Chapter 16 - BERNADETTE’S RECORDING
Bernadette had recorded Marcus three months after Elena died.
She said she had done it because she was beginning to fear him.
Luciano listened in Detective Cole’s office.
Marcus’s voice crackled through the speaker.
“You keep asking questions you don’t want answers to.”
Bernadette replied, “Did you tell that man to hit her car?”
“No.”
“Then what did you tell him?”
“I told him to scare her.”
“She died.”
A pause.
Then Marcus said, “That’s what happens when people panic.”
Luciano’s hands curled into fists.
The recording continued.
Bernadette: “You said he only had to make her stop digging.”
Marcus: “And she stopped.”
Detective Cole turned off the audio.
“It doesn’t prove intent to kill.”
Luciano looked at her.
“But?”
“But combined with the payment, calls, text messages, and Elena’s voicemail, it gives prosecutors much more.”
Bernadette sat across the room with her attorney, looking twenty years older.
Luciano faced her.
“You had this for fifteen months.”
“Yes.”
“You listened to him talk about my wife like that and still protected him.”
Bernadette began to cry.
“I was afraid.”
“So was Theo.”
That stopped her.
Luciano stood.
“I don’t hate you, Mom.”
Her face lifted with desperate hope.
Then he finished.
“But I don’t trust you. And Theo will not be used to make you feel forgiven.”
He walked out.
Two weeks later, Marcus was indicted on kidnapping, fraud, conspiracy, witness intimidation, theft from a trust, and charges connected to Elena’s death.
But just before the arraignment, Daniel received a call from the prosecutor.
Marcus wanted a deal.
In exchange for a reduced charge related to Elena’s death, he would reveal where the missing trust money had gone.
Luciano’s first reaction was fury.
Then the prosecutor said one sentence that changed everything.
“We think the money wasn’t spent.”
Luciano frowned.
“Then where is it?”
May you like
“In an account opened under Theo’s Social Security number.”
* * *
