Chapter 13 - Back at the Table
We didn’t accept Carlo’s terms.
Rachel answered through his attorney.
No private meeting.
No document exchange without counsel.
No promise that evidence would stay out of investigators’ hands.
Carlo agreed anyway.
That frightened me more than if he’d refused.
Bellori’s main dining room had been cleared for limited access after the fire.
The kitchen remained closed.
We met in daylight, with the front doors unlocked and lawyers at the table.
Rachel had notified Detective Harris.
He knew where we were and what Carlo claimed to possess.
I wore jeans, a plain sweater, and shoes that didn’t hurt.
No lace.
No apron.
No pitcher between my hands.
Salvatore sat at the head of the table.
Mateo stayed beside the window.
Carlo arrived with an attorney and a thin leather folder.
He looked at my clothes.
“Moving up quickly.”
Rachel opened her notebook.
“Show us the agreement.”
Carlo slid a photocopy across the table.
My mother’s signature sat at the bottom.
Above it, she supposedly acknowledged receiving all money due to our family.
The date was four days after her death.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Rachel asked for the original.
Carlo glanced at his lawyer.
“A transcription error,” he said.
“My mother’s death wasn’t a transcription error,” I answered.
His lawyer picked up the page.
I watched recognition move across her face.
Carlo had brought her a story too.
Salvatore laid a different document on the table.
His sworn account of the fire in Sicily.
Beside it, he placed instructions authorizing the release of the trust’s records.
Carlo’s confidence finally cracked.
“You would destroy this family for a waitress?”
“No,” Salvatore said.
“I helped destroy hers for this family.
I’m finished pretending that’s honor.”
Carlo stood.
His attorney told him to sit down.
He ignored her.
“You think your son walks away clean?”
Mateo turned from the window.
“No.”
The answer stopped Carlo cold.
Then Nadia appeared in the doorway.
Detective Harris stood behind her with two officers.
May you like
“Carlo Vitiello,” he said.
“We need you to come with us.”
