Chapter 7: The Meridian File
Domenico's junior associate was named Petra.
She had been quiet through everything — taking notes, checking her tablet, saying nothing unless asked.
But when they moved to the study after Emma's account, it was Petra who set her tablet on the desk and turned it to face Vittorio.
"I ran Marcus Hale while you were in the kitchen," she said.
"Basic corporate registry.
Nothing unusual on the surface.
But his registered business address for the last six years is a firm called Hale & Soren Consulting."
"I know the firm," Vittorio said.
"That's who I engaged."
"The Soren half is a man named Daniel Soren.
He's a financial advisor based in Geneva." She tapped the screen.
"He was also the named executor of a private estate trust in 2013.
The trust was established by a woman named Carla Ferrante."
The name landed in the room like something dropped from a height.
"Ferrante," Domenico said.
"Bianca Ferrante's mother," Petra said.
"She died in 2014.
The trust dissolved.
But before it dissolved, it made three disbursements." She looked at Vittorio.
"One of them was to a private individual in the amount of forty thousand euros.
The recipient's name is redacted in the filing I have access to.
But the date of the disbursement is March of that year."
"March," Vittorio said.
"The same month Giulia Mancini left your household."
No one spoke.
Domenico picked up his pen and set it back down.
"So Bianca's family paid your previous housekeeper to leave.
Eleven years ago.
Before Bianca ever entered this house."
"Which means this was not an opportunistic relationship," Petra said.
"Someone was watching this household for a long time before Bianca appeared."
Vittorio moved to his desk and sat down.
He looked at the surface of it — the files, the pen holder, the framed photograph of Lucy at the beach that he had not consciously looked at in months.
"The Meridian acquisition," he said.
"What would Hale have been able to access?"
Petra pulled up another screen.
"Meridian's subsidiary structure included a holding company that processed Elena's estate assets after her death.
It was a clean arrangement — her family's lawyer set it up, you signed off on it.
But if someone were looking for evidence that you had influenced the estate documents, that subsidiary would be the place to look.
It would show the asset flow."
"And if the flow looked irregular—"
"It doesn't," Petra said.
"I've already checked.
It's clean.
But it could be made to look irregular to someone who didn't know what they were looking at.
Or to a journalist who was given only part of the picture."
"That's the threat," Domenico said.
"Not a legal action.
A story.
A rumor.
Something that damages your reputation without ever needing to be proven."
Vittorio looked at him.
"Can we get ahead of it?"
"We already are," Domenico said.
"But I need one more thing." He looked at Emma's phone, which was still on the corner of the desk where Vittorio had set it.
"I need everything on that phone formally preserved.
Both videos, the timestamps, the metadata.
And I need Rosa's account in writing before the end of today."
"I'll get Rosa," Vittorio said.
He stood.
Then he stopped.
On the desk, his personal phone lit up with a message.
He looked at it.
It was from Marcus Hale.
*You should know that Bianca is not the one you need to worry about.
Call me before you do anything you can't undo.
There are things about Elena's death that you don't know.
Things I can prove.*
Vittorio read it twice.
He turned the phone face-down on the desk.
May you like
"Domenico," he said.
"How quickly can you get a forensic accountant here?"
