Chapter 10 - THE RECORD BEFORE THE WEDDING
Detective Brooks checked the filing office the next morning. A document transferring the West Dock property had been submitted for recording. The office had flagged it because one witness signature was missing.
Mine.
Vanessa had an appointment at nine to supply a corrected page. She had made it under the name of a law firm that no longer existed.
“She’ll know we’re watching the office,” Brooks said. “But we can preserve the filing and find out who submitted it.”
Luca sat across from me in his kitchen. He had taken off his suit jacket. He looked older in daylight.
“I hired Vanessa’s family’s company two years ago,” he said. “They handled event contracts. Daniel recommended them.”
“So she was close to your business before the engagement.”
“Yes. I missed it.”
I wanted to tell him that none of this was my fault. The words wouldn’t come. I had also watched Vanessa for weeks without telling him.
Noah arrived with coffee and another file he had recovered overnight. The transfer document had gone through three versions. In the first, the buyer was Vanessa’s mother’s company. In the second, it was Daniel’s old business.
In the final version, the buyer was an unfamiliar name: Harbor Renewal LLC.
“Who owns it?” Luca asked.
“No public name yet,” Noah said. “But its mailing address matches the office of your chief financial officer.”
Luca set down his cup. “Paul Bennett.”
Paul had managed the Moretti shipping company’s books for twelve years. He had been at the engagement dinner, seated four chairs away from me when Luca noticed my glove.
Brooks called Paul’s office. His assistant said he was out of town.
Then Ruth called from the docks. “Paul just used his badge to enter the warehouse.”
“What’s he doing there?” Luca asked.
“He told the guard he needs old tax records.”
“The server is gone.”
“He knows.”
Luca stood. Noah grabbed his coat.
At the warehouse, Ruth met us beside the loading bay. Paul’s car was still there, but Paul wasn’t. A side door had been propped open with a brick.
Inside, we found rows of file cabinets standing empty.
“He took paper records,” Noah said.
Ruth pointed toward a stack of boxes near the door. One had split open. Old invoices lay across the floor.
I bent to pick one up. It bore Paul’s initials and a date from five years earlier.
May you like
That was three years before Luca met Vanessa.
From the aisle behind us, Paul Bennett said, “Put that down.”
