Chapter 6 - The Coward's Confession

Nobody trusted Leonard Voss.

That became obvious when Danny kept his gun trained on him while Sofia searched the underground office for another exit.

Voss seemed unsurprised.

"You can shoot me later," he said. "Right now Carmine's people are in the building."

Stefano leaned one hand against the steel table.

Alice saw the movement.

He was in pain.

He was pretending not to be.

"What people?" Danny asked.

"Three men from Hartford. One from the port security subcontractor."

"Names."

Voss gave them.

Danny's expression changed after the second.

"You know them."

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because Carmine used them after Vittorio died."

Stefano took a step toward Voss.

"For what?"

Voss looked at him.

"To clean Pier 14."

Alice felt the weight of Mark's letter in her coat.

"Did they kill Andrea Morrow?"

Voss's face went pale.

He did not answer.

Alice moved closer.

"Did they?"

"I don't know."

"That's not good enough."

"I said I don't know."

His voice broke.

Then he lowered it.

"I know Carmine knew she had copied records. I know he asked me where she lived. I refused to tell him."

Alice stared at him.

"He already knew."

Voss nodded once.

"Probably."

Stefano's voice became quiet.

"And you kept working with him for six more years."

Voss looked at the floor.

"Yes."

Danny said, "Drainage tunnel."

Sofia called from the back room.

"Found it."

A rusted access hatch opened into a narrow concrete passage that sloped toward the harbor.

Danny sent one officer first.

Then Sofia.

Stefano refused to move.

"Not until he tells me."

Alice looked at him.

"Stefano."

"No."

He faced Voss.

"My father trusted you."

Voss closed his eyes.

"I know."

"You signed his death."

"I know."

"You falsified his records."

"Yes."

"You tried to inject me with enough medication to stop my heart."

Voss opened his eyes.

"Yes."

The word was barely audible.

Stefano's hand tightened around the edge of the table.

"Why?"

Voss looked toward Alice.

"Because Carmine called me from the mansion after the explosion."

"Before the ambulance?"

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"That Stefano had survived."

Alice felt sick.

Voss continued.

"He said the plan had failed. He said if Stefano reached surgery alive, everything would unravel."

Danny's voice hardened.

"What plan?"

"The explosion was supposed to destroy the study and kill Stefano at the same time."

Stefano stared.

Voss shook his head.

"Carmine didn't know you'd moved from the study into the east corridor. The blast caught you at the edge instead."

"And the clonidine?"

"In the water."

"Carmine put it there?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

Voss swallowed.

"Because I gave it to him."

Danny took a step forward.

Voss lifted a hand.

"I did not know what he intended when I gave it to him."

Alice's eyes narrowed.

"You're a physician. What reason did he give?"

"He said Stefano had been having hypertensive episodes and refused medication."

Stefano laughed once.

There was no humor in it.

"I have low blood pressure."

"I know that now."

"You treated me for years."

"Not directly. Your internist did."

Alice stared at Voss.

"You still supplied a prescription drug without an order."

"Yes."

"To a man who had no medical authority."

"Yes."

"Then after the explosion, when Carmine told you what he'd done, you tried to finish it."

Voss's eyes filled with shame.

"Yes."

Stefano looked at him with such coldness that Alice stepped between them.

Not because Stefano had moved.

Because he had become too still.

"Why?" she asked Voss.

He stared past her.

"Carmine has a file."

"On what?"

"On me."

Danny scoffed.

"Everybody has a file."

"This one puts me in prison for the rest of my life."

Stefano's voice came from behind Alice.

"You deserve prison."

Voss nodded.

"Yes."

That answer took some of Stefano's momentum away.

Voss continued.

"Six years ago, Vittorio found the Pier 14 accounts. Carmine told me we could contain it. He said the foundation had been used to move controlled medication, but nobody had been harmed."

Alice looked at the manifests.

"That was a lie."

"Yes."

"Did you know?"

"Not at first."

Stefano said, "Stop protecting yourself."

Voss flinched.

"I am not."

"You have spent six years doing exactly that."

Voss looked at him.

"Your father came to me because he felt sick. Nausea. dizziness. visual changes. I ran bloodwork."

Alice asked, "Digoxin level?"

"Elevated."

"Why didn't you stop it?"

"I did."

Stefano frowned.

Voss continued.

"I discontinued the medication. Carmine asked why. I told him."

Alice felt the twist before Voss said it.

"He had already been dosing Vittorio."

Voss nodded.

"Small amounts. Not enough to kill him immediately. Enough to weaken him."

Stefano's face drained of emotion.

"Why?"

"To make him appear unstable. Sick. Confused. Carmine wanted authority over the foundation accounts while he moved the remaining inventory."

Danny whispered a curse.

