Chapter 10 - the engagement party
By seven in the evening, the Moretti mansion looked like a palace.
Three hundred candles burned.
Crystal reflected warm light across the marble floors.
A quartet played beneath the staircase.
Guests arrived in black cars and stepped through doors surrounded by white roses.
Nobody knew the police had installed two additional cameras in the east corridor.
Nobody knew Detective Price was in an unmarked vehicle across the street.
Nobody knew every door Vanessa opened would be logged.
Vincent stood at the center of the room in a black tuxedo.
He smiled.
He shook hands.
He accepted congratulations.
He felt nothing.
Vanessa descended the staircase at seven fifteen.
The room admired her.
She wore white.
Diamonds at her throat.
Vincent's engagement ring on her hand.
She looked like someone who had already won.
Lily came down behind Martha.
The child wore a simple white dress.
Vincent had considered sending her to Edward's home for the evening.
Lily refused.
"I want to stay with you."
He promised she could.
For the first hour, he kept that promise.
She remained beside him.
Then one of Vincent's business partners arrived unexpectedly with urgent information about an acquisition.
Vincent moved fifteen feet away.
That was all.
Fifteen feet.
Martha was called toward the kitchen because a server had dropped a tray.
For less than two minutes, Lily stood alone.
Vanessa noticed.
She approached carrying a smile.
"Sweetheart."
Lily backed away.
Vanessa kept smiling because guests were watching.
"I need your help."
"No."
"Your father asked me to give the guests' coats to the attendants."
Lily looked toward Vincent.
His back was turned.
Vanessa lowered her voice.
"You don't want to embarrass him."
Lily hesitated.
Vanessa placed two coats in her arms.
Then three.
Then five.
"They're heavy."
"Then be careful."
Vanessa guided her toward the side corridor.
Lily struggled.
No one intervened because nobody understood what was happening.
Near the coatroom, Vanessa closed the door behind them.
Her smile disappeared.
"Where is the other key?"
Lily stared at her.
"I don't know."
"You remember."
"No."
Vanessa took the thin decorative cord from a curtain tie.
She looped it loosely around Lily's wrist.
The child began to cry.
"Stop."
"You will stay with me until you remember."
"You're hurting."
"I'm not hurting you."
Vanessa tied the other end around her own hand.
"Lily, listen to me. Your father found one box. There is another paper. Mommy hid it."
"I don't know."
"She told you."
"No."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Vanessa pulled the cord.
Lily stumbled.
At that moment, Martha entered the far side of the corridor.
Vanessa did not see her.
Martha froze.
The scene was so shocking that for half a second she could not move.
Then she noticed Vanessa's suitcase open beside the wall.
Martha understood.
Vanessa had planned to leave.
Perhaps that night.
Perhaps immediately after finding the codicil.
Martha moved silently to the suitcase while Vanessa leaned toward Lily.
Inside she saw documents.
Copied signatures.
Photographs.
A security diagram.
She grabbed the top bundle.
Vanessa turned.
Their eyes met.
Everything happened quickly after that.
Vanessa pulled Lily toward the ballroom.
Martha followed.
Lily's arms filled with coats again.
Vanessa needed the scene to look innocent.
Domestic.
A child helping.
Nothing more.
Then Lily dropped the coats.
Vanessa pulled the cord.
"Drop one more and you don't eat tonight."
Vincent stepped into frame.
The party died around them.
He rushed forward.
Freed Lily.
Pulled her behind him.
"Touch my daughter again and you're finished."
Lily pointed at the suitcase.
"Daddy, she was trying to get into Mommy's room."
Vanessa backed into the case.
It tipped.
The evidence spilled out.
Martha handed Vincent the guardianship document.
He removed Vanessa's ring.
Dropped it onto the cord.
Then looked at Lily.
"What else did she do to you?"
Lily whispered the words that shattered the remaining illusion.
"She said if I ever told you about the blue box, what happened to Mommy would happen to you too."
Vanessa stared at her.
Martha said, "I think Mrs. Moretti knew her death might not be an accident."
The guests began murmuring.
Vanessa looked around.
Too many witnesses.
Too many phones in hands, even though none were recording openly.
Too many exits blocked by Vincent's security.
She changed tactics.
She started crying.
"Vincent, please."
He looked at her with disgust.
"Don't."
"This is a misunderstanding."
"Which part?"
"Lily is confused."
Vincent's expression became dangerous.
"Do not say her name."
Vanessa swallowed.
"The documents aren't mine."
"They were in your suitcase."
"Someone put them there."
"Who?"
"Martha."
The accusation was immediate.
Several guests looked toward the housekeeper.
Martha did not react.
Vanessa continued.
"She has hated me from the beginning. She wants control of this family."
Vincent almost laughed.
Then Martha lifted another paper.
"This one is a copy of Mr. Moretti's private security rotation."
Vanessa said, "I've never seen it."
Martha turned the page.
"Your handwriting is in the margin."
Vanessa's face tightened.
Vincent stepped closer.
"Where is the codicil?"
The word struck her.
Only briefly.
But Detective Price, watching through the camera feed, saw it.
Vanessa recovered.
"What codicil?"
"Grace's."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then why are you searching her room?"
"I wasn't."
Lily whispered, "Yes, you were."
Vanessa looked at her.
Vincent moved between them.
"Careful."
The front doors opened.
Detective Price entered with two officers.
The guests separated.
Vanessa looked at Vincent.
"You called police to our engagement party?"
"Our engagement ended the moment I saw that cord."
Price approached.
"Vanessa Cole?"
She straightened.
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not yet."
"Then I'm leaving."
Price nodded.
"You are legally free to try."
Vanessa turned toward the door.
Vincent's security did not block her.
That confused her.
Then Price said, "But your suitcase remains here under consent of the property owner, and we're obtaining a warrant for its contents."
Vanessa stopped.
Julian had warned her.
If the suitcase was taken, there was enough fraud evidence to destroy them.
She looked toward the staircase.
Then toward the east corridor.
The codicil.
If she could get it before police searched everything, she still had leverage.
She made a decision.
Vanessa suddenly grabbed Lily's arm.
Vincent moved faster.
He pulled his daughter away.
An officer stepped between them.
Vanessa shouted, "I was trying to protect her."
Vincent held Lily against his chest.
"From what?"
Vanessa looked at him.
"From you."
The room went silent again.
Vanessa laughed breathlessly.
"You think Grace trusted you? She was preparing to leave you."
Vincent's face changed.
Martha frowned.
Vanessa saw the wound land and pushed harder.
"The codicil wasn't about Julian."
May you like
Vincent stared.
"It was about you."
