Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT
"Ask Lidia why Rosa never came home."
Elena read the sentence aloud.
Dante frowned.
"Lidia Santos?"
"The woman who has managed this household since before we were married?"
Dante nodded.
"She's been with my family for twelve years."
Elena turned toward Mara.
"Find her."
But Mara didn't move.
"Mrs. Moretti, there's something you should know."
Elena looked at her.
"Lidia has been asking to speak with you privately for almost a month."
Dante's expression changed.
"About what?"
"I don't know, sir. She said it concerned Ridgeway Relief. Every time she requested an appointment, Mr. Keene's office told her it wasn't necessary."
Elena felt a chill.
Raymond hadn't simply controlled the Moretti family's finances.
He had controlled access to information.
For years, Elena had considered him a trusted family adviser.
Now she wondered how many important messages had disappeared before reaching her.
"Bring Lidia here," Elena said.
"And nobody tells Raymond."
Lidia Santos entered the security office carrying a folded cardigan.
She was sixty-three, with silver hair and hands roughened by decades of work.
When she saw the pocket watch, she stopped.
"Oh, Lord."
Elena stepped forward.
"Lidia, did you know my sister?"
The older woman nodded.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then why didn't you ever tell me?"
Lidia's eyes filled with tears.
"Because every time I tried, somebody reminded me what could happen to my family."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"Who threatened you?"
Lidia looked at him.
"People who spoke your family's name as though it belonged to them."
The words struck Dante harder than an accusation.
Elena held up the note.
"Who was Rosa?"
Lidia pressed a trembling hand against her mouth.
"My older sister."
Elena stared at her.
"Rosa Diaz was your sister?"
"We had different last names after I married."
Lidia lowered herself into a chair.
"Rosa worked nights at the Ridgeway warehouse. She was supposed to retire that Christmas. She'd already bought a little house near her daughter in North Carolina."
Elena remembered the newspaper photograph.
A smiling woman in a blue maintenance uniform.
One of the few things investigators had recovered intact was Rosa's employee identification badge.
"I'm so sorry," Elena whispered.
Lidia shook her head.
"Sorry doesn't tell me why they left her inside."
Dante moved closer.
"Who left her inside?"
Lidia looked at the old watch.
"Rosa called me that night at eleven thirty-six. She said a truck had arrived after closing, and she was being ordered to open the loading entrance."
"Who ordered it?" Elena asked.
"She wouldn't say over the telephone. She was frightened."
Lidia paused.
"Then she told me something strange."
"What?"
"She said the truck had arrived empty."
Dante frowned.
"Why would an empty truck concern her?"
"Because it was supposed to be collecting medical supplies that had already been transferred out that afternoon."
Elena felt her stomach tighten.
"So someone was moving the same shipment twice?"
"On paper, yes."
Vivian stepped forward.
"That's what Sophie discovered."
Everyone turned toward her.
She swallowed.
"Ridgeway was receiving donated medical equipment. But some of the original shipments were being diverted at the port and replaced with inferior products."
Elena stared at her.
"You knew?"
"I knew part of it."
"For three years?"
Vivian nodded.
Elena's anger rose.
"Then where were you when I buried an empty coffin?"
Vivian flinched.
"Trying to keep your sister alive."
"Don't use that as an excuse."
"It isn't."
Vivian drew a shaky breath.
"Three years ago, Sophie contacted me because I was helping organize a medical charity exhibition in Florence. She wanted to know why certain suppliers were appearing on Ridgeway's paperwork under different company names."
Elena remembered Vivian's disappearance to Europe.
She had assumed the woman had simply moved on after Dante married someone else.
"I was in New York for an exhibition that week," Vivian continued. "Sophie asked me to collect copies of some records. When she called me from the warehouse, I drove there."
"You were there the night of the fire?"
"I arrived after the emergency vehicles. I found Sophie near the rear service road. Her coat was burned, and she could barely walk."
Elena gripped the desk.
"Why didn't you take her to a hospital?"
"I did. A private clinic outside the city. Then she refused to give her name."
"Why?"
"Because somebody had followed us."
Vivian's voice broke.
"Elena, she wanted to come home. I heard her crying your name."
Elena turned away.
For three years, she had blamed herself for sleeping through Sophie's final call.
Now she learned her sister had been alive, frightened, and longing for home.
It was almost too much to bear.
Dante approached Vivian.
"Why didn't you tell me then?"
"Because Sophie didn't trust anyone connected to the port. That included you."
His expression hardened.
Vivian continued.
"When she finally came back to New York, she wanted to find proof strong enough that nobody could dismiss her as a frightened woman making accusations."
Elena looked at Dante.
"And when Sophie appeared here three days ago?"
Dante lowered his eyes.
"She told me about the counterfeit shipments. I agreed to help her obtain records without alerting Raymond or Charles."
"Then why keep her from me?"
"She was afraid you would confront them before we could protect you both."
Elena gave a bitter smile.
"You decided protecting me meant lying to me."
Dante didn't argue.
"Yes," he said. "And I was wrong."
For the first time that night, his admission sounded sincere.
But sincerity couldn't erase three lost days.
Lidia opened the cardigan she had been carrying.
Inside was an old plastic employee badge.
Rosa Diaz.
Maintenance Supervisor.
Ridgeway Relief.
"Her belongings were returned to me after the investigation," Lidia said. "But this badge was attached to something I never understood."
She turned it over.
A narrow yellow paper ticket was tucked behind the plastic.
Elena leaned closer.
The ticket bore a date.
The night of the fire.
And a time.
11:36 p.m.
Below it was a stamped reference number.
H-17. EMERGENCY PORT TRANSFER.
Dante's face changed.
He recognized the code.
"What does H-17 mean?" Elena asked.
Dante hesitated.
"It's an emergency authorization used when shipments move through the port outside normal inspection hours."
"Who approves it?"
"An authorized port official."
Elena looked toward the dining room.
"Charles Weller."
Dante nodded.
"His division."
Lidia began crying quietly.
"Rosa told me the truck was empty. I think she was trying to document something before anyone could change the records."
Elena picked up the watch.
The hands remained frozen at 11:47.
"She called you at eleven thirty-six," Elena said. "Sophie called me eleven minutes later."
She looked at Dante.
"That means something happened during those eleven minutes."
Mara suddenly spoke.
"Mrs. Moretti, I may be able to help."
Everyone turned.
"The estate maintained archived copies of Ridgeway's emergency transport records because Moretti Logistics was a contracted carrier. I found an index for the same transfer number."
She typed several commands.
A scanned document appeared.
H-17.
Destination: Ridgeway Relief Warehouse.
Status: Authorized.
Receiving contractor: Moretti Logistics.
Elena looked at Dante.
He appeared genuinely confused.
"I never approved an emergency pickup that night."
Mara scrolled down.
At the bottom was another entry.
Vehicle clearance: 11:44 p.m.
Authorized receiving representative:
DANTE MORETTI.
Elena slowly turned toward her husband.
"You told me you had nothing to do with the warehouse that night."
Dante stared at the screen.
"I didn't."
But Lidia was looking at him with an expression of terrible recognition.
May you like
And then she whispered something that made everyone fall silent.
"Mr. Moretti, Rosa told me a man using your company's credentials was inside that warehouse before the fire."
