The Man at Gabriel’s Right Hand
Chapter 09 - The Man at Gabriel’s Right Hand
Norah did not tell Ezra what Daniel had said.
She hated herself for how naturally the lie came.
“How is he?” Ezra asked when she stepped into the hallway.
“Older.”
“That happens.”
“He says hello.”
Ezra’s expression did not change.
Norah had worked beside him for six years too.
He had brought her soup once when she had the flu. He had replaced a tire on her car in a parking garage. He remembered her birthday only because the office calendar told him to, but he always chose books as gifts because he had noticed she never wore perfume.
She did not want him to be dangerous.
That was no longer a useful reason to trust anyone.
Back upstairs, Gabriel was alone.
“Did he convince you?”
Norah shut the door.
“He tried.”
“About me?”
“Mostly.”
Gabriel nodded once.
She studied him.
“Where were you the night Victor Lyle died?”
“Paris.”
Her pulse shifted.
“What time did you call Ezra?”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
He thought for a moment.
“Late. There had been an issue with a shipment.”
“2:13 a.m. Chicago time?”
His expression changed.
“How do you know that?”
“Dad.”
Gabriel walked around the desk.
“What did he say?”
“That twelve minutes after you called Ezra, Victor left his hotel.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Then he opened the office door.
“Ezra.”
No answer.
The outer office was empty.
Norah’s stomach tightened.
“He was just here.”
Gabriel reached for his phone.
Straight to voicemail.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Within minutes, security sealed the building.
Ezra’s car was gone.
His company phone had been left in a restroom trash can.
Gabriel stood beside the conference table while his replacement security chief delivered the update.
“He disabled his tracker before leaving.”
“How long ago?”
“Thirty-one minutes.”
Norah watched Gabriel’s face.
This was not anger.
It was injury.
He trusted Ezra.
Perhaps more than anyone.
“Find him,” Gabriel said.
The man left.
Norah remained.
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Or this is very good acting.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“I deserve that.”
She wished he would argue.
He walked to a cabinet and poured a glass of water.
Not whiskey.
Norah noticed because the situation seemed designed for whiskey.
“What did you ask Ezra to do that night?” she said.
“Find Victor.”
“Why?”
“Victor had stolen shipping records and threatened to sell them.”
“To whom?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Did you say ‘deal with him’?”
Gabriel shut his eyes.
“Yes.”
Norah felt cold.
“What exactly did you mean?”
“Pay him. Recover the records. Make him sign an agreement.”
“Could Ezra have interpreted it differently?”
“No.”
“You sound certain.”
“Because Ezra knew I was trying to separate Rossi Holdings from everything my father built.”
“And yet Victor died.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stared at the glass in his hand.
“And I did not ask enough questions.”
There was the guilt.
Not theatrical.
Worse.
Responsible.
Norah sat.
“Why would Ezra kill him?”
Gabriel’s phone vibrated.
A text message.
From Ezra.
One line.
Ask Daniel who killed my aunt.
Gabriel showed Norah.
“Sofia Bell,” she said.
“The woman on the tape.”
“Ezra’s aunt?”
“Yes. My mother’s friend.”
Norah remembered Daniel’s recorded voice.
A girl named Sofia Bell was killed because she saw something she should not have seen.
“What did she see?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I never knew.”
Norah’s phone rang.
Her mother.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
“Norah, listen to me.”
“What happened?”
“Your father is gone.”
Norah stood.
“What?”
“He left federal custody.”
“How?”
“He was not under arrest. They couldn’t legally hold him after the interview.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“Did he call you?”
“No.”
Gabriel gestured for her to put the phone on speaker.
Elaine heard his voice and immediately said, “Do not trust Ezra Bell.”
Norah almost laughed at the timing.
“We’re getting that impression.”
Elaine continued.
“Daniel discovered years ago that Ezra was following Gabriel.”
“For whom?” Gabriel asked.
“Not Marco.”
“Then Daniel?”
“No.”
The line went quiet.
Norah pressed the phone closer.
“Mom?”
“For himself.”
Gabriel frowned.
Elaine’s voice dropped.
“Sofia Bell was nineteen when she died. She worked coat check at a private club Vittorio used. One night, she took the wrong coat home by mistake.”
“What was in it?” Norah asked.
“A cassette recorder.”
Gabriel went still.
“Whose?”
“Marco’s.”
Elaine continued.
“She heard him discussing the car bomb.”
Norah’s heart beat harder.
“So Marco killed her.”
“No.”
The answer stopped everyone.
“Then who?”
Elaine began to cry.
Norah had rarely heard her mother cry.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Norah sat very slowly.
“No.”
“Daniel didn’t mean to kill her.”
“What does that mean?”
“He was sent to retrieve the tape. Sofia panicked. She ran into the street.”
Norah pressed a hand to her mouth.
Elaine continued through tears.
“She was hit by a car. Daniel took the recorder and left.”
“He left her there?”
“Yes.”
Norah closed her eyes.
A nineteen-year-old girl in the street.
Her father taking evidence from her body.
Walking away.
Gabriel looked sick.
Elaine said, “Ezra found out twelve years later. He has blamed Daniel ever since.”
“Then why work for Gabriel?” Norah asked.
“To get close to the family.”
Gabriel’s voice was flat.
“And Victor?”
“Victor was one of Marco’s men. Ezra thought killing him would force Marco into the open.”
Norah stared at Gabriel.
“So Ezra has been conducting his own war inside your company.”
“Yes.”
Another phone rang.
Gabriel’s desk line.
He answered.
A male voice said, “Gabriel.”
Ezra.
Gabriel put it on speaker.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you won’t like.”
“What do you want?”
“The second ledger.”
“We don’t have it.”
“Elaine does.”
Norah stiffened.
Ezra continued.
“Daniel knows where she hid it. Marco knows too.”
“Why do you want it?”
“Because it contains Sofia’s name.”
“And?”
A long pause.
“Because Daniel altered the first ledger.”
Norah’s eyes opened.
“How?”
Her voice made Ezra quiet.
Then he said, “Your father removed one name before putting it in the bank.”
“Whose?”
Ezra breathed once into the phone.
“Gabriel’s mother.”
Gabriel stared at the speaker.
Norah looked at him.
Ezra’s next sentence landed harder.
May you like
“Elena Rossi did not discover Vittorio’s operation, Gabriel.”
“She helped build it.”
