Chapter 7 - THE FATHER LUCA THOUGHT HE KNEW
“My father was holding the gun.”
Luca said the words aloud because he needed to hear them.
Daniel studied the photograph beneath a magnifying lamp.
“The reflection is distorted. We can identify the ring, but we can't reliably establish whether the object in his hand is a firearm.”
Rebecca looked at Luca.
“He was there.”
“That much we know,” Daniel replied.
Luca leaned against the desk.
He wanted to believe his father had been protecting Michael.
But wanting something to be true no longer made it so.
Vanessa stood near the window.
“My father said Lorenzo asked him to bring a gun.”
Eleanor looked up.
“Lorenzo hated weapons.”
Luca gave a humorless laugh.
“He hated talking about them. That isn't the same thing.”
Nobody answered.
Daniel suggested contacting Arthur Bell.
The former auditor had retired to a small town in Massachusetts.
But rather than arriving with accusations, Daniel recommended a formal interview through counsel.
“We need verifiable records,” he said. “Not another frightened man's version of the past.”
Luca agreed.
For once, he didn't want a confession.
He wanted the truth to survive outside the walls of his house.
Later, Luca found Julia in the greenhouse.
She was trimming the stems of white orchids.
“Julia, may I speak with you?”
“Of course, sir.”
He noticed she still wore a light bandage around her wrist.
“Has anyone contacted you about withdrawing your statement?”
She hesitated.
“Someone from Whitmore Financial offered to pay my mother's assisted-living bills.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Did they threaten you?”
“No. They said it would be a private settlement.”
“Did you accept?”
Julia shook her head.
“I asked them to speak to my attorney.”
Luca looked surprised.
“You hired one?”
“Mrs. Moretti helped me find someone independent.”
He smiled faintly.
“Good.”
Julia looked down.
“I've spent most of my life being afraid of losing a paycheck. It's strange to say no to money.”
“You shouldn't have been put in that position.”
She met his eyes.
“Mr. Moretti, I don't want anyone thinking I stayed quiet because you offered me something better.”
“I understand.”
“I want what happened acknowledged. That's all.”
Luca nodded.
“Then that's what we'll work toward.”
He turned to leave.
Julia stopped him.
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“Your brother sounds like he was a good man.”
Luca's expression softened.
“He was.”
“Then maybe what matters now isn't what your father did. It's what you're going to do.”
Her words stayed with him.
The next day, Daniel accompanied Luca and Rebecca to Massachusetts.
Arthur Bell lived in a modest house surrounded by maple trees.
He was seventy-nine, frail, and visibly uncomfortable when he learned why they had come.
Daniel explained that Bell could speak with his own attorney present.
Bell agreed.
They met later that afternoon in a local law office.
Luca placed a copy of the ledger on the table.
“Did you authorize these transfers?”
Bell examined the entries.
“Yes.”
“Were they legitimate?”
Bell removed his glasses.
“Some were.”
“Which weren't?”
Bell looked toward his attorney.
After a quiet exchange, he answered.
“The payments marked as relocation compensation.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Families lost their homes.”
Bell nodded.
“The money was redirected.”
“To whom?”
Bell swallowed.
“A holding company controlled by Thomas Whitmore.”
Luca looked sharply at him.
“Richard's father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Bell stared at his hands.
“Thomas had lent Lorenzo money when the Moretti businesses were struggling. The loans carried conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“Control over future development proceeds. Thomas wanted enough ownership to force a merger eventually.”
Vanessa had been right about her family's financial desperation.
Richard hadn't invented the plan.
He'd inherited it.
Luca felt disgust rising.
“And Lorenzo agreed?”
“At first. Then the redevelopment became profitable, and Thomas demanded more.”
Rebecca asked the question that mattered.
“What did Michael discover?”
Bell closed his eyes.
“He found the duplicate books.”
“Did you help him?” Luca asked.
“No. I tried to stop him.”
Rebecca's expression hardened.
“You knew families were being cheated.”
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing?”
Bell lowered his head.
“I was afraid.”
Luca stared at him.
“My brother died because people were afraid.”
Bell began shaking.
“I didn't know he would die.”
“Then tell us what happened.”
Bell looked toward the window.
“Michael came to Saint Agnes that afternoon. He had copies of the transfer records. He said he was going to expose the fraud.”
“Who met him there?”
“Lorenzo. Richard. And me.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Was anyone carrying a gun?”
Bell nodded.
“Richard had one in his coat. Lorenzo took it away.”
Luca remembered the recording.
Richard, put that away.
“Then why did Lorenzo tell Michael to run?”
Bell's breathing grew shallow.
“Because Thomas Whitmore had sent men to collect the documents.”
Daniel frowned.
“Thomas was still alive then?”
“Yes. He died the following year.”
Rebecca stared.
“So Richard didn't bring the gun to threaten Michael?”
Bell looked ashamed.
“He brought it because he was afraid of his own father.”
The revelation changed the room.
Richard had been abusive and dishonest.
But perhaps he hadn't been the man planning Michael's death.
Luca struggled to process it.
“What happened after Michael ran?”
Bell's voice became almost inaudible.
“Lorenzo told me to destroy the duplicate records. Richard went after Michael.”
“And you?”
“I stayed behind.”
Rebecca gripped the edge of the table.
“Did Thomas's men catch him?”
Bell shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Then why have you been hiding?”
Bell looked directly at Luca.
“Because the next morning, Lorenzo came to my office and told me Michael was dead.”
“And?”
Bell reached into his briefcase.
He removed a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Michael stood beside a parked car.
His blue coat lay across the back seat.
The photograph had been taken at night.
Bell pointed to the timestamp.
11:42 p.m.
Luca frowned.
“The police report says Michael's accident happened at 11:17.”
Bell nodded.
“That's why Lorenzo told me never to show anyone.”
Rebecca's face drained.
“Michael was alive twenty-five minutes after the reported accident?”
Bell looked at her.
“Yes.”
“And he wasn't alone.”
Luca examined the photograph.
A woman's reflection appeared in the passenger-side window.
Her face was unclear.
But around her neck hung a distinctive pearl necklace.
Eleanor owned a necklace exactly like it.
Luca stared.
“Grandma was with him.”
Bell shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Bell looked toward the doorway, where Vanessa had just entered after waiting in the lobby.
His expression changed.
“The pearls belonged to Richard's wife.”
Vanessa went pale.
“My mother?”
Bell nodded.
“She was the woman who drove Michael away from Saint Agnes.”
Vanessa gripped the doorframe.
“But my mother told me she'd never met him that night.”
May you like
Bell lowered his eyes.
“Your mother was the last person I saw with Michael alive.”
