Chapter 5 - The Little Girl's Drawing
Dominic placed Lily Bennett's drawing beneath his desk lamp.
The words looked ordinary.
That made them worse.
The lady in Grandpa's room isn't my mom.
Emily stood beside him.
"Maybe Lily drew somebody she didn't recognize."
"Maybe."
"But somebody hid the drawing in your father's coat."
Daniel examined the paper.
"The edges are bent. Somebody folded it into four pieces recently."
Gabriel remained near the office door.
Dominic hadn't restored his position.
But he hadn't sent him away either.
"Christopher says Victoria took Lily," Dominic said. "Find out where."
Gabriel hesitated.
"There's a problem."
Dominic looked up.
"Another one?"
"Christopher doesn't trust you."
"He asked for my help."
"He asked me. He thinks you helped his father conceal money from the family."
Dominic gave a humorless laugh.
"Then he can explain that to me himself."
Christopher Bennett arrived at the mansion shortly after midnight.
He was forty-five, exhausted, and dressed in a suit that looked as though he'd slept in it.
His first words were directed at Gabriel.
"Did you tell him everything?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"Only about Lily."
Christopher turned toward Dominic.
"My wife isn't the monster you think she is."
Dominic gestured toward Emily.
"She assaulted my employee, framed her for stealing medication, and threatened her mother's medical care."
Christopher's expression collapsed.
"I didn't know about the maid."
"Her name is Emily Parker."
Christopher faced her.
"I'm sorry."
Emily didn't accept the apology.
"Your wife knows exactly how much my mother needs to stay in care. She made sure I knew she could take it away."
Christopher swallowed.
"Victoria has been frightened for months."
"Of what?" Dominic asked.
"My father."
The room became quiet.
Christopher sat heavily.
"Walter was planning to remove Victoria from the foundation."
"Because she was stealing?"
"Because he believed somebody was using it to hide old debts."
"That's not a denial."
Christopher looked down.
"I stopped asking where the money went when my daughter got sick."
Emily's expression changed.
"Lily?"
"She has a congenital heart condition. She had surgery when she was four. She's stable now, but the bills, the follow-up care..."
He stopped.
"My father paid. Then he started threatening to stop."
Dominic leaned against the desk.
"Walter doesn't sound like a generous grandfather."
"He could be. Until somebody challenged him."
Christopher rubbed his face.
"He told Victoria she'd lose custody of Lily if she exposed the old family accounts."
"Why would he threaten custody?"
Christopher's voice broke.
"Because Victoria knew he had lied about something that happened six years ago."
Daniel stepped forward.
"The warehouse."
Christopher looked at him.
"Who are you?"
"Someone who was there afterward."
Christopher stood abruptly.
"My father told me nobody survived that fire."
Emily stared.
"My mother survived."
Christopher looked at her with genuine shock.
"Ruth Parker?"
"Yes."
"Then she's the woman my father has been paying all these years."
Emily nodded slowly.
Christopher shook his head.
"I thought those payments were hush money for a dead employee's family."
"They were supposed to pay for her care."
"Victoria took over the account because she said my father couldn't be trusted."
Dominic studied Christopher carefully.
"Where's Lily?"
Christopher glanced toward the drawing.
"With my wife's sister."
"Rose Bell?"
Christopher went white.
"How do you know that name?"
Daniel stepped forward.
"Because Rose Bell disappeared six years ago."
Christopher looked at him.
"Rose isn't dead. She's living under another name."
"Where?"
Christopher hesitated.
Then his phone displayed a photograph.
Lily sat on a sofa holding her yellow sketchbook.
Beside her was a woman wearing a dark red sweater.
She strongly resembled Elena Moretti.
Emily recognized the face from Anthony's photograph.
"That's her."
Christopher nodded.
"That's the woman Lily calls Aunt Rosie."
Dominic leaned closer.
"And why did Lily draw her in black?"
Christopher looked ashamed.
"Because Lily saw her crying beside my father's hospital bed last month. Rosie told Lily she had done something terrible."
"What?"
"She wouldn't say."
Daniel touched the photograph.
"Rose Bell was supposed to testify about the warehouse fire. She vanished before the hearing."
Christopher stared at him.
"My wife said Rosie had been living in Canada."
"She lied."
Christopher closed his eyes.
"Why?"
Dominic answered quietly.
"That's what we're going to find out."
Christopher led them to a secluded house outside Bryn Mawr.
He insisted on going alone to the front door.
Dominic agreed on one condition.
"If Lily is frightened, nothing else matters until she's safe."
Christopher nodded.
Emily remained in the car with Dominic while Gabriel watched from a distance.
A light appeared upstairs.
Then the door opened.
Rose Bell stood on the porch.
Her resemblance to Elena was even stronger in person.
But her expression was cautious, almost defeated.
Christopher spoke softly.
Rose stepped aside.
A small girl came running into his arms.
"Daddy!"
Christopher dropped to one knee.
"I'm here, sweetheart."
"I thought you forgot."
His face tightened.
"Never."
Dominic felt something uncomfortable move inside his chest.
He remembered Anthony promising the same thing when Dominic was young.
Remembered believing him.
Then remembered the years when his father had been present in the house but distant everywhere else.
Christopher lifted Lily.
Rose looked toward the waiting car.
When she saw Dominic, she stepped backward.
"No."
Dominic approached slowly.
"Rose, I'm not here to hurt you."
"You shouldn't have come."
"Why?"
Rose looked toward Lily.
"Because Victoria said if Dominic Moretti ever found me, everything would start again."
Emily stepped from the car.
"My mother is Ruth Parker."
Rose's expression changed immediately.
"Ruth's daughter?"
Emily nodded.
Rose covered her mouth.
"Oh, sweetheart."
She approached Emily but stopped before touching her.
"I owe your mother more than I can ever repay."
"Then tell me what happened."
Rose's eyes filled with tears.
"Your mother tried to save Peter."
Daniel moved closer.
"Rose, where is the evidence?"
Rose looked frightened.
"I couldn't keep it."
"What evidence?" Dominic demanded.
"The recording."
Dominic froze.
"What recording?"
"Peter made it the night of the warehouse meeting. He knew someone intended to steal the compensation money."
"Where is it?"
Rose looked at Lily.
Then Christopher.
Finally, she whispered, "Walter took it."
Dominic's voice hardened.
"And Walter is missing."
Rose shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"Victoria moved him to a private medical wing at the Bennett estate. He was unconscious when they brought him there."
Christopher stared at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Victoria said Walter had poisoned himself."
Emily took a step forward.
"That isn't what happened."
Rose looked at Dominic.
"Then you need to hurry."
"Why?"
"Because Walter changed his medical instructions last week. Victoria thinks she can authorize withdrawing treatment."
Christopher shook his head.
"She can't. I'm his son."
Rose's eyes filled.
"Your father signed papers removing you."
Christopher staggered.
Dominic caught his arm.
"Who has authority now?"
Rose looked toward the frightened child.
"Margaret."
"Where is Margaret?"
Rose whispered, "They've kept her in the same wing."
Lily tugged on her father's sleeve.
"Daddy?"
Christopher turned immediately.
"What is it, honey?"
"Grandpa told me to hide his picture."
Dominic crouched.
"What picture, Lily?"
The child opened her yellow sketchbook.
From beneath the back cover, she pulled out a photograph.
Walter Bennett stood in a hospital corridor beside an older man in medical scrubs.
On the back, someone had written a date from six years earlier.
And one name.
ANTHONY MORETTI.
Dominic stared at the man in scrubs.
May you like
It wasn't his father.
It was the man whose body Dominic had buried.
