Chapter 5 - THE GOLD BRACELET
His name was Frank Delaney.
For forty years, Frank had been part of the Caruso family without carrying the Caruso name.
He had stood beside Vincent’s father at both sons’ baptisms.
He had taught Anthony to drive.
He had given Vincent his first serious watch at eighteen.
And after their father died, Frank became the person both brothers called before making decisions they did not want Charles to know about.
He was seventy now.
Retired.
Living in Connecticut.
Emily studied the photograph again.
“You’re sure?”
Charles looked insulted by the question.
“I bought that bracelet.”
Claire stared at him.
Charles explained.
“Frank turned sixty. Anthony and I split the cost.”
Vincent closed his eyes briefly.
Another family object.
Another betrayal hiding inside memory.
Claire crossed her arms.
“This is why Anthony didn’t tell you.”
She looked at Vincent.
“He didn’t know whether Frank was involved or being framed.”
Vincent signed.
Claire answered.
“Yes. Anthony suspected the authorization codes were deliberately pointing toward Charles.”
Charles absorbed that silently.
The first large question had an answer.
Someone had cloned Charles’s credentials.
Anthony had known.
Charles had not betrayed him.
But two larger questions remained.
Why was Frank connected to the illegal explosives?
And why had Anthony died before he could prove it?
Vincent typed.
WHY DID YOU DISAPPEAR?
Claire’s face hardened.
“I didn’t disappear.”
She glanced at her father.
“I left.”
Charles lowered his eyes.
“After the explosion, I tried to tell him Anthony had been investigating the freight.”
“You told me Anthony was stealing from the company.”
“Because that was what the records showed.”
“You believed the records over me.”
Charles had no defense.
Claire’s voice shook.
“You chose the Carusos again.”
Emily saw the wound immediately.
Charles had spent three years guarding Vincent because he believed Anthony had asked him to.
But in doing so, he had abandoned his own daughter when she was telling the truth.
His loyalty had not been noble to everyone.
Charles said, “I was wrong.”
Claire looked away.
No instant forgiveness.
Good, Emily thought.
Some apologies needed time.
Vincent pointed to the photograph.
Claire nodded.
“I kept working Anthony’s trail.”
For three years, quietly.
The Mercy Belle gave her access to old shipping lanes without alerting the people she believed were still watching Caruso Maritime.
The medicine diversions had originally been hers.
Anthony discovered them but did not expose her.
Instead, he made her promise to build a legitimate foundation once the larger problem was solved.
“He called it stealing from thieves,” Claire said.
Charles almost smiled.
“That sounds like Anthony.”
The warmth vanished quickly.
Claire spread the suspicious manifests across the table.
“Frank supervised port relationships for your father. He knew which inspections could be delayed, which supervisors could be persuaded, which paperwork nobody read carefully.”
“Could he have moved the explosives?” Emily asked.
“Yes.”
“Does that mean he ordered the bomb?”
“No.”
Claire looked at Vincent.
“That’s the mistake Anthony refused to make.”
Evidence connected Frank to the freight.
Not necessarily the murder.
Vincent wanted Frank brought to New York immediately.
Claire refused.
“If Frank thinks you’re coming, he’ll destroy whatever Anthony was trying to find.”
Charles asked, “So what do you suggest?”
Claire pulled another object from her coat.
A ticket stub.
Old.
Faded.
May you like
A charity boxing event held four days before the explosion.
Anthony had circled a seat number.
