Chapter 10 - Helena’s Secret Ally
Special Agent Rebecca Sloan had attended three Vescari Christmas dinners in fifteen years.
Always as “Rebecca from Helena’s charity board.”
Lucia had never known she was FBI.
Giovanni apparently had.
“You,” he said.
Sloan kept her weapon trained toward Rafael’s last known position. “Not now, Giovanni.”
Federal agents flooded the warehouse.
One masked gunman surrendered.
Another ran and was tackled near the loading bay.
Vincent tried to crawl toward a side exit.
Sloan stepped on the fake ledger beside his hand.
“Morning, Vincent.”
His face collapsed.
Rafael was gone.
A rear emergency door swung in the wind.
Clarissa stared at it. “He has a boat.”
Sloan looked at her. “We know.”
“How?”
“Helena.”
That name stopped everyone again.
Lucia walked toward Sloan. “Tell me what my mother did.”
Sloan lowered her weapon.
“Six months ago Helena contacted me privately. She believed someone was using her foundation to move criminal money and frame her for it.”
Giovanni’s eyes hardened. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
Sloan gave him a look with no fear in it. “Because you solve problems differently than federal accountants.”
Marco almost smiled.
Giovanni did not.
Sloan continued. “Helena wanted proof that could survive court, not a missing body in a marsh.”
Lucia swallowed.
That sounded exactly like her mother.
“She gave us access to her records,” Sloan said. “She also recruited Clarissa as a confidential source.”
Emilio turned sharply.
Clarissa closed her eyes.
“You were working with the FBI?”
“Not officially at first.”
Sloan answered for her. “She came to us because Helena asked her to.”
Emilio looked devastated. “And nobody thought I should know anything?”
Helena’s coffin stood ten feet away.
Lucia looked at it. “Mom didn’t trust you.”
Emilio winced.
Sloan shook her head. “That’s not what she said.”
Lucia looked up.
“She said Emilio was impulsive, angry, spoiled, and currently thinking with parts of his body that were not his brain.”
Despite everything, Father Matteo coughed to hide a laugh.
Sloan’s face softened. “But she also said he was not a thief.”
Emilio’s eyes filled.
“She said that?”
“She spent her last week trying to prove it.”
Emilio turned toward his mother’s coffin.
His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Sloan handed Giovanni a sealed evidence pouch found on Vincent.
Inside was a tiny electronic key.
“Vincent had this.”
Clarissa recognized it. “Marina access.”
“Which marina?”
“North Cove.”
Sloan nodded to two agents. “Go.”
Giovanni said, “Rafael will not be there by the time you arrive.”
“You planning to help?”
“I am planning to bury my wife.”
Sloan’s eyes narrowed. “You do that.”
Then she turned to Clarissa. “You’re coming with us.”
Emilio stepped forward. “Is she under arrest?”
“No.”
“Then she stays.”
Clarissa stared at him.
Sloan said, “She is a witness in an active federal investigation.”
“She is also the woman who lied to me for three years.”
Clarissa flinched.
Emilio continued, voice low. “And apparently the woman my mother trusted to save me from being framed.”
He looked at Clarissa.
“I don’t know what you are to me anymore.”
She nodded slowly. “That makes two of us.”
Sloan’s radio crackled.
“Agent Sloan, North Cove unit. We found the boat.”
Everyone listened.
“Rafael?”
“Negative. Boat is empty.”
A pause.
“Except for one body.”
Clarissa’s face went white.
Sloan asked, “Identify.”
The answer came through static.
“Male. Late thirties. Driver’s license says Emilio Vescari.”
Emilio stared at the radio.
Lucia looked at her brother standing right beside her.
And suddenly the fake passport in Clarissa’s suitcase made terrifying sense.
The next chapters are on the left side of your screen.
May you like
If you enjoyed the story, bookmark my site: https://metro.treeiq.biz
New stories are posted daily, so check back for updates.
