Chapter 7 - THE MAN INSIDE THE GATE
Tomas did not run.
That frightened Arnulfo more than if he had.
When two guards brought him into the library, he looked tired.
Not guilty.
Not surprised.
Arnulfo placed Daniel Cross's photograph on the desk.
“You know him.”
Tomas looked at it.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Eleven years.”
Victoria whispered, “Eleven?”
Tomas nodded.
“My sister married one of his drivers.”
Arnulfo's voice stayed calm.
“You opened my gate for Evelyn.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she asked.”
“And you didn't tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Tomas looked toward Luciano.
“Because the first time she came, the boy ran to her.”
Arnulfo's face tightened.
“That gave you the right to decide?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Tomas swallowed.
“Because Maria asked me to.”
Maria closed her eyes.
Arnulfo turned toward her.
“Again?”
She whispered, “Yes.”
The betrayal wasn't simple anymore.
Everyone had lied to Arnulfo.
But almost every lie had been made around the same purpose.
Luciano.
Protect him.
Hide him.
Give him one more hour with his mother.
Keep Daniel outside.
The problem was that secrecy had become its own danger.
Tomas looked at Sadie.
“I saw Daniel at the diner.”
“You let him leave?”
“I didn't know what he wanted.”
“You knew who he was,” Arnulfo said.
“Yes.”
“That's enough.”
Tomas accepted that.
Then reached into his jacket slowly.
Two guards raised their weapons.
Arnulfo lifted one hand.
Tomas removed a silver watch.
The same kind Daniel wore.
Luciano immediately pointed.
WATCH.
Sadie's pulse jumped.
Tomas placed it on the desk.
“Daniel gave these to six men years ago.”
Arnulfo stared.
“Six?”
“Route supervisors.”
“You were one?”
“Before I worked for you.”
Arnulfo's eyes went cold.
“You worked for Daniel Cross.”
“Yes.”
“And never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because your background checks weren't as good as you thought.”
Victoria almost smiled despite herself.
Arnulfo did not.
Tomas opened the watch clasp.
Inside, scratched into the metal, was a number.
214.
Sadie stared.
“The locker.”
Tomas nodded.
“Daniel uses numbers instead of names when he moves sensitive material.”
“So Locker 214 belongs to Daniel?” Sadie asked.
“No.”
Tomas looked at her.
“It belonged to Samuel.”
Sadie felt her chest tighten.
“You knew my brother?”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“Well enough to owe him my life.”
The answer stunned her.
Tomas sat only after Arnulfo permitted it.
“Samuel discovered that one of Daniel's trucks was carrying guns through a medical supply route. My sister's husband drove that truck.”
Sadie listened without moving.
“Samuel warned him not to make the run.”
“Did he listen?”
“No.”
Tomas looked down.
“The truck was intercepted by another crew. Three men died. My brother-in-law survived because Samuel had convinced him to stop at a weigh station.”
“And Daniel blamed Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you testify?”
“Against Daniel?”
Tomas gave a humorless laugh.
“My sister had two children.”
Sadie understood the fear.
She hated that she understood it.
“What is in Locker 214?”
“I don't know.”
“But Daniel does.”
“He thinks he does.”
Arnulfo leaned forward.
“Explain.”
“Samuel told me he split his evidence.”
Tomas pointed at the vibration box.
“One part stayed close to family.”
“The microfilm,” Sadie said.
“Another part went somewhere Daniel couldn't access without drawing attention.”
“The locker.”
“Yes.”
“And the third?”
Tomas looked toward Luciano.
“I don't know.”
Sadie noticed Arnulfo's eyes shift.
Samuel had created three pieces.
One had just exposed Daniel's connection to the illegal freight operation.
One waited at the rail depot.
But the third remained unknown.
Arnulfo stood.
“We're going to the locker.”
Tomas shook his head.
“Daniel will expect that.”
“Good.”
“No.”
Tomas's voice sharpened.
“He doesn't want the evidence anymore.”
“Then what does he want?”
“Luciano.”
Nobody spoke.
Tomas pointed toward the Cross trust paperwork.
“Luciano turns six in eleven days.”
Evelyn went pale.
“He knows.”
“He has always known.”
Tomas looked at Arnulfo.
“Daniel doesn't need to prove Luciano isn't your son. He needs to keep Evelyn from publicly establishing Luciano as hers before the trust transfers.”
