Chapter 7 - Midnight at the Packing Plant
The old Costa packing plant had been abandoned for twelve years.
Broken windows stared over the river.
Rust streaked the walls.
Morgana arrived at 11:57 p.m.
Roman sat beside her in the SUV.
Police tactical teams waited several blocks away.
Caruso had demanded no police.
Roman interpreted that loosely.
“You stay behind me,” he said.
Morgana checked the small recorder beneath her sweater.
“I know.”
“If I say run—”
“I run.”
“No arguing.”
“Roman.”
“What?”
“You've repeated this fourteen times.”
“Fifteen.”
Despite everything, she smiled.
Marco opened the door.
They entered.
Jason sat tied to a chair beneath a hanging industrial lamp.
His mouth was taped.
Vincent Caruso stood behind him.
He held a pistol.
Morgana's pulse accelerated.
Caruso smiled.
“So.”
His voice sounded disappointingly ordinary.
“Salvatore's little girl.”
Roman moved slightly in front of Morgana.
Caruso laughed.
“Protective already?”
“Put the gun down.”
“Still giving orders, Roman?”
Caruso looked at Morgana.
“Your brother inherited that from his father.”
Morgana stepped sideways so she could see him.
“What truth?”
“Straight to business.”
“You threatened somebody I stopped loving years ago. Don't waste my time.”
Jason’s eyes filled.
Caruso seemed impressed.
“Evelyn had that spine.”
Morgana's hands curled.
“Don't say her name.”
“She was remarkable.”
“You murdered her.”
“I arranged an accident.”
Roman's body tensed.
Morgana asked, “Why?”
“Money.”
Caruso shrugged.
“People prefer complicated motives. Jealousy. Revenge. Love. Usually it's money.”
“And Jason?”
Caruso glanced down at him.
“A coward is useful until he believes cowardice deserves loyalty.”
Jason groaned behind the tape.
Caruso continued.
“Your mother discovered we were siphoning money through Salvatore's companies. Then she discovered who your father was.”
“Salvatore.”
“Yes.”
“She told Jason?”
“Eventually.”
Morgana fought to keep her voice steady.
“What happened the night she died?”
Caruso smiled faintly.
“She was going to meet Salvatore.”
Morgana already knew that.
“She had the ledger?”
“A copy.”
Caruso’s smile disappeared.
“She had something worse.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
Roman looked toward Morgana.
“What recording?”
Caruso nodded toward an old cassette machine on a crate.
“Press play.”
Morgana did not move.
Roman approached instead.
Caruso raised the pistol.
“Morgana.”
She walked to the machine.
Pressed play.
Her mother’s voice filled the warehouse.
But Evelyn was not alone.
Salvatore Costa spoke too.
“I'll acknowledge Morgana publicly.”
Evelyn responded.
“That puts a target on her.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“And Roman?”
A long pause.
“He gets the truth too.”
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“Salvatore, Caruso has judges. Police. Your own captains.”
“I'll clean house.”
“You may start a war.”
“Then we start one.”
Morgana stared at Roman.
Roman’s eyes were wet.
The recording continued.
Salvatore said, “If anything happens to Evelyn, Roman inherits everything. If anything happens to Roman, Morgana does.”
Caruso stopped the tape.
“There's your truth.”
Morgana understood immediately.
“You weren't only stealing my trust.”
“No.”
“You were planning to control the entire Costa estate.”
Caruso smiled.
“Your father was becoming sentimental.”
Roman said, “So you killed him too.”
Caruso looked at him.
“Heart attacks are remarkably easy to imitate when a man already has cardiac problems.”
Roman went completely still.
Morgana grabbed his arm.
Roman looked down at her hand.
The rage did not vanish.
But he stayed.
Caruso watched them.
“Touching.”
Morgana looked at him.
“You called us here to confess?”
“No.”
Caruso nodded toward a document on a crate.
“I called you here to sign.”
Morgana laughed.
“You think I'm signing my trust over to you?”
“Not the trust.”
Roman moved closer.
Caruso pointed his weapon directly at Jason's head.
“Stop.”
Roman stopped.
Morgana looked at the document.
It transferred her inherited voting shares in Costa Freight to Caruso.
She looked up.
“You're finished already.”
“Am I?”
“Federal agents have your records.”
“They have copies.”
“They have the ledger.”
Caruso's smile faded.
Morgana continued.
“They have the warehouse tapes.”
“You bluff badly.”
Morgana touched the recorder beneath her sweater.
“And now they have your confession.”
Caruso's expression changed.
Roman moved.
Everything happened at once.
Caruso fired.
The shot struck metal.
Roman knocked Morgana behind a crate.
Marco came through the side entrance.
Police flooded the plant.
Caruso grabbed Jason’s chair, using him as a shield.
Jason panicked.
He twisted violently.
The chair toppled.
Caruso lost his angle.
Detective Walker shouted.
“Drop it!”
Caruso raised the pistol.
Several officers fired.
Caruso collapsed.
Silence returned abruptly.
Morgana covered her ears.
Roman crouched beside her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Jason lay on his side, still tied to the chair.
Alive.
Caruso was conscious too.
Wounded.
Police surrounded him.
Morgana stood slowly.
Caruso looked up at her.
“You think this makes you a Costa?”
Morgana walked closer.
Roman tried to stop her.
She shook her head.
Morgana looked down at the man who had stolen millions from her, arranged her mother’s death, and spent two decades keeping her trapped.
“No.”
She spoke quietly.
“My last name never made me who I am.”
Caruso laughed weakly.
“You’ll learn.”
Morgana looked toward Roman.
Then back.
“I already did.”
Caruso was taken away.
Detective Walker removed the tape from Jason’s mouth.
He gasped.
“Morgana.”
She looked at him.
“Please.”
“What?”
“Don't leave me.”
Morgana stared.
For most of her life those words would have worked.
Not tonight.
She crouched in front of him.
“You left me first.”
Jason cried.
“I raised you.”
“No.”
Morgana shook her head.
“You kept me.”
Jason flinched.
“There’s a difference.”
She stood.
Police untied him.
Then placed handcuffs around his wrists.
He stared in shock.
Walker said, “Jason Hale, you're under arrest for conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice, and several other things we can discuss downtown.”
Jason looked at Morgana.
“You gave them evidence against me?”
Morgana met his gaze.
“You gave it to them yourself.”
As officers led him away, Morgana realized something unexpected.
She felt no triumph.
May you like
Only quiet.
And for the first time, the quiet did not frighten her.
