Chapter 7 - The Lawyer Who Lied

Arthur Bellamy returned to the estate at 3:20 in the afternoon.

He arrived alone.

Naomi met him at the front entrance and escorted him to the library, where Dominic waited with Sophia and Julian. Marcus remained under formal suspension in an adjoining office, close enough to answer questions but deliberately outside the interview.

Bellamy looked around.

"Where is Mr. Hale?"

"Unavailable," Dominic said.

Bellamy sat.

"You sounded urgent."

Dominic placed a photograph on the table.

It showed Bellamy near the ballroom floral display at 7:39 p.m., three minutes before the service camera went dark.

Bellamy adjusted his glasses.

"I attended the party."

"You told me you left before the cake presentation."

"I did."

"At what time?"

"Perhaps seven forty."

"Convenient."

Bellamy frowned.

"What is this about?"

Sophia placed another photograph beside the first.

Owen Pike appeared in the service doorway reflected in the gilded mirror.

Bellamy's face did not change.

Dominic watched him.

"Lily says you spoke to Owen."

Bellamy blinked.

"The child?"

"Yes."

"She's three."

"She was accurate about the poison, the ring and the camera corridor."

Bellamy looked at Sophia.

"Children misunderstand things."

Sophia's voice was calm.

"Then help us understand."

Bellamy leaned back.

"I did not speak to Owen Pike."

Dominic said, "Lily heard an older man say, 'Not yet.'"

"I don't know what that means."

"She identified you."

Bellamy's mouth tightened.

"Dominic, this is absurd."

Dominic slid Isabelle's ledger across the table but kept one hand on it.

Bellamy's eyes moved to the black cover.

His reaction lasted less than a second.

It was enough.

Dominic said, "You recognize it."

"No."

"You looked at it like you saw a ghost."

"I saw an old notebook."

"What did Isabelle record in it?"

Bellamy stood.

"I think I should have counsel present."

Julian almost laughed.

"You are counsel."

"For myself."

Dominic did not move.

"Sit."

Bellamy stared at him.

"I am not one of your employees."

"No. You're the man who handled my family's estate documents for thirty years."

"Which means you should know better than to accuse me based on a toddler's memory."

Dominic's voice lowered.

"Sit down, Arthur."

Bellamy sat.

Sophia looked at him.

"Were you afraid of Mrs. Moretti?"

"Of Isabelle? No."

"Did she confront you before she died?"

Bellamy said nothing.

Dominic opened the ledger.

"Seven payments to Owen. Forged instructions. A continuity clause Isabelle believed had been manipulated."

Bellamy's shoulders sank slightly.

"She always suspected the worst of Vittorio."

"Was she wrong?"

Bellamy looked toward the window.

Dominic waited.

Finally Bellamy said, "Not entirely."

Sophia inhaled.

Julian leaned forward.

"What did you know?"

Bellamy rubbed his forehead.

"Vittorio asked me to restructure a portion of the family trust. He said Dominic approved the changes."

"I did not," Dominic said.

"I know that now."

"When did you know?"

Bellamy looked at him.

"After Isabelle died."

Dominic's face hardened.

"And you stayed silent for three years."

"I tried to reverse the provision."

"Without telling me?"

"If I told you then, you would have gone after Vittorio."

"Isabelle said the same thing."

Bellamy flinched at hearing it.

Dominic noticed.

"You heard her recording?"

"No."

"Then why that reaction?"

Bellamy looked defeated.

"Because she told me herself."

Silence.

"When?" Dominic asked.

"The afternoon before the crash."

Sophia stared.

Bellamy continued.

"She came to my office with a copy of the forged instruction. She knew the signature was false. She told me Vittorio was stealing through security companies and that Owen was involved."

Dominic's voice was almost a whisper.

"What did you do?"

"I told her to wait."

"For what?"

"For me to speak with Vittorio."

Julian shook his head.

"That was your solution?"

"He was family. I believed I could contain it."

Dominic's eyes turned cold.

"You warned him."

Bellamy did not answer.

"You told Vittorio Isabelle knew."

"I told him there was a problem."

"The next day she died."

Bellamy closed his eyes.

"I did not know he would hurt her."

Sophia said, "Did you know Owen was assigned to her routes?"

"I knew Vittorio trusted him."

Dominic stood.

Bellamy spoke quickly.

"I did not arrange the crash."

"Then tell me who did."

"I don't know."

"You've lied three times in ten minutes."

"I am telling you the truth now."

"Why were you watching Owen at the party?"

Bellamy's hands trembled.

"I received a message."

Julian laughed bitterly.

"Another message."

Bellamy looked at him.

"Someone told me Owen had returned and that Luca was in danger."

Dominic said, "Who?"

"Evelyn."

Sophia frowned.

"Evelyn warned you too?"

Bellamy nodded.

"She called from an unregistered number. She said, 'Arthur, you failed Isabelle once. Don't fail her son.' Then she hung up."

"Why didn't you alert security?"

"Because if Vittorio discovered Evelyn had contacted me, she would be in danger."

"She is in danger."

"I know."

"You saw Owen near the cake."

"Yes."

"And said 'not yet.' Why?"

Bellamy looked at Sophia.

"The child heard only part of it."

"Then give us the rest."

Bellamy swallowed.

