Chapter 8 - The Chapel Fire
The first flame appeared beneath the west window.
Federal Agent Marcus Hale shouted for everyone away from the doors.
Enzo grabbed a wooden pew and drove it into a side window.
Old glass shattered outward.
"Adeline first."
She shook her head.
"The box."
"Agent Hale has it. Move."
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Adeline climbed through the window.
Teresa followed.
The agents passed the evidence box through.
Enzo came last.
Outside, a dark SUV accelerated away from the service lane.
A federal vehicle pursued.
Fire crews arrived quickly enough to save most of the chapel.
The organ burned.
The index did not.
Someone had known exactly when they found it.
That meant a leak.
Not necessarily inside federal law enforcement.
Could be the property company.
Household security.
Foundation staff.
Enzo's world had too many doors.
The fleeing SUV crashed four miles away.
Driver:
Vittorio Marchetti.
Alive.
Seventy-two.
Bleeding from the forehead.
Furious.
When Enzo saw him through the hospital-room glass the next morning, something inside him became very quiet.
Vittorio smiled.
"Look at you. Carlo's little prince finally reading the paperwork."
Enzo entered only with agents present.
"You killed Gabriel."
Vittorio shrugged.
"Gabriel killed Gabriel."
Adeline, watching through the glass, stiffened.
Enzo said, "You beat him in Warehouse 9."
"He was a thief."
"The index says otherwise."
For the first time, Vittorio's smile moved.
"You found it."
"Yes."
"Then you know your father was dirty too."
"I know what he did."
Vittorio laughed.
"No, you know what Gabriel wrote."
Enzo leaned closer.
"Tell me something different."
Vittorio's eyes hardened.
Then he did.
Carlo did not order Gabriel killed.
He ordered Vittorio to release him after the numbers were verified.
Arthur Ashford objected.
Gabriel had already copied files that implicated hospital executives and a state procurement official.
Arthur believed release meant prison for all of them.
Vittorio chose the solution.
He beat Gabriel until he agreed to sign a confession.
Gabriel refused.
So Vittorio used an old signature sample.
Then he staged the death.
"Suicide?" Enzo asked.
Vittorio looked bored.
"He was unconscious when we put him in the car."
Behind the glass, Adeline stopped breathing.
Agent Hale's face changed.
Enzo's hands tightened on the table.
"Who is we?"
Vittorio smiled again.
"You want the old judge."
"Arthur Ashford."
"Arthur never got his hands dirty."
"Who drove?"
Vittorio looked toward the window.
At Adeline.
Then said, "Carlo's security captain."
Teresa whispered a name before Enzo could.
"Raffaele D'Amico."
Enzo's godfather.
The man who had died only three months earlier after living in the Marchetti guesthouse for a decade.
Adeline looked sick.
Another dead man.
Another convenient ending.
Then Vittorio added:
"Raffaele kept a copy of everything."
Enzo stared.
"Where?"
Vittorio laughed.
"Ask the girl. He left it to her."
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