Chapter 2 - The Man Behind the Locked Door
Dominic Moretti had spent six years refusing to enter his father's office.
Now a stranger was standing on the other side of it, warning him against opening the door.
Dominic kept his hand on the brass key.
"Who are you?"
"Someone your father trusted."
"That doesn't answer my question."
A pause.
"Neither does pointing a gun at the door, Dominic."
Dominic glanced down.
His right hand had already reached beneath his jacket.
Emily Parker stood several feet behind him, clutching Walter's photograph.
She looked frightened, but she hadn't run.
"How do you know Victoria is watching?" Dominic demanded.
"Because she sent somebody through the service corridor three minutes ago."
Dominic turned toward his security chief, Gabriel Russo, who had followed them upstairs.
"Clear the east hallway. Quietly."
Gabriel moved immediately.
Dominic turned the key.
The lock opened with a heavy click.
Inside, Anthony Moretti's office smelled of old leather, furniture polish, and the faint tobacco scent that Dominic still associated with his childhood.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
The walnut desk remained beneath the window.
His father's reading glasses lay beside a silver cigarette case.
And behind the desk stood a man approximately sixty years old, wearing a gray coat.
One side of his face bore a pale scar.
He wasn't holding a weapon.
He was holding Anthony's gold pocket watch.
"My name is Daniel Mercer," he said.
Dominic recognized the name.
His father had mentioned Daniel exactly twice.
Both times, he had called him a traitor.
"You've got ten seconds to explain why you're here."
Daniel placed the watch on the desk.
"Your father asked me to come back if Walter Bennett ever tried to tell you the truth."
"My father's dead."
"I know."
"Then you've taken six years to keep your promise."
Daniel's expression changed.
"Six years ago, I tried. You had my letters returned unopened."
Dominic remembered the envelopes.
He'd assumed they were another attempt by a disgraced former associate to obtain money.
Daniel reached into his coat.
Dominic's hand tightened around his gun.
"Slowly."
Daniel withdrew a folded yellow paper.
A visitor's receipt from the Philadelphia medical examiner's office.
Dated two days after Anthony's funeral.
The listed visitor was Daniel Mercer.
The requested identification was for an unidentified male recovered from a warehouse fire.
Dominic read the paper twice.
"What does this have to do with my father?"
Daniel looked toward the photograph in Emily's hands.
"Anthony was supposed to meet Walter at that warehouse. But somebody else arrived first."
"Who?"
"Peter Bell."
Emily made a quiet sound.
Both men looked at her.
"My mother knew a Peter Bell."
Daniel's face lost its color.
"What's your mother's name?"
"Ruth Parker."
For several seconds, Daniel couldn't speak.
Then he whispered, "God help us."
Dominic stepped closer.
"What do you know about her?"
"Your father paid for her rehabilitation after the warehouse fire. Not because she worked for him."
Daniel looked at Emily.
"Because she saved his life."
Emily shook her head.
"My mother never mentioned Anthony Moretti."
"She was told that mentioning him would put her daughter in danger."
The words seemed to strike Emily harder than any accusation Victoria had made.
"My mother has needed help for years. Why would she hide something like that?"
"Because she believed the wrong person had been punished."
Dominic picked up the pocket watch.
It had stopped at 11:17.
The same time printed on Anthony's death certificate.
"Tell me what happened that night."
Daniel stared at the watch.
"Anthony discovered somebody was stealing from a fund intended to compensate families harmed by the old Moretti shipping operations. The missing money had been routed through a nonprofit connected to the Bennett family."
"Victoria's foundation?"
"Not originally. Victoria inherited control later."
"Then who stole it?"
Daniel shook his head.
"That's what Anthony was going to prove."
Dominic's patience snapped.
"You come into my father's office, tell me his death wasn't what I believed, then expect me to accept another mystery?"
"No," Daniel said. "I expect you to stop believing the man who told you how your father died."
Dominic went still.
"Walter?"
Daniel nodded.
"Walter identified the body."
Outside, hurried footsteps approached.
Gabriel appeared.
"Boss, we caught someone coming through the east service passage."
"Who?"
"A woman from Victoria's security team. She had a photograph of Emily's mother."
Emily grabbed the edge of the desk.
"What?"
"There's more," Gabriel said. "She had instructions to take Emily to a private facility tonight."
Dominic's voice dropped.
"Who signed them?"
"Victoria Bennett."
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"My mother can't even walk without help. Why would Victoria want me taken away?"
Daniel answered quietly.
"Because Ruth is beginning to remember."
Dominic turned.
"Remember what?"
"The warehouse. The missing money. And the man who was buried."
A faint vibration sounded beneath the desk.
Daniel crouched and removed a small black transmitter taped to the underside.
"That's how they knew I'd come."
Dominic examined it.
"Who installed this?"
"Someone who still has access to the mansion."
Gabriel looked immediately uncomfortable.
Dominic noticed.
"Gabriel?"
His security chief swallowed.
"Your father ordered me to keep that room sealed. I never understood why."
"And?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"Three months ago, Victoria asked for permission to inspect the house's old telephone wiring. She said the foundation was sponsoring an electrical safety review."
Daniel placed the transmitter on the desk.
"The phone line isn't part of the public system. Anthony had a private exchange connecting this office to the warehouse security station. I restored it this afternoon to reach the office before Victoria's people did."
"So you were the one calling?"
"Yes. When I heard you outside, I warned you."
Dominic glanced at the telephone.
For the first time, the impossible ringing had an ordinary explanation.
But the reason behind it was far worse.
Victoria had known about a private communication system belonging to a dead man.
And someone inside Dominic's own household had allowed her access.
Emily looked toward the window.
"Mr. Moretti, I need to see my mother."
"You will."
"Tonight."
Dominic studied her.
There was fear in her face, but beneath it was something familiar.
The same stubbornness his father had once called courage.
"Tonight," he agreed.
Daniel reached for the photograph.
"Before you go, there's something you need to understand about Peter Bell."
He turned it over.
"Peter wasn't an accountant. He was a former detective hired by Anthony to investigate the compensation fund."
Dominic frowned.
"Then why was his name connected to Victoria?"
"Because somebody had been using his identification after his death."
Emily looked down at the scratched face.
"Was Peter the person removed from the picture?"
"No."
Daniel hesitated.
"Peter was the person standing behind the camera."
Dominic felt something cold settle inside him.
"Then whose face was scratched out?"
Daniel looked directly at him.
"Someone your father wanted you to recognize."
He held out the pocket watch.
"Open the back."
Dominic pressed the tiny release.
Inside the watch was a faded photograph of a teenage boy standing beside Anthony Moretti.
On the reverse, written in his father's unmistakable handwriting, were four words.
MY SON DESERVES THE TRUTH.
Dominic stared at the boy.
May you like
He recognized the face.
It was Gabriel Russo.
