Chapter 19 - THE MAN WHO WANTED HIS NAME BACK
Z
Derek Vance called Eleanor at midnight.
She was awake.
Gabriel was not.
That alone was unusual.
He had fallen asleep beside her three hours earlier with an electronic monitor strapped around his ankle and federal murder charges hanging over his head.
Apparently exhaustion eventually defeated paranoia.
Eleanor’s phone vibrated once.
Unknown number.
She answered quietly.
“You should stop using unknown numbers. They’re becoming predictable.”
A man laughed.
She recognized the voice.
“Mrs. Moretti.”
Her body became still.
“Derek.”
Gabriel’s eyes opened immediately.
Of course they did.
Eleanor raised one finger.
Wait.
Derek continued.
“I heard your husband had a difficult morning.”
“You murdered Paul Renner.”
Silence.
Then:
“Straight to the point.”
“I spent seven years managing a motel.”
Derek groaned.
“Do you still say that?”
“Apparently it annoys criminals.”
Gabriel sat up.
Eleanor put the phone on speaker.
Derek’s voice filled the bedroom.
“You think I killed Renner because of a ring?”
“I think men with large egos buy memorable jewelry.”
“Julian gave me that ring.”
“So you were there.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s voice entered the call.
“Where are you?”
Derek laughed.
“There’s the husband.”
“Answer.”
“No.”
“Then why call?”
“Because I want something.”
Eleanor looked at Gabriel.
Of course.
“What?”
“My name back.”
Eleanor frowned.
“You lost me.”
“When I cooperated after Saint Michael’s, the government promised protection.”
“You trafficked women.”
“I moved money.”
“You helped kidnap me.”
Derek paused.
“Fair.”
Gabriel’s face became murderous.
Eleanor touched his arm.
Derek continued.
“I gave them Julian. I gave them accounts. Routes. Names.”
“And then you disappeared from protection.”
“Because someone inside the Marshals Service sold my new identity.”
That changed the room.
Gabriel leaned closer.
“To whom?”
“If I knew, I’d be sleeping better.”
Eleanor asked, “What does this have to do with Renner?”
“Everything.”
Derek’s voice became serious.
“Paul found Julian’s first ledger. Not the Saint Agnes operation. The trafficking money.”
“We know.”
“No. You know the clean version.”
“There was a clean version?”
“Compared to the truth.”
Gabriel stared at the phone.
Derek continued.
“Paul found more than payments. He found a list of men Julian was paying to keep Gabriel ignorant.”
That landed.
Eleanor looked at her husband.
Gabriel said nothing.
“Captains?” she asked.
“Some.”
“Police?”
“Yes.”
“Who else?”
“A federal agent.”
Silence.
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Name.”
“No.”
“Derek.”
“I want a deal first.”
“You’re a fugitive.”
“I’m aware.”
“You want me to arrange a federal deal while wearing federal monitoring?”
Derek laughed.
“I appreciate the irony.”
Eleanor asked the obvious question.
“Did you kill Paul?”
Long pause.
“No.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“You were in the warehouse.”
“Yes.”
“You stabbed him?”
“Yes.”
Sofia had been told Renner was already stabbed.
Eleanor felt sick.
“Why?”
“Julian told me to scare him.”
“With a knife?”
“I was not an emotionally sophisticated employee.”
“That may be the most accurate thing you’ve ever said.”
Derek almost laughed again.
“I stabbed him once. Not deep. Paul was supposed to hand over the drive. Then Sofia showed up.”
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“And came back.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Julian called.”
“What did he say?”
“That Gabriel was on his way and Paul couldn’t be alive when he arrived.”
Gabriel’s voice sharpened.
“But he was.”
“Yes.”
“Which means you ignored the order.”
“At first.”
Eleanor heard the last two words.
“At first?”
Derek went silent.
Gabriel stood.
“Did you shoot him?”
“No.”
“Then stop talking like a man who did.”
“I came back after Gabriel left.”
“Yes.”
“Paul was still alive.”
“Yes.”
“And someone was already with him.”
Eleanor’s pulse changed.
“Who?”
“That’s the name I’m selling.”
Gabriel said, “I don’t buy truth.”
“You used to buy everything.”
“Not anymore.”
Derek laughed without humor.
“That moral transformation must be exhausting.”
Gabriel’s voice became flat.
“You called because you’re afraid.”
Silence.
“You think whoever killed Paul is the same person who leaked your witness identity.”
Derek said nothing.
Gabriel continued.
“And if Paul’s body is suddenly discovered after ten years, someone wanted it discovered.”
Eleanor understood.
“This isn’t about framing Gabriel.”
“No,” Derek said finally.
“Then what?”
“Dragging him into court.”
“Why?”
“Because court forces records open.”
Gabriel looked at her.
Derek continued.
“Someone wants the Renner evidence publicly litigated.”
“Who?”
“The killer.”
Eleanor stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“Unless the killer thinks those records destroy someone more important.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Who was the federal agent?”
Derek finally answered.
“Assistant Special Agent Robert Lang.”
Eleanor knew the name.
Everyone connected to the Whitmore prosecution did.
Robert Lang had supervised the federal task force that protected witnesses after Saint Agnes.
Including Derek.
Including Maria.
