Chapter 16 - THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE
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Vincent listened to his mother's confession in complete silence.
When she finished, he walked to the window and stood there for several minutes.
"My father died in a car accident," he said finally.
Evelyn nodded.
"That's what the report said."
"Are you telling me someone killed him?"
"I'm telling you that Eleanor never believed the investigation was complete."
Vincent turned toward me.
"We need the original police file."
Arthur's attorney obtained the report the following morning. It contained several inconsistencies, including a missing witness statement and an unexplained delay between the accident and the notification of the family.
The vehicle had been found on a rural road outside Chicago. Richard's body was identified at the scene, but no independent autopsy had been conducted.
The investigating officer had retired shortly afterward.
His name was Thomas Reed.
The same accountant who had disappeared.
Vincent stared at the document.
"Why would an accountant investigate a fatal accident?"
The attorney explained that Thomas had once worked for a private company owned by Richard Moretti. After Richard's death, he had helped audit the family estate.
"He may have discovered something," the attorney said. "Something that connected the accident to the financial transfers."
We tracked Thomas to a small motel outside Milwaukee.
He was frightened, exhausted, and reluctant to speak.
When Vincent showed him the old police report, Thomas began to cry.
"I tried to tell your grandmother," he said. "I told her your father's death wasn't an accident."
Vincent sat down.
"Who was responsible?"
Thomas looked toward the door.
"I don't know. But I saw someone leave the scene before the police arrived."
"Who?"
"A woman."
"Margaret Ellis?"
Thomas shook his head.
"She was wearing Margaret's coat. I later learned that Margaret was already dead."
The room fell silent.
Thomas explained that someone had been using Margaret's identity to access the family trust, forge legal documents, and intimidate witnesses. The woman had first appeared shortly before Richard's death.
She had continued operating under the same identity for years.
"Did you ever see her face?" I asked.
Thomas hesitated.
"Once."
He removed a photograph from his wallet.
It showed a young woman standing outside a courthouse.
I recognized her immediately.
Evelyn.
Vincent stared at the photograph.
"That's my mother."
Thomas shook his head.
"No. It isn't."
He pointed toward a small scar beneath the woman's left ear.
"Evelyn has a scar on the right side. This woman has it on the left. They were identical twins."
Vincent stood so quickly that his chair fell backward.
"My mother never had a sister."
Thomas lowered his eyes.
"Your family told everyone she died at birth."
The room seemed to close around us.
Vincent looked at the photograph again.
"Who is she?"
Thomas whispered the name.
"Vivian Moretti."
Evelyn had once had an identical twin sister.
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A sister the family had erased from its history.
And if Vivian had been living under Margaret Ellis's identity, she might have been responsible for every lie that had poisoned the Moretti family.
