Chapter 6 - Gabriel’s Secret
The ambulance took Noah to Massachusetts General.
Harper rode with him.
Gabriel followed.
He did not try to speak to her.
That was wise.
By the time the doctor said Noah’s lungs were clear and the bruising on his wrists was superficial, Harper’s fear had turned into anger.
Cold anger.
Focused anger.
The kind that did not shake.
She found Gabriel alone near a window at the end of the pediatric corridor.
“What was on the drive?”
He turned.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Derek said you did.”
“Derek wanted you to distrust me.”
“Should I?”
Gabriel was silent.
That was answer enough.
Harper stepped closer.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“My father’s name may be in your mother’s files.”
Harper stopped.
“May be?”
“He ran the Ashford organization before me.”
“I know who your father was.”
Everyone in Boston knew.
Thomas Ashford had been murdered twelve years earlier outside a North End restaurant.
Gabriel looked out at the city.
“My father paid police officers. Judges. Inspectors. Sometimes for information. Sometimes for protection. Sometimes to make evidence disappear.”
Harper felt sick.
“Vance?”
“I believe so.”
“You believe so?”
“I was twenty when my father died. I inherited a business full of men who thought I was too young to survive it. I spent years cutting away pieces I didn’t want.”
“Crime with better rules is still crime.”
“Yes.”
The easy admission surprised her.
Gabriel continued.
“I stopped narcotics trafficking. I stopped protection money from small businesses. I stopped buying cops.”
“But?”
“But the past doesn’t disappear because you decide to behave better.”
Harper folded her arms.
“My mother found proof your father was working with Vance.”
“Probably.”
“And you knew this before tonight?”
“I knew Vance was connected to my father. I did not know Elena Queen had evidence.”
“Why didn’t you tell me at the storage unit?”
“Because your brother had a gun to his head.”
“After.”
“You were covered in blood and he was barely breathing.”
“That doesn’t mean you get to choose what I can handle.”
Gabriel looked at her for a long moment.
“You’re right.”
Harper had prepared herself for denial.
The apology disarmed her.
He took a step back.
“I’m sorry.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Where is the drive?”
“The storage unit has a false back wall. My people found a locked steel box.”
“You searched it without me?”
“Ortiz got a warrant first.”
Harper exhaled.
“Good.”
“Inside was the flash drive.”
Her heart kicked.
“And?”
“Encrypted.”
“Can you open it?”
“I can try.”
“No.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
“Detective Ortiz opens it. Officially.”
“Agreed.”
Harper narrowed her eyes.
“You’re agreeing too fast.”
“I’m learning.”
Despite herself, she almost smiled.
Then Ortiz came down the hall.
Her expression ended the moment.
“We have a problem.”
Harper’s stomach tightened.
“What now?”
“Derek was taken to a secure hospital ward.”
Gabriel straightened.
“Was?”
Ortiz’s jaw clenched.
“Two officers signed him out for emergency transfer.”
“Who authorized it?” Harper asked.
“Captain Vance.”
Harper stared at her.
“You let him take Derek?”
“I didn’t know until five minutes ago.”
Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
He read a message.
His face became stone.
“What?” Harper demanded.
He turned the screen around.
A photograph showed Derek sitting in the back of an unmarked car, his injured shoulder bandaged.
Beside him sat Captain Vance.
Under the picture was one sentence from an unknown number.
ASHFORD, BRING THE DRIVE TO LONG WHARF AT MIDNIGHT OR THE BOY’S NEXT.
Harper looked toward Noah’s room.
A uniformed hospital officer stood outside the door.
Then Gabriel said quietly,
May you like
“That officer isn’t ours.”
