Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN JASON CHOSE
David Brooks survived.
That was the first good news.
The second was that Elliot Crane did not escape the federal building.
He made it down one service corridor before two agents and Daniel’s attorney’s private investigator trapped him near the loading entrance.
The bad news was almost everything else.
Crane had been working inside the federal building for eleven months under a contracted security identity.
Not as Elliot Crane.
As Elliot Mercer.
Different documents.
Different employment history.
Same man.
I sat in Maple Street Books with the red ledger on the table between Thomas and me.
Ruth stood behind the register pretending not to watch.
She was terrible at pretending.
Daniel arrived twelve minutes after Thomas called.
He entered without an entourage.
That probably meant the entourage was outside.
His face told me his father was alive before he spoke.
“Stable.”
I exhaled.
“Can you see him?”
“Later.”
“Why later?”
“Doctors.”
Good answer.
He looked at the ledger.
“That is it?”
“Ruth opened the package.”
Daniel looked toward her.
Ruth lifted her chin.
“I have no regrets.”
Daniel nodded.
“I was not criticizing.”
She seemed disappointed again.
Daniel sat across from me.
“Jason?”
“Gone.”
His jaw tightened.
“He came here after leaving federal custody?”
“He was released after giving a statement.”
“That quickly?”
Thomas answered.
“No charges currently supported.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Find him.”
I held up one hand.
“Ask.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then looked at me.
“Do you want us to find Jason?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Progress.
We photographed every ledger page before touching anything else.
Names were written in initials.
Amounts.
Dates.
Cargo numbers.
Account codes.
The earliest entries were three years old.
The newest, eight months.
Daniel recognized some.
“E.C.”
“Crane,” I said.
“Yes.”
“D.B.?”
“My father.”
“V.M.?”
He did not know.
I did.
Or thought I did.
Vanessa.
Jason’s affair.
Her last name had been Miller.
At least that was what Jason told me.
Vanessa Miller.
V.M.
I felt cold.
“Jason’s girlfriend.”
Daniel looked at me.
“The woman he cheated with?”
“Yes.”
“Full name?”
“Vanessa Miller.”
Thomas started searching.
Nothing.
No Vanessa Miller matching age and employment details Jason once gave me.
Then a social profile appeared.
Old.
Deleted, but cached.
Vanessa Moretti.
Same face.
My stomach turned.
“No.”
Daniel leaned closer.
A photograph showed Vanessa at a charity event beside an older man.
Lorenzo Moretti.
Head of the Moretti family.
Jason had not merely cheated with a woman connected to the conspiracy.
He had slept with a Moretti daughter.
Daniel’s voice was careful.
“Emily.”
“Do not.”
“I was going to ask if you want a minute.”
I looked at him.
That was worse somehow.
“Yes.”
He stood.
“Thomas.”
Both men moved toward the front of the store.
Ruth stayed.
Of course.
I stared at Vanessa’s photograph.
Pretty.
Dark hair.
Red dress.
Hand on Jason’s arm in another image from two years ago.
A photograph I had never seen.
I remembered the first time Jason admitted the affair.
Leftover noodles.
Television paused.
His voice flat with exhaustion.
I love someone else.
I had spent months wondering what she had that I did not.
The answer, apparently, included organized-crime lineage and access to stolen freight routes.
That did not make me feel better.
Ruth placed a cup of coffee beside me.
“He was still a bastard.”
I laughed.
“Thank you.”
“I am serious.”
“I know.”
“Do not let criminal complexity turn infidelity into espionage romance.”
I looked at her.
“You should write greeting cards.”
“I have range.”
She squeezed my shoulder and walked away.
Daniel returned only when I waved him over.
“Vanessa Moretti.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know her?”
“By reputation.”
“What reputation?”
“Smart. Private. Her father used her legitimate event companies for political access.”
“Did you know she was with Jason?”
“No.”
“Would Nicholas?”
“Possibly.”
I looked at the ledger.
“V.M. received payments after Nicholas died.”
Thomas brought up dates.
Daniel scanned.
“Not payments.”
“What?”
“These are disbursements to shell vendors she controlled.”
“For what?”
“Pier Nine cleanup.”
The word made me sick.
Cleanup.
A dead man reduced to an operational phase.
Daniel’s face changed.
He hated it too.
Then my phone rang.
Jason.
I stared.
Daniel looked at the screen.
“Your choice.”
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Safe enough.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
I almost laughed at the similarity.
“Are you with Vanessa?”
Silence.
There it was.
“Jason.”
“No.”
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
I stood and walked toward the back aisle.
Privacy, limited but mine.
“Was the affair real?”
