Chapter 8: The Consequences of Ernesto Reyes
The federal contact's name was Agent Patricia Hale.
She was fifty-three, wore flat shoes, and had been building cases against South Side freight operations for eleven years without making the kind of headlines that got people kjlled.
She sat in the library on the ground floor of the Corvino house and did not appear impressed by any of it.
"The shell company records are solid," she said.
"Two years of transfers.
The account structure is clean enough to follow and messy enough to be real." She set a page on the desk between them.
"Reyes we can move on within the week."
Vincent looked at the page.
"Dominic."
"Caruso is more complicated.
The sh00ting is six months old.
The sh00ter is in the wind.
What we have is a pattern of financial benefit and a conversation that confirms knowledge without quite confirming direction." She looked at him steadily.
"He didn't say he hired anyone.
He said you couldn't prove it."
"That's not a denial."
"No.
But it's also not a confession." She tapped the page.
"The financial case against him is strong.
The crjminal case for the sh00ting needs the sh00ter or the intermediary."
"The intermediary took Lauren's money and disappeared."
"We know who he is.
He's been picked up twice on unrelated charges in the last year.
He's the kind of man who makes deals." Hale looked at Vincent.
"If we find him — and I think we will — and if he confirms that Dominic Caruso was the origin point for the contract on Marco Vitale, then you have everything."
"How long?"
"Weeks.
Maybe less." She picked up the page.
"Reyes first.
He's exposed.
Once he understands the full scope of what we have, he'll be motivated to discuss his business relationships."
"Including Dominic."
"People in Reyes's position tend to become very cooperative when they understand the alternative." She stood.
"I'll need formal statements.
From you, from Vitale, and from Ms.—" she checked her notes — "Lauren Ashworth."
"You'll have them."
Hale looked around the library.
At the shelves of books, the accountant's desk in the corner, the window that looked out toward the front gate.
"Your father built this operation over thirty years," she said.
It wasn't quite a question.
"Yes."
"And Caruso was part of it for most of that time."
"Yes."
She nodded once.
Not with sympathy.
With the particular acknowledgment of someone who had seen this specific kind of betrayal enough times to recognize its shape.
"We'll be in touch," she said.
She left.
Marco was waiting in the hallway outside the library.
He had been there for the duration of the meeting, which was either loyalty or the habit of a man who still didn't entirely trust what happened in rooms he wasn't in.
"Well?" he said.
"Reyes first.
Then Dominic, once they have the intermediary."
Marco exhaled.
"And me?"
Vincent looked at him.
"You installed surveillance equipment in my bedroom without my knowledge or consent," he said.
"You withheld information about the sh00ting for four months.
You forged evidence designed to make me suspect my fiancée."
Marco said nothing.
"You also kept this organization running for six months when it could have collapsed.
You built the financial case that is going to put Reyes away.
And you stepped in front of a door this morning when Dominic's hand went to his jacket." Vincent paused.
"I haven't decided what to do with all of that yet."
"Fair enough."
"You're off security.
Effective now."
Marco nodded.
He had expected worse.
"You'll work with Hale's team on the Reyes documentation.
Everything you compiled.
Every record, every account number, every transfer log." Vincent looked at him.
"That's how you pay what you owe."
"Understood."
"And Marco."
He stopped.
"The next time you decide to protect me by lying to me — don't."
Marco held his gaze for a moment.
Then he nodded again.
This time it meant something different.
Three weeks later, Ernesto Reyes was arrested at his port office on a Tuesday morning.
His attorney arrived forty minutes after the warrant was executed.
It didn't help.
The intermediary — a man named Gareth Poole who had taken Lauren's fifty thousand dollars and spent it on a boat he kept in Lake Michigan — was picked up four days after Reyes.
He spent six hours in a federal interview room before he started talking.
What he said about Dominic Caruso was specific, detailed, and corroborated by the financial records Marco had compiled.
Dominic was arrested on a Thursday.
Vincent was in a meeting with two union representatives when his phone lit up on the table.
Marco's name on the screen.
He looked at the union men across from him.
"Give me one minute," he said.
He took the call in the hallway.
"It's done," Marco said.
"They executed the warrant an hour ago.
His attorney is already filing motions."
"The sh00ting charge?"
"Conspiracy to commit.
Poole confirmed the origin.
Reyes confirmed the payment structure.
They have enough."
Vincent looked through the glass at the two men waiting inside.
Men who had spent six months wondering whether the Corvino operation was still worth their loyalty.
"Thank you," he said.
"Don't thank me," Marco said.
"I'm the one who should have told you four months ago."
"Yes," Vincent said.
"You should have."
He hung up.
He went back into the meeting.
May you like
He sat down.
And for the first time in six months, the men across the table looked him directly in the eye.
