Chapter 9 - THE MAN AT OUR TABLE
Daniel Pike had access to everything.
Our schedules.
Our security.
Our corporate records.
Our lawyers.
Our home.
When my son Mateo was born, Daniel had brought a blue teddy bear to the hospital.
When Alejandro’s appendix ruptured, Daniel sat beside me in the waiting room until sunrise.
He attended birthdays.
Funerals.
Christmas dinners.
He had hugged me when I cried at my mother’s grave.
And eleven days ago, he had stood twenty feet behind that same woman near Union Station.
Watching her.
Alejandro wanted him arrested immediately.
The federal investigators refused.
“A photograph isn’t enough,” Agent Melissa Grant said. “We need to know what role he played.”
“He’s my chief legal officer.”
“Which means if he suspects we’re investigating him, he may destroy evidence.”
“So arrest him.”
“For what?”
Alejandro slammed his palm onto the table.
“My wife’s mother was held off the grid for twenty years.”
“We’re building the case.”
I had never seen Alejandro look more frustrated.
Then Marcus offered a different idea.
“Let him think we still trust him.”
I hated it.
It worked.
Alejandro called Daniel the next morning.
He sounded exhausted.
“I need help.”
Daniel’s voice came through the speaker.
“Anything.”
“My mother is being set up.”
A pause.
Small.
Almost invisible.
“By who?”
“I don’t know.”
Alejandro continued.
“The investigators found surveillance records with her initials. I think someone altered them.”
“That’s possible.”
“We found Samuel Greene.”
Another pause.
Longer.
“Samuel’s alive?”
“He died last night.”
Daniel exhaled.
“I’m sorry.”
“He gave us files.”
Silence.
Alejandro looked at the agents.
Then said, “Can you come over?”
“I’ll be there in an hour.”
Daniel arrived in forty-two minutes.
He walked into our study wearing the same navy suit I had seen a hundred times.
He hugged me.
I forced myself not to recoil.
“How are you holding up?”
“Terribly.”
“I can imagine.”
No.
He couldn’t.
Or maybe he could better than anyone.
Alejandro handed him selected documents.
Daniel studied them.
His expression remained controlled.
“These initials don’t prove Catalina authorized anything.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your mother has done questionable things, but she isn’t stupid enough to leave this kind of trail.”
I watched him.
“You’re defending Catalina?”
“I’m defending logic.”
My mother entered quietly.
Daniel saw her.
For the first time, his mask slipped.
Recognition.
Fear.
She stared back.
Then her face changed.
“You.”
Daniel stood.
“Elena.”
“You know me.”
“We met years ago.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You were there.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I was nineteen when the explosion happened.”
“You were there.”
“I wasn’t.”
My mother grabbed the side of her head.
“You brought water.”
Daniel froze.
Everyone noticed.
“You gave me water.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You were in the warehouse.”
He stepped backward.
Alejandro’s voice turned cold.
“What warehouse?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
Two federal agents entered.
His face changed.
“Is this a trap?”
Alejandro stood.
“You tell me.”
Daniel laughed once.
“I’m your lawyer.”
“Not anymore.”
He turned toward me.
“Mariana, be careful.”
“Of what?”
“Of your husband.”
Alejandro moved forward.
Daniel held up a hand.
“Ask him why he didn’t tell you about Elena for three weeks.”
“I already did.”
“Ask him who hired Samuel Greene.”
Samuel was retired.
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel smiled.
“Your husband has been cleaning up his father’s legacy for years.”
Alejandro stared at him.
“Don’t.”
“Rafael wasn’t innocent.”
My mother whispered, “Yes, he was.”
“No, Elena.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“You loved him. That doesn’t make him innocent.”
My mother trembled.
Daniel continued.
“My father and Catalina moved money. Rafael discovered it.”
“That’s what we know,” Agent Grant said.
“What you don’t know is Rafael agreed to cover the fraud if Catalina transferred controlling shares to him.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“That’s a lie.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“Children always need heroes.”
Then my mother screamed.
“Basement.”
Everyone froze.
“What?” I asked.
She pointed at Daniel.
“Basement.”
Her eyes were wide.
“The night after the explosion.”
Daniel’s face drained.
“You were there.”
My mother’s memories came faster.
“You gave me water.”
She grabbed my hand.
“I woke up tied to a pipe.”
I felt sick.
“Where?”
“Warehouse.”
She pointed at Daniel.
“He came downstairs.”
Daniel moved toward the door.
Agents blocked him.
My mother continued.
“You said you were sorry.”
Daniel’s breathing changed.
“I was nineteen.”
There.
Not denial.
Admission.
Alejandro stepped closer.
“What did you do?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
“My father brought her there.”
“Raymond?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He told Victor to kill her.”
My mother began sobbing.
Daniel looked at her.
“I gave you water.”
“You left me.”
“I was a kid.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I was terrified!”
His composure shattered.
“My father told me Rafael had been stealing. He told me Elena caused the explosion. I believed him.”
“How did she survive?” Agent Grant asked.
Daniel wiped his face.
“Victor couldn’t do it.”
Everyone stared.
“What?”
“My father ordered him to inject her with something and leave the body where it would be found.”
My mother touched her arm.
“I remember a needle.”
Daniel nodded.
“Victor gave her less than the dose.”
“Why?”
“Because Rafael was his brother.”
Alejandro’s eyes widened.
“Victor tried to save her?”
“In his twisted way.”
Daniel looked at him.
“He dumped Elena near a demolition site where workers would arrive the next morning.”
“But she wandered away,” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he tell anyone?”
“My father threatened him.”
Agent Grant stepped closer.
“What about the surveillance?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Victor watched her because he was afraid Raymond would find her.”
“That doesn’t explain surveillance on Mariana.”
“It does.”
He looked at me.
“He was protecting you.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Not well. Not normally. But he was.”
“Catalina paid him.”
“Catalina knew.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because exposure meant prison.”
Daniel sat down.
For the first time, he looked defeated.
“My father built a machine where everyone had something to lose.”
Alejandro’s voice was icy.
“And you?”
Daniel looked at him.
“I inherited it.”
There it was.
Agent Grant leaned forward.
“What have you done since your father died?”
Daniel said nothing.
“Daniel.”
He looked toward Alejandro.
“I buried records.”
“Anything else?”
“I paid Victor.”
“From Catalina’s trust?”
“Yes.”
“Without her knowledge?”
“Yes.”
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“Why frame my mother?”
“To keep investigators focused on someone who already looked guilty.”
My mother stared at him.
“Did you order Victor to move me?”
Daniel’s eyes dropped.
“No.”
“Samuel’s report says C.S.”
“I added that.”
“Who gave the real order?”
Daniel looked terrified.
“That’s why I came here.”
“What?”
“The order didn’t come from me.”
“Then who?”
He looked at the federal agents.
“I thought Victor wrote it himself.”
My blood chilled.
“Why would he?”
“Because Elena started remembering.”
My mother stepped backward.
Daniel continued.
“Victor has spent twenty years believing he saved her. If she remembers he was involved, that story falls apart.”
Alejandro asked, “Where is Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
A security alarm screamed through the house.
All of us turned.
Rosa rushed into the study.
“Mrs. Salazar!”
“What?”
“Your son.”
My heart stopped.
“Mateo?”
“He’s gone.”
The room exploded into motion.
I ran upstairs.
Mateo’s bedroom window was open.
His backpack was gone.
On his pillow sat a note.
My hands shook as I unfolded it.
Bring Elena to the old Halstead warehouse. Come alone.
May you like
Below it were four words.
A mother for a son.
