Chapter 4 - The Death at Pier Seven
Jorge Castellanos left for work at 5:42 on a Wednesday morning.
Elena remembered because he kissed her goodbye while she was holding a cup of coffee, and he joked that she would forget him if he didn't come home before dinner.
She laughed.
He returned to the doorway.
Kissed Lily's forehead.
Then rested his hand against Elena's stomach.
Their second baby was only six weeks along.
“Three girls in the house,” he said. “I'm going to need a bigger apartment.”
Elena smiled.
“Or a better job.”
He laughed.
“Working on it.”
It was the last ordinary conversation they ever had.
---
The crane accident occurred just before nine.
A container was being lifted from a ship onto the pier.
The chain assembly failed.
A loaded crate fell approximately forty feet.
Jorge was struck while assisting with the unloading operation.
He died before reaching the hospital.
The employer described the event as an unforeseeable mechanical failure.
The company provided funeral assistance.
But the workers' compensation process became tangled in missing records, disputed responsibility, and delays.
Elena was left with bills, grief, and a child too young to understand why her father wasn't coming home.
---
Patricia Reyes requested a fresh review of the available records.
Dante, through independent counsel, authorized the preservation and disclosure of relevant company files within his control.
The first finding was troubling.
The crane chain had been flagged for inspection nine days before the accident.
A maintenance supervisor entered a report.
The report was never properly closed.
Yet the equipment remained in service.
The second finding was worse.
A handwritten note attached to the maintenance request read:
Hold replacement until after the Thursday shipment.
The initials beneath the instruction were difficult to interpret.
But the approval code corresponded to Victor Romano's operational office.
---
Dante read the report twice.
Then placed it on his desk.
For years, Victor had described himself as the man who kept the family businesses running.
He solved problems.
Moved shipments.
Ensured contracts were fulfilled.
But the files suggested that shipments had sometimes taken priority over worker safety.
And one of those decisions may have contributed to Jorge Castellanos's death.
Dante closed his eyes.
He remembered meeting Elena during her first week at the mansion.
She stood near the staircase holding a basket of clean sheets.
He barely looked at her.
He hadn't known her husband worked at one of the family-controlled piers.
He hadn't asked.
Now her daughter had saved him from a surveillance attempt while Elena struggled with the consequences of a death the family businesses might have helped cause.
---
Elena met Dante in a neutral office with Patricia present.
He stood when she entered.
“Mrs. Castellanos.”
She looked at him.
For the first time, she did not lower her eyes.
“I want to know what happened to Jorge.”
Dante nodded.
“So do I.”
“Did your company know the crane needed repair?”
He took a breath.
“Records indicate a maintenance concern had been raised before the accident.”
Elena's face crumpled.
“Then why was he working beneath it?”
Dante was silent.
She began crying.
“My husband was twenty-nine.”
He looked down.
“He was saving money for a bigger apartment. Lily wanted a dog. We were going to have another baby.”
Her voice broke.
“And somebody decided the shipment mattered more than him?”
Dante couldn't answer.
Because he didn't yet know exactly who made the relevant decisions.
And because no answer could restore Jorge's life.
Elena wiped her cheeks.
“Don't offer me money to make me quiet.”
He looked up.
“I won't.”
“I want the records. I want an independent investigation. And I want my daughter to grow up knowing her father wasn't disposable.”
Dante nodded.
“You have that right.”
---
Outside the office, Lily waited with Patricia's assistant.
She was drawing quietly.
When Elena emerged, the little girl ran toward her.
“Mama!”
Elena knelt and embraced her.
Lily looked at her mother's face.
“Did you find Daddy?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Not exactly.”
The child touched her cheek.
“Are you sad?”
“Yes, baby.”
Lily opened her shoebox.
Then selected a picture.
It showed Jorge standing beside a red bicycle, smiling.
“I remember this,” she said.
Elena stared.
The picture was surprisingly accurate.
Jorge had once fixed Lily's bicycle in the courtyard while wearing a green sweater.
Lily had been barely three.
Elena hadn't realized she remembered.
The little girl pointed toward a black shape in the corner.
“Daddy didn't like the man with the watch.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
“He came to our house.”
“When?”
Lily considered.
“Before Daddy went to heaven.”
Elena felt a chill.
“Did you hear what they said?”
Lily nodded.
“Daddy said the chains were bad. The man said the boxes had to go.”
Elena looked toward Dante, who had approached quietly.
May you like
He heard every word.
And for the first time, the connection between Victor's hidden device and Jorge's death became impossible to dismiss.
