Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Black Car
Antonio sent Carlo after the intruder. He asked me to bring the trunk's contents to his study. I did not want to become part of the Bellucci family's secrets. But Elena had written a letter to protect her child, and I could not pretend that it was merely old correspondence.
The envelope contained a receipt from a private security company, a photograph of Isabella with a man named Victor Sloane, and a list of transfers from a charitable foundation. The transfers had begun six months before the fire. Their amounts were large enough to make my hands shake.
“Who is Victor Sloane?” I asked.
Antonio's jaw tightened. “He was my father's accountant. He vanished the week Elena died.”
The house phone rang. Antonio listened, then ended the call without speaking. “Carlo found nobody.”
I studied the photograph. Isabella looked younger, but the diamonds in her ears were unmistakable. She stood beside the same black car in the picture Mia had hidden. A woman in a white blouse was reflected in the car window, holding a camera.
“Elena took the photograph,” I said.
Antonio looked at the reflection. For the first time that night, grief seemed stronger than anger.
“She was collecting proof.”
He told me Elena had feared someone inside the family was laundering money through the foundation. He hadn't believed her. He had been traveling when the fire started. By the time he returned, the house was ash and his daughter was in intensive care.
“I should have listened,” he whispered.
May you like
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number displayed a picture of Mia sleeping in her room, taken minutes earlier.
Underneath were six words: STOP OPENING DOORS THAT WERE LOCKED.
