Chapter 5: The Signature on the Last Page
Michael moved the laptop out of Vanessa’s reach.
“My father’s signature is on what?” Emily demanded.
Vanessa buttoned her coat.
“A transfer from Elena’s charity account.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“I never signed a transfer.”
“You signed hundreds of papers while Elena was ill.”
“I did not take money from her charity.”
“That is not what the ledger will show.”
One officer raised a hand.
“No one leaves until we record everyone’s statement.”
Vanessa handed him the document bearing Emily’s disputed signature.
“Then record that the owner gave me legal access.”
Emily stared at the page.
Michael put an arm around her.
“You don’t have to answer her.”
“Yes, I do.” Emily faced Vanessa.
“Where are my mother’s boxes?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were recorded ordering Dominic to take her ledger.”
“I said the words.
That doesn’t prove he obeyed.”
Luca stepped between them.
“Do not speak to my daughter again.”
Vanessa’s mouth curved.
“You should worry about whether she speaks to you after she sees that signature.”
The officers escorted Vanessa upstairs while Reid stayed with us.
Emily lowered herself onto the bottom step.
“Dad, could Mom have believed you took the money?”
Luca sat one step below her.
“She asked me about a transfer shortly before she d!ed.
I thought the bank had corrected it.”
“What did you say to her?”
“I said I would handle it.”
“And did you?”
“I trusted the foundation’s accountant.”
“Who was that?”
Luca looked toward the stairs.
“Dominic Bellini.”
Emily shut her eyes.
Michael held her hand.
“Say what you’re thinking.”
She opened them again.
“Mom warned you, and you chose convenience.”
Luca’s shoulders dropped.
“Yes.”
The single word broke something in her.
Emily covered her face and sobbed against Michael’s chest.
“I spent seven years believing she left peacefully,” she said.
“Now every person in this room knew something I didn’t.”
I knelt beside her.
“She made sure the house became yours.
Whatever happened, she was protecting you.”
A woman’s voice came from the basement doorway.
“She was.”
We turned.
An elderly guest from the dinner stood beside Reid, still wearing her gray evening coat.
Luca rose.
“Mrs.
Russo?”
“Your men said everyone should go home,” she replied.
“I followed you instead.”
Vanessa had mocked Mrs.
Russo during dinner for spilling water.
I had assumed the quiet woman was one of Luca’s distant relatives.
She opened her handbag and removed an envelope.
“Elena gave me this eight years ago.
She said to deliver it if anyone opened that cabinet before Emily turned thirty.”
Emily stood carefully.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because Elena asked me not to.
I was her attorney before I retired.”
Mrs.
Russo placed the envelope in Emily’s hands.
“She also asked me to watch Vanessa Bellini.”
Luca stared at her.
“You knew Vanessa?”
“I knew her maiden name.
She changed it after her brother’s company collapsed.”
Emily broke the seal.
Inside was a photograph, a bank deposit slip, and a handwritten note.
She read aloud.
“Emily, if someone has taken the boxes, look where you hid from thunderstorms.”
Her lips parted.
“Dad, the pantry.”
We hurried upstairs.
Emily opened the narrow pantry beside the kitchen and touched the wooden bench beneath the window.
“I used to crawl under here when thunder shook the glass.”
Michael lifted the hinged seat.
It held blankets, an old flashlight, and a metal cash box.
Vanessa appeared in the kitchen doorway between the two officers.
“You cannot open that without me.”
Emily lifted the cash box.
“It’s my house.”
Vanessa’s calm finally cracked.
“That box contains private records belonging to my family.”
Mrs.
Russo stepped beside Emily.
“Then you’ve just admitted you know what is inside.”
Vanessa looked toward the officers.
“I want my attorney.”
The lights went out.
Glass shattered in the pantry, and someone tore the box from Emily’s hands.
When the emergency lights flickered on, Dominic stood at the broken side door with the cash box under his arm.
May you like
He looked at Vanessa.
“You promised me they would never find it.”
