Chapter 11 - The Empty Bedroom
“His name was Matteo.”
Luca said it while looking at the window.
“He was twenty-two.”
I sat down.
The anger between us didn’t disappear.
It made room for something else.
“He’d been out drinking,” Luca continued. “Called me because he didn’t want to drive. I picked him up at the garage.”
“In the damaged car.”
“Yes.”
“Was he supposed to drive it?”
Luca nodded once.
Ruiz pulled out the chair beside me.
“Was there a disagreement between him and Frank?”
“Matteo was checking company accounts. He found money moving through a parts supplier.”
“Did he tell you?”
“He tried.”
Luca’s mouth tightened.
“I told him to leave the numbers to people who knew what they were doing.”
The room stayed quiet.
A clock ticked on the mantel.
For the first time, I understood why the east hallway upstairs stayed locked.
I had once asked Mrs. Alvarez, the housekeeper, whether the rooms needed cleaning.
She had said Luca handled that wing himself.
“Frank was stealing,” Ruiz said.
“And Vanessa?”
“Her brother owned the supplier.”
Luca looked at her.
“She told me she was an only child.”
“We’ve heard a few things from her that aren’t true.”
I thought about the beautiful red dress.
The diamond bracelet.
My mother’s missing wedding ring.
All the things people paid for without knowing.
Ruiz stood.
“We need your full business records.”
Luca reached for his phone.
“My attorney will arrange it.”
“No gaps.”
“No gaps.”
She held his gaze.
“This may expose more than Frank.”
“I heard you.”
After she left, Luca took a small photograph from a drawer.
Two young men on a boat.
The younger one was laughing so hard his eyes were closed.
“Matteo?”
“Yes.”
“He looks like you.”
“He hated hearing that.”
A brief smile crossed Luca’s face.
Then it was gone.
His phone lit up.
Unknown number.
A picture filled the screen.
My mother sitting beside the library window.
Taken from outside.
Under it was a message.
Bring the maid and the original drive. Midnight. Or her mother comes home in pieces.
My phone rang before I could speak.
May you like
Nico.
“Hannah, listen carefully. Your mother’s with me. But someone just fired through the library window.”
