Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO SIGNED EVERYTHING
Gabriel Moretti had spent years making other men afraid of handcuffs.
Now he stood in a police interview room wearing them.
Across the table, Detective Brennan placed three documents in front of him.
The first was a warehouse maintenance authorization.
The second was a payment approval.
The third was Nathan Shaw's sworn statement.
Gabriel recognized his signature on the first two.
He had signed both.
That was the problem.
“You approved an emergency operating waiver at Ashland,” Brennan said.
“Yes.”
“While parts of the sprinkler system were being repaired.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know the facility continued operating overnight?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“I knew freight operations were continuing.”
“Did you know the building had unresolved fire-safety problems?”
“I was told the repairs wouldn't affect occupied areas.”
“Who told you?”
“Julian Cross.”
Brennan looked at him.
“Mr. Moretti, that's becoming a familiar answer.”
Gabriel leaned back.
“I know.”
The detective studied him.
He wasn't shouting.
He wasn't threatening anyone.
For a man whose reputation was built on intimidation, he looked strangely tired.
“Three men died because that building wasn't safe,” she said.
“I know.”
“Signing papers without reading them doesn't erase responsibility.”
Gabriel looked at the maintenance waiver.
“I know that, too.”
At Nathan's apartment, Eleanor confronted her brother.
Molly was asleep in the bedroom.
Her purple backpack rested beside the bed.
Eleanor stood in the kitchen holding a copy of the sworn statement Brennan had allowed her to review.
“You told the police Gabriel ordered the warehouse doors locked.”
Nathan looked miserable.
“I signed what they put in front of me.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning.”
Eleanor stared.
“While Molly was missing?”
Nathan nodded.
“Julian said they'd release her if I cooperated.”
“Did you actually hear Gabriel give that order?”
“No.”
“Then why did you say you did?”
Nathan began shaking.
“Because I thought Molly would die if I refused.”
Eleanor dropped the paper onto the table.
“You could have told Detective Brennan that today.”
“I was afraid.”
“Your daughter is home.”
Nathan looked toward the bedroom.
“I know.”
“Then stop being afraid for yourself.”
The words hurt him.
She could see that.
But for the first time, she didn't soften them.
Nathan had spent months making decisions based on terror.
Every compromise had brought another demand.
First the repairs.
Then the loans.
Then the marriage.
Then the false statement.
And every time, he had convinced himself that one more lie would protect his family.
Eleanor pulled out a chair.
“Listen to me. Molly needs a father she can trust. Not a father who'll do anything he's told because somebody threatens him.”
Nathan began crying.
“I don't know how to fix this.”
“Start by telling the truth.”
He looked up.
“Even if they arrest me?”
Eleanor's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Gabriel's attorney, Avery Cole, reviewed the evidence that evening.
There was enough for prosecutors to argue that Gabriel had permitted unsafe operations.
But the claim that he personally ordered the fire doors secured depended heavily on Nathan's statement.
The motel evidence complicated the prosecution's timeline.
So did the growing number of suspicious authorizations connected to Julian.
Avery explained the situation carefully.
“You may be released pending further proceedings. But your company records are going to be examined in detail.”
Gabriel nodded.
“They should be.”
Avery looked at him.
“You understand that some of those records may expose crimes unrelated to Ashland?”
“Yes.”
“And you still want Simone to cooperate?”
Gabriel thought about Eleanor limping toward him in the cathedral.
He thought about Molly's question.
Are you going to make her work?
Then he remembered the three families who had buried someone after the fire.
“Yes,” he answered. “Turn over what Brennan lawfully requests. Preserve the rest.”
Avery studied him.
“You're making a significant decision.”
Gabriel looked down at his hands.
“I should have made it years ago.”
Outside the police station, news crews gathered.
Someone had leaked Gabriel's arrest.
Headlines appeared across Chicago.
MAFIA FIGURE LINKED TO FATAL WAREHOUSE FIRE.
MORETTI WEDDING COLLAPSES AMID KIDNAPPING INVESTIGATION.
UNDERBOSS CROSS EXPECTED TO ASSUME LEADERSHIP.
Julian hadn't wasted time.
While Gabriel sat in custody, he convened an emergency meeting with the older family representatives.
He described Gabriel as distracted.
Emotional.
Unfit to manage an organization under federal and local scrutiny.
Several members agreed.
Others remained quiet.
Roman D'Amico, one of the oldest surviving family advisers, listened without interrupting.
