Chapter 11 - The Language Gabriel Finally Learned
Three weeks later, Il Canto reopened Table 7.
Marco refused to assign it to anyone.
He claimed the table had become cursed.
Chloe claimed he was dramatic.
Marco reminded her that armed federal agents had questioned half the staff.
Chloe admitted he had a point.
Victor remained in federal custody.
The charges against him grew every week.
Fraud.
Conspiracy.
Witness intimidation.
Obstruction.
Investigators had reopened Leo's death.
Dean Mercer had disappeared before police could question him.
A national search was underway.
Nico had entered a cooperation agreement.
Gabriel had not forgiven him.
Chloe doubted he ever fully would.
But Nico had testified.
That mattered.
Beatrice returned home.
Her prescriptions were replaced.
Her doctors changed.
Her shares remained hers.
And Gabriel did something nobody expected.
He enrolled in ASL classes.
Privately at first.
Then Beatrice discovered his secret tutor and informed absolutely everyone.
Chloe learned this when Gabriel walked into Il Canto on a Tuesday afternoon.
He sat at Table 7 alone.
Chloe approached with a menu.
“We're closed between lunch and dinner.”
Gabriel looked at the empty restaurant.
“Then service should be excellent.”
“Your standards are unrealistic.”
He raised his hands.
Coffee.
Chloe stopped.
His sign was correct.
She smiled despite herself.
“Black?”
He signed.
Yes.
Then added.
Please.
Chloe laughed.
“That almost looked polite.”
Gabriel looked offended.
She brought him coffee.
He watched her sit across from him.
“You're supposed to be working.”
“You bought the restaurant.”
“I bought Marco's building.”
“Which somehow made him more nervous.”
Gabriel looked toward the kitchen.
“Good.”
Chloe shook her head.
“You really enjoy terrifying people.”
“Only Marco.”
For several moments, neither spoke.
Then Gabriel signed slowly.
Thank you.
Chloe looked at his hands.
“For what?”
He switched back to speech.
“My mother.”
“You don't need to thank me.”
“Yes.”
His voice lowered.
“I do.”
Chloe looked toward the windows.
“Leo would have liked her.”
“He did.”
“That still feels strange.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Mother kept photographs.”
Chloe looked back.
“What photographs?”
“From the church.”
He took out his phone.
Beatrice and Leo appeared on the screen.
Leo was younger.
Grinning.
Holding a tray of burnt cookies.
Beatrice stood beside him making an exaggerated disgusted face.
Chloe laughed and cried at the same time.
“That idiot.”
Gabriel watched her.
“He looked happy.”
“He usually was.”
She wiped her eyes.
“He was better at that than me.”
Gabriel put the phone down.
“You're not bad.”
“At being happy?”
“At pretending you're not.”
Chloe stared at him.
“That sounded suspiciously insightful.”
“I've been reading.”
“Dangerous.”
He almost smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“There is something else.”
Chloe immediately tensed.
“I hate when Costellos say that.”
Gabriel took a small envelope from his jacket.
The envelope had come from the trust case.
Chloe recognized it.
No name.
Just a date.
The date was four days before Leo died.
“Mother refused to open it without you.”
“Why?”
“She says Leo put it there.”
Chloe stared.
“I thought his letter was everything.”
“So did she.”
Beatrice entered from the front door.
Chloe looked up.
“You knew he was here?”
Beatrice signed.
He is terrible at secrets.
Gabriel understood enough to glare.
Beatrice sat beside Chloe.
She touched the envelope.
Leo told me only open if Victor ever caught.
Chloe frowned.
“Caught?”
Beatrice corrected herself.
Arrested.
Chloe's stomach tightened.
She opened the envelope.
Inside was a memory card.
Nothing else.
Gabriel brought out a laptop.
Chloe inserted the card.
One video file appeared.
LEO_FINAL.
Her hand froze over the trackpad.
Beatrice covered it with hers.
Chloe clicked.
Leo appeared.
Alive.
Sitting in the St. Matthew's archive room.
The sight knocked the breath from Chloe.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then he began signing.
Chloe automatically signed along under the table.
Hey, Chlo.
If you're watching this, Mrs. B finally stopped being stubborn.
Beatrice looked offended.
Chloe cried.
Leo continued.
I found something tonight.
Something bigger than the trust.
A man named Victor thinks Mrs. B only hid company papers.
He is wrong.
Carlo Costello hid a ledger too.
Gabriel leaned forward.
Leo held up a black notebook.
This has names.
Judges.
Police officers.
Politicians.
Businessmen.
People Victor paid.
People Victor threatened.
People who helped him.
