Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Heard Sofia's Last Words
Mason Reed asked for an attorney.
He refused to answer questions for six hours.
Then detectives showed him the photograph from locker 314.
Helena handing him an envelope.
They showed him Sofia's voice recording.
They showed him the bank-wrapped cash discovered in his car.
Finally they showed him forensic photographs of the brake line.
Mason's confidence began to disappear.
But he still refused to explain.
Detective Mercer called Nora shortly after midnight.
"He wants immunity."
"From murder?"
"He won't get it."
"What is he offering?"
"He says Helena Moretti didn't tell him to kill Sofia."
Vittorio was standing beside Nora when she repeated the sentence.
His face remained motionless.
"What did she tell him to do?"
"That's what he's bargaining over."
The next morning brought another development.
A nurse named Rachel Dawson contacted police after seeing local news reports that Sofia Moretti's death was being reexamined.
Rachel had been working in the emergency department the morning Sofia was brought in.
She remembered her.
More importantly, she remembered what Sofia said.
Vittorio drove to the district attorney's office with Nora.
Rachel was already waiting.
She was thirty-four now.
She looked nervous.
"I should have come forward earlier."
Mercer sat across from her.
"You gave a statement."
"Not everything."
"Why?"
Rachel looked toward Vittorio.
"Your son came into the treatment area."
Marcus.
Vittorio said nothing.
Rachel continued.
"Sofia was conscious intermittently. She had severe injuries, but there were moments when she understood where she was."
Vittorio gripped his hands together.
"Did she suffer?"
Rachel's eyes softened.
"She was frightened."
That answer hurt more.
"What did she say?"
Rachel looked down.
"She kept asking for Elsie."
Vittorio closed his eyes.
"Then she asked for you."
"For me?"
"She said, 'Tell Vittorio it wasn't an accident.'"
The room became completely silent.
Rachel continued.
"I asked what she meant."
"What did she say?"
"She said, 'Helena found out.'"
Vittorio felt Nora's hand lightly touch his arm.
Rachel wiped her eyes.
"Then Marcus came in."
"What did he do?"
"He heard part of it."
"Did he speak to Sofia?"
"Yes."
Rachel hesitated.
"He leaned close to her and said, 'Please don't do this now.'"
Vittorio stared at the table.
Rachel continued.
"Sofia became agitated. She said, 'You knew about the car.'"
Marcus had never told him that.
Not once.
Rachel said, "Marcus told me she was confused from medication."
"Was she?"
"No."
The answer was immediate.
"She was injured and exhausted, but in that moment she was oriented."
Rachel reached into her bag.
"I wrote the exact words down after my shift."
She removed a photocopy of an old notebook page.
Sofia's statements had been preserved in Rachel's handwriting.
Tell Vittorio.
Not accident.
Helena found out.
You knew about the car.
Vittorio stared at the page.
"Why wasn't this in the official record?"
Rachel looked ashamed.
"Dr. Bell ordered the note removed from the patient chart."
Nora's head snapped up.
"Howard Bell?"
Rachel nodded.
"He came to the hospital after Marcus called him. He wasn't Sofia's treating physician, but he was the family doctor. He told the attending physician that Sofia had a history of emotional instability."
"She didn't," Vittorio said.
"I know that now."
Rachel continued.
"He said her statements were unreliable."
"And you accepted that?"
"I was twenty-three and six months out of nursing school."
Her voice cracked.
"I've thought about it for eleven months."
Vittorio looked at her.
She expected anger.
He felt none.
Not toward her.
"You remembered."
"I should have done more."
"You are doing it now."
Rachel began crying.
Mercer asked another question.
"Did you see anyone remove Sofia's belongings?"
"Marcus."
"What did he take?"
"Her wedding ring."
Vittorio frowned.
That was new.
Marcus had told everyone Sofia's ring was lost in the crash.
Rachel continued.
"And something black. I thought it was a phone."
The phone.
Marcus had lied even in his confession.
Mercer looked toward Nora.
"That's corroboration."
Rachel nodded.
"One more thing."
Everyone turned.
"Sofia woke again about ten minutes before they took her upstairs."
"What did she say?"
Rachel looked at Vittorio.
"She said, 'Blue bird.'"
Vittorio's eyes filled.
Rachel continued.
"I thought she was delirious."
She had not been.
She had been trying to send him to the evidence.
Even while dying, Sofia had been trying to protect Elsie.
That afternoon Mason Reed began talking.
His attorney negotiated cooperation in exchange for prosecutors considering lesser charges than first-degree murder.
Mason admitted Helena paid him ten thousand dollars to disable Sofia's vehicle.
According to Mason, Helena specifically instructed him to create a brake problem that would appear mechanical.
"She said Sofia was going to drive into Manhattan," Mercer explained to Vittorio. "She wanted Sofia frightened, stranded and late."
Vittorio stared at him.
"And Mason?"
"He cut the brake line partially."
"Partially."
"He claims he expected fluid to leak slowly, causing braking failure after some distance."
"On a highway."
Mercer nodded.
"He understood the risk."
"Did Marcus know?"
"Mason says Marcus gave him the garage code."
Vittorio looked away.
"He also says Marcus asked, 'You're sure nobody gets hurt?'"
Nora closed her eyes briefly.
Mercer continued.
"That supports Marcus's claim that he didn't intend Sofia's death."
"But he knew the car was being sabotaged."
"Yes."
"And let his wife drive it."
"Yes."
There was no comfort in legal distinctions.
Marcus may not have wanted Sofia dead.
But he had wanted her frightened enough to stay quiet.
Sofia had paid for his cowardice with her life.
Mercer slid another document across the table.
"We subpoenaed Mason's bank records."
A payment from an entity called Bellmere Holdings had arrived three days before the crash.
Twenty thousand dollars.
"Who owns Bellmere?" Vittorio asked.
"That's the interesting part."
Mercer looked at Nora.
"Not Helena."
Nora read the ownership line.
Then she looked at Vittorio.
The company was controlled by Dr. Howard Bell.
The physician who had tried to declare Vittorio incompetent.
The physician who had removed Sofia's dying statement from her chart.
The physician who had told everyone she was unstable.
Howard Bell was no longer a hired favor.
May you like
He was part of the conspiracy.
And records showed Helena had transferred nearly eight million dollars to Bellmere Holdings over the previous two years.
