Chapter 7 - THE GRANDMOTHER'S SECRET
"My mother signed this?"
Luca studied the document a second time.
Eleanor Moretti had been seventy-one when the lake house burned.
She had been one of the few people Luca trusted completely after Isabella's death.
She had also helped raise Sophie.
Why would she discredit the woman who saved her granddaughter?
Marco enlarged the signature.
"It appears authentic."
Luca shook his head.
"She wouldn't have done that without a reason."
"Then ask her," Emily said quietly.
Luca looked at her.
There was no accusation in Emily's voice.
Only a simple suggestion.
He realized how much he needed that steadiness.
The next morning, Eleanor arrived from her Chicago townhouse wearing a navy coat and carrying an old leather handbag.
She embraced Sophie first.
Then she stopped when she saw Emily standing beside the staircase.
For a moment, Eleanor's expression crumpled.
"You," she whispered.
Emily looked confused.
"Have we met?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"Not properly."
Luca led his mother into the library.
Emily joined them at Eleanor's request.
On the coffee table lay the amended fire report.
Eleanor looked at the document.
"I wondered when this would come back."
Luca sat opposite her.
"Why did you sign it?"
Eleanor removed her glasses.
"Because Anthony told me Sophie would be taken from you."
Luca stared.
"What?"
"He said the investigators believed the house wasn't properly maintained. He claimed someone could accuse you of negligence."
"That was a lie."
"I know that now."
"Mother, you knew Anthony was managing the property."
Eleanor looked down.
"He told me the young woman who rescued Sophie had given an inconsistent statement. He said the authorities wanted to blame the family."
Emily felt a familiar ache.
She remembered recovering in a hospital room, wondering why nobody from the child's family had contacted her.
She had assumed they were overwhelmed.
Now she understood that someone had deliberately erased her.
Eleanor turned toward her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Carter."
Emily swallowed.
"Did you know my name?"
"Not until later."
"When?"
Eleanor opened her handbag.
Inside was an old cream-colored envelope.
"I received this six months after the fire."
She handed it to Emily.
The envelope contained a hospital photograph.
Emily lay in bed with her left arm heavily bandaged.
Beside the picture was a handwritten note.
Thank you for saving my granddaughter. I hope one day I can tell you myself.
Emily recognized the handwriting.
It was Eleanor's.
But the envelope had never been mailed.
"Why didn't you send it?" Emily asked.
Eleanor's eyes filled.
"Anthony told me you had moved away. He said you didn't want contact with the family."
Luca stood.
"Mother, why did you keep believing him?"
Eleanor looked at her son.
"Because after Isabella died, I was afraid of losing anyone else."
The admission silenced him.
Eleanor continued.
"Anthony was always the son who needed rescuing. You were strong. You never seemed to need me."
Luca looked away.
"And so you protected him."
"Yes."
The truth hurt more because Eleanor did not deny it.
Then she removed another object from her handbag.
A small gold pocket watch.
It had belonged to Luca's father.
The watch was engraved with the Moretti family initials.
"Anthony left this with me before he traveled," Eleanor said.
"Why?"
"He said to give it to Sophie when she was older."
Luca frowned.
"Why would he leave Father's watch behind?"
Eleanor opened the back cover.
Inside was a narrow folded strip of paper.
She handed it to Luca.
The writing was Anthony's.
Ask Vanessa what happened at 4:17. She isn't the only one responsible.
Luca read the message twice.
Vanessa had admitted burning the documents.
But Anthony's note suggested she was still hiding something.
Emily studied the watch.
Its hands had stopped at 4:17.
The same time as Sophie's yellow bedroom clock.
"That's strange," she murmured.
Eleanor nodded.
"Anthony had the watch repaired after the fire. He specifically asked the jeweler to leave the hands at that time."
Luca looked up.
"Why?"
Eleanor hesitated.
"Because he wanted to remember the moment he made the worst decision of his life."
Before Luca could speak, Eleanor opened a second compartment in her handbag.
Inside lay a photograph of the lake house taken the morning after the fire.
The back staircase was blackened.
The rear window was broken.
And standing beside the ruins was a man in a gray maintenance jacket.
Peter Walsh.
But the man beside him was not Anthony.
It was Luca himself.
Emily stared at the picture.
"Mr. Moretti..."
Luca slowly took the photograph.
"I wasn't there that morning."
Eleanor's hands began trembling.
"Then Anthony was right about one thing."
Luca looked at her.
May you like
"What?"
"Someone wanted the investigators to believe you were responsible."