Gabriel's face darkened.
Leo continued.
I copied it.
The original is not at the church.
I hid it somewhere nobody connected to Costello would look.
Chloe wiped her eyes.
Then Leo smiled.
Chlo, remember where Dad used to take us when Mom got mad because he bought that stupid boat?
Chloe froze.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Where?”
She did not answer.
Leo continued.
Do not go alone.
Seriously.
I know you.
Do not go alone.
The video ended.
Chloe stared at the black screen.
Beatrice signed.
Where?
Chloe swallowed.
“My father had a fishing cabin in Wisconsin.”
Gabriel stood.
“Does it still exist?”
“Yes.”
“Who owns it?”
“I do.”
Gabriel reached for his coat.
Chloe remained seated.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“No more running directly into traps.”
“That ledger could put away everyone who protected Victor.”
“I know.”
“Then we need it.”
“We need a plan.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Chloe folded her arms.
“Congratulations.”
“On what?”
“You've finally met somebody who tells you no more often than your mother.”
Beatrice signed.
I like her.
Gabriel saw enough to understand.
He rolled his eyes.
Chloe smiled.
For the first time since Leo died, remembering him did not feel only painful.
It felt like a door.
Not closed.
Not finished.
A door he had left open for her.
Two days later, they drove north.
Gabriel.
Chloe.
Beatrice.
Anthony.
No convoy.
No family soldiers.
Snow had begun falling by the time they crossed into Wisconsin.
The cabin sat beside a frozen lake.
Exactly as Chloe remembered.
The roof sagged slightly.
The porch leaned.
The old blue boat remained upside down beside the shed.
Chloe laughed when she saw it.
“Dad really did love that stupid thing.”
Gabriel looked around.
“Where would Leo hide something?”
Chloe stepped onto the porch.
“If he used our childhood hiding places?”
“Yes.”
“Anywhere designed to annoy me.”
Beatrice smiled.
They searched for an hour.
Nothing.
Then Chloe remembered.
The boat.
She walked outside.
Gabriel followed.
They turned it over.
Beneath the center bench was a rusted metal compartment.
Chloe opened it.
Inside sat a waterproof case.
Gabriel exhaled.
“That’s it.”
Chloe lifted the case.
A sound came from the trees.
A branch snapping.
Gabriel immediately moved in front of her.
Anthony drew his weapon.
Beatrice looked toward the road.
A man emerged from the forest.
Unshaven.
Older.
Terrified.
Chloe recognized him from the court file.
Dean Mercer.
The man who had driven the truck into her brother.
Anthony aimed at him.
“Hands.”
Mercer raised both hands.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“You picked the wrong cabin.”
Mercer shook his head violently.
“I didn't come for the ledger.”
Chloe's blood burned.
“You killed my brother.”
Mercer looked at her.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I know.”
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“Yes.”
The honesty stunned her.
Mercer took one step.
Gabriel raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
Mercer stopped.
“I came because Victor isn't the worst person in that ledger.”
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Mercer looked at the waterproof case.
“Victor worked for someone.”
Nobody moved.
Gabriel's voice lowered.
“Who?”
Mercer laughed bitterly.
“You really don't know.”
“No.”
Mercer looked at Beatrice.
Her face changed before he spoke.
She knew the name.
Chloe saw it.
Mercer whispered.
“Carlo Costello.”
Gabriel went completely still.
“My father is dead.”
Mercer nodded.
“Yes.”
“But what he built isn't.”
Beatrice began signing furiously.
Chloe stared at her.
“What?”
Beatrice repeated the signs.
Slowly.
Her hands were shaking.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“What is she saying?”
Chloe could barely speak.
“She says Mercer is telling the truth.”
Gabriel stared at his mother.
Beatrice's eyes filled with tears.
She signed one final sentence.
Your father did not create the ledger to expose Victor.
He created it because he was afraid of the people above Victor.
The wind moved across the frozen lake.
Mercer looked toward the road.
“You have maybe ten minutes.”
Anthony turned.
“Until what?”
Mercer swallowed.
“Until they find me.”
Gabriel opened the waterproof case.
Inside was the black ledger.
A photograph.
And a sealed letter bearing Carlo Costello's handwriting.
Gabriel picked up the letter.
On the front were six words.
FOR GABRIEL, WHEN THE FAMILY FALLS.
Chloe looked toward the tree line.
Headlights appeared through the snow.
Not one vehicle.
Six.
Beatrice grabbed Gabriel's arm.
He looked at his mother.
For once, he did not ask Chloe what she was saying.
He understood the signs himself.
Run.
May you like
Now.
TOBE CONTINUED
