Chapter 6 - CELESTE’S PHONE
Celeste stared at Dante.
“That’s impossible.”
Dante placed a printed record on the table.
The number belonged to her.
Activated nine years ago.
Disconnected two days after Sofia died.
Raffaele looked at his sister.
“Why was your phone in Sofia’s car?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ride with her?”
“No.”
“Did you get inside the car?”
Celeste shook her head.
Marcus said nothing.
Raffaele turned toward him.
“You know.”
Marcus stared at the floor.
Celeste suddenly looked at Marcus as if seeing him differently.
“What did you do?”
He laughed.
“Now I did everything?”
“What did you do with my phone?”
“I didn’t touch your phone.”
“You had it that night.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
Raffaele caught the shift.
“Why?”
Celeste’s voice rose.
“You called Sofia from my phone.”
Silence.
Raffaele stepped toward Marcus.
“Why?”
Marcus said, “She wouldn’t answer mine.”
“So you used Celeste’s number.”
“Yes.”
“To get her to Bellini House.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Marcus wiped blood from his lip.
“She left it there.”
“What?”
“The phone. Sofia took it from me.”
Celeste whispered, “Why?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Because she wanted proof.”
Raffaele frowned.
“Proof of what?”
Marcus swallowed.
“The recordings.”
Raffaele stared.
“What recordings?”
Marcus’s shoulders sank.
“Sofia had been recording us for weeks.”
Celeste looked horrified.
“She knew?”
“She knew everything.”
Raffaele felt a strange mixture of grief and pride.
Of course Sofia knew.
She had always noticed what everybody else missed.
“She recorded your conversations about the money?”
“Yes.”
“On Celeste’s phone?”
“No. She took Celeste’s phone because I had messages on it.”
“What messages?”
Marcus looked at Celeste.
She went pale.
Raffaele’s voice hardened.
“What messages?”
Celeste sat down.
Eight years of lies were collapsing around her.
Finally she whispered, “We talked about making Sofia disappear.”
Raffaele’s entire body went still.
Marcus snapped, “It wasn’t serious.”
Raffaele turned.
“What?”
“It was a stupid conversation.”
“You discussed making my wife disappear?”
“We were angry.”
Celeste was crying.
“I said maybe she should go back to Italy. Marcus said he could scare her.”
Raffaele’s jaw tightened.
“Scare her how?”
“Nobody planned to kill her.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Marcus said, “I told Celeste we could make Sofia believe you were having an affair. Get her to leave.”
Raffaele stared at him in disbelief.
“You wanted to destroy my marriage to hide theft.”
Marcus looked away.
Dante entered from the hall.
“We recovered part of the phone.”
Raffaele turned sharply.
“Data?”
“Maybe.”
“How long?”
“Our tech guy is already working.”
Celeste suddenly grabbed Raffaele’s arm.
“Listen to me.”
He looked at her hand until she released him.
“I didn’t kill Sofia.”
“But you wanted her gone.”
“I was angry. Jealous. Stupid.”
“Jealous?”
Celeste’s face twisted.
“You trusted her more than me.”
Raffaele stared at his own sister.
“Because she didn’t steal forty million dollars.”
Celeste flinched.
Dante’s phone rang.
He answered.
Five seconds later, he looked at Raffaele.
“They found an audio file.”
The room went dead silent.
May you like
Dante held up the phone.
“And Sofia is speaking.”
