Chapter 4 - THE PART HELENA NEVER TOLD
Every head turned toward Helena.
For the first time since Maggie met her, the Kowalic matriarch looked frightened.
Not of Edmund.
Of memory.
Rafferty’s voice was low.
“What happened after Patrick left?”
Helena said nothing.
Edmund smiled.
“There she is.”
Maggie hated his pleasure.
Rafferty stepped closer to his mother.
“Tell me.”
Helena looked at him.
“Not here.”
“Yes here.”
Edmund laughed.
“You’re finally asking the right woman.”
Moses said, “Boss, this standoff is not improving.”
Rafferty did not look away from Helena.
“What did you do?”
She closed her eyes.
Then opened them.
“I shot your father.”
Silence.
Maggie stopped breathing.
Rafferty’s face emptied.
“What?”
“Michael.”
Helena swallowed.
“I shot him.”
Edmund’s smile widened.
Moses whispered, “Jesus.”
Rafferty looked like someone had struck him.
“My father died of a stroke three years ago.”
“Yes.”
“So when?”
“Nine years ago.”
“The night Patrick disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Helena looked at Edmund.
“Because Michael was going to kill his brother.”
Edmund’s smile vanished.
Interesting.
She continued.
“After Patrick and Leon escaped, Michael confronted Edmund at the pier.”
Rafferty said nothing.
“Your father had learned the military shipments included guidance components linked to a theft investigation that could bring federal charges.”
“Against the family.”
“Yes.”
“He wanted out.”
“Yes.”
“And Edmund didn’t.”
“No.”
Edmund said, “Michael lost his nerve.”
Helena’s eyes sharpened.
“He found one.”
That landed.
Edmund’s jaw tightened.
Helena continued.
“Michael raised a gun.”
“At Edmund?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I fired.”
Rafferty’s voice broke.
“At my father.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Shoulder.”
Maggie glanced at Leon.
Pattern.
Shoulders.
Warnings.
Everybody in this family apparently learned mercy with bullets.
Helena continued.
“He survived.”
“Obviously.”
“But I stopped him long enough for Edmund to leave.”
Rafferty stared.
“You saved Edmund.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was my husband’s brother.”
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
“What else?”
She looked ashamed.
“He had something on me.”
Edmund’s smile returned.
Rafferty’s face hardened.
“What?”
Helena said nothing.
Maggie understood before Rafferty.
“Your mother was involved too.”
Helena looked at her.
“Yes.”
Rafferty stepped back.
“How?”
“Accounts.”
“What accounts?”
“I moved money.”
“For Edmund?”
“For the family.”
“Same thing then.”
“Yes.”
Maggie thought of Eileen working harbor accounting with Helena.
“What did my mother know?”
Helena looked at her.
“Everything.”
Maggie’s stomach dropped.
“Everything?”
“Enough.”
“Did she help?”
“No.”
Immediate.
Firm.
“She discovered what I was doing.”
“And?”
“She threatened to report me.”
Maggie felt sick.
“My mother knew you were laundering money?”
“Yes.”
“And still called you friend?”
Helena’s eyes filled for the first time.
“For a while.”
Maggie had never imagined Helena Kowalic crying.
It made nothing easier.
Helena continued.
“Eileen begged Patrick to leave Kowalic work. He did.”
“Then nine years later Dad finds military cargo.”
“Yes.”
“And comes to you because he remembers you.”
“Yes.”
“You sent him to Michael.”
“Yes.”
“Then after he escaped, you shot Michael to protect Edmund.”
“Yes.”
Maggie laughed in disbelief.
“This family needs a diagram.”
Vincent was not here to appreciate it.
Rafferty looked at Edmund.
“What did you have on my mother?”
Edmund’s expression turned flat.
“Ask her.”
Helena said, “I signed the accounts.”
“What accounts?”
“The first transfer connected to military cargo.”
Rafferty stopped.
“So if Edmund fell, you fell.”
“Yes.”
“And father?”
“Yes.”
Maggie looked at Helena.
“You helped build the thing that killed our families.”
Helena’s voice was barely audible.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That mattered.
Not enough.
But mattered.
Rafferty stood motionless.
Maggie recognized the look.
A person watching childhood turn into evidence.
She had done the same all night.
Edmund finally lost patience.
“Enough confession.”
He gestured.
“Close the crates.”
Rafferty looked at him.
