Cloaked in Blood (6 page)

“It is?”

I struggled to keep my mouth shut. 

“According to Franchetta, Mitch Southerby
had an itchy trigger finger.  He didn’t show up in Darkwater
Bay at Datello’s behest.  Uncle Sully sent him out there when
he got wise to the fact that someone was tipping off the bureau
about where the bodies were buried.”

“And he suspected Datello?” Johnny
asked.

“Yes, so he sent Southerby out.”

“And how did he get the scent of David
Ireland?”

“Well, that could’ve come from Datello, but
Franchetta has been extremely cooperative of late, Johnny. 
According to him, Datello would’ve never ordered a hit like
that.”

Because it orphaned a child, one like
Danny had been when Sully Marcos killed Danny’s father,
I
thought.  Jesus, had Celeste been right about her husband all
along?  What had he done that was really so different from
me?  Salvatore Masconi disappeared after Danny was convinced
that he murdered a child. 

“So Southerby killed Ireland because he had
an itchy trigger finger?”  Johnny frowned.  “That doesn’t
excuse what happened at the medical examiner’s office, David. 
They stormed the place with automatic weapons.”

“In desperation.  Datello couldn’t let
Sully find out he planned to turn on him.  Hell, Franchetta
doesn’t even know why that happened, Johnny.  He thinks
Southerby orchestrated the whole thing before he was arrested for
trying to kill you and Helen.  Franchetta believes Southerby
showed up because Sully found out this thing with Ireland wasn’t
dead after all.”

“But Sully was in custody at the time.”

David snorted.  I struggled to keep
mine silent.

“Iron bars didn’t stop the man. 
Sometimes I wonder if he’s still pulling strings even though his
vast network scattered with the wind after the Department of
Homeland Security started digging through that mess at Sully’s
waste management plant.  Whenever terrorism is possible,
people involved get scared.  Say what you will about the
Patriot Act, but it tends to strike fear into the hearts of even
the most arrogant criminals.”

My eyes fluttered shut. 
Dad
.  How in the world had he known or even suspected
that sending Johnny to Marcos’ specific business would result in
Homeland Security getting involved in the investigation?  Like
I’ve always said.  He’s a forensics natural, an expert looking
at the big picture and seeing the tiny clues to the worst
crimes.

Something occurred to me.  If Danny
Datello was really a cold blooded murderer, the merest hint from
Jerry Lowe of an intent to blackmail him would’ve resulted in
Lowe’s immediate death.

So if it wasn’t Danny pulling the strings in
Darkwater Bay for all this time, who was?  I slipped off the
edge of the desk in the office and headed for the bedroom. 
There were answers still out there, dangling in front of me, but
I’d been too blinded by hate and revenge to see what was really
going on.

Datello wasn’t any guiltier than me. 
Rick?  I’m not so sure about him.  He still asked me to
destroy the evidence the FBI had against him.  He still ruined
my career.

But what had Danny said about him? 
He wanted in, Helen. 
My ex-husband wanted to work for
Sully Marcos.  But why?  Was it as suggested, that he was
quietly feeding information to Danny about what Marcos was really
doing?

I dressed quickly.  Johnny probably
assumed the conversation was too upsetting for me to continue to
listen to.  That suited me just fine.  I had other things
to take care of at the moment.

Inside the garage, I quickly opened the door
and backed the Expedition out.  Johnny wouldn’t like it, not
one bit.  But there was someone – a willing someone – who
would talk to me, who would gladly reveal another side to a man I
refused to see as anything less than evil incarnate.

Well, maybe he was far less than an innocent
man, but Danny Datello was no more guilty than I am.  And it
was high time I stopped denying the truth and figure out exactly
how strong those similarities between us really were.

Chapter 6

The penthouse door swung open.  “Helen,
are you all right?”

I shook my head and dashed the tears from my
face with one hand.  “No, Celeste, I’m really not at all.”

“Is this about what happened at the charity
lunch?”

Bless her kind, tender heart.  “No,
it’s got nothing to do with what happened the other day. 
Well, not directly at least.  We need to talk, Celeste. 
God, how I wish I’d met you the moment I got here.  I think
everything would’ve been completely different.”

