Chapter 7 - THE LETTER THAT SENT MARIN INTO THE STORM
Marin had not been kidnapped.
That almost made Dominic angrier.
Security footage showed her pushing Isabella’s wheelchair through the garden entrance at 8:14 a.m.
No struggle.
No visible threat.
A black sedan collected them outside the eastern gate.
Dominic watched the footage twice.
Then a third time.
“Why would she leave?”
Carlo asked.
Dominic noticed something.
“Freeze it.”
The image stopped.
Marin’s left hand rested on Isabella’s shoulder.
Her right hand hung beside her coat.
Two fingers extended.
Then one.
Then three.
Carlo frowned.
“What is that?”
Dominic understood.
“Room numbers.”
“Whose?”
Dominic remembered the hospital where Anthony died.
Room 213.
“She’s telling us where she’s going.”
Newport Memorial had closed its old south wing seven years earlier.
The building still stood, waiting for demolition.
Room 213 remained.
Dominic and Carlo arrived twenty-six minutes later with police behind them.
They found Isabella’s wheelchair in the corridor.
Empty.
Dominic drew his weapon.
“Marin?”
Her voice came from Room 213.
“Don’t come in!”
He stopped.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Mother?”
“She’s with me.”
“Then open the door.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
A male voice answered.
“Because I told her not to.”
Samuel Bell.
Dominic’s blood turned cold.
“You want me, Bell?”
“No.”
Bell laughed.
“I already have everything I need.”
Dominic looked at Carlo.
Carlo motioned toward a side stairwell.
Police began moving.
Bell continued.
“Your mother wrote me a letter eleven years ago.”
Dominic said nothing.
“She promised silence if I spared you.”
“And you believed her?”
“I believed fear.”
Inside the room, Marin stood beside Isabella.
Bell held a gun.
Daniel Price sat tied to a chair near the window.
Bruised.
Alive.
Marin had received Bell’s message forty minutes earlier.
A photograph of Daniel.
A photograph of Eli entering police protection.
And one sentence.
COME WITH ISABELLA OR THE BOY’S SAFE HOUSE BURNS.
She knew it could be a bluff.
She also knew Bell had already penetrated Dominic’s security.
So she made a choice.
A reckless one.
She left a trail.
Now she needed Dominic to see it.
Bell looked at Isabella.
“You should have destroyed Anthony’s files.”
Isabella stared at him with pure contempt.
“You always were stubborn.”
She raised one finger.
No.
Bell smiled.
“Still correcting me.”
Marin watched Daniel.
His hands were tied behind him.
But he was moving his thumb.
Pointing.
Toward the window.
Marin glanced.
A red dot appeared briefly on the wall.
Police sniper.
She looked back at Bell.
Keep him talking.
“You killed Anthony,” she said.
Bell shook his head.
“Vivian killed Anthony.”
“You covered it up.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because one dead boy was easier than twenty ruined families.”
Marin almost laughed.
“That’s what you tell yourself?”
“It’s what happened.”
Bell’s voice sharpened.
“Anthony wanted to expose everything. Not merely theft. Every arrangement his father had made. Every official paid. Every business protected.”
“You mean every crime.”
“I mean a city built on compromises.”
Marin heard movement outside.
Bell heard it too.
He raised the gun.
“Dominic!”
“Bell.”
“If anyone enters, Marin dies first.”
Dominic stood outside the door.
His voice was calm.
“You won’t shoot her.”
Marin looked toward the door.
Bell smiled.
“You sound certain.”
“You need Isabella alive.”
“Yes.”
“You need Daniel alive because you still don’t have the archive password.”
Bell’s smile vanished.
Dominic continued.
“And you need Marin alive because she’s the only person my mother trusts enough to interpret anything she signs.”
Bell stared at Marin.
Dominic had understood.
Bell wanted Isabella to authorize a transfer.
Probably the remaining Varelli shares.
Bell said, “Come inside alone.”
Carlo shook his head.
Dominic handed him his weapon.
Then entered.
Marin had never seen him look so calm.
Bell aimed at his chest.
Dominic glanced at his mother.
Then Marin.
“You okay?”
She almost laughed.
“You ask that now?”
His mouth twitched.
Bell snapped, “Enough.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You wanted me. I’m here.”
“I want the archive.”
“Daniel has the password.”
Daniel raised his bruised face.
“No,” he said.
Bell turned.
Daniel smiled.
“I gave it to someone else.”
Bell struck him.
Dominic moved.
The gun swung back.
“Don’t.”
Dominic stopped.
“Who?” Bell demanded.
Daniel looked at Marin.
Bell followed his gaze.
Marin’s stomach dropped.
She had no idea what he meant.
Then she remembered.
Three weeks earlier Daniel had handed her an envelope at the estate.
He had called it updated medical paperwork for Isabella.
She had put it in her desk.
Never opened it.
Bell saw recognition.
“You.”
Marin shook her head.
Bell pointed the gun at her.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Samuel.”
Bell fired.
The sound exploded through the room.
Marin screamed.
Dominic staggered.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
Isabella made a broken sound Marin had never heard before.
Dominic dropped to one knee.
Bell turned toward Marin.
“Now.”
His eyes were empty.
“Tell me where Daniel put the password.”
Marin stared at Dominic bleeding on the floor.
Then Daniel shouted.
“NOW!”
The window shattered.
Bell spun.
Isabella suddenly drove her wheelchair forward with both hands.
The metal footrest struck Bell’s knees.
May you like
His gun fired again.
And Marin watched Dominic collapse completely.