“No.”
“Then people start dying.”
Moses raised his weapon.
Rafferty said, “Nobody shoots.”
Edmund’s eyes narrowed.
Then a phone rang.
Maggie’s.
Everyone froze.
Unknown number.
Her heart slammed.
Patrick?
She answered.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then:
“Mags.”
Her father.
Live.
Not recording.
Her knees almost gave.
“Dad?”
Edmund’s face changed.
Leon closed his eyes.
Patrick’s voice came rough.
“You at Pier 7?”
“Yes.”
“Edmund there?”
“Yes.”
“Rafferty?”
“Yes.”
“Helena?”
Maggie looked at her.
“Yes.”
Patrick exhaled.
“Of course.”
Maggie’s eyes filled.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“How close?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Dad.”
“Maggie, listen.”
“No.”
She almost screamed.
“You don’t get to call after nine years and tell me to listen.”
Silence.
Good.
Let him hear it.
She continued.
“Mom died.”
“I know.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I know.”
“I worked two jobs.”
“I know.”
“I lost the boat.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I watched.”
Her anger exploded.
“You watched?”
Rafferty moved but stopped.
Maggie turned away from everyone.
“You watched me lose everything?”
“I made sure you kept the stall.”
She froze.
“What?”
“The market board wanted to auction it.”
“I know.”
“Anonymous payment covered the taxes.”
Maggie remembered.
A foundation grant.
She had thought luck.
“Was that you?”
“Yes.”
She started crying.
Not gratitude.
Fury.
“You don’t get credit.”
“I know.”
“You don’t.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that!”
The entire customs room listened.
Patrick stayed silent.
Then said, “I’m sorry.”
Maggie closed her eyes.
Too small.
Too late.
Still something.
“Why now?”
“Because Edmund came for the key.”
“And you?”
“Because I finally have enough outside protection to come home without making you a target.”
She looked around at armed men.
“Great timing.”
Patrick almost laughed.
She heard it.
Her father’s laugh.
Nine years disappeared for half a second.
Then returned.
“Dad.”
“Yes.”
“Did Helena betray you?”
Silence.
Helena shut her eyes.
Patrick answered.
“No.”
Everyone froze.
Maggie turned.
“What?”
“Helena made mistakes. Big ones.”
Rafferty stared at his mother.
“But she did not betray me.”
Maggie looked at Edmund.
“Then who did?”
Patrick said, “Someone who knew the customs tunnel, the meeting time, and our escape route.”
Rafferty’s face hardened.
“Inside Kowalic Freight.”
“Yes.”
“Name.”
Patrick paused.
“I never proved it.”
“Suspect?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
A gunshot exploded.
Not inside the room.
From tunnel.
Maggie flinched.
Moses turned.
Edmund’s men shifted.
Then one of them dropped.
Shot from behind.
Chaos.
Lights went out.
Someone screamed.
Rafferty grabbed Maggie and pulled her behind a crate.
She fought him.
“Dad!”
Phone still connected.
“Mags?”
“I’m here.”
“Stay down!”
Gunfire echoed in tunnel.
Moses returned fire once.
Leon crawled behind steel cage.
Helena crouched beside Rafferty.
Edmund disappeared in darkness.
“Where is he?” Rafferty hissed.
Moses said, “Moved rear.”
Then a flashlight.
A man entered from tunnel wearing dark rain gear.
Weapon lowered.
Maggie could not see his face.
Then voice.
“Enough.”
Everyone froze.
Patrick Sullivan stepped into the customs room.
Older.
Gray beard.
Scar near temple.
Alive.
Maggie stared.
Her phone slipped from her hand.
He looked at her.
“Mags.”
She crossed the room.
Not carefully.
Not cautiously.
She hit him.
Once.
Open hand.
Hard.
Patrick took it.
Then she hit his chest with both fists.
“You left.”
“I know.”
“You left!”
“I know.”
She hit him again.
Then collapsed against him.
Patrick wrapped his arms around her.
Maggie sobbed into a jacket that smelled like rain and diesel.
Her father.
Alive.
Warm.
Real.
For nine years she had buried an empty truck.
Now he held her.
Behind them, Rafferty lowered his weapon.
Helena cried silently.
Leon looked away.
Then Patrick whispered into Maggie’s hair.
“I’m sorry.”
She pulled back.
“You should be.”
“Yes.”
“Mom waited.”
