Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO NEVER LEFT THE CAR
“Locking forty-six people inside my home doesn't make you innocent, Luca.”
Vanessa Bellini stood beside the banquet table, her beautiful red dress trembling against her knees.
Her father, Anthony Bellini, remained seated.
The black diamond on his gold ring reflected the candlelight.
Luca Moretti didn't look at either of them.
“Daniel,” he told his security chief, “open the gates for anyone who wants to leave. Record their names. Nobody is being held here against their will.”
Daniel nodded.
“And the family?”
“The people involved in this conversation stay until we've finished. If they choose to leave, don't stop them.”
Vanessa gave a humorless laugh.
“Now you're pretending to be reasonable?”
Luca finally faced her.
“My seven-year-old son recognized your father's ring from the night his mother died. I'd say you owe him a little patience.”
Noah pressed closer to my leg.
I slipped my hand around his shoulder.
The cupcake still sat on the table.
Three dark candles.
One burning flame.
Anthony Bellini reached for his water glass.
“Luca, Elena and I had disagreements. That doesn't make me responsible for an accident.”
“Then explain why you were photographed with her that evening.”
Anthony looked at Michael Russo.
“Ask the man who kept the photograph hidden for two years.”
That accusation struck harder than I expected.
Michael's shoulders dropped.
“I should have told Mr. Moretti sooner.”
“Why didn't you?” Luca demanded.
Michael looked at Noah.
“Because Elena made me promise something.”
Luca stepped toward him.
“You served my family for twelve years. My wife died. My son stopped sleeping through the night. And you decided a promise was more important than the truth?”
Michael accepted the anger without defending himself.
“She believed someone inside the household was passing information about her movements.”
“Who?”
“She never gave me a name.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“How convenient.”
Michael continued.
“Three weeks before the accident, Elena stopped using her usual driver. She checked the windows before leaving restaurants. She even started wearing her mother's old silver watch instead of the expensive one you bought her.”
Luca frowned.
“The watch?”
I remembered seeing a silver watch in Noah's bedroom.
It was small, with a scratched face and a blue leather strap.
Noah slept with it inside his pillowcase.
“Mommy's watch,” he whispered.
Luca looked down.
“You still have it?”
Noah nodded.
“She said it knows things.”
Vanessa made an impatient sound.
“Oh, for heaven's sake. He's seven.”
“Exactly,” I said before thinking.
Everyone turned toward me.
My cheeks burned.
But I continued.
“He's seven. He shouldn't have to defend every memory of his mother.”
Vanessa's eyes narrowed.
“You were fired ten minutes ago.”
“No,” Luca said.
The word was quiet.
Final.
“Emily works for me.”
For the first time that evening, Vanessa looked genuinely frightened.
Anthony rose from his chair.
“This is becoming ridiculous.”
Luca pointed to the photograph.
“Who was in Elena's car?”
Michael hesitated.
“I saw someone enter through the passenger door. A woman wearing a pale coat.”
Vanessa's face changed.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
Luca saw it too.
“What kind of coat?”
“Cream-colored. Belted. The collar covered her face.”
Vanessa looked away.
Anthony spoke sharply.
“Hundreds of women own cream coats.”
“True,” Luca replied. “But only one person arranged tonight's engagement dinner.”
Vanessa lifted her chin.
“My father organized the guest list. I handled the decorations. You're not seriously accusing us because of a coat?”
Michael shook his head.
“The dinner was arranged through the same charitable foundation that hosted Elena's final event.”
A murmur moved across the room.
I glanced toward the place cards.
Every one bore an embossed silver rose.
I had spent the afternoon arranging them.
The same silver rose appeared on Michael's photograph, printed on the banner behind Elena.
Luca picked up a place card.
“Why use that foundation?”
Anthony answered immediately.
“Because it manages the Bellini family's charitable events.”
Michael's expression darkened.
“Elena was investigating that foundation before she died.”
Silence followed.
Then Vanessa spoke.
“She was always suspicious. She accused everyone of something.”
Luca looked at her.
“You told me Elena was exhausted. That she was imagining threats.”
“She was grieving after her father's death. She was under pressure.”
“My wife wasn't imagining a gold ring.”
Anthony pushed his chair backward.
“I won't sit here and be accused by a housekeeper and a frightened child.”
Noah flinched.
Luca moved between them.
“You will not speak about my son that way.”
Anthony's expression softened unexpectedly.
“I knew Elena before you married her, Luca. I helped fund her first charity program. We were friends.”
“Then help me understand what happened.”
Anthony looked toward the fireplace.
For a moment, he seemed twenty years older.
“Elena discovered financial irregularities involving the foundation. She thought I was responsible.”
“Were you?”
“I signed papers I should have questioned. That's what I did.”
Vanessa stared at her father.
“Dad?”
He ignored her.
“But whatever happened to those accounts, I did not kill your wife.”
Michael stepped forward.
“Then why did Elena tell me she was afraid of you?”
Anthony turned.
“Because she found out what my daughter had done.”
Vanessa went white.
“Daddy, stop.”
Luca's gaze moved between them.
“What did Vanessa do?”
Anthony opened his mouth.
But Noah suddenly pulled my sleeve.
“Miss Emily?”
I bent toward him.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“I don't like the fire.”
I looked at the fourth candle.
Its flame had grown small.
I reached for it.
Noah caught my wrist.
“Don't.”
His voice shook.
“Mommy said it has to go out by itself.”
“Why?”
He looked at Michael.
Then at his father.
“Because when the light goes out, that's when the bad person tries to leave.”
A cold silence settled over the room.
Vanessa glanced toward the doorway.
Luca noticed.
“Daniel,” he said, “please ask the kitchen manager whether anyone requested a car tonight.”
Daniel checked his tablet.
His expression changed.
“Yes, sir. A vehicle was booked thirty minutes ago.”
“For whom?”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“Mrs. Bellini.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I asked my driver to be ready. That's not a crime.”
“No,” Luca said. “But hiding information about my wife's death might be.”
Then Noah reached into his jacket again.
He removed a small folded piece of yellow paper.
“I forgot this part.”
Luca knelt.
“What is that?”
“Mommy put it inside my watch box.”
He unfolded it carefully.
It was a child's drawing.
A black car.
Four stick figures.
Three standing beside the road.
One sitting inside.
Above the car, in Elena's unmistakable handwriting, were six words.
IF THE WOMAN RETURNS, SHOW DADDY.
Luca stared at the drawing.
Then Noah pointed to the figure inside the car.
“She had a white coat.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
And Michael Russo whispered something that made my blood run cold.
“Mr. Moretti, Elena wasn't drawing a stranger.”
He pointed toward the woman.
“Look at her wrist.”
A tiny blue bracelet had been drawn around it.
May you like
Michael turned slowly toward Vanessa.
“YOUR FIANCÉE WAS WEARING THAT BRACELET THE NIGHT ELENA DIED.”