Her shoulders sagged.  “Then you
finally believe me, you finally see that my husband wasn’t the man
everyone thought he was.”

“I’m getting very close to thinking Danny
was as much a victim of his uncle as I was.” I amended quickly at
her recoil, “No, I didn’t mean it that way.  He was a
victim too.  Without a doubt.  I need to know how badly,
Celeste.  Will you talk to me?”

She smiled gently.  “Yes.  I’m so
glad you came to me.  Come inside.  I’ll tell you
everything I know about Danny.”

We sat on the sofa, and I couldn’t help but
be stricken by how young Celeste really was.  Only
twenty-three.  Hadn’t Danny said something about her
wisdom?  Had she saved him, much the same way Johnny was
trying to save me?

“You told me once that you believed Danny
and I could’ve been very much alike if he’d made some of the
choices I made, Celeste,” I said carefully.

“If he’d broken away from his criminal
relatives, yes.”

“So at one point, he was part of Sully’s
business?”

Her face hardened for a moment.  “No,
he most certainly was not.  I’m not sure anyone but me… maybe
you now, is capable of understanding how much he hated Sullivan
Marcos.”

“I know Sully murdered Danny’s father, or at
the very least had one of his assassins do the dirty work. 
How do you know that Danny was never part of Sully’s
businesses?  I’m not doubting you, I just need…”

“Evidence,” Celeste smiled.  “I
understand that, Helen.  Believe it or not, Danny was the same
way.  He needed proof that Sullivan killed his father. 
And when he got it, he was very young.  He told me
everything.  I know everyone in this city believes that Danny
duped me into believing he was a good person when he really
wasn’t.  They thought I was too young, too naïve to know what
I was really getting into.  But I knew everything.  In
fact, I know more than you probably have uncovered in your
investigation.”

“You’re not betraying him by telling me
anything, Celeste.”

“I know that.  I believed all along
that if I could just get Danny to agree to have a civil
conversation with you that perhaps the two of you could work
together to bring his uncle to justice.”

I had so many questions.  I didn’t know
where to begin.  Perhaps candor would make the best starting
point.  “Danny thought I killed his cousin.”

“Yes,” she said.  “He had doubts after
you talked to him when Sofia was kidnapped.  He called me that
night, while you were out solving the mystery of what happened to
our child, Helen.  He told me what he said to you.”

When you find the bastard that stole my
daughter, you be ruthless.  You be every bit the cold hearted
bitch you were with Rick.

He wanted me to find his daughter and do
anything I had to do to get the job done.  Even kill.  My
chin dipped.

“Helen, whatever happened between Rick
Hamilton and you is in the past.”

“Did you know that Danny was the one who put
Rick in place laundering money for Sully?”

“Were you aware that Rick was giving Danny
information about how much money Sully made and where it came
from?”

“I wasn’t at the time,” I said
quietly.  “Danny told me that Rick wanted in.  I never
asked him what he meant by that.”

“Your ex-husband had ambitions.  Danny
loved him, but he didn’t trust him completely.  I don’t think
Danny ever trusted anyone completely until he fell in love with
me.”

“I can relate,” I said.  “Except for my
father, I think Johnny Orion is the only person I’ve ever… well,
you understand.”

“I do understand it.  I also understand
that the kind of betrayal you felt after Rick was arrested must’ve
been devastating.”

“He never loved me you know.”

“Danny told me that he encouraged Rick to
get close to you, that there was some sort of case in California
that you were instrumental in solving and that the FBI was
interested in hiring you before you even finished your
doctorate.  He hoped that a family connection would give him
an easy way to slip information to the FBI about what Sully was
really doing.”

“Celeste, if you know what that crime was,
what any of them were, you’re in grave danger.  In fact,
Johnny should probably be providing round the clock police
protection for you anyway, considering everything that’s
happened.”

“Danny once told me that it was unusual for
the men in his family to confide in their wives, that women were
largely looked at as trophies or insurance policies.”

