The Sentence Vincent Wished He Could Take Back
Chapter 09 - The Sentence Vincent Wished He Could Take Back
Vincent listened to the recording once.
He did not ask to hear it again.
They sat across from each other in a federal interview room.
No handcuffs.
No glass.
Mara had allowed the meeting because Mave was not acting as counsel, witness or investigator.
Simply herself.
That felt harder.
“Did you say it?”
“Yes.”
Mave looked at him.
“Context.”
Vincent exhaled.
“Price had threatened to expose a list of protected families if I didn’t give him access to Dominic’s accounts.”
“Protected families.”
“People my father paid to relocate.”
“Witnesses.”
“Some.”
“Victims.”
“Some.”
“Criminals.”
“Some.”
Mave nodded.
“And you threatened Price.”
“Yes.”
“‘Especially Price.’”
“Yes.”
“Meaning?”
“I wanted Rafe to scare him away from those files.”
Her stomach turned.
“You ordered intimidation.”
“Yes.”
“Did you expect violence?”
Vincent was silent.
That silence mattered.
“Vincent.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I knew Rafe might hurt him.”
Mave looked down.
There it was.
Not murder.
Not innocence.
“You beat Rafe later for killing Price.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you had already told him to scare Price.”
“Yes.”
“So when violence went further than you intended, you punished the man for using the language you taught him.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
No defense.
Mave hated how much that honesty mattered.
“Did you order Price killed?”
“No.”
“Did you know Dominic would?”
“No.”
“Did you suspect?”
“Not before.”
“And after?”
“Yes.”
“Why not go federal?”
Vincent looked toward the camera in the corner.
“Because I would have had to open everything.”
“The syndicate.”
“Yes.”
“Your own crimes.”
“Yes.”
“You chose yourself.”
“And the company.”
Mave’s mouth tightened.
“Do not use payroll as perfume.”
He looked at her.
Then nodded.
“I chose myself.”
Better.
Painful.
Better.
Mave leaned back.
“My father says Dominic framed you.”
“Michael called you.”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked relieved and hurt at once.
“Is he safe?”
“I don’t know.”
“Good.”
“What?”
“If you knew where he was, Dominic might get it from you.”
Mave stared.
“You really cannot help yourself.”
“I know.”
“That was not praise.”
“No.”
Silence.
Vincent looked tired.
More tired than in his office with the coffee.
“I liked when you thought I was better than this.”
Mave’s chest tightened.
“I never thought you were good.”
His mouth almost moved.
“You thought I had rules.”
“Yes.”
“I did.”
“You broke them when fear made them inconvenient.”
“Yes.”
She hated the tear that slipped beneath her glasses.
Vincent noticed.
He did not reach across the table.
Good.
“Mave.”
“What?”
“I am sorry I made your safety into something I controlled.”
She looked at him.
“I believe you.”
His expression shifted.
“That is not forgiveness.”
“I know.”
“It is not trust.”
“I know.”
“It is just belief.”
Vincent nodded.
“I’ll take it.”
Mave looked away.
Mara had given her fifteen minutes.
She used fourteen.
At the door, Vincent spoke again.
“The thirty-thousand route.”
She turned.
“Warehouse Nine.”
“Yes.”
“Dominic?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Price showed me an account structure before he died. Dominic is using warehouse balances to move money, but he is not the only one.”
“Who else?”
“Someone inside legitimate Costa Logistics.”
“Name.”
“I don’t know.”
Mave laughed.
“That is becoming everyone’s favorite answer.”
Vincent continued.
“The person has executive credentials.”
“Dominic.”
“His access is obvious. Price was tracking a second credential.”
“Yours?”
“Maybe.”
“James?”
“No James in this family.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
Vincent did too.
Then serious again.
“Your system access can compare clean routing against payroll timing.”
“My system access was revoked when you surrendered.”
“I restored it before.”
She stared.
“Without asking.”
“Yes.”
“You are unbelievable.”
“I suspected I might be arrested.”
“And you decided what tools I would need.”
“Yes.”
Mave rubbed her forehead.
“Why does every decent thing you do arrive wrapped in control?”
Vincent had no answer.
Good.
She left.
Back at Costa Logistics, Leo met her at the server room.
He had not been fired.
Dominic could not remove him without board approval because Vincent’s security unit had separate governance.
For once, bureaucracy was useful.
Mave pulled six months of route logs.
Payroll.
Fuel cards.
Warehouse scans.
Executive override entries.
She built a timeline.
Thirty-thousand adjustments clustered around transfers.
Most approvals used Dominic’s credential.
Nine did not.
They used VNC-01.
Vincent.
Mave’s stomach tightened.
“Could Dominic clone Vincent’s credential?”
Leo nodded.
“Possible.”
“Would Price know?”
“Probably.”
Mave checked login origin.
Vincent’s office.
At times when Vincent was documented elsewhere.
Cloned.
She pulled camera-access logs.
Someone had entered his office after midnight nine times.
Badge:
LEO SANTOS.
Mave looked up slowly.
Leo stared at the screen.
“No.”
“That’s you.”
“I know.”
“Were you there?”
“No.”
“Can badges be cloned?”
“Yes.”
“Who had access to yours?”
Leo’s expression changed.
“One person.”
“Who?”
“My deputy.”
Mave knew him.
Quiet.
Efficient.
Twenty-eight.
Had worked for Leo five years.
“Evan Pike.”
Leo was already calling.
No answer.
They checked his desk.
Empty.
Locker.
Empty.
Apartment.
Vacated two days earlier.
Mave opened his personnel file.
Emergency contact blank.
Previous employer:
Caldera Private Risk.
Nolan’s old company.
Leo looked at her.
“Nolan hired him.”
Mave’s chest tightened.
Again.
She called Nolan.
No answer.
Then a message arrived.
From Evan Pike’s company phone.
One photograph.
Michael Mercer tied to a chair.
Alive.
Below it:
BRING NOLAN AND THE PRICE FILE.
NO VINCENT.
Mave stared at her father’s face.
He looked older.
Bleeding.
Very alive.
May you like
For the first time, Dominic had stopped threatening ghosts.
He had taken the one person Mave had not yet decided whether she wanted to forgive.
