Chapter 9 - THE TRAITOR IN THE HOUSE|
The phone belonged to a security guard named Daniel Price.
He had worked at the estate for four years and had been assigned to the east wing during Camila's daytime schedule.
Vincent ordered Paulie to bring him in.
Daniel arrived looking confused.
“What's going on?”
Vincent placed the phone on the desk.
“Do you recognize this?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Paulie showed him the call records.
“You made eleven calls to Eddie Knox.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Daniel admitted that Beatrice had paid him to provide information about Camila's routine. He claimed he never intended to hurt her.
“She wanted to know when Mrs. Russo was alone,” he said. “That's all.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Vincent leaned forward.
“Try again.”
Daniel swallowed.
“She wanted the old ring.”
“Why?”
“I was told it contained a code.”
Vincent stared at him.
“What code?”
Daniel hesitated.
“The location of a ledger.”
Nora entered the office.
She had heard enough.
“Where is the ledger?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“Then why did Beatrice need the ring?”
“She believed the ring would lead her to the records.”
Dominic, who had been standing near the window, suddenly spoke.
“She wanted the wrong ring.”
Everyone turned.
Dominic explained that Lena had hidden the real evidence in a second sapphire, one that had been given to Nora as a baby. The ring in Camila's jewelry box had been a decoy.
Nora touched the chain around her neck.
“My mother gave me a small blue pendant.”
She pulled it out.
Vincent examined it.
The sapphire was smaller than the stolen stone, but its setting contained the same tiny engraving.
Dominic nodded.
“That's it.”
Nora stepped backward.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“You keep saying that while making decisions for me.”
Dominic looked ashamed.
Vincent took the pendant carefully.
“Can it be opened?”
Paulie called the jeweler.
The pendant contained a narrow metal compartment. Inside was a strip of microfilm.
It held names, account numbers, and recorded payments connecting Beatrice to the disappearance of Lena Moretti.
But there was another name.
Carmine Gallow.
And beneath it, a payment authorization signed by a man who was supposed to have been dead for fifteen years.
Vincent stared at the signature.
His father's.
The document was dated only three months earlier.
He looked at Dominic.
“You told me my father was dead.”
Dominic's face drained of color.
“He is.”
“Then who signed this?”
Dominic stared at the page.
May you like
And whispered:
“Someone has been using his identity.”
