Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Refused to Die

The medical transport van stopped at a private clinic outside Tarrytown.

State police surrounded it before the rear doors opened.

Evelyn Moretti was inside.

Alive.

Drugged, dehydrated and furious.

By the time Dominic reached the clinic, she was sitting upright in a hospital bed arguing with a nurse.

"I said I don't want sedatives."

"Mrs. Moretti, your blood pressure—"

"My blood pressure is excellent for a woman recently kidnapped by her husband's employees."

The nurse turned toward Dominic with obvious relief.

"Are you family?"

Evelyn looked past her.

"Unfortunately."

Dominic almost laughed.

"Evelyn."

She studied him.

"You look terrible."

"You were abducted."

"And you still look worse."

Sophia stood behind Dominic with Marcus and Naomi.

Evelyn noticed Sophia immediately.

"You heard Isabelle."

Sophia froze.

"You knew?"

"I knew someone on staff was in the corridor. Isabelle told me the next morning."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Dominic asked.

Evelyn looked at him.

"Because she knew Sophia had a job and a future child to think about. She did not want your investigation dragging a housekeeper into a war."

Sophia's voice softened.

"She protected me."

"Yes."

Dominic sat beside the bed.

"Who took you?"

"Leon Grady and two men I didn't recognize."

"Vittorio ordered it?"

Evelyn's face hardened.

"My husband has ordered many terrible things. I don't know if he ordered this one."

Marcus frowned.

"You don't know?"

"No."

"Leon works for him."

"Leon works for whoever pays him. He has for years."

Dominic asked, "Why were you investigating the trust?"

Evelyn looked at him.

"Because Isabelle asked me to finish what she started."

"Three years ago?"

"Yes."

"And you waited."

"I did not wait."

She pointed toward Marcus.

"Your former security structure blocked records. Bellamy lied. Vittorio moved money through companies that vanished every six months. I kept digging."

Sophia said, "Why not tell Dominic?"

Evelyn gave her a weary look.

"Because at the time, Dominic's preferred investigative method involved men being thrown through expensive furniture."

Dominic looked away.

"That happened once."

"Three times."

Marcus coughed into his hand.

Evelyn continued.

"Isabelle wanted this exposed legally. She knew the family could survive scandal. She did not believe Luca would survive another generation of private revenge."

Dominic said, "Why warn Julian about the camera?"

"I intercepted a message to Leon."

"What message?"

"'Audit demonstration confirmed. Cake route. Camera six.'"

Marcus leaned forward.

"You knew about the demonstration."

"Part of it. I believed Vittorio was staging another loyalty test."

"Why not tell us directly?"

"Because I did not know who in security still answered to him."

Marcus nodded grimly.

"Fair."

Evelyn looked at Sophia.

"I also tried to warn Bellamy. He owed Isabelle."

Dominic asked, "Did you know Owen had been recruited?"

"No. When I saw his name on a vendor list, I understood the danger was worse than a security test."

"So you went to the warehouse."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Leon contacted me. Said he would trade records for immunity."

Marcus said, "That sounds like bait."

"It was."

"What happened?"

"Thomas crashed. Men pulled me from the car. I woke in Vittorio's country house."

Dominic leaned closer.

"Was Vittorio there?"

Evelyn's mouth tightened.

"No."

"Did you speak to him?"

"No."

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know."

Naomi checked her phone.

"His public schedule says he's at the Foundation club luncheon."

Evelyn laughed.

"Of course it does."

Dominic frowned.

"What?"

"My husband loves being seen in public when ugly things happen elsewhere."

Sophia asked, "Did Leon mention Luca?"

Evelyn turned serious.

"Yes."

Everyone waited.

"He said, 'The boy should have been gone last night.'"

Dominic's hands tightened.

"So Leon knew the powder was poison."

"I believe so."

"Did he say Vittorio ordered it?"

"No."

"What exactly did he say?"

Evelyn closed her eyes, remembering.

"I told him Vittorio would never forgive him if Luca died."

"And?"

"He smiled and said, 'You still think this is about your husband.'"

Silence.

Marcus said, "Then who is it about?"

"That's the question."

Evelyn looked at Dominic.

"Find Leon."

Naomi checked the tracker.

"His SUV stopped at a private airfield twenty minutes ago."

Dominic stood.

"Aircraft?"

"No departure logged yet."

"Move."

Marcus said, "Wait."

Dominic turned.

"We need to think about why Leon left Evelyn alive in a marked medical van."

Evelyn answered.

"He didn't."

Everyone looked at her.

"The clinic was supposed to record me as terminally ill under a false name. One of the transport medics recognized me from a charity event and called police when Leon's men stepped away."

Naomi said, "So the plan failed."

"Yes."

Dominic looked at Evelyn.

"What does Leon know?"

"Everything Vittorio paid him to do."

"Then he doesn't get on a plane."

State police reached the airfield first.

Leon Grady was not there.

His SUV sat empty beside a hangar.

Inside the vehicle they found a phone, a passport in another name and a bloodless torn sleeve from a gray jacket.

No sign of Leon.

Marcus examined the phone.

"Could be a decoy."

Naomi opened the hangar manifest.

"One helicopter departed fourteen minutes before police arrived."

"Destination?"

"Manhattan heliport."

Dominic frowned.

"He went back into the city?"

"Looks like it."

Julian, who had joined by secure video from the estate, spoke through Naomi's phone.

"Then he isn't escaping."

Dominic looked at the screen.

"What is he doing?"

"Finishing something."

Sophia's stomach tightened.

"Luca."

Naomi shook her head.

"The estate is sealed."

Julian said, "Maybe Luca isn't the target anymore."

Evelyn, now connected by speakerphone from the clinic, said, "The ledger."

Dominic stared.

"What about it?"

"If Leon knows you found Isabelle's ledger, he may believe destroying the supporting records is his only way out."

Marcus asked, "Where are the originals?"

Dominic looked at Julian.

"Foundation archives."

Julian's face changed.

"The board luncheon."

Dominic understood.

Vittorio's luncheon was being held in the same building that housed ten years of foundation financial records.

Naomi said, "Evacuate it."

Julian shook his head.

"Not openly. If Leon is there, he could disappear in the crowd."

Dominic said, "Call the building manager. Fire inspection. Quietly clear nonessential staff."

Marcus looked at him.

"And Vittorio?"

"We let him sit at his lunch."

Sophia frowned.

"You still don't know if he ordered Luca's death."

"No."

"Do you believe he did?"

Dominic did not answer immediately.

"I believe he built the machine that made it possible."

"That's not the same thing."

"No."

Evelyn's voice came from the phone.

"Dominic."

He lifted it.

"What?"

"Do not make the mistake I made for thirty years."

"What mistake?"

"Do not confuse loving someone with believing they are innocent."

Dominic looked at the city skyline beyond the airfield.

"Are you talking about Vittorio?"

"I'm talking about everyone."

At the Foundation club, the luncheon was already underway when Dominic arrived.

Vittorio