A pang of guilt stabbed my heart. 
Hadn’t I made the same assumptions about his relationship with
Celeste?

She laughed softly.  “I see you felt
that way when the truth came out about Rick, maybe you’ve even
pitied me, assuming I served the same role in my marriage.”

“I’m sorry, Celeste.  It’s terribly
unfair to make those kinds of assumptions.”

“After Rick married you and settled with you
in Georgetown, Danny became concerned.  He said that Rick came
to him with this scheme, that if he started laundering money for
Sullivan, that they could get evidence against him much faster, and
that since he was married to you, it would be a simple matter to
see that evidence was quietly turned over.”

“But that never happened,” I said.

“No,” she said, “which was why Danny became
so frustrated.  He panicked, Helen.  When he realized
that Rick wasn’t giving you any information, he was afraid that
Rick’s loyalties shifted.  He told me that the information
Rick gave him might’ve been incriminating, but that Rick was doing
too good of a job making Sully’s money appear legitimate.”

“Did he talk to Rick about it?”

She nodded.  “Rick just told him that
they’d both end up dead if they weren’t careful and
methodical.  In the meantime, Rick was getting richer and
richer.”

“And I had no idea that there was even a
link between my husband and the Marcos family.  Not until the
end.  Were you aware that when I was vetted for service by the
FBI that they never uncovered the fact that Rick and Danny were
cousins?”

She nodded.  “Rick felt it would be
safer that way, if they maintained distance, and Danny agreed.”

“But he was at our wedding.”

“Yes,” Celeste said.  “At that time,
Danny and Rick were very close.  He told me he was so hopeful
that his plan would work.”

“To use me.”

“He was aware that Rick didn’t…”

“Love me,” I said with a hard edge.

“Yes, but Danny once told me that love was
as rare in his family as honesty and integrity.  He wondered
most of his life if he was even capable of it, if there wasn’t some
sort of genetic flaw that made them all bad.”

“And again, I can relate.”

“We were stunned to learn about your father,
Helen.”

“You mean Danny didn’t know about
Wendell?”

She shook her head.  “We didn’t know
about that until after you came to Darkwater Bay.  An FBI
agent who was investigating Rick’s death met with Danny a number of
times.  He told him that you came from…
bad seed
, I
think was the exact phrase he used.  Danny had no idea that
your father was still alive until then, or what his history
was.”

“Mark Seleeby.”

“Yes, I believe that was his name.”

“Danny didn’t believe me when I told him
Rick committed suicide, did he?”

“No.  He said Rick was too selfish to
ever kill himself.  When it first happened, when we learned
that Rick was found dead, Danny immediately suspected that his
uncle had him killed.  He’d heard from Rick that some of
Sullivan’s money went missing and Rick was afraid that he’d be
blamed for stealing it.”

“I know Rick didn’t embezzle that money,
Celeste.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that one of Sully’s other
hired killers, a man named Eddie Franchetta was responsible for the
missing twenty million.”

“Well, Rick told Danny that he was going to
go to you and tell you everything.  The next thing we heard,
he was found dead.”

Oh, he’d told me quite a bit less than
everything.  In fact, Rick was still angling for a way out of
his legal problems without losing his money or his standing with
Sully.  “He asked me to destroy the evidence that the FBI had
against him,” I said.  “And when I refused to do it, he
threatened to expose
my
connection to the Marcos
family.”

“I see.”

“I’m not sure you do, Celeste.  You
see, until that conversation, I had no idea that my husband was
related to Danny, or who Danny really was, that he was at our
wedding and welcomed me to
the family
after the
ceremony.”

“Oh dear.  You don’t have to tell me,
Helen, but I’d like to know.  Was Danny right about what
happened to Rick?”

A shudder rippled through me.  What was
it about this slip of a girl that made me want to spill my
guts?  Had she had the same effect on Danny?

I ignored her need for answers and focused
on my agenda. “I need to know what really happened when Mitch
Southerby came to Darkwater Bay.  The first time,
Celeste.”

“Danny said his uncle sent him, that he
suspected Danny was talking to the FBI and trying to make it look
like Southerby was doing the talking.”