Chapter 5 - THE MAN AT THE SERVICE DOOR
Arthur Voss had managed the Moretti family’s books for twenty-seven years.
I knew him as the man who drank black coffee and always thanked the dishwasher.
Now he looked older than he had that morning.
Luca moved toward him.
“What did you say?”
Arthur glanced at Vanessa.
Then Enzo.
“Not in front of them.”
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
“I’m done with people deciding what I’m allowed to hear.”
Luca stopped.
Then he nodded.
“Tell us.”
Arthur set a thin accounting book on the table.
“Your father established the employee fund.
After he died, you expanded it.
Vanessa became an authorized administrator in June.
Enzo already controlled the vendors.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“This is insulting.”
Arthur opened the book.
“Payments went to people who never received them.
The money moved through companies that submitted matching invoices.”
“Whose companies?” Luca asked.
Arthur didn’t answer immediately.
Enzo stood.
“You need to think carefully, old man.”
Marco stepped between them.
Arthur touched one entry.
“North Shore Restoration.”
I knew that name.
It was printed on the folder upstairs.
“And Bellini Event Services,” Arthur continued.
Vanessa’s family company.
She laughed again, but the sound had lost its ease.
“We provided legitimate services.”
“For Rosa’s funeral expenses?” I asked.
Her face hardened.
Arthur turned another page.
“Daniel Reed noticed the warehouse invoices didn’t match the deliveries.
He asked me to compare them.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“Before the accident?”
“Yes.”
“How long before?”
“Eleven days.”
The clock above the sideboard ticked.
I heard every second.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Luca asked.
Arthur finally looked him in the eye.
“I sent you a report.”
Enzo moved toward the door.
Marco blocked him.
“I have a business call,” Enzo said.
“You can make it here,” Luca replied.
Arthur took a second envelope from his jacket.
“This is the delivery confirmation.”
Luca opened it.
His own initials sat beside the date.
He stared at them.
“I remember this.”
No one rescued him from the silence.
“I told Enzo to handle it.”
Arthur nodded once.
“Yes.
You did.”
My stomach turned.
The man everyone feared had been given a warning.
And he had handed it to the man the warning concerned.
Then Arthur said the sentence that changed the whole room.
May you like
“Daniel called me the night before he died.
He said Enzo had found out.”