His face broke.
“I know.”
“She waited.”
“I know.”
Maggie wiped her face angrily.
Then pointed at Edmund’s empty spot.
“He ran.”
Patrick’s expression hardened.
“For now.”
Rafferty stepped forward.
Patrick looked at him.
Michael’s son.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Patrick said, “You look like him.”
Rafferty’s jaw tightened.
“I’ve been told.”
“Not in the ways that matter.”
Rafferty glanced at Maggie.
She noticed.
Patrick did too.
Interesting.
Then Moses said, “We need out. Shooter came through east tunnel. More could follow.”
Patrick nodded.
“Take the evidence.”
Rafferty looked at him.
“All seven crates?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Three are decoys.”
Leon laughed.
“You still don’t trust anybody.”
“Kept me alive.”
“What’s real?”
Patrick pointed.
“Two, five, seven.”
They moved.
Helena looked at crate four.
“What’s in the decoys?”
Patrick smiled without humor.
“Enough junk to waste Edmund’s time.”
Maggie looked at him.
“You planned for this?”
“For nine years.”
She hated that answer too.
Outside, vans waited.
Not Rafferty’s.
Federal.
Maggie stared.
Patrick said, “I told you I had protection.”
A woman stepped out wearing an FBI jacket.
Special Agent Lena Ortiz.
Rafferty’s face tightened.
“You brought federal agents to my pier.”
Patrick looked at him.
“Technically your uncle’s.”
Maggie almost laughed.
Rafferty did not.
Ortiz approached.
“Mr. Kowalic.”
“Agent.”
“We’ll need statements.”
“No.”
Maggie looked at Rafferty.
He sighed.
“Eventually.”
“Better.”
Patrick handed Ortiz one drive.
She looked at Maggie.
“You’re Patrick’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve heard a lot.”
“Sorry.”
Ortiz almost smiled.
Then her face hardened.
“We have another issue.”
“What?”
“Edmund’s vehicle was spotted leaving the harbor.”
Rafferty said, “Expected.”
“He isn’t going home.”
“Where?”
“Baltimore-Washington airport.”
Patrick’s face changed.
“Flight?”
“Private.”
“Destination?”
Ortiz looked at him.
“Montreal.”
Leon swore.
Maggie frowned.
“Why Montreal?”
Patrick looked at her.
“Because that’s where the last person who can prove everything lives.”
“Who?”
He took a breath.
“Your mother’s sister.”
Maggie stared.
“My aunt died when I was six.”
Patrick shook his head.
“No.”
Another ghost.
Another lie.
Maggie laughed helplessly.
“Of course not.”
Patrick looked ashamed.
“Eileen told you she died because it was safer.”
“What is her name?”
“Mae Sullivan.”
Maggie’s chest tightened.
“Why does Edmund want her?”
“Because Mae kept the original harbor account books.”
Rafferty understood.
“The records before Helena’s laundering.”
“Yes.”
“And after.”
“Yes.”
Helena went pale.
Patrick looked at her.
“Those books prove who authorized the first military shipments.”
Maggie stared at Edmund’s escape route.
“Who?”
Patrick’s eyes moved to Helena.
Then Rafferty.
“Michael Kowalic.”
Rafferty stopped.
“My father started it.”
Patrick nodded.
“And Edmund expanded it.”
Silence.
No redemption.
No clean father.
No clean family.
Patrick continued.
“But Michael later tried to destroy it.”
Rafferty looked away.
Complicated.
Human.
Maggie was learning to hate simple stories.
Ortiz said, “We can move on Montreal.”
Patrick nodded.
Rafferty said, “I’m coming.”
Ortiz looked at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Maggie stepped forward.
“I’m coming too.”
Three people said “No” at once.
Patrick.
Rafferty.
Ortiz.
Maggie looked at them.
“Cute.”
Her father said, “Mags—”
“No.”
“You just got me back.”
“Exactly.”
She pointed toward the harbor.
“Nine years of men deciding what I’m allowed to know ends tonight.”
Patrick looked at Rafferty.
“Is she always like this?”
Rafferty answered.
“I’ve known her three days.”
Then, after a beat:
“Yes.”
Maggie glared.
Ortiz sighed.
“This is going to be a long investigation.”
May you like
Nobody disagreed.
And by sunrise, they were heading north toward the woman Maggie had buried in childhood without ever seeing a grave.