"I stepped near Owen and said, 'Not yet. You haven't been cleared to leave.'"

Dominic frowned.

"You were trying to keep him there?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I planned to call Marcus."

"But you didn't."

"I saw Vittorio's driver."

"Thomas?"

"No. His private driver, Leon Grady. He was near the service hall. When he saw me with Owen, he put his hand inside his jacket."

Sophia said, "You thought he had a weapon."

"I knew he did."

Dominic asked, "Then what?"

"Owen walked away. I followed. Then the cake fell."

"Why leave afterward?"

"I panicked."

Julian stared at him.

"Three years of legal training and thirty years with this family, and your defense is panic?"

Bellamy looked at him.

"Thirty years with this family is exactly why."

Dominic paced once across the room.

"Did Vittorio order the cake poisoning?"

"I don't know."

"Did he order Isabelle's death?"

"I don't know."

"Did he create the trust trap?"

"Yes."

That answer came cleanly.

Dominic stopped.

Bellamy continued.

"He wanted a permanent path to control if something happened to Luca. Isabelle discovered it before the documents were fully executed, but your forged instruction had already been inserted."

Sophia asked, "Why would Isabelle still sign?"

"She didn't know Section Nine had been rewritten in the final packet."

Dominic looked down at the papers.

"So she thought she had removed the trap."

"Yes."

"And you let her believe that."

Bellamy looked ashamed.

"I thought I could fix it later."

"You keep saying that."

"I know."

Naomi entered.

"Dominic."

Her expression told him the news was serious.

"What?"

"We found Owen."

Bellamy's eyes widened.

"Where?"

Dominic ignored him.

Naomi said, "Abandoned motel outside White Plains. State police have him contained."

"Alive?"

"Yes. He surrendered."

Dominic looked surprised.

"Why?"

"He asked to speak to you."

Marcus's voice came from the adjoining doorway.

"Don't go."

Everyone turned.

Naomi frowned.

"You're supposed to remain in the office."

Marcus held up his empty hands.

"I heard enough."

Dominic looked at him.

"Why shouldn't I go?"

"Because Owen chose the location."

"Police chose the perimeter."

"He chose when to surrender."

Julian nodded slowly.

"Could be bait."

Naomi said, "State police searched the room. No explosives, no other occupants."

Marcus looked at Dominic.

"Then make him come here under custody."

Bellamy suddenly spoke.

"Don't."

Dominic turned.

Bellamy looked terrified now.

"If Vittorio knows Owen is alive, he will try to silence him."

Sophia said, "You sound very certain."

"I've spent thirty years watching Vittorio remove problems without appearing to touch them."

Dominic's eyes narrowed.

"What does Owen know?"

Bellamy hesitated.

"Enough to destroy him."

Dominic said, "Then we keep Owen alive."

Naomi arranged a controlled transfer to a secure interview facility used by Moretti legal counsel and federal investigators on corporate cases.

Dominic refused to go alone.

Sophia did not intend to go at all, but Owen changed that.

When Naomi relayed his first condition, everyone looked at her.

"He says he will speak only if Sophia Carter is in the room."

Sophia felt the blood drain from her face.

"Why me?"

Naomi shook her head.

"He wouldn't say."

Dominic answered immediately.

"No."

Sophia turned to him.

"He threatened my daughter."

"Exactly."

"He knows something about her."

"Which is why you don't enter a room with him."

"Behind glass, then."

"No."

Sophia's voice sharpened.

"You do not get to decide that for me."

Dominic looked at her.

"This isn't about control."

"It always looks like control when you're the person giving orders."

Marcus tried not to react.

Sophia continued.

"If Owen knows why Lily was targeted, I need to hear it."

Dominic said nothing for several seconds.

Finally he looked at Naomi.

"Separate room. Protective glass. Two officers with Sophia. Owen restrained."

Sophia nodded.

"Fine."

At the facility, Owen Pike looked older than his file photograph.

His scar seemed deeper. His cheeks were hollow. He wore a plain gray sweatshirt and sat with both wrists secured to the table.

He looked through the glass at Sophia.

"She looks like you."

Sophia's stomach tightened.

"Who?"

"Your daughter."

Dominic leaned toward the microphone.

"Don't talk about Lily."

Owen looked at him.

"I didn't hurt her."

"You poisoned a cake she was standing beside."

"I didn't know she would be there."

"You knew Luca would."

Owen stared at the table.

"Yes."

Sophia forced herself to speak.

"Why did you ask for me?"

Owen looked back through the glass.

"Because you were in the west corridor three years ago."

She went still.

"You saw me leave Isabelle's study."

"Yes."

"You heard us."

"Part of it."

Owen nodded.

"Then you know I wasn't the other voice."

Sophia's breath caught.

Dominic leaned forward.

"What did you say?"

Owen looked at him.

"I said I wasn't the man Isabelle was arguing with."

Sophia searched her memory.

The threat from inside the study.

Then the door.

Owen stepping out afterward.

She had assumed the voices belonged together.

"Who was in the room with her?"

Owen's face tightened.

"That's why I surrendered."

Dominic's voice was cold.

"Name him."

Owen looked directly at Bellamy's empty chair reflected in the observation window, as if seeing the whole past there.

"Vittorio wasn't the man in the study."

Dominic frowned.

"Then who?"

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Owen swallowed.

"Julian Cross."