook his head.
"You don't know what I've done."
She studied him.
"I know what you did for Margaret Carter tonight."
He looked away.
"I should have protected her sooner."
"Perhaps."
Her answer surprised him.
Rebecca continued.
"But you're protecting her now."
Luca pressed his fingers against his eyes.
"Did Giovanni know Anthony was going to die?"
Rebecca hesitated.
"I don't think he knew when."
"Did he try to stop it?"
"He spent years trying to make Salvatore answer for it."
Luca frowned.
"Why didn't he go to the authorities?"
"He did."
"What happened?"
"Evidence disappeared."
She looked down.
"Witnesses changed their statements."
Luca slowly leaned back.
"Someone was protecting Salvatore."
Rebecca nodded.
"And someone inside Giovanni's organization was helping."
The door suddenly opened.
Daniel entered.
"Boss."
Luca looked up.
"What's wrong?"
"We've identified the man who entered Mrs. Carter's bedroom."
"Who is he?"
"Marcus Bellini."
Rebecca went pale.
Luca noticed.
"You know him?"
She nodded.
"Salvatore's nephew."
Daniel continued.
"He's worked for Vanessa's family for years."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Find him."
"We're trying."
"And the security leak?"
Daniel hesitated.
"We identified a former estate contractor who passed along floor plans."
Luca nodded.
"Good."
But Rebecca was staring at Daniel.
Her expression had changed completely.
Daniel noticed.
"Ma'am?"
She swallowed.
"What's your last name?"
"Mercer."
Her face drained of color.
"Daniel Mercer?"
He nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Rebecca stood so abruptly that her chair scraped across the floor.
Luca looked between them.
"Rebecca?"
Her voice trembled.
"How old are you?"
Daniel frowned.
"Forty-two."
"Where were you born?"
"Chicago."
Rebecca covered her mouth.
"Oh, my God."
Luca stood.
"What is it?"
She stared at Daniel as though she were looking at a ghost.
"Your father."
Daniel's expression changed.
Rebecca whispered:
"Was his name Peter Mercer?"
For several seconds, Daniel didn't speak.
Then he nodded.
"Yes."
Rebecca stumbled backward.
Luca caught her arm.
"What does that mean?"
She looked at him.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Peter Mercer was the man Anthony trusted."
Daniel stared at her.
"My father died when I was eight."
Rebecca shook her head.
"I know."
Luca felt the room grow cold.
She pointed toward the cassette.
"Peter Mercer was the man Anthony suspected of helping Salvatore."
Daniel looked stunned.
"That's impossible."
Rebecca shook her head.
"I wish it were."
Then she said something that changed everything.
"Your father wasn't merely working for Salvatore."
May you like
She looked directly at Daniel.
"He was the last person seen with Anthony Vale before Anthony disappeared."
