Chapter 14 - The Woman at the Baptism
Evelyn Hartwell was eighty-one and still worked from a private office overlooking Lake Michigan.
She agreed to meet Carmine because, in her words, “refusing would look guilty.”
“That assumes you care how guilt looks,” Carmine said.
She smiled.
“You sound like your mother.”
“I’ll tell her you said that.”
“I would prefer you didn’t.”
Nina sat beside Carmine.
Federal investigators waited outside the office.
Carmine placed the termination memo on Evelyn’s desk.
“Explain.”
Evelyn read it.
Then removed her glasses.
“Family Stability Division was closed twelve years ago.”
“After two women died.”
“After several abuses were discovered.”
“Were the deaths abuses?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I did not order Alessia’s death.”
“Did you order someone to control her?”
“Yes.”
The honesty made Nina shift in her chair.
Evelyn continued.
“Your father hired us because he believed Alessia was preparing to dismantle the family companies.”
“She was exposing theft.”
“I learned that later.”
“And Marianne Rusk?”
“She had evidence that our investigators fabricated reports.”
“What happened to her?”
Evelyn’s expression darkened.
“A contractor was told to frighten her into silence. He exceeded instructions.”
Carmine laughed softly.
“Everyone in this story has a different phrase for hurting people.”
Evelyn did not disagree.
“What about Alessia?”
“She was marked for legal containment, not physical harm.”
“Who changed that?”
“I don’t know.”
Carmine stood.
Evelyn raised one hand.
“But I know who requested the route file.”
He stopped.
“Who?”
“Your father’s estate executor.”
“My father was already dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then who had authority?”
Evelyn slid a sealed archive request across the desk.
The executor’s name was Teresa DeLuca.
Carmine stared at it.
“No.”
Evelyn leaned back.
“I told you I didn’t order the crash.”
“You are saying my mother did?”
“I am saying she requested Alessia’s route file twenty-four hours before Alessia died.”
Carmine left the office without another word.
He called Teresa from the elevator.
She answered on the first ring.
“Carmine.”
“Why did you request Alessia’s route?”
Silence.
His stomach dropped.
“Mother.”
When she finally spoke, her voice was shaking.
“Because I was trying to change it.”
“From what?”
“The mountain road.”
Carmine stopped breathing.
Teresa whispered, “Someone had already submitted the reroute before I got there.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Then she said the one thing that made the entire investigation dangerous again.
“But the authorization was not forged with your father’s old token.”
Carmine closed his eyes.
“What was it forged with?”
“Your current biometric seal.”
The seal had been issued two years after Alessia died.
---
The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.
May you like
If you enjoyed the story, bookmark my site: https://vibe.treeiq.biz
New stories are posted daily, so check back for updates.
