The Man in the Photograph
Chapter 05 - The Man in the Photograph
Arthur Bell turned out to be alive. He lived under his own name in a small Pennsylvania town and repaired clocks in the back of an antique store. Salvatore's investigator found him through an old professional licensing record. Arthur refused the first request to speak, accepted the second, and agreed to meet Dana in the presence of his own lawyer.
When Arthur entered the room, Salvatore saw a narrow-faced man in his sixties carrying a folder wrapped in plastic. His first words were, “I told Elena not to go back.”
Salvatore stayed silent while Dana asked the questions.
Arthur had worked as an accountant for the freight subsidiary. He had noticed duplicated invoices, unusual insurance claims, and transfers to companies he could not verify. Elena, who maintained a minority interest in the subsidiary through a family trust, had noticed that some board reports contradicted the internal ledgers. She and Arthur began comparing records.
“Were the transfers connected to organized crime?” Dana asked.
Arthur shook his head. “I won't speculate about who benefited. I can tell you the numbers didn't match and the invoices looked fabricated.”
He had planned to meet regulators. Before he could, a man entered his apartment and told him his wife would be hurt if he continued. The man knew details about his children's school. Arthur fled, keeping copies of what he could.
“Why didn't you tell me?” Salvatore asked at last.
Arthur looked miserable. “Elena believed someone around you intercepted her messages. She asked me not to contact you until she found a safe way.”
Salvatore considered the years he'd spent telling himself Elena's death was a random electrical accident. He had accepted the explanation because facing another possibility required more courage than he possessed while grief was still fresh.
Arthur slid his folder across the table. Inside were copies of invoices and a photograph showing a silver service vehicle outside the annex on the night of the fire. The registration belonged to a maintenance contractor whose name Salvatore recognized from Dominic's expense reports.
“This proves nothing by itself,” Arthur said. “But it deserves investigation.”
Dana agreed. They would preserve the documents and refer the relevant evidence to the proper authorities.
Outside the meeting, Salvatore called Nicholas. The boy was with Marisol, now permitted supervised visits, drawing animals for his hospital room.
“Daddy, are you in a meeting?”
“Yes, but I have time.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
The small delighted pause on the other end of the line hurt more than any accusation.
May you like
“Then can I tell you about my fox?” Nicholas asked.
Salvatore sat on a bench and listened until the story was finished. For once, no empire was more important.
