Chapter 2 - What Elsie Heard Behind the Door
Vittorio took Elsie to the private sitting room on the second floor.
He dismissed everyone except Nora Bennett, the Moretti family's longtime attorney.
Nora was fifty-four, precise, calm and one of the few people Vittorio trusted without reservation.
She arrived twenty minutes after Vittorio called her.
By then Elsie had changed into pajamas and was sitting beside Vittorio on the sofa with a stuffed rabbit pressed against her chest.
Nora did not question Elsie immediately.
She sat on the carpet.
"That's a nice rabbit."
Elsie looked at her suspiciously.
"His name is George."
"George looks like he knows secrets."
Elsie nodded solemnly.
"He doesn't tell."
"Good rabbit."
Vittorio almost smiled.
Almost.
Nora looked at him.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
He did.
When he finished, Nora's expression had changed.
"You physically struck Marcus?"
"Yes."
"And Helena?"
"Yes."
"You understand that may become relevant."
"I understand."
Nora appreciated that he did not attempt to justify himself.
"Do not touch either of them again."
"I won't."
"Good. Now the phone."
"In the safe."
"Nobody accesses it until we arrange forensic imaging. Do not charge it yourself. Do not attempt passwords."
Vittorio nodded.
Nora looked toward Elsie.
"And before we ask her anything, we need to avoid suggesting answers. She's three."
Vittorio turned to his granddaughter.
"You don't have to talk if you don't want to."
Elsie looked at him.
"Is Grandma mad?"
"Probably."
"Is Daddy mad?"
Vittorio hesitated.
"Maybe."
"Are you mad?"
"Not at you."
She leaned against him.
Nora spoke gently.
"Elsie, your grandpa told me you heard Grandma talking."
Elsie nodded.
"Can you tell me where you were?"
"In Daddy's closet."
Vittorio frowned.
"Why were you inside the closet?"
"I was hiding."
"From whom?"
"Grandma."
His stomach tightened.
Nora kept her voice steady.
"Why were you hiding from Grandma?"
Elsie rubbed one of George's ears.
"She said I ask too many questions."
Vittorio slowly closed his eyes.
Nora continued.
"What happened while you were hiding?"
"Daddy came in."
"What did they say?"
Elsie thought.
Then she repeated the words as best a three-year-old could.
"Grandma said the papers have to be done before Monday."
Vittorio looked at Nora.
"What papers?"
Nora raised one hand, warning him not to lead the child.
She returned her attention to Elsie.
"Did anyone say what the papers were?"
Elsie shook her head.
"Daddy said Grandpa won't sign."
Vittorio felt cold.
"Then what?"
"Grandma said Doctor Bell will make Grandpa sign because Grandpa forgets things."
Nora's expression hardened.
Vittorio stared at her.
Dr. Howard Bell had examined Vittorio only six weeks earlier after Helena insisted he was becoming forgetful.
The examination had seemed strange at the time.
Bell had asked questions about finances.
Company authority.
Estate planning.
Vittorio had dismissed it as Helena's excessive concern.
Elsie continued.
"Daddy said what about the little trust."
Nora leaned forward.
"The little trust?"
Elsie nodded.
"Grandma said when Daddy gets me, Daddy gets the money."
Vittorio's face went completely still.
The Elsie Moretti Trust held Sofia's inherited shares in Moretti Consolidated.
Because Elsie was a minor, those shares were controlled by independent trustees.
They represented nearly eighteen percent of the company's voting interest.
Marcus could not directly access them.
Unless certain guardianship conditions changed.
Nora's eyes met Vittorio's.
She understood immediately.
"When Daddy gets you?" Nora asked.
Elsie nodded.
"What did that mean to you?"
"I don't know."
"What else did they say?"
Elsie squeezed her rabbit tighter.
"Grandma got mad."
"What did she say?"
"She said Daddy should've broken Mommy's phone instead of bringing it home."
Vittorio felt something inside him drop.
"Marcus brought it home?"
Nora glanced toward him but did not interrupt.
Elsie continued.
"Daddy said he thought the police needed it."
"Did Grandma answer?"
Elsie nodded.
"She said no police."
"What else?"
Elsie's eyes filled with tears.
"I don't wanna say."
Vittorio moved closer.
"You don't have to."
"Grandma said Mommy was stupid."
His jaw tightened.
Elsie whispered, "She said Mommy should've stayed quiet."
Nora waited.
Children filled silence differently from adults.
After nearly a minute, Elsie spoke again.
"Daddy said it wasn't supposed to happen like that."
Nora's face changed.
Vittorio felt his pulse in his throat.
"What did Grandma say?" Nora asked.
Elsie stared at George.
"She said accidents don't care what you meant."
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Nora finally stood.
"I need to make calls."
Vittorio followed her into the hallway.
When the door closed behind them, Nora turned.
"If she remembered that accurately, we may no longer be discussing financial fraud."
"I know."
"We need law enforcement."
"Not yet."
Nora stared at him.
"Vittorio."
"If we go in with a three-year-old's recollection and a dead phone, Helena and Marcus will know exactly what we have."
"They already know about the phone."
"They don't know about the hiding place."
Nora became still.
"What hiding place?"
Vittorio told her.
Nora frowned.
"Did Elsie say where?"
"No."
"Then ask carefully."
They returned to the sitting room.
Elsie had curled beneath a blanket.
Vittorio sat beside her.
"Sweetheart?"
She opened her eyes.
"You said Mommy had another hiding place."
Elsie nodded.
"Do you remember where?"
She pointed toward her bedroom.
Vittorio and Nora followed her.
Elsie's room had remained almost exactly as Sofia had decorated it.
Pale blue walls.
White shelves.
Cloud-shaped lamps.
A dollhouse near the window.
Elsie walked to the dollhouse.
She removed a tiny wooden bed from the upstairs room.
Beneath it was a strip of blue tape.
She pulled the tape.
A miniature floor panel lifted.
Nothing was inside.
Elsie's face fell.
"Mommy put something here."
Vittorio crouched.
"What?"
"A key."
"What kind of key?"
"Blue."
Nora inspected the empty compartment.
"Someone already found it."
Elsie shook her head.
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Mommy moved it."
Vittorio turned.
"When?"
Elsie thought very seriously.
"The night she went away."
The night Sofia died.
Elsie walked from the dollhouse to her bookcase.
She pulled out a children's story about a bird flying home during winter.
Inside the back cover, someone had carefully cut a narrow compartment.
Elsie reached inside.
Her little fingers returned holding a blue plastic key tag attached to a brass key.
Nora inhaled sharply.
A number was printed on the tag.
314.
Vittorio looked at it.
"Do you know what this opens?"
Elsie shook her head.
"Mommy said blue bird, blue key."
Vittorio stared at the number.
Nora took a photograph without touching it.
May you like
Then Elsie said something that made both adults freeze.
"Mommy said if she doesn't come back, you have to find the train station."