Including Emma for three months.
Gabriel took the phone.
“You’re saying the man who ran witness security was on Julian’s payroll.”
“For fifteen years.”
“And Rebecca Cole doesn’t know.”
“She suspects a leak. She doesn’t know who.”
“Where are you?”
“No.”
“Derek.”
“I want immunity.”
“You don’t deserve it.”
That answer came from Eleanor.
Derek laughed softly.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“You helped hurt people.”
“Yes.”
“You helped hurt me.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t get to erase that because another criminal scares you.”
“No.”
For the first time, Derek sounded tired.
“I don’t want erased.”
Eleanor stopped.
“I want alive.”
The sentence landed differently.
Gabriel looked at her.
Derek continued.
“I’ll testify to everything. Renner. Julian. Lang. Every thing I did.”
“And the murder?” Eleanor asked.
“I’ll tell you who pulled the trigger.”
“Now.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Robert Lang is watching your house.”
Gabriel moved instantly toward the window.
Eleanor grabbed his arm.
Derek’s voice sharpened.
“Do not look outside.”
Gabriel stopped.
“How do you know?”
“I’m watching him.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“Across the lake road. Gray utility van. Two men.”
Marco was already being called.
Derek said, “Tell your security chief not to send anyone toward it.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“You can see Marco?”
“Yes.”
“Which means you’re nearby.”
“Good night, Gabriel.”
“Derek.”
The call disconnected.
Seven minutes later, the gray van drove away before Marco could identify its occupants.
At six the next morning, Rebecca Cole arrived.
Eleanor told her everything.
Rebecca listened without interrupting.
When they finished, she looked older.
“Robert Lang recruited me.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“He recommended me for the Whitmore task force.”
“That’s useful,” Eleanor said.
Rebecca looked at her.
“For whom?”
Nobody answered.
Rebecca opened her briefcase.
“There’s something I didn’t tell you yesterday.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m getting very tired of that sentence.”
“The warrant was rushed.”
“How rushed?”
“Someone from Washington called our office before Paul Renner’s DNA identification was formally entered.”
Eleanor frowned.
“How could they know whose body it was?”
“Exactly.”
Rebecca placed a document on the table.
Federal request.
Gabriel Moretti.
Immediate arrest.
Homicide investigation.
Signed electronically by Robert Lang.
Gabriel stared at it.
“He wanted me detained before the evidence was processed.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rebecca looked at Eleanor.
“Because he expected Gabriel to panic.”
Eleanor understood.
“Run.”
“Or threaten someone. Destroy something. Contact old people.”
“Behave like the old Gabriel.”
Rebecca nodded.
Gabriel almost smiled.
“He’s disappointed.”
“He may adjust.”
The doorbell rang.
Everyone froze.
Marco checked the camera.
“No one there.”
They went to the porch.
A small cardboard box sat on the step.
Inside was Derek Vance’s silver ring.
The one marked D.
Covered in fresh blood.
Beside it was a motel key card.
Eleanor picked it up.
Room 214.
Prairie Star Motor Lodge.
Her stomach dropped.
Gabriel looked at her.
“No.”
She already knew what he meant.
“No?”
“You’re not going.”
Eleanor held up the card.
“Do you understand how personally insulting it is that someone keeps using my old motel?”
“This is not funny.”
“I’m not laughing.”
Marco said, “I’ll send a team.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“If Derek chose 214, he chose it because he knew I would understand something.”
Gabriel stared.
“What?”
Eleanor looked at the card again.
Then remembered.
Room 214 had not only been where Lily hid.
Before that, for years, it had been the room whose bathroom vent connected to the old maintenance shaft behind the north wall.
A place Eleanor once used to hide emergency cash when motel guests became dangerous.
She looked at Gabriel.
“He didn’t send us to a room.”
“What did he send us to?”
“A hiding place.”
Forty minutes later, they opened the maintenance shaft behind Room 214.
No Derek.
No body.
Only a flash drive taped inside the wall.
Eleanor inserted it into Marco’s clean laptop.
One video file.
Ten years old.
Calumet warehouse.
Paul Renner.
Gabriel leaving through the side door.
Time stamp: 10:41 p.m.
At 10:43, another man entered.
Robert Lang.
At 10:44, Paul raised both hands.
At 10:45, Lang drew the Moretti Security pistol.
At 10:45 and eleven seconds, he shot Paul Renner in the back.
Nobody in Room 214 spoke.
Then the video continued.
At 10:46, Derek Vance entered.
He stared at the body.
Lang turned toward him.
Even without audio, the threat was obvious.
At 10:48, Lang left.
At 10:52, Gabriel returned.
The video ended.
Rebecca whispered, “This clears you of murder.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Eleanor looked at him.
Because they both knew what came next.
It cleared Gabriel of murder.
It did not clear him of what he had done afterward.
He had moved the body.
Hidden the weapon.
Protected Sofia.
Destroyed a crime scene.
And when he later gave federal prosecutors everything about Julian Cross, he had deliberately left Paul Renner out.
Gabriel closed the laptop.
Rebecca looked at him.
“Now we need to talk about obstruction.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I know.”
Eleanor watched her husband.
May you like
This time there would be no villain to blame for that part.
Only him.
