Chapter 6 - The Man Buried Under Another Name
Dominic held Lily's photograph beneath the porch light.
The man beside Walter was thin, gray-haired, and wearing medical scrubs.
A hospital badge hung from his collar.
The name was partially hidden by Walter's arm.
But Dominic could see the first name.
Peter.
Daniel leaned close.
"Peter Bell."
Rose closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Dominic looked up sharply.
"Peter was buried as my father?"
Rose shook her head.
"No. That's what Walter wanted everyone to believe after the funeral."
Dominic felt his temper rising.
"Then whose body did I bury?"
Rose looked toward Lily.
Christopher understood immediately.
"Sweetheart, go inside with Aunt Rosie for a minute."
Lily resisted.
"Daddy, are you leaving?"
"No."
"You promise?"
Christopher knelt and held out his pinkie.
"I promise."
Lily linked hers with his.
Rose took the girl's hand.
But Lily looked back at Dominic.
"Grandpa said pictures tell the truth when people don't."
Dominic watched her disappear inside.
The words stayed with him.
Rose returned carrying a small canvas bag.
Inside were medical records, several letters, and a faded employee identification card.
"Peter worked as a medical investigator before Anthony hired him," she explained. "He helped identify victims after industrial accidents. He knew how death certificates could be manipulated."
Daniel studied the records.
"Why was he with Walter in the hospital?"
"Because Peter had been injured in the warehouse fire. Walter arranged private treatment."
"Did he survive?"
Rose nodded.
"For three days."
Dominic's expression changed.
"Then Peter wasn't the man buried under my father's name."
"No."
Rose looked directly at him.
"Anthony was buried in his own grave."
Dominic stepped back.
"Then what did Walter mean by 'the wrong person was buried'?"
Rose opened the canvas bag.
She removed a folded funeral program.
Anthony Moretti's name appeared on the cover.
Inside was the list of pallbearers.
Dominic.
Gabriel.
Walter Bennett.
Three longtime associates.
And a final name Dominic didn't recognize.
Samuel Cross.
"Samuel Cross was a warehouse mechanic," Rose said. "He was killed the same night."
Daniel frowned.
"I thought Cross survived."
"He did survive the fire. But he was murdered before he could testify."
"Who buried him?" Dominic asked.
Rose's voice trembled.
"Walter."
She removed another document.
A cemetery record.
The grave supposedly belonging to Samuel Cross had been opened six years earlier.
But the burial permit listed Peter Bell.
Dominic stared.
"Walter switched their identities."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Samuel Cross possessed evidence that Anthony was going to give the authorities. Walter needed investigators to think Samuel had escaped with it."
Daniel sat heavily on the porch steps.
"So they searched for a living man while the real Samuel was already dead."
Rose nodded.
"Peter died three days later from his injuries. Walter buried him under Samuel's name."
Dominic studied the papers.
"The wrong person was buried," he said quietly.
It wasn't about Anthony's body.
It was about a second grave.
A second victim.
A second family denied the truth.
"And the missing photograph?" Emily asked.
Rose looked at her.
"I was scratched out because I witnessed the burial arrangements."
Emily frowned.
"Then why did my mother keep the original?"
"Because Ruth knew I hadn't disappeared willingly."
Dominic looked toward the house.
"Who was responsible for Samuel's death?"
Rose hesitated.
"That's where Victoria comes in."
Christopher's face tightened.
"Victoria was twenty-nine then. She wasn't running the foundation."
"No," Rose said. "She was Peter's assistant."
The revelation silenced them.
Daniel whispered, "I didn't know that."
"She used the name Charlotte Wells while working for him. Peter trusted her because he believed she was helping investigate the missing money."
Emily remembered Daniel explaining that Charlotte Wells had been Peter's sister.
"She used his sister's name?"
Rose nodded.
"Charlotte had died years before the warehouse fire. Victoria borrowed her identity so nobody would connect her to the Bennett family."
Christopher stared.
"My wife told me she met Peter only once."
"She worked beside him for eight months."
Dominic looked toward the dark road.
"So Walter confronted her because she'd been using a dead woman's identity."
"Yes."
"And six years later, she was still using it."
Rose nodded.
"To retrieve records from people who would never have trusted Victoria Bennett."
Christopher's face crumpled.
"She told me she was protecting Lily."
Rose looked at him sadly.
"She was protecting something long before Lily was born."
Dominic returned to his car.
He wanted to leave immediately for the Bennett estate.
Emily followed.
"Mr. Moretti."
He turned.
"You can't just go in there angry."
"My father was lied about for six years. Walter is being held somewhere against his will. Margaret may be in danger."
"And Lily is watching every adult she trusts fall apart."
Dominic stopped.
Emily stepped closer.
"That little girl needs her father. She needs people to make decisions that don't leave her frightened."
He looked toward the house.
Christopher stood beside the porch window, one hand resting against the glass while Lily showed him something in her sketchbook.
Dominic remembered the first night after Anthony's funeral.
He'd been thirty-six, surrounded by men who wanted instructions.
Nobody had asked whether he was grieving.
He had become exactly what everyone needed him to be.
And somewhere along the way, he'd forgotten how to be a son.
"You're right," he said.
Emily seemed surprised.
"I am?"
"Don't look so shocked."
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
Dominic turned toward Gabriel.
"Secure the house. No one approaches Rose or Lily without Christopher's permission."
Gabriel nodded.
"And you?"
"I'm going to find Walter."
Before they left, Christopher handed Dominic a sealed envelope.
"My father left this in my study last week. Victoria told me to destroy it."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I knew she was afraid of what was inside."
Dominic opened it.
A single sheet contained details of a hospital transfer.
Walter had been scheduled to enter a private care unit under another patient's name.
But beneath the transfer form was something far more disturbing.
A medication order.
The drug listed was capable of causing severe sedation and dangerously low blood pressure.
It had been ordered for Walter.
The prescribing physician's signature had been forged.
Dominic showed it to Emily.
She recognized the medication from caring for Ruth.
"This could explain his collapse."
Christopher looked sick.
"Victoria arranged it?"
"Possibly," Dominic said. "But we need proof."
Emily pointed at the authorization line.
A second signature appeared below the physician's.
Christopher Bennett.
Christopher shook his head.
"I never signed that."
Dominic examined the paper carefully.
The signature looked genuine.
Then he noticed the date.
It was three days before the charity dinner.
Dominic looked up.
"Christopher, where were you three days ago?"
Christopher went pale.
"At the hospital with Lily."
"Who was with you?"
"My wife."
Dominic turned the document around.
"Then somebody used your signature while you were watching your daughter recover from a medical examination."
Christopher stared at the form.
And whispered, "No. Victoria didn't forge that."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I recognize the handwriting beneath it."
May you like
He looked at Dominic.
"It's my mother's."