“Yes.”
Ruth’s voice echoed in my head.
Good.
I needed that answer.
“Did you sleep with her because of Pier Nine?”
“No.”
Another answer.
“I met her before I knew who she was.”
“And after?”
“I stayed.”
“Why?”
“I loved her.”
That hurt less than it once did.
Maybe because grief had already spent itself.
“Then why did you stay with me?”
Jason’s voice broke.
“Cowardice.”
No heroic excuse.
“Vanessa told me the Morettis were watching Nicholas. She wanted access to Atlantic Harbor through me. I knew eventually.”
“And you still stayed with her.”
“Yes.”
“You still came home to me.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Thank you.”
He went silent.
“For what?”
“Not lying now.”
“Emily—”
“Do not mistake that for forgiveness.”
“I don’t.”
Good.
I asked, “Where is Vanessa?”
Another silence.
Then:
“She is the reason I’m calling.”
Daniel moved closer.
I put the phone on speaker.
Jason continued.
“Vanessa contacted me twenty minutes ago.”
Daniel’s voice entered.
“Where?”
Jason froze.
“He is with you.”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
Daniel ignored that.
“What did she say?”
“She wants the ledger.”
“No surprise.”
“She says Crane was never supposed to kill Nicholas.”
Daniel went still.
“What?”
Jason continued.
“Lorenzo Moretti ordered Crane to scare Nicholas and recover the account book. Crane escalated.”
“Convenient story.”
“That is what I said.”
“What proof?”
“Vanessa says she has the original call recording.”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“Could be real.”
“Could be bait,” Thomas said.
Jason continued.
“She also says David Brooks did not cover up Nicholas’s death for Lorenzo.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Then for who?”
“She would not tell me over the phone.”
I thought of Ruth’s warning.
First confession.
Crane not the top.
Vanessa now bargaining.
“Where does she want to meet?”
“Boston Public Library.”
I blinked.
“Library?”
Jason said, “She chose public.”
Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“Public means cameras.”
“Exactly.”
“When?”
“Ten tonight.”
I looked at the clock.
Six hours.
Jason continued.
“She wants Emily there.”
Daniel’s answer was immediate.
“No.”
I looked at him.
He caught himself.
Jason said, “That is what I told her.”
“Also no,” I said.
Both men went silent.
I almost smiled.
“My life is becoming crowded with men deciding for me.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Do you want to go?”
“Yes.”
Jason swore.
Daniel did not.
He asked, “Why?”
“Because Vanessa knew Jason while he was living with me. She knows why I was put at your table.”
“That may be exactly why she wants you.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I am tired of everyone else knowing what my role is before I do.”
Daniel studied me.
“Fair.”
Jason said, “Emily, she is dangerous.”
“So are you, apparently.”
“I deserve that.”
“Yes.”
We spent the next hours with federal counsel.
Not Daniel’s men alone.
That was my condition.
If I went, law enforcement knew.
Agent Mercer agreed.
He also looked like he had not slept in a year.
At nine fifty-five, I entered the Boston Public Library reading courtyard with Daniel beside me.
Jason waited near the fountain.
Seeing both men in the same place was surreal.
One had broken my heart.
The other was a feared criminal I had known less than a day.
My judgment could be questioned.
Vanessa arrived at ten exactly.
Black coat.
Hair pulled back.
No visible security.
She looked at Jason first.
Pain crossed her face.
Real.
Then me.
“Emily.”
I almost laughed.
“Apparently everyone knows me.”
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Join the line.”
Daniel’s mouth moved slightly.
Vanessa placed a small recorder on the stone ledge.
“This is the Pier Nine call.”
Daniel did not touch it.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Then your father dies.”
Daniel’s face became ice.
I stared at her.
“You said public.”
She looked toward the library windows.
“I did not say harmless.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“David is in federal protection.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
“No.”
That reaction looked real.
“What?”
She looked at Jason.
“Crane was supposed to fail.”
Jason went still.
“What are you talking about?”
Vanessa’s face drained.
“My father knew Crane would attack David.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Why?”
“He needed Crane exposed.”
“So David was bait.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked ready to become every rumor about himself.
I touched his sleeve.
He stopped.
Vanessa continued quickly.
“But Lorenzo thought federal security would stop Crane before contact.”
“Your father gambled with mine.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“Where is Lorenzo?”
Vanessa looked at the recorder.
“Listening.”
My skin chilled.
She looked toward the upper gallery.
A man stood behind the glass.
Older.
Silver-haired.
Watching.
Lorenzo Moretti.
He raised one hand.
Not greeting.
May you like
Signal.
Every light in the courtyard went out.
