Chapter 7 - The Red Coat
Gabriel wanted to evacuate the school.
Chloe wanted Sofia arrested.
Beatrice wanted everyone to stop shouting long enough to think.
She slammed a wooden spoon against the kitchen counter.
The room went silent.
Beatrice signed.
Sofia wants us frightened.
Gabriel understood most of it.
He looked at Chloe for the rest.
“She says panic helps Sofia.”
Gabriel rubbed his jaw.
“The photograph could have been taken yesterday.”
Chloe looked at the screen.
“Or five minutes ago.”
Gabriel’s security team confirmed Patrick Doyle’s daughter and grandson were safe within twelve minutes.
The photograph was six months old.
A threat.
Not an immediate attack.
Chloe exhaled.
Gabriel did not relax.
“She asked for Il Canto.”
“Because she controls Marco.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Marco is in custody.”
“Then why the restaurant?”
Beatrice answered.
Because she thinks it belongs to her.
Gabriel looked at his mother.
“What?”
Beatrice signed.
Il Canto was Isabella’s.
Chloe translated.
Gabriel frowned.
“My father opened it.”
Beatrice shook her head.
Isabella did.
Gabriel stared.
“She owned Il Canto?”
Beatrice nodded.
Your father took it when she disappeared.
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“That family tradition is starting to sound familiar.”
Gabriel did not defend his father.
By six o’clock they had a plan.
Federal agents hated it.
Gabriel’s security team hated it.
Chloe hated it most.
Which probably meant it was the only plan Sofia might believe.
Chloe would go to Il Canto.
Gabriel would appear to bring her as requested.
Beatrice insisted on joining them.
Absolutely nobody approved that part.
She refused to stay behind.
Gabriel argued for ten minutes.
Beatrice simply put on her coat.
“Your mother has terrifying conflict-resolution skills.”
Chloe said.
Gabriel sighed.
“You’re just realizing that?”
The restaurant was closed when they arrived.
No diners.
No staff.
Only dim chandeliers over empty tables.
Table 7 had been prepared.
Three wine glasses.
Three plates.
And one red rose.
Chloe stopped.
“That’s subtle.”
Gabriel touched the inside of his jacket.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“She asked for me.”
“She’s not getting you.”
“Then why am I here?”
Gabriel had no answer.
Beatrice walked ahead of both of them.
Gabriel muttered.
“Ma.”
She ignored him.
At Table 7 she sat down.
Then she signed.
Late.
Chloe smiled.
“She says Sofia is late.”
A woman’s voice came from the balcony.
“No.”
They looked up.
“I’ve been here the entire time.”
The woman descended the staircase slowly.
Red coat.
Dark hair streaked with silver.
Elegant.
Controlled.
She looked nothing like the frightened criminal Chloe had imagined.
Sofia Costello looked like a woman arriving for a board meeting.
Gabriel studied her.
Sofia smiled.
“Little brother.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“We’ve never met.”
“Oh, we have.”
“When?”
“You were three.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“It counted to me.”
Beatrice stood.
Sofia looked at her.
Something almost tender entered her face.
“Aunt Beatrice.”
Beatrice signed.
You killed Leo.
Sofia’s expression did not change.
Chloe translated.
Sofia looked at her.
“I didn’t.”
Chloe felt anger surge.
“Someone did.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened me.”
“Yes.”
“Patrick’s family?”
“I needed you to come.”
“You could have sent an invitation.”
“You might have declined.”
“I definitely would have declined.”
A tiny smile appeared on Sofia’s face.
“You are very much Margaret Bennett’s daughter.”
Chloe stepped forward.
“You knew my mother?”
“Very well.”
“Did she know who killed Leo?”
“No.”
Chloe searched Sofia’s face.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel moved.
“Name.”
Sofia removed her coat.
She sat.
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice lowered.
“You brought Chloe here by threatening a child.”
“And if I had written, Dear Gabriel, please meet me at the restaurant where your father tried to have my sister murdered, would you have come quietly?”
Beatrice signed.
Probably.
Chloe translated.
Sofia looked at her aunt.
“You always were optimistic.”
Gabriel remained standing.
“Who killed Leo?”
Sofia picked up the wine bottle.
Nobody let her pour.
She shrugged.
“My father created a trust.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Sofia continued.
“He was a monster, but he loved puzzles.”
“When Isabella’s son turned thirty, control of certain family holdings would transfer to him.”
“Leo would have turned thirty next year.”
Chloe’s stomach tightened.
“If Leo died before thirty, the holdings passed to his lawful heirs.”
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
Sofia nodded.
“That is why she matters.”
Chloe crossed her arms.
“You could have challenged the trust.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“My father anticipated me.”
Sofia laughed without humor.
“He excluded children born outside marriage.”
Gabriel stared.
“So you get nothing.”
“Not directly.”
“But if Chloe transfers Leo’s claim to me, everything changes.”
Chloe laughed.
“That’s why you threatened children?”
“I was trying to keep Dominic from reaching you first.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Dominic works for you.”
Sofia’s eyes narrowed.
“Dominic works for himself.”
