Chapter 7 - THE KEY BENEATH THE ANGEL
Luca looked from the authorization record to the study door.
For the first time, the marble statue made sense.
Vanessa hadn't wanted to hide only photographs.
She'd wanted to prevent anyone from entering the room where the trust approvals had been made.
“Who had access to my study while I was away?” Luca asked.
Mrs. Porter answered from the doorway.
“You, Miss Bellini, Mr. Reed, and occasionally Mrs. Moretti.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I haven't used your computer.”
Luca took her hand.
“I know, Mom.”
Thomas studied the statement.
“The approvals required a physical security token.”
“What token?”
“A small encrypted key issued with the trust administration system.”
Luca frowned.
“My father never mentioned that.”
“He wouldn't have. The system was introduced later.”
Vanessa turned toward the door.
Luca called after her.
“Did you take the token?”
She stopped.
“No.”
“Then why did you move the statue?”
Her shoulders slumped.
“Because the cabinet behind it contained the backup files.”
I stared at her.
“The statue wasn't originally beside the fireplace?”
Mrs. Porter shook her head.
“No. Mr. Giovanni kept it near the study.”
Eleanor looked toward the marble angel.
“Giovanni said it watched over the children.”
Luca's expression changed.
“Children?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Both of them.”
I remembered the statue's heavy pedestal.
The scratch along its edge.
The way Vanessa had insisted I keep it directly in front of the study door.
“What was in the cabinet?” I asked.
Vanessa looked at me.
“Records.”
“Records you didn't want Luca to see?”
She didn't answer.
Luca walked to the cabinet.
It was built into the wall behind the statue's usual position.
The door was locked.
Daniel brought a locksmith from the household maintenance team, who opened it without damaging the wood.
Inside were old accounting files, several labeled folders, and a small metal box.
Thomas leaned forward.
“I haven't seen that box in years.”
Luca lifted it out.
“What's inside?”
“The original trust identification records.”
Vanessa began crying.
“Luca, I didn't take the money for myself.”
He looked at her.
“Then why hide the files?”
“Because my father told me the withdrawals had been approved.”
“By my mother?”
“He said she knew.”
Eleanor looked wounded.
“I would never steal from my daughter.”
Vanessa lowered her head.
“I know that now.”
For once, her voice sounded sincere.
But sincerity didn't erase what she'd done.
Luca opened the box.
Inside were old photographs, copies of handwritten correspondence, and a small brass key.
Attached to the key was a faded paper tag.
Original records—G.M.
Thomas reached toward it.
Luca pulled the box away.
“You've had enough opportunities to handle my father's papers.”
The attorney withdrew his hand.
“Fair enough.”
I noticed something else inside.
A little blue ribbon tied around a bundle of letters.
I recognized it immediately.
Lizzie used to wear ribbons like that in her hair.
I picked it up carefully.
“These belong to Elizabeth.”
Eleanor smiled through her tears.
“Yes. She liked blue.”
Luca opened the first letter.
It was written in a child's uneven handwriting.
Dear Daddy, I got a good grade in reading. Rose says I work hard. I hope you are proud of me.
Luca swallowed.
There were twelve letters.
Birthday cards.
School photographs.
A drawing of a snowman.
All addressed to Giovanni.
None appeared to have been opened.
“Why didn't my father get these?” Luca asked.
Thomas stared at the bundle.
“I don't know.”
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“Antonio kept boxes from the old office. He said they were evidence.”
Luca looked at her.
“Evidence of what?”
She hesitated.
“That Elizabeth's guardians were demanding money.”
Rose had never described demanding anything.
She'd described fear.
And waiting.
Then I saw the final envelope.
Unlike the others, it wasn't addressed to Giovanni.
It was addressed to Eleanor.
In the same handwriting, Elizabeth had written:
I know you didn't want me, but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday.
Eleanor began crying when Luca read it aloud.
“My baby.”
Luca knelt beside her.
“Mom, she believed you didn't want her.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“I waited every year.”
For several moments, the room was quiet except for her sobbing.
Then Mrs. Porter brought a glass of water.
Eleanor touched the pearls around her neck.
“Giovanni made the last one because he didn't trust Antonio with the truth.”
Thomas looked at her sharply.
“What truth?”
Eleanor stared at him.
“You know.”
He said nothing.
Luca opened the metal box again and found a narrow compartment beneath the lining.
Inside was a photograph.
Giovanni stood beside Antonio Bellini and Thomas Reed outside a brick office building.
All three men looked younger.
A fourth person stood at the edge of the picture.
A woman in a white coat.
Eleanor touched her face.
“Dr. Helen Carter.”
Luca frowned.
“The doctor who treated you after your fall?”
Eleanor nodded.
“She knew Elizabeth.”
Thomas turned pale.
Luca examined the back of the photograph.
There was an address in Evanston.
And one sentence in Giovanni's handwriting.
If Elizabeth is ever told I abandoned her, Helen knows why.
Vanessa stared at the photograph.
“My father told me Dr. Carter died years ago.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No, sweetheart. Helen visited me last month.”
I remembered the elderly visitor who sometimes sat with Eleanor in the garden.
I'd thought she was an old friend.
Then Luca opened the final folded paper.
It was a letter from Helen Carter to Giovanni.
The date was three months before his death.
Luca read the opening line aloud.
“Giovanni, I can no longer keep silent about the arrangement Antonio made after Elizabeth's birth.”
His voice stopped.
He unfolded the second page.
Then looked at his mother.
“Mom, according to this, Antonio wasn't protecting Elizabeth from our family.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
May you like
Luca continued, barely above a whisper.
“He was protecting himself from something he did the day she was born.”