Sadie frowned.
“So if Evelyn stays hidden—”
“Daniel retains control.”
Victoria finished the thought.
“And if Evelyn appears publicly with Luciano, Daniel loses a fortune.”
Tomas nodded.
Arnulfo looked at Evelyn.
“Then why hasn't he killed you?”
Evelyn flinched.
Tomas answered.
“Because the trust has another clause.”
Everyone turned.
“If Evelyn dies before Luciano's sixth birthday, control transfers immediately to the child through an independent trustee.”
Arnulfo understood.
“So Daniel needs Evelyn alive.”
“Until the birthday.”
Maria whispered, “Then afterward…”
No one finished.
Luciano colored quietly on the rug.
Sadie wished he were anywhere else.
But perhaps excluding him from every truth had created half their trouble.
She signed:
MOM SAFE HERE.
He nodded.
Then pointed at Arnulfo.
DAD SAFE?
Sadie looked at Arnulfo.
He saw the question in his son's face.
Sadie translated.
Arnulfo crouched.
He signed badly.
Awkwardly.
Two signs Sadie had shown him earlier.
I STAY.
Luciano smiled.
Arnulfo's hands trembled slightly.
Then Tomas destroyed the moment.
“There's something else.”
Arnulfo rose.
“What?”
“Daniel didn't come to the diner only to watch Luciano.”
“Then why?”
“He was meeting someone.”
Sadie already knew the answer would hurt.
“Who?”
Tomas looked at Victoria.
She stiffened.
“No.”
Tomas continued.
“Your father.”
Victoria stared.
“My father is in Santa Fe.”
“He was in Albuquerque last night.”
“That doesn't mean he met Daniel.”
Tomas reached into his pocket.
A receipt.
Two coffees.
The diner.
Timestamp: 2:41 a.m.
Signed Charles Hale.
Victoria's face emptied.
Arnulfo looked at her.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Victoria.”
“I didn't.”
For once, nobody accused her of lying.
She looked genuinely devastated.
“My father introduced me to you.”
Arnulfo's eyes narrowed.
“Yes.”
“He insisted I attend that charity dinner two years ago.”
“Yes.”
Victoria sank into a chair.
“He knew who you were before I did.”
Evelyn whispered, “Charles worked with my father.”
Victoria looked up.
“What?”
“Years ago. Cross Transportation used Hale Development for land purchases.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
The engagement.
The trust.
The routes.
Suddenly even her relationship with Arnulfo had a shadow over it.
Sadie watched her realize the worst possibility.
“You think my father put me in Arnulfo's life on purpose.”
Nobody answered.
Victoria's eyes filled.
“I loved you.”
Arnulfo looked at her.
She corrected herself.
“I love you.”
His face softened, but only slightly.
“I believe you.”
Victoria began crying.
The answer seemed to hurt more than disbelief.
Arnulfo added, “I don't know what your father intended.”
Tomas stood.
“Then we find out.”
Sadie shook her head.
“No. First the locker.”
Arnulfo looked at her.
She held up Samuel's photograph.
“My brother left something there.”
This time he didn't tell her she couldn't go.
The old rail depot had been abandoned for more than a decade.
Locker 214 sat inside a rusted luggage room.
The silver watch opened it.
Inside was Samuel's leather coat.
Sadie recognized it instantly.
She buried her face in the sleeve.
For one second, she was twenty-two again.
Samuel laughing in the kitchen.
Samuel tapping rhythms on the table.
Samuel telling her that silence wasn't emptiness.
Then something heavy fell from the coat pocket.
A cassette recorder.
Arnulfo found batteries in an old office.
The tape hissed.
Samuel's voice filled the room.
“Sadie, if you're hearing this, I'm sorry.”
She covered her mouth.
“I found more than smuggling. Daniel Cross has been paying someone inside the Bess organization for route access.”
Arnulfo went rigid.
A name followed.
Not Tomas.
Not Charles Hale.
Samuel said:
“The payments are authorized under the initials A.B.”
Everyone looked at Arnulfo.
Sadie slowly lowered the recorder.
Arnulfo's initials.
Arnulfo Bess.
And on the tape, Samuel said one final sentence.
May you like
“If Arnulfo tells you he didn't know, don't believe him.”
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