“You met him.”
“Yes.”
“I used him.”
“He believed I wanted the trust.”
“You do.”
“I want something more important.”
“What?”
Sofia looked toward Beatrice.
“The list.”
Beatrice went pale.
Gabriel noticed.
“What list?”
Sofia answered.
“Your father kept names.”
“Judges.”
“Police officers.”
“Politicians.”
“Port officials.”
“Business owners.”
“People he paid.”
“People he threatened.”
“People who ordered things from him that they would prefer buried.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“Where is it?”
“That is the problem.”
Sofia looked at Chloe.
“Leo found part of it.”
Chloe froze.
“The flash drive?”
“No.”
Sofia shook her head.
“That was shipping evidence.”
“The list was something else.”
“Leo mailed it before he died.”
“To who?”
Sofia’s eyes moved toward Beatrice.
Everyone turned.
Beatrice sat very still.
Gabriel whispered.
“Ma?”
She signed.
I promised Isabella.
Gabriel stared.
“You have it?”
Beatrice nodded.
Chloe felt the room contract.
“Where?”
Beatrice shook her head.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Of course.”
Sofia leaned back.
“Dominic learned she had it.”
“That is why he followed her.”
“That is why Marco bugged Chloe.”
“He believed Beatrice would tell the interpreter.”
Chloe looked at Sofia.
“And Leo?”
Sofia became quiet.
“Leo recognized Dominic at the docks.”
“He also recognized me.”
“You?”
“I met him once when he was sixteen.”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
“You met my brother?”
“He didn’t know who I was.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see Isabella’s son.”
Sofia’s voice softened.
“He was kind.”
Chloe hated hearing tenderness from her.
“What happened the night he died?”
Sofia looked at the empty table.
“Dominic called me.”
“He said Leo had evidence.”
“I told him to scare the boy and recover it.”
Chloe’s hands curled.
Sofia continued.
“Dominic contacted Victor.”
“But Victor received another order after that.”
“From who?”
Sofia looked directly at Gabriel.
“Your father’s old consigliere.”
Gabriel went still.
“Salvatore Greco is dead.”
“No.”
Sofia smiled sadly.
“He is retired.”
“There’s a difference.”
Gabriel’s face drained.
Salvatore had been the man who taught Gabriel how to drive.
The man who stood beside him at his father’s funeral.
The man Gabriel still called Uncle Sal.
Chloe saw betrayal settle over him.
“You’re lying.”
Sofia nodded toward the kitchen.
A door opened.
An elderly man entered.
Silver hair.
Cane.
Perfect dark suit.
Gabriel stared.
“Sal.”
Salvatore Greco smiled.
“My boy.”
Gabriel stepped backward as though struck.
Beatrice began signing furiously.
Monster.
Murderer.
Coward.
Salvatore looked at her hands.
Then at Chloe.
“You must be the waitress.”
Chloe stood beside Beatrice.
“Yes.”
Salvatore smiled.
“What a nuisance you turned out to be.”
Gabriel moved between them.
“You killed Leo.”
Salvatore sighed.
“The boy was going to cause chaos.”
“He was family.”
“He was Isabella’s mistake.”
Gabriel hit him.
The old man fell against a chair.
Security moved.
Sofia shouted.
“Don’t.”
Gabriel froze.
Salvatore wiped blood from his lip.
Then smiled.
“You still lead with anger.”
Gabriel’s eyes were murderous.
Salvatore looked around the restaurant.
“Your father did too.”
Chloe heard a faint click.
Beatrice heard nothing.
But she saw Chloe react.
Chloe looked toward the balcony.
A tiny red light appeared behind the railing.
Sniper sight.
Chloe did not speak.
She raised her hands.
Gabriel.
His eyes moved to her.
He understood his own name.
Chloe continued signing.
Balcony.
Gun.
Do not move.
Gabriel’s face remained expressionless.
He signed back awkwardly.
Where?
Chloe almost cried from relief.
Left.
Above Sofia.
Gabriel glanced toward Beatrice.
His mother had already understood.
Beatrice slowly knocked her wine glass from the table.
Everyone looked down.
Gabriel moved.
He tackled Chloe and Beatrice behind the stone bar as a suppressed shot shattered the bottle behind them.
Security opened fire toward the balcony.
Lights exploded.
Sofia dropped behind a table.
Salvatore ran toward the kitchen.
Gabriel shouted.
“Stop him!”
Chloe saw Beatrice signing.
Kitchen.
Second man.
Chloe yelled.
“Someone’s waiting in the kitchen!”
Two guards changed direction.
A second gunman was intercepted.
Salvatore reached the back corridor.
Chloe saw him.
Then she saw Sofia.
Sofia had a clear path to the front door.
She could escape.
Instead, she ran after Salvatore.
Gabriel followed.
Chloe helped Beatrice stand.
“You okay?”
Beatrice nodded.
Then she grabbed Chloe’s wrist.
Her eyes were terrified.
Gabriel.
Chloe looked toward the corridor.
A gunshot thundered.
This one was not suppressed.
May you like
Beatrice’s face went white.
Chloe ran.
