Chapter 8 - The Dead Woman's Warning|
I hadn't entered Elena Moretti's bedroom in nearly two years.
Not since the morning Dominic ordered the entire east wing closed after her funeral.
The room had remained exactly as she left it.
Perfume bottles on the vanity.
A white silk robe hanging behind the bathroom door.
An unfinished book beside the bed.
Even the curtains were tied back the same way.
Dominic brought me there that afternoon.
Gabriel followed carrying a small evidence bag.
“Ethan mentioned a blue folder,” Dominic explained.
“Did you ever see one?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
Dominic turned toward me.
“When?”
“Shortly before Mrs. Moretti died.”
I looked around the room.
“She asked me to help organize documents in her dressing room. There was a blue leather folder she never allowed anyone else to touch.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
Dominic walked toward the wardrobe.
“What did she keep inside?”
“Financial papers. Letters. Some photographs.”
He opened a drawer.
Nothing.
Gabriel searched the writing desk.
Still nothing.
Then I noticed a small empty space on the bookshelf.
A porcelain music box used to sit there.
White, decorated with painted roses.
Elena had given it to me three days before her death.
“For Lily,” she had said.
My daughter had barely learned to walk.
At the time, I thought it was simply a generous gift from a woman who had always treated me kindly.
Now I wasn't so sure.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“Your wife gave me something before the accident.”
His eyes sharpened.
“What did she give you?”
“A music box.”
“Where is it?”
“In our apartment above the staff laundry.”
We went there immediately.
Lily sat on the carpet playing with wooden animals while I retrieved the music box from a shelf.
I wound the key.
A delicate melody filled the room.
Dominic's expression changed.
“That song.”
I looked at him.
“You recognize it?”
“Elena played it for Ethan every night.”
He took the music box carefully.
Turned it over.
Examined the underside.
Then pressed a tiny decorative rose.
A hidden compartment clicked open.
Inside lay a folded piece of paper.
Dominic unfolded it.
The handwriting was unmistakably Elena's.
If anything happens to me, find the missing page of Ethan's trust. Do not let Simon tell you what the documents say.
Dominic read the note three times.
His face had become completely expressionless.
Then he looked at me.
“Why did Elena give this to you?”
“I don't know.”
“Did she tell you anything else?”
I searched my memory.
And suddenly remembered her final words.
If anyone asks about the music box, Mara, tell them it broke.
I repeated them.
Dominic slowly folded the paper.
“Gabriel.”
“Yes?”
“Find Simon Voss.”
Gabriel took out his phone.
“Right away.”
May you like
Dominic looked toward the bedroom door.
“And bring me every document concerning Ethan's inheritance.”
