Chapter 5 - What Survived Pier 14

Pier 14 no longer existed on any current Marquetti Maritime map.

Danny found it on an archived fire-insurance plan.

A long warehouse at the far end of the old Providence freight district.

Cold storage.

Medical supplies.

Private loading bay.

Two secure rooms beneath the main floor.

Alice studied the plan while Sofia stood beside Stefano's hospital bed and argued with a discharge coordinator.

"You are not leaving."

Stefano signed the form.

"I already left."

"You are physically still in the room."

"Administrative detail."

Alice looked up.

"Sit down."

Stefano sat.

Sofia stared at her.

"How do you do that?"

"I use short sentences."

Stefano pointed at Alice.

"Do not encourage her."

Danny entered with a paper folder.

"I found Mark Morrow."

Alice straightened.

"Andrea's son?"

"Yes."

"Will he talk?"

Danny's expression was uncertain.

"He said if a Marquetti ever came to his door, he would call the police."

Sofia nodded.

"Healthy instinct."

Stefano looked at Danny.

"Then don't send me."

Alice already knew where the conversation was going.

"No."

Stefano ignored her.

"Send Alice."

"No."

"Mark's mother was a nurse."

"That does not make me diplomatic immunity."

"He might trust you."

"He shouldn't. He doesn't know me."

Danny said, "I told him a nurse found evidence connected to his mother."

Alice looked at him.

"You already used me."

"I described you."

"You volunteered my involvement."

"I described you very persuasively."

Stefano almost smiled.

Alice pointed at both men.

"This family has a consent problem."

Sofia said, "Technically Danny isn't family."

Danny looked at her.

"After twenty-two years, that is hurtful."

Two hours later, Alice sat in a diner across from Mark Morrow.

He was thirty-four.

Thin.

Tired.

A software technician with his mother's eyes, if the photograph Danny had found was accurate.

He did not touch his coffee.

Danny sat at another table far enough away to give the illusion of privacy.

Mark looked at Alice's hands.

"No recorder?"

"No."

"Phone?"

"In my bag."

"Turned off?"

She held the power button until the screen went black.

He nodded.

"My mother died because she worked for Leonard Voss."

Alice did not correct him.

"What did she tell you?"

"Very little. I was sixteen. She thought keeping me ignorant would keep me safe."

"Did it?"

His mouth tightened.

"No."

Alice waited.

Mark looked through the diner window.

"Three days before Mr. Marquetti died, my mother came home at lunch. She never came home at lunch."

"What was wrong?"

"She was shaking."

"Did she say why?"

"She told me she had seen medication records changed after the fact."

Alice leaned forward.

"Whose records?"

"Vittorio Marquetti's."

Her pulse increased.

Mark continued.

"She said Dr. Voss had ordered her to reprint two medication sheets. She refused. Then Carmine Baldi came to the clinic."

"Did she know Carmine?"

"Everyone around Voss knew him."

"What happened?"

"She didn't tell me. But after that, she reprinted the sheets."

Alice felt anger.

"Was she afraid of Voss?"

Mark shook his head.

"She was afraid of Carmine."

"Did she think Voss was involved?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"She said he kept saying, 'I can fix this.'"

Alice thought of the recorder.

Leonard's voice.

I already did.

"What did she think that meant?"

"At first, that he was helping Vittorio."

"At first?"

Mark looked at her.

"Then Vittorio died."

Alice let the silence remain.

Mark pulled an old envelope from his jacket.

"My mother gave this to our neighbor the night before she died."

He pushed it across the table.

"She said if anything happened, it was for me when I turned eighteen."

Alice did not touch it.

"You haven't opened it?"

"Of course I opened it."

"Why bring the original?"

"Because copies are easy to dismiss."

Alice looked at him.

"May I?"

He nodded.

Inside was a handwritten letter.

Mark,

If I have made you afraid, I am sorry. I chose fear too late.

Dr. Voss changed Mr. Marquetti's chart. I helped print the pages, but the numbers came from him.

The digoxin level was increased after Mr. Marquetti complained of nausea, blurred vision, and a slow pulse. That should never have happened.

I heard Mr. Baldi tell Dr. Voss that the old man had become dangerous.

I also heard Dr. Voss say, "You started this. I will not finish it."

There is a second record at Pier 14, Room B.

If they say the warehouse fire destroyed everything, they are lying. Room B is below the water line and has a steel door.

Do not confront anyone.

Do not trust the accident report if I die.

I love you more than I have ever been brave.

Mom

Alice read the letter twice.

She looked at Mark.

"Your mother's car went off the road two weeks after Vittorio died."

"Yes."

"Was there an investigation?"

"Forty minutes."

"What do you mean?"

"The state trooper wrote weather-related accident before they finished towing the car."

Danny had moved closer without Alice noticing.

Mark looked at him.

"I said private."

Danny stopped.

Alice asked, "Can I show him the letter?"

Mark stared at Danny for a long time.

"You worked for Vittorio."

"Yes."

"Were you there when my mother died?"

"No."

"Were you there when the warehouse burned?"

Danny's expression changed.

"Yes."

Alice turned.

"You were?"

"I was sent there after the alarm."

"By whom?"

"Carmine."

Mark laughed bitterly.

"Of course."

Danny sat in the empty booth behind Alice.

"I never knew about Room B."

Mark looked at him.

"My mother did."

Danny stared at the letter.

"Can we photograph it?"

Mark shook his head.

"No."

Alice waited.

He added, "You can take it."

She blinked.

"Why?"

"Because six years ago I was sixteen and terrified. Now I am tired."

He looked directly at her.

"If you're really going after them, take the thing they killed her for."

Alice felt a pressure behind her ribs.

"We don't know they killed her."

Mark's eyes hardened.

"You sound like a nurse."

"What does that mean?"

"You won't call death until you're sure."

"That's exactly what it means."

He nodded once.

"Then get sure."

Pier 14 stood behind a chain-link fence covered in rust.

The upper warehouse had burned almost completely.

Only a skeletal frame remained beneath newer corrugated roofing.

A redevelopment company had used the property for storage and then abandoned it.

Danny brought four trusted security officers.

Alice brought a flashlight.

Stefano brought himself.

When his black SUV arrived, Alice walked straight toward it.

"No."

The rear door opened.

Stefano stepped out carefully.

"You've become repetitive."

"You had abdominal surgery yesterday."

"Forty-one hours ago."

"That is not the defense you think it is."

Sofia exited from the other side.

Alice stared.

"You too?"

Sofia shrugged.

"If he collapses, I wanted a witness who can say I tried."

Stefano ignored both of them.

"Room B."

Danny led them through the building.

Nero walked beside Stefano.

The dog moved slowly near the burned section, sniffing old concrete and metal.

They found the stairwell under a warped steel plate.

The lower corridor was damp.

Two rooms.

A and B.

Room B had a steel door.

Danny looked at Alice.

"Andrea was right."

The lock had been replaced at some point.

One security officer used a hydraulic spreader.

The door opened with a metallic groan.

Inside were waterproof bins.

Hundreds.

Sofia stared.

"Oh my God."

Danny opened the nearest one.

Old manifests.

Invoices.

Pharmacy purchase records.

Shipping certificates.

Stefano lifted a document.

"Marquetti Humanitarian Medical Foundation."

Alice took another.

Morphine.

Fentanyl.

Ketamine.

Clonidine.

Digoxin.

Quantities far beyond anything a relief program would require.

"These weren't relief shipments," she said.

Danny opened another bin.

"Look at destinations."

Tangier.

Limassol.

Belgrade.

Trieste.

Private docks.

Shell companies.

Stefano's face became colder with each page.

"Carmine ran international logistics for the foundation."

Sofia found signatures.

"Voss approved medical need."

Alice looked at Stefano.

