Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW HIS DEAD WIFE
“Then why did you agree to marry me?” Vincent demanded.
Vanessa Whitmore stood beside the engagement flowers, staring at the photograph of Elena.
For the first time since Maggie had met her, Vanessa seemed unable to find a cruel remark or an elegant excuse.
“Because Daniel convinced me it was the only way to fix what happened.”
“Fix what?”
Vanessa looked toward the hallway.
Ethan stood beside Maggie, holding his teddy bear.
“Please,” Vanessa whispered. “Don't discuss this in front of him.”
Vincent turned to Maggie.
“Take Ethan upstairs. I'll come in a few minutes.”
Ethan caught his father's sleeve.
“Don't let Vanessa take Teddy.”
Vincent looked at Vanessa.
“She won't touch him.”
Maggie led Ethan upstairs.
Only when the boy disappeared did Vincent turn back.
“Now tell me everything.”
Detective Ruiz remained in the room.
Vanessa sat down slowly.
Four years earlier, she'd worked as an accountant for Elena Moretti's charitable foundation.
Elena had established the foundation to support widows, elderly residents, and families affected by industrial accidents around Chicago's waterfront.
The program was called Elena House.
It had funded medical treatment, temporary housing, and educational scholarships.
In 2022, Elena discovered that nearly six million dollars had disappeared from the foundation's reserve accounts.
The transfers had been authorized through an investment company controlled by Daniel.
“She thought it was an accounting mistake,” Vanessa explained.
“But it wasn't,” Ruiz said.
Vanessa shook her head.
“Daniel had moved the money into one of his shipping businesses. He said he needed temporary financing to prevent the company from collapsing.”
Vincent remembered that year.
Daniel had insisted the waterfront operations were profitable.
He'd even purchased a new vacation property.
“He lied to me,” Vincent said.
“He lied to everyone.”
Elena had demanded repayment.
Daniel promised to restore the funds.
Then she discovered more withdrawals.
This time, money had been taken from investments held in Ethan's name.
Vincent's expression darkened.
“My son's trust.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Elena told Daniel she'd report everything.”
“What did he do?”
“He threatened her.”
Vanessa rubbed her palms together.
“He said if she destroyed him, he'd make sure she never watched Ethan grow up.”
Vincent felt sick.
His wife had spent her final months afraid of his brother.
And he'd never known.
“Why didn't Elena tell me?”
“She tried.”
Vincent looked up sharply.
Vanessa continued.
“She said you were always away. Every time she mentioned Daniel's finances, you told her to let the accountants handle it.”
Vincent remembered an argument in their kitchen.
Elena had been holding a blue notebook.
She'd asked him to sit down.
He had been rushing to a meeting with several waterfront investors.
“Not tonight, Elena,” he'd said.
She'd looked disappointed.
Then she'd closed the notebook.
That had been one of their last serious conversations.
The memory hurt worse than Vanessa's accusations.
“What happened to you?” Ruiz asked.
Vanessa swallowed.
“Daniel discovered I was helping Elena.”
He'd threatened to expose irregularities in Vanessa's own employment records, which he claimed would ruin her accounting career.
He also controlled an emergency assistance program covering part of her mother's long-term medical care.
Vanessa's mother required expensive dialysis treatments.
Daniel had threatened to withdraw the funding.
“So you abandoned Elena?” Vincent asked.
“Yes.”
Vanessa's answer was barely audible.
“I gave Daniel copies of her investigation. I told myself nobody would actually get hurt.”
“But someone did.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Ruiz waited.
“Did Daniel arrange Elena's death?”
“I don't know.”
“Were you involved?”
“No.”
Ruiz studied her.
“That answer was much quicker.”
Vanessa looked away.
Vincent stepped closer.
“And after Elena died, you helped Daniel enter my home.”
Vanessa nodded.
Eighteen months earlier, Daniel had introduced them at a charity event.
He'd told Vanessa that Vincent needed companionship.
He'd told Vincent that Vanessa was an independent businesswoman from a respectable family.
Neither man had mentioned Elena.
“At first, Daniel wanted me to keep him informed,” Vanessa said.
“About what?”
“Ethan's trust. Your business decisions. Anything you said about Elena.”
Vincent stared at her.
“Did you ever actually love me?”
Tears gathered in Vanessa's eyes.
“I thought I could.”
It wasn't the answer he'd wanted.
But it was the first one that sounded honest.
“And Ethan?”
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
“I wanted a family with you. I thought Ethan would eventually adjust to boarding school.”
“He's nine.”
“I know that now.”
“No,” Vincent replied. “You knew his age yesterday when you shoved an injured woman down the stairs.”
Vanessa looked down.
“You're right.”
Vincent removed his engagement ring from the small box in his coat.
He'd planned to present it again during their private dinner.
Instead, he placed it on the table.
“There will be no wedding.”
Vanessa began crying.
Vincent felt no satisfaction.
He'd wanted to build another family after losing Elena.
Instead, he'd invited people into his home who viewed his son as an obstacle.
Ruiz arranged for Vanessa to be interviewed formally and instructed her not to contact Ethan.
Upstairs, Maggie sat beside the boy's bed.
Ethan had refused to change out of his clothes.
His baseball watch lay on the nightstand.
“Is Daddy mad at me?” he asked.
“No.”
“Then why does he look sad?”
Maggie thought carefully.
“Sometimes grown-ups find out something hurts, and they need a little time.”
Ethan touched his teddy bear's ribbon.
“Mommy used to say Daddy worked too much.”
Maggie smiled sadly.
“Did she?”
“He said it was for us.”
“What did Mommy say?”
Ethan looked toward the window.
“She said she wanted him home for pancakes.”
Maggie felt her throat tighten.
A few minutes later, Vincent entered.
Ethan immediately held out his arms.
Vincent sat beside him.
“Daddy, are you still getting married?”
“No, buddy.”
“Because of me?”
“Absolutely not.”
Vincent took his son's hand.
“Because I made a mistake about someone I trusted.”
Ethan leaned against him.
“Can we have pancakes tomorrow?”
Vincent remembered Elena standing in their kitchen.
The blue notebook.
The unfinished conversation.
“Yes,” he said. “We can.”
Later that night, Maggie finally allowed the mansion's medical staff to send her for an X-ray.
The results showed a small fracture in her wrist.
Vincent personally arranged transportation and promised her paid recovery time.
But Maggie refused to leave until she knew Ethan was sleeping peacefully.
At 1:30 a.m., Ruiz returned with a development.
Investigators had reviewed records from Elena's fatal accident.
Three years earlier, her car had left Lake Shore Drive during freezing rain.
The vehicle had struck a barrier and come to rest below an embankment.
Emergency crews hadn't reached her for more than ninety minutes.
Vincent frowned.
“I was told nobody knew she'd crashed.”
Ruiz placed the dispatch record before him.
“That wasn't true.”
Someone had reported the accident within eleven minutes.
A tow operator had been dispatched.
Then, several minutes later, the response had been canceled.
Vincent stared at the cancellation entry.
“Who canceled it?”
Ruiz hesitated.
“The dispatcher recorded the caller's name.”
Vincent lowered his eyes.
Printed beside the cancellation was a familiar name.
VINCENT MORETTI.
May you like
Ruiz looked directly at him.
“Vincent, someone claiming to be you told emergency services your wife no longer needed help.”