Voss said, "When I realized what was happening, I confronted Carmine. He showed me payment records carrying my authorizations. My signatures were real."

Alice stared.

"You approved the shipments."

"I approved what I thought were legitimate relief manifests. He changed quantities after approval."

"So you were compromised."

"Yes."

Stefano said, "And you chose yourself."

Voss looked at him.

"I chose cowardice."

A sound came from the stairwell.

Metal scraping.

Danny turned.

"We are done talking."

They entered the tunnel.

The passage was narrow enough that Stefano had to walk single file.

Alice stayed behind him.

After thirty yards, his breathing changed.

She touched his shoulder.

"Stop."

"I'm fine."

"No."

"I am."

"You're bleeding."

He froze.

A dark patch had formed beneath the side of his shirt.

Sofia turned from ahead.

"Oh, hell."

Stefano looked down.

"Minor."

Alice stared at him.

"Your definition of minor is clinically useless."

She made him sit against the concrete wall.

Voss approached.

Danny blocked him.

"Stay back."

Alice looked at Voss.

"What did they close the incision with?"

"Running subcuticular and two deeper sutures."

"You were in the operating room?"

"No. I read the post-op note."

Alice pressed gauze against the area.

Stefano hissed.

"Good," she said.

He glared.

"Good?"

"Pain means you're still available to complain."

Sofia knelt beside them.

"Can he walk?"

"Slowly."

A muffled impact echoed behind them.

Danny looked back.

"They found the hatch."

Stefano tried to stand.

Alice stopped him.

"Ten seconds."

"We don't have ten."

"You have exactly ten unless you'd prefer the wound to open farther."

She secured the pressure dressing.

"Now."

They moved again.

The tunnel ended behind an old pumping station near the water.

Danny's officers had vehicles waiting.

The group split.

Sofia took Stefano.

Danny took Alice and Voss.

Nero jumped into Stefano's SUV, then immediately jumped back out.

He ran to Alice's vehicle.

Stefano stared through the open door.

"Nero."

The dog ignored him.

Alice pointed.

"He made a choice."

Stefano looked deeply offended.

"Traitor."

For the first time all night, Alice laughed.

Then a bullet struck the pumping station wall.

Concrete exploded beside the vehicle.

Danny shoved Alice down.

"Move!"

They did.

The SUV accelerated before the second shot.

No one spoke for five minutes.

Then Voss said, "Carmine won't stop."

Danny looked at him through the mirror.

"Neither will I."

Alice checked her phone.

Three missed calls.

One from an unknown number.

Two from Mark Morrow.

She called him.

He answered immediately.

"Where are you?"

"Safe. Why?"

"Someone went to my apartment."

Alice sat straighter.

"When?"

"Twenty minutes ago. Neighbor called me."

"Did you go back?"

"No."

"Good."

"They broke the door."

Danny was listening now.

Alice asked, "What did they take?"

"I don't know."

"Do not go home."

"I wasn't planning to."

"Go to a police station."

Mark laughed bitterly.

"You think this is a police problem?"

"Yes."

"No offense, but you've known these people two days."

"And you've been afraid of them eighteen years."

Silence.

Alice softened her voice.

"Mark, that is exactly why you should not be alone."

He exhaled.

"Fine."

"Tell me which station."

He did.

Danny immediately texted a contact.

Alice ended the call.

Voss was staring at her.

"What?"

He looked devastated.

"Andrea's son."

"Yes."

"Does he know?"

"He knows his mother was afraid."

Voss looked away.

Alice watched him.

"Did you attend her funeral?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because Carmine attended."

Danny's eyes met Alice's in the mirror.

Voss continued.

"I sat in my car two streets away."

Alice felt anger again.

"You keep describing guilt as if it were action."

Voss nodded.

"You're right."

"Then do something useful now."

He looked at her.

"What?"

"Tell us where Carmine would go."

Voss hesitated.

"He'll want the original ledger."

"Why?"

"Because the ledger connects his private accounts to Pier 14."

Danny said, "We have it."

"Then he will come for it."

Stefano called over the secure line.

Danny answered on speaker.

"Boss."

Stefano's voice was strained.

"Where are you taking Voss?"

"Safe house."

"No."

Alice looked at Danny.

Stefano continued.

"Bring him to the old customs office."

Danny frowned.

"That's not secure."

"It can be."

Voss looked alarmed.

"Why there?"

Stefano answered.

"Because Carmine thinks I still trust you."

Voss gave a hollow laugh.

"He knows better."

"No. He knows I don't trust you. What he doesn't know is whether you gave me everything."

Alice understood.

"You want Carmine to contact him."

"Yes."

Danny shook his head.

"Too risky."