"Your father's obsession wasn't paranoia."

"No."

"He found this."

"Yes."

Danny called from the far wall.

"There's more."

A small office had been built behind stacked bins.

Inside sat an old computer tower wrapped in plastic.

Two external drives.

And a ledger.

Physical.

Handwritten.

Stefano opened it.

Initials.

Amounts.

Dates.

Payments.

C.B.

L.V.

A third set.

D.F.

Everyone looked at Danny.

He stared at the page.

"No."

Stefano's expression changed.

"Danny."

"That isn't me."

Sofia pointed.

"D.F. appears everywhere."

Danny grabbed the ledger.

He turned pages.

Payments marked D.F. matched dates across six years.

Alice watched him.

His confusion looked real.

Stefano's voice became quiet.

"Daniel Falcone."

Danny looked up.

"I never took money from this."

"Your initials are here."

"Then somebody put them there."

Sofia asked, "Why?"

Danny looked furious.

"To build insurance."

"Against what?"

"Against this day."

Alice stepped between them.

"Dates."

They looked at her.

"Check whether Danny could have been where the payments say."

Danny flipped back.

March 12.

Boston.

April 4.

Providence.

June 9.

New York.

Then one date made him stop.

October 17.

Six years earlier.

The day Vittorio died.

Payment to D.F.

Fifty thousand dollars.

Stefano stared at him.

Danny's face went white.

"I was in Boston that entire day."

"Can you prove it?" Sofia asked.

"Conference cameras. Hotel records. Hundreds of people."

Alice pointed to the ledger.

"Then the entry is false."

Stefano said nothing.

Danny turned another page.

A notation beside the payment read:

Security absence confirmed.

He froze.

Alice read it aloud.

"Not payment to Danny."

Stefano looked up.

"What?"

"It's a payment for his absence."

Danny's eyes sharpened.

"To whoever made sure I was in Boston."

Sofia whispered, "Who sent you to the conference?"

Danny closed his eyes.

"Carmine."

The room became silent.

Nero suddenly barked.

Once.

Sharp.

Everyone turned.

The dog stood at the entrance to the underground corridor, ears forward.

Danny drew his weapon.

"Lights off."

The room went dark.

Footsteps sounded above.

More than one person.

Stefano whispered, "Your team?"

Danny shook his head.

"All four are outside."

A phone rang.

Not theirs.

Somewhere in the corridor.

Then a familiar voice called from the stairwell.

"Alice Brennan."

She went cold.

Dr. Leonard Voss stepped into view with both hands raised.

He looked exhausted.

His suit was wrinkled.

There was dried blood at one temple.

Danny aimed at his chest.

"Don't move."

Voss stopped.

"I came alone."

"Then who is upstairs?"

Voss looked behind him.

"Not people you want to meet."

Stefano stepped forward.

Voss stared at him.

"You should be dead."

The sentence landed badly.

Danny's finger tightened.

Voss realized it.

"I don't mean because I wanted you dead."

Stefano's voice was ice.

"Interesting clarification."

Voss looked at Alice.

"You found Room B."

"Andrea Morrow did."

His face collapsed.

For the first time, Alice saw genuine grief.

"Andrea."

"You remember her?"

"I remember every day."

Mark's letter was in Alice's coat.

She did not show it.

Voss looked at Stefano.

"Carmine knows you're here."

Danny said, "How?"

"Because I told him."

Stefano's eyes went black.

Voss lifted his hands higher.

"Listen before you decide what that means."

Alice asked, "Did you try to kill him in the ambulance?"

Voss closed his eyes.

"Yes."

The room went silent.

Danny took one step forward.

Voss continued quickly.

"But I did not poison his water."

Stefano stared at him.

"Who did?"

Voss looked toward the ceiling.

The footsteps above had stopped.

Then he whispered.

"Carmine."

Alice's heart pounded.

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Voss looked at her.

"And if you want to live long enough to prove it, we need to leave through the drainage tunnel now."