Chapter 17 - REBECCA
Roman stood.
Agent Hall did not.
That frightened me.
“Tell me she’s lying,” Roman said.
Hall stared at the dead cassette recorder.
“Rebecca.”
I had never called her that before.
She looked at me.
“My mother’s maiden name was Hall.”
Roman laughed once.
No humor.
“You investigated my family for years and forgot to mention Martin Devereux is your father?”
“I didn’t forget.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
That word had nearly destroyed our marriage once.
Now it detonated in another room.
Hall explained.
Her mother had left Devereux when Rebecca was three.
No marriage.
No public acknowledgment.
Martin paid support through attorneys and never used his name.
Rebecca learned who he was at sixteen.
At twenty-four she joined federal law enforcement.
Not because of him.
She insisted on that.
Roman did not care.
“You used me.”
“I investigated you.”
“You pushed me to cooperate while knowing evidence existed against your own father.”
“I didn’t know about this ledger.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
Hall’s face hardened.
“You shouldn’t.”
That surprised everyone.
“You verify it.”
She placed her badge on the table.
“I’m reporting the conflict immediately.”
Roman stared.
“No argument?”
“No.”
“No explanation about why your secrecy was necessary?”
A flicker of pain moved through her face.
“I’ve had enough men use necessity to excuse secrecy.”
I looked at Roman.
He heard it too.
Hall continued.
“My father knows I hate him.”
“Does he know you’re investigating him?”
“I never officially investigated him.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Hall paused.
“Yes.”
Leah whispered:
“Then why is he still here?”
Hall looked at her.
“Because Martin Devereux has spent fifty years making sure other people commit the crimes.”
That was the real danger.
No gun.
No warehouse.
No drug shipments.
Documents.
Contracts.
Advice.
Plausible deniability.
Roman finally understood.
“My father and Carlo took the risks.”
Hall nodded.
“Martin built the system.”
“And profited whether they won or lost.”
“Yes.”
I thought about something.
“Why send the blue envelope now?”
Nobody knew.
Then Hall’s phone buzzed.
She looked at it.
Her face changed.
“What?”
“My father’s office was emptied last night.”
Roman smiled without warmth.
“He knows.”
Hall shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“He knew before we found the box.”
The room went cold.
Someone else had been inside the estate wall before us.
May you like
Someone who knew Isabella’s secret.
And someone had intentionally left enough behind for us to find.
