Chapter 4 - Derek Had Known Who My Father Was
Lena had told Derek almost nothing about Michael.
“My dad left when I was sixteen.”
That was the version.
Not because she intentionally lied.
Because she knew almost nothing else.
Derek had asked early in dating whether Michael ever contacted her.
No.
Whether there was inheritance.
No.
Whether her mother had kept papers.
Maybe.
She thought he was making conversation.
Now detectives searched their old messages.
Derek asked far more often than Lena remembered.
Do you know your dad’s middle name?
Did your mom ever say where he grew up?
Was he military?
Did he ever work construction?
Do you have old photos?
Questions scattered across years.
Nothing sinister alone.
Together:
research.
Then NYPD financial-crimes detective Rafael Chen joined case because the notebook and multiple women raised concerns about theft/fraud.
Still no Mafia conspiracy leap.
Chen asked Lena:
“Did Derek ever control your bank accounts?”
“Not officially.”
“Access your debit card?”
“Yes.”
“Know PIN?”
“Yes.”
“Take tip cash?”
“I thought I misplaced money.”
“How often?”
Too often.
Then:
“Did he ever ask you to open accounts?”
Two.
One joint.
One supposedly for tax savings.
Who actually controlled tax account?
Derek.
Balance?
Almost empty.
He told her taxes had been paid.
Were they?
Investigation.
Then old tax notices Elena—Lena—had ignored because Derek said “handled.”
Maybe unpaid.
Financial abuse layered onto physical abuse.
Then question:
“Did Derek know Vincent Moretti?”
“I don’t know.”
Phone extraction would show.
Derek’s phone initially accessible through warrant.
Search:
Moretti.
Michael Serra.
Serra accountant.
Moretti father trial.
cooperating witness relocation.
Dates began eighteen months before Lena met Vincent at diner.
So Derek knew connection first.
Why?
Then one contact named B. Kane.
Messages:
Derek: Wife’s father definitely Serra.
Kane: Then don’t spook her.
Derek: She knows nothing.
Kane: Good.
Lena read transcript with attorney present.
Her stomach turned.
“Who is Kane?”
Detective Chen:
“We’re figuring that out.”
Then another:
Kane: Moretti still owes old debt.
Derek: What does that have to do with me?
Kane: Your wife is doorway.
Doorway.
Derek may have married Lena partly because of father.
But timeline matters.
Messages began two years into marriage? If 18 months before diner, marriage five years. So Derek learned later, not targeted from start perhaps.
Good.
Then Derek’s defense attorney approached prosecutor.
Claim:
B. Kane hired Derek as occasional private finder/informant to locate Michael Serra.
Derek discovered Lena’s father connection after marriage.
He accepted money.
How much?
$14,600.
Wait notebook Lena $14,600 could be amount paid for information about her.
Not stolen tips.
Interesting.
Then other women names may be targets/people traced, not victims.
Need mixed meaning.
Investigators compared payments.
B. Kane transferred cash equivalents tied to information jobs.
Derek had side business locating people unofficially.
Not licensed.
Some through debt collection.
Some questionable.
Lena was a subject.
Who is B. Kane?
Bernard Kane.
Former associate of Vincent’s late father.
Left organization years ago after internal dispute.
Now operates legitimate trucking company with suspected organized-crime ties? We can state law enforcement has investigated but no assumptions.
Kane had personal reason to find Michael.
Michael’s cooperation years ago caused federal case that sent Kane’s brother to prison.
So revenge.
Derek had found Michael.
Then why photograph not hand over location yet?
Messages:
Derek: I found him.
Kane: Confirm routine first.
Derek: Price changes.
Kane: Don’t get greedy.
Derek: Moretti would pay more to keep him hidden.
There.
Derek planned leverage.
Sell Michael’s location either to Kane or Vincent.
Lena became asset.
Then abuse escalation.
Did it relate?
Maybe Derek had been violent for years before discovering father link.
Important.
He was abusive independently.
But recent severity may correlate with pressure.
That night argument started over what?
Lena said she wanted separate checking account and might leave.
Derek panicked not only losing wife/control but losing access to Michael connection.
During argument:
“You don’t get to leave after everything I invested in you.”
She remembered.
At time sounded abusive entitlement.
Now double meaning.
Then prosecutor asked whether Lena wanted to hear recorded jail call.
Derek called Kane from jail? Calls monitored. Kane might not answer. Better he called his brother and mentioned “Serra problem.” Could lead.
But one jail call:
Derek to unidentified:
Moretti got involved.
Voice:
Then Serra will move.
Derek:
Not if Kane gets there first.
Police now had urgency.
Michael could be in danger.
Federal marshals involved due possible protected former cooperator.
But if Michael in witness protection, law enforcement would know; maybe he left formal protection years ago and relocated privately. Better.
Federal authorities confirmed Michael once cooperated but was never in WITSEC long-term; he entered temporary relocation assistance, then disappeared voluntarily after case.
His current location unknown to government.
Derek apparently found.
Then Vincent requested through lawyer to provide a voluntary statement.
Police accepted.
Lena did not attend.
Later Camille summarized with report available to Lena through her counsel.
Vincent admitted knowing Michael.
Admitted giving Lena card.
Denied knowing Derek until call.
Denied monitoring Michael.
Then he revealed something Derek had not known.
Michael had contacted Vincent six months earlier.
One letter.
No return address.
Message:
If Lena ever calls you, it means I waited too long.
Vincent had not told Lena.
Again withholding.
Why?
Michael asked him not to until necessary.
Lena was furious.
“Everyone keeps deciding necessary for me.”
Her attorney nodded.
“Yes.”
Then Camille delivered sealed copy of letter after law enforcement cleared.
Inside Michael wrote:
Derek Walsh has begun asking questions about me. I don’t know what he has told Lena. I am trying to determine whether he married her because of me or simply discovered me afterward.
He knew Derek.
Then:
If he hurts her, I will come forward.
Lena read last line three times.
Her father had been watching from distance.
Not enough.
Not present.
But not gone completely.
Then she reached final sentence.
There is one person Vincent still trusts who knows where I am. Her name is Anna Serra.
Lena froze.
She had never heard that name.
Anna shared her father’s surname.
Who?
Then Vincent’s attorney explained.
Anna Serra was Michael’s older sister.
Lena’s aunt.
May you like
And she lived less than twenty miles from Lena.
Cliffhanger: Michael had secretly maintained contact through an aunt Lena had never been told existed—and that aunt lived close enough that Derek could have been watching the Serra family for months without Lena realizing her vanished past had been surrounding her all along.
