Chapter 4 - THE PICTURE THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED
Luca did not immediately reach for the sewing box.
He looked at Sophie.
"Why didn't you tell me about the picture?"
Sophie lowered her head.
"Because Vanessa said Uncle Anthony would go to prison. She told me Grandma would get sick if I talked about it."
Luca felt a sharp ache in his chest.
For four years, his daughter had been afraid of telling him the truth.
He had mistaken her silence for healing.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Sophie looked up.
"For what?"
"For not asking better questions."
He kissed her forehead.
"Whatever happened, none of it was your fault."
Emily watched Sophie's shoulders relax slightly.
Then Luca asked Marco to retrieve Isabella's sewing box from the family storage room.
Twenty minutes later, the old walnut box sat on the dining table.
Its brass hinges were tarnished.
Inside were loose buttons, embroidered handkerchiefs, a silver thimble, and a folded photograph of Isabella holding Sophie as a baby.
Beneath a false cardboard bottom lay a small blue digital camera.
Sophie gave a nervous smile.
"Grandma said Mommy would've wanted me to keep it."
Luca turned the camera over.
Its battery compartment was empty.
Marco located a compatible charger from the estate's electronics cabinet.
While they waited, Vanessa stood beside the fireplace.
"You're going to destroy your family over one photograph?"
Luca looked at her.
"My family was almost destroyed in that house."
Vanessa said nothing.
When the camera finally powered on, its memory card contained twenty-three photographs.
Most were ordinary.
Lake water.
A wooden dock.
A white rabbit sitting on a porch swing.
Then came a photograph of Anthony Moretti walking across the driveway.
He wore his camel-colored coat.
In each hand was a red fuel container.
The timestamp read 3:42 p.m.
Emily leaned closer.
"That's the coat."
Luca stared at the image.
His younger brother had told him he was in Chicago that entire weekend.
There was no mistaking Anthony's face.
Vanessa moved toward the table.
"Look at the next picture."
Luca pressed the arrow.
The second image showed Anthony placing the containers beside a maintenance shed.
A third showed a man standing nearby.
He wore work boots, a gray jacket, and a baseball cap.
His face was turned away.
Marco frowned.
"I recognize that jacket."
"From where?" Luca asked.
"The maintenance contractors. The company Anthony hired that summer."
Luca looked toward Vanessa.
"Who was he?"
"I don't know his name."
"Then how do you know he was there?"
Vanessa's mouth tightened.
"Because I saw him."
Luca waited.
She finally spoke.
"Anthony was planning renovations. They needed fuel for the equipment. Those pictures don't prove anything."
Emily studied the photographs.
Something bothered her.
"The containers aren't the part I remember."
Everyone turned.
"I smelled gasoline near the back staircase. But the smoke came from inside the house."
Marco leaned over the camera.
"Those cans were outside."
"Exactly."
Sophie frowned.
"Does that mean Uncle Anthony didn't start it?"
"We don't know," Luca said gently.
But the next photograph complicated everything.
It showed Anthony leaving the maintenance shed with empty hands.
Behind him, the man in the gray jacket was carrying one container toward the house.
Vanessa leaned forward.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you."
Luca looked at her sharply.
"You've been trying to tell me nothing."
Her expression crumpled.
"Because Anthony threatened me too."
The admission surprised everyone.
Vanessa lowered herself into a chair.
"He told me that if I spoke about that afternoon, he'd tell you something that would end our relationship."
"What?"
Vanessa shook her head.
"Something about my father."
Luca felt his patience slipping.
"Stop answering one question with another."
Emily continued examining the camera.
She noticed a small icon near the bottom of the screen.
"Mr. Moretti, there's a video."
Sophie leaned closer.
"I forgot I recorded anything."
The video lasted forty-six seconds.
It began with Sophie giggling as her white rabbit fell from a porch chair.
Then the camera swung toward the open study window.
Two men's voices were audible.
Anthony's voice came first.
"You promised the transfer would happen before Luca found out."
Another man answered.
"It will. But the girl saw the envelope."
A pause.
Then Anthony said something that made Luca stop breathing.
"Then make sure Isabella's daughter doesn't tell her father."
The video ended.
For a long moment, nobody moved.
Luca replayed the final sentence.
Then he looked toward Vanessa.
"Who was the other man?"
Vanessa stared at the frozen screen.
"His name was Robert Kessler."
Marco stepped forward.
"The accountant who disappeared after your wife's estate was audited?"
Vanessa nodded.
Luca looked at the photograph of Isabella inside the sewing box.
Then he turned toward Marco.
"Find Anthony. Now."
Marco's expression darkened.
"Mr. Moretti, Anthony left the country two days ago."
Luca froze.
"Where did he go?"
Marco held up his phone, displaying a travel manifest.
May you like
"Switzerland."
Then he added, "And he traveled under a ticket purchased by Vanessa Bellini."
