Chapter 7 - The Evidence Leo Kept
Roman entered behind me.
Rourke looked at him.
The smile disappeared.
“Mr.
Caldwell.”
Roman’s voice was quiet.
“You have ten seconds to explain why you’re inside my employee’s apartment.”
Rourke glanced toward the hallway.
“I’ve been contracted to arrange medical transportation.”
“By whom?”
“Eastbridge.”
“That’s your company.”
Rourke said nothing.
Roman stepped closer.
“You were paid twenty thousand dollars from my private account.”
Rourke’s eyes moved toward the door again.
Roman noticed.
“Don’t run.”
Rourke gave a humorless laugh.
“You think you can threaten me?”
“No.
I think you’re about to be questioned by people who have more authority than I do.”
Distant sirens sounded outside.
Rourke’s expression changed.
For the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.
He reached toward his pocket.
Roman moved between us.
“Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Rourke stopped.
The apartment fell silent.
Then Leo spoke.
“Blue.”
All three of us turned.
My brother was staring at Rourke.
His face was pale.
But his eyes were focused.
“Blue… seal.”
Rourke’s expression went blank.
Leo gripped the armrest of his wheelchair.
“I… remember… you.”
My breath caught.
Rourke stepped backward.
“He’s confused.”
Leo shook his head.
“No.”
His voice grew stronger.
“Truck.
Black car.
You.”
I dropped to my knees beside him.
“Leo?”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I… saw.”
Rourke turned toward the door.
But Roman’s security team had entered the hallway, and responding officers were coming through the building entrance.
Rourke stopped.
He looked at Roman with open hatred.
“You have no idea what you’re getting involved in.”
Roman didn’t raise his voice.
“Then you’ll have plenty to explain.”
The police separated everyone and took statements.
Rourke was detained while officers investigated the forged medical authorization and the attempted transfer.
The two men outside the building were questioned.
Leo was examined by responding medical personnel because the confrontation had triggered painful muscle spasms.
He was frightened.
But he was safe.
When Dr.
Ellis called to verify the legitimate rehabilitation program, she confirmed that Harbor Rehabilitation Institute had not authorized any transfer to Eastbridge.
The arrangement Roman had funded was genuine.
The ambulance at our building was not.
I sat beside Leo while the police finished their work.
He rested his head against the back of his wheelchair.
I held his hand.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“Scared.”
“I know.”
He looked toward the door.
“Thought… they’d… take me.”
My throat closed.
“I’m sorry.”
He frowned.
“Not… you.”
I kissed his forehead.
“I should have told somebody what happened that night.”
Leo squeezed my hand.
Then he whispered something I wasn’t expecting.
“I… kept… it.”
I pulled back.
“Kept what?”
His breathing quickened.
He pointed toward the kitchen.
“Blue… tin.”
I followed his gaze.
On the highest shelf, beside our little basil plant, sat an old blue biscuit tin.
It belonged to our mother.
We used it to store photographs, birthday cards, and small keepsakes.
I looked back at Leo.
“What about it?”
He swallowed.
“Inside.”
I stood.
My hands trembled as I took down the tin.
Inside were old family photographs.
A birthday card from Mom.
A faded ribbon.
And beneath the photographs, a tiny plastic container.
I opened it.
A microSD memory card rested inside.
I stared.
“Leo?”
He nodded.
“Video.”
Roman, who had been speaking with an officer near the front door, turned toward us.
I looked at the memory card.
“From the accident?”
Leo nodded again.
“Before.”
My heart pounded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He looked down.
For several seconds, he struggled to speak.
Then he whispered:
“They… would… hurt… you.”
I sank into the chair.
My brother had been carrying evidence of what happened to him.
All this time.
And he had hidden it because he believed the people who injured him would come after me.
I covered my mouth.
“Oh, Leo.”
He held out his hand.
I took it.
Then he said something that shattered my heart.
“You… already… lost… enough.”
That afternoon, investigator Nadia Brooks arrived with two colleagues from the state attorney general’s office.
She was a tall woman in her forties with a calm voice and the kind of focused attention that made every question feel important.
She spoke first to Leo.
Not to me.
Not to Roman.
To Leo.
“Mr.
Hayes, I understand you may have evidence connected to your accident.”
Leo nodded.
“Would you like your sister to stay with you?”
Another nod.
“Good.
We’ll take this at your pace.”
I was grateful for that.
Too many people spoke about Leo as though he weren’t in the room.
Nadia didn’t.
She explained how investigators would preserve and examine the memory card.
Then she asked whether Leo knew what was on it.
He nodded.
“Carlo.”
Roman went still.
Nadia looked at him.
“Carlo DeLuca?”
Leo nodded.
Roman turned away.
I saw his jaw tighten.
Nadia asked another question.
“How did you get the recording?”
Leo took a breath.
“Phone… copied.”
He explained slowly, with pauses, that he had been checking delivery documents at the warehouse when he noticed two shipping containers with mismatched identification seals.
He’d gone to Bay Four to investigate.
Then he’d seen Carlo standing beside a black vehicle.
Elias Rourke was with him.
They were discussing a shipment.
Leo had started recording because he thought the paperwork was being falsified.
He’d backed up the recording to an online account before leaving the warehouse.
Later, during his rehabilitation, he’d managed to recover the file using an old tablet and saved a copy onto the memory card.
The explanation took nearly twenty minutes.
Nobody rushed him.
Finally, Nadia asked, “Did you see who struck you?”
Leo’s face tightened.
“Black…
SUV.”
“Was Rourke driving?”
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
My chest tightened.
Nadia continued gently.
“Are you certain?”
Leo closed his eyes.
For a moment, I thought the memory had overwhelmed him.
Then he opened them.
“Silver… ring.”
I began to cry.
He remembered the hand on the steering wheel.
The ring I’d seen in the hospital.
The same ring in Roman’s photograph.
The man who had pretended to investigate Leo’s accident had been behind the wheel of the vehicle that injured him.
Nadia wrote something in her notebook.
Then she looked at Roman.
“Mr.
Caldwell, we’ll need the original transaction records from your company.”
“You’ll have them.”
“All of them.
Including anything that reflects poorly on you.”
Roman didn’t hesitate.
“All of them.”
I looked at him.
Nadia studied his face.
“Cooperation doesn’t guarantee immunity.”
“I understand.”
“You may expose yourself to charges unrelated to this case.”
“I understand that too.”
Roman glanced toward Leo.
May you like
“He’s the one who should have had a chance at a normal life.
Do what you need to do.”
