Chapter 7 - What Lucia Had Copied)
The black folder was not in Ruby's room.
It was not in Lucia's dressing room.
It was not inside the cedar chest.
Domenico searched every place he could imagine while Daniel reviewed security footage.
At noon, Daniel entered the office carrying a tablet.
"I found Marcus on camera."
Domenico stood.
"Where?"
"Hallway outside Lucia's room. Two nights ago."
The video showed Marcus entering at 11:42 p.m.
He remained inside for eighteen minutes.
When he left, he carried nothing obvious.
Daniel slowed the recording.
"There."
Marcus's jacket bulged slightly near the waist.
Domenico leaned closer.
"Folder?"
"Could be."
They checked exterior cameras.
Marcus walked to his vehicle.
He opened the trunk.
The angle prevented them from seeing what he placed inside.
Then he drove away.
Thirty six hours later, Lucia's handbag was discovered in the same trunk.
Domenico looked at Daniel.
"He moved evidence."
"Probably."
"Where did he go that night?"
"Working on it."
An hour later they had the answer.
Marcus drove twenty three miles north.
To an abandoned Moretti warehouse.
The property had been unused for six years.
Domenico owned it through an old subsidiary.
Few people remembered it existed.
Marcus did.
Domenico and Daniel went there with Detective Shaw.
The warehouse smelled of dust and rain.
Inside one office they found fresh footprints.
A metal cabinet had been opened recently.
Shaw photographed everything.
In the back room, Daniel found burned papers inside a steel drum.
Most were ash.
Some edges remained readable.
Company names.
Dates.
Account numbers.
Shaw crouched.
"What did Lucia do for your company?"
Domenico looked at the ash.
"Before Ruby was born, she handled compliance."
"What kind?"
"Vendor review. Internal contracts. International partners."
"Access to accounts?"
"Yes."
Shaw looked around.
"Could she have discovered financial crimes?"
Domenico hesitated.
"Possibly."
"Committed by you?"
His eyes hardened.
"No."
"By someone else?"
"We had hundreds of employees."
Daniel called from another room.
"You need to see this."
They followed.
A laptop sat on a folding table.
The hard drive had been removed.
Beside it was a photograph.
Lucia.
Alive.
Taken through a window.
The date printed on the back was twelve days before her death.
Someone had been watching her.
Shaw placed it into evidence.
Domenico stared at Lucia's face.
She was carrying Ruby.
His daughter was two years old, asleep against her shoulder.
On the back of the photo was handwriting.
SHE COPIED IT.
Domenico felt rage rising.
Shaw noticed.
"Control it."
He looked at her.
"Someone followed my wife."
"Yes."
"They watched my daughter."
"Yes."
"And three years later that man's sister tried to send Ruby away."
"That is what we're investigating."
Domenico turned away.
Daniel searched the desk.
One drawer was locked.
Shaw forced it open after obtaining consent from Domenico as property owner.
Inside was a small envelope.
It contained six photographs.
Lucia entering Bellweather National Bank.
Lucia meeting a lawyer.
Lucia speaking to Rosa outside the mansion.
Lucia at Ruby's preschool.
And one photograph of Lucia arguing with a man.
Marcus.
The final photograph showed another person inside a car watching them.
Valentina.
Domenico looked at Shaw.
"She said she barely knew Lucia."
Shaw nodded.
"Now we know that was false."
The photographs created enough grounds for further warrants.
That evening, Valentina was taken to the station for formal questioning.
She was not arrested.
But she was no longer smiling.
Before leaving, she stopped beside Ruby in the entrance hall.
Domenico stepped between them.
Valentina looked around him.
"Ruby."
The child stared.
"Your mother made terrible choices."
Domenico's voice hardened.
"Keep walking."
Valentina ignored him.
"She thought hiding secrets would protect you."
Ruby gripped her father's hand.
Valentina smiled.
"But secrets always hurt the people we love."
Domenico moved closer.
"Leave."
Valentina walked away.
Ruby watched until the door closed.
Then she whispered, "She knows where the black book is."
Domenico looked down.
"Why do you think that?"
"Because Mommy told her."
"When?"
Ruby's brow furrowed.
"In the car."
Domenico crouched.
"You were there?"
Ruby nodded.
A memory was emerging.
Small.
Broken.
But real.
"Mommy was crying. Miss Valentina said give it to me. Mommy said no."
"What happened next?"
"Mommy put something under my blanket."
Domenico's heart pounded.
"The black folder?"
Ruby nodded.
"But we checked your blanket."
Ruby looked confused.
"Not this blanket."
Domenico froze.
"What do you mean?"
Ruby pointed toward the basement stairs.
"The baby blanket."
Rosa whispered, "The storage trunks."
They went downstairs.
Lucia had kept Ruby's infant clothes in sealed trunks.
There were four.
The third contained baby shoes, tiny sweaters, hospital bracelets, and folded blankets.
At the bottom was a pale pink hospital blanket.
Domenico lifted it.
Something stiff was sewn into the lining.
Daniel brought scissors.
Domenico cut one seam carefully.
A black leather folder slid out.
No one spoke.
Domenico opened it.
Inside were photocopies of financial transfers from Moretti Holdings.
Millions of dollars.
Payments routed through consulting companies.
The approving signatures belonged to executives Domenico recognized.
But the final beneficiary appeared repeatedly.
Russo Advisory Group.
Marcus.
Another page contained property transfers.
Another showed offshore accounts.
Then Domenico reached the last document.
His own signature appeared at the bottom.
He stared at it.
Shaw examined the page.
"Did you sign this?"
"No."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely."
She looked at him.
"Then someone had been forging your signature years before Ruby's transfer papers."
Domenico turned another page.
A handwritten note from Lucia was attached.
D, I think Marcus is stealing from the company. Valentina is helping him. But that is not what frightens me. I think someone inside your office is protecting them.
Domenico stopped.
Someone inside his office.
Shaw read over his shoulder.
"Who had access to your signature files three years ago?"
Domenico slowly looked toward Daniel.
Daniel's face changed.
Domenico said nothing.
Daniel took one step backward.
"Don't."
Shaw immediately placed a hand near her weapon.
Domenico stared at the man who had protected his home for eleven years.
Daniel shook his head.
"It wasn't me."
"Who else?"
"Your executive office."
"Names."
Daniel swallowed.
"Five people."
Domenico waited.
Daniel listed them.
Four were gone.
One remained.
Domenico's chief financial officer.
May you like
Adrian Cole.
The same man currently controlling every major Moretti company account.