He had known Gabriel since childhood.
He also knew how much power Julian controlled.
“Gabriel built the legitimate freight division,” Roman finally said.
Julian nodded.
“And now he's risking it over a woman whose brother helped cause a fire.”
Roman looked at him.
“The woman's niece was kidnapped.”
“A tragedy.”
“Using Gabriel's security contractors?”
Julian's expression hardened.
“That's under investigation.”
Roman leaned back.
“Then perhaps we shouldn't make you acting head until that investigation finishes.”
Julian smiled.
“Perhaps we should ask Gabriel whether he intends to defend his position.”
“He's in custody.”
“Exactly.”
Late that night, Simone found something important.
The electronic signatures on Nathan's equipment guarantee and Molly's temporary-care authorization had been created using the same administrative certificate.
It belonged to Crossbridge Recovery.
Gabriel's initials appeared on both documents.
But the certificate did not belong to Gabriel.
It belonged to Julian's company.
Simone immediately preserved the audit logs.
She also discovered that several documents had been created before Gabriel supposedly approved them.
That gave Brennan a starting point for questioning the authenticity of the authorizations.
But it didn't resolve the warehouse deaths.
Nathan had still bypassed the sprinkler system.
Gabriel had still approved operations.
And the original fire inspector was dead.
The most important witness could no longer explain what he had discovered.
The following morning, Eleanor visited Father Anthony at St. Michael's Cathedral.
She needed somewhere quiet to think.
He found her sitting in the same pew where Nathan had watched her struggle down the aisle.
She wore jeans, a sweater, and her walking boot.
The blue ribbon rested in her hand.
Father Anthony sat beside her.
“I heard they found Molly.”
Eleanor nodded.
“She's home.”
“Thank God.”
Eleanor looked toward the altar.
“I almost married a man because I thought it was the only way to keep her alive.”
Father Anthony waited.
“And now that man is in jail because my brother lied.”
“Did Gabriel ask your brother to lie?”
“No.”
“Then your brother has a decision to make.”
Eleanor ran the ribbon between her fingers.
“Gabriel isn't innocent of everything.”
“No,” the priest agreed.
“He approved the marriage. He signed those orders. People were hurt because he didn't care enough to ask questions.”
Father Anthony looked at her.
“Then perhaps the question isn't whether he's innocent.”
“What is it?”
“Whether he's willing to become responsible.”
Eleanor remained quiet.
The priest didn't excuse Gabriel.
He didn't ask Eleanor to forgive him.
He simply sat beside her.
After a while, she stood.
“I need to see Detective Brennan.”
Brennan received Eleanor that afternoon.
Nathan had already contacted the detective and agreed to correct his statement with counsel present.
But Brennan had received another document.
A statement supposedly written and signed by Eleanor.
The detective placed it on her desk.
“Have you seen this before?”
Eleanor read the first paragraph.
Her stomach dropped.
The document claimed she had witnessed Gabriel personally ordering workers to secure the north loading doors shortly before the Ashland fire.
It claimed she had remained silent because she feared the Moretti family.
At the bottom was her signature.
Eleanor looked up.
“I never wrote this.”
Brennan watched her.
“Are you certain?”
“I was working at the motel that night. I never went near Ashland.”
Brennan turned the page.
“The statement says you recognized Gabriel's voice over a telephone.”
“I never heard him.”
“Someone submitted this through an attorney representing a Moretti-associated company.”
Eleanor examined the signature.
It looked almost perfect.
But the final letter had a tiny dot beneath it.
She recognized the mark.
Months earlier, she had signed a reimbursement form after a motel plumbing problem.
The cheap pen had leaked and left a dot beneath her name.
Someone had copied that signature.
“Where did they get this?” she whispered.
Brennan leaned forward.
“What do you mean?”
Eleanor explained the old form.
Then she noticed the date at the top of the statement.
It had been prepared the night before her wedding.
Before Gabriel stopped the ceremony.
Before anyone knew he would discover the ribbon.
She stared at Brennan.
“They expected me to marry him.”
“Yes.”
“And then they were going to use this against him.”
Brennan said nothing.
Eleanor looked down at the forged statement.
Her marriage had never simply been payment for Nathan's debt.
It had been a trap for Gabriel, too.
May you like
She lifted her eyes.
“Detective, I think Julian wanted me to become Gabriel Moretti's wife so the whole city would believe me when I accused my own husband of murder.”
