Chapter 5: Everything Doyle Tried to Erase
Mave worked through the night.
Leo brought her coffee at midnight and again at 2 a.m.
He didn't speak either time.
He set the cup beside the laptop and returned to his position near the door.
By 3 a.m., she had found the first thread.
"Leo," she said.
He crossed the room.
She pointed at the screen.
"Doyle incorporated a consulting firm in Delaware fourteen months ago.
Single-member LLC.
No listed clients.
But the registered agent address is a mailbox service in Hoboken."
"That's not unusual for that kind of work."
"No.
But the LLC has a business checking account at a regional bank in New Jersey.
And that account received two wire transfers in the last eight months." She scrolled.
"Both from a company called Meridian Freight Solutions."
Leo was quiet for a moment.
"Meridian is one of Romano's."
"I know.
It's in the trucking column." She pulled up a second window.
"Here's the problem for Romano.
Meridian is a legitimate business.
It files taxes.
It has vendors, payroll, contracts.
When Romano wired money from Meridian to Doyle's LLC, he moved it through the real-world financial system.
Not the internal structure."
"Which means—"
"Which means there are bank records.
Actual bank records.
Not internal ledgers that Romano built and can modify.
Real records held by a federally regulated institution."
Leo straightened.
"That's not just evidence for Vincent," he said.
"That's evidence for anyone."
"Yes," Mave said.
"Including people Romano would very much prefer not to have it."
She saved the file, encrypted it, and sent a copy to a personal email address she had not used in three years.
Then she kept working.
By 4:30 a.m., she had found Doyle himself.
Not his address.
Not his phone.
Something better.
A invoice — one single invoice — that Doyle had filed through a professional liability insurance policy he carried under his own name.
The policy was required by two of his legitimate clients, neither of whom were connected to the Costa family.
The invoice listed a client reference number.
The reference number matched a project code inside the Costa internal system.
The project code had been created by Romano Costa eleven months ago and marked as closed.
It was not closed.
Mave sat back in her chair.
"He used the same reference number," she said.
"Romano gave Doyle a project code from inside the Costa system to use on an outside insurance document.
He was trying to make it look like Doyle's work was authorized at the organizational level."
"So if anyone ever found Doyle—"
"The paper trail would point to the Costa organization as a whole.
Not to Romano specifically.
Romano would say he was acting on behalf of the family.
That the payments were approved.
That anyone questioning them was the disloyal one."
Leo put both hands flat on the table.
"He was going to use the organization as his shield," Leo said.
"And burn it if he needed to," Mave said.
"If Romano ever got cornered, he could take the whole structure down with him.
Every account.
Every name.
Every operation."
The room was very still.
From across the brownstone, Vincent's voice came through the half-open door.
"Show me."
He was standing in the doorway.
He had not been to sleep.
His jacket was gone, his sleeves rolled to the elbow, and he was looking at the laptop screen with an expression Mave had not seen on him before.
Not fear.
Not the controlled mask.
Something older than both.
"He was going to burn it," Vincent said.
Not a question.
"If you didn't step aside," Mave said.
"Yes."
Vincent came to the table.
He looked at the screen for a long time.
"My father built this organization for thirty years," he said quietly.
Mave said nothing.
"Romano was there for all of it." His voice didn't rise.
It went in the other direction.
Quieter.
Flatter.
"He was at the table for every decision.
Every risk.
Every loss."
"I know."
"And he was already planning this before my father was in the ground."
Mave looked at him.
"Vincent—"
"Don't." He stepped back from the table.
"Don't soften it."
She didn't.
He stood there for a moment.
Then he picked up his phone and dialed.
It rang twice.
"Romano," he said.
"We need to meet.
Tonight." A pause.
"Yes.
I know what time it is.
My office.
One hour."
He ended the call.
Leo looked at Mave.
Mave looked at the screen.
May you like
"He'll bring Reyes," Leo said.
"Let him," Vincent said.