Stefano said, "We need evidence of current intent. The six-year-old records are strong, but he will claim Voss manipulated them."

Voss whispered, "He will."

Stefano continued.

"He will say Danny forged the ledger, Alice misunderstood the medicine, and Voss is a desperate criminal."

Alice looked at Voss.

"Would a jury believe that?"

"Possibly."

Danny cursed.

Stefano said, "So we let Carmine think Voss still has something he needs."

Alice stared out the window.

"And we record him."

"Yes."

Voss looked toward her.

"You're asking me to bait him."

Stefano's voice became cold.

"I'm giving you a chance to do one brave thing before the authorities decide how many cowardly ones to count."

Voss closed his eyes.

After several seconds, he said, "All right."

The old customs office overlooked a dead shipping basin.

Danny swept it twice.

Sofia arrived with Stefano thirty minutes later.

Alice nearly shouted when she saw him.

He held up one hand.

"Before you begin, the wound is stable."

She looked at Sofia.

Sofia said, "A surgeon checked it."

Alice nodded.

"Fine."

Stefano looked smug.

"Thank you."

"You're still an idiot."

His expression fell.

Danny set three recording devices.

Voss placed his phone on the desk.

At 11:46 p.m., he sent Carmine one message.

I found the ledger before they did. We need to talk.

The reply came nine seconds later.

Where are you?

Voss looked at Stefano.

Stefano nodded.

Voss sent the location.

Carmine replied:

Come alone. Bring it.

Danny smiled without humor.

"He thinks he still owns you."

Voss stared at the message.

"For a long time, he did."

Alice sat beside him.

"Then stop renting him space."

Voss looked at her.

"Do you always talk like that?"

"When I'm tired."

They waited.

Thirty-seven minutes later, headlights crossed the boarded windows.

Danny's team disappeared into position.

Stefano stood in the dark side room with Sofia and Alice.

Nero sat beside Alice.

Carmine entered alone.

He wore a gray coat.

No glove.

His bandaged hand was visible.

He looked at Voss.

"Where is it?"

Voss held up an empty evidence envelope.

"Safe."

Carmine's face changed.

"You said you found it."

"I did."

"Then give it to me."

"I want out."

Carmine laughed.

"You don't get out."

Voss's shoulders tightened.

"I did what you asked."

"You failed."

"I tried to kill Stefano."

Alice felt Stefano go rigid beside her.

Carmine stepped closer.

"And somehow the nurse stopped you."

"She noticed the dose."

"Then you should have been less obvious."

Voss looked down.

"You poisoned the water too early."

Carmine's eyes sharpened.

"Don't blame me for your incompetence."

There it was.

Alice held her breath.

Voss continued.

"The clonidine nearly killed him before the blast."

"It was supposed to make him slow."

"And the explosive?"

"Was supposed to make the rest irrelevant."

Stefano's face became stone.

Voss asked, "What about Vittorio?"

Carmine froze.

Voss pressed.

"Tell me the truth. Was Andrea right? Did you increase the digoxin?"

Carmine's expression turned contemptuous.

"After six years, you want absolution?"

"I want the truth."

"You already know it."

"Say it."

Carmine stepped closer.

"I made an old man weak. You made the paperwork clean."

Voss flinched.

"You told me he would recover."

"I told you what you needed to hear."

"And Andrea?"

Carmine's face went blank.

Voss whispered, "Did you kill her?"

A long silence.

Carmine answered.

"I solved a problem."

Alice's stomach turned.

Danny stepped from the shadows.

"That's enough."

Carmine spun.

Stefano entered next.

Carmine's face collapsed.

"No."

Stefano looked at the man who had helped raise him.

"You made my father weak."

Carmine backed toward the door.

Nero appeared beside Stefano.

The dog lowered his head.

Carmine stopped.

For the first time, Alice saw fear on his face.

Stefano's voice was quiet.

"You killed Andrea."

Carmine looked around.

He saw the microphones.

The cameras.

Danny's officers.

Then Alice.

His eyes fixed on her.

"This is because of you."

Alice shook her head.

"No."

She looked at Vittorio's old note in Stefano's hand.

"This started long before I arrived."

Carmine lunged toward the door.

Nero barked.

The sound stopped him more effectively than any weapon.

Danny moved in and cuffed him.

Carmine stared at Stefano.

"You think this ends with me?"

Stefano's expression did not change.

"It ends with the truth."

Carmine smiled then.

Small.

Ugly.

"No, Stefano."

He looked toward Voss.

"Ask the doctor who signed the explosive permit."

Everyone turned.

Voss went white.

Stefano whispered, "What?"

Carmine's smile widened.

Voss closed his eyes.

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Alice felt the victory vanish.

Because Carmine had just revealed there was still one piece Voss had not confessed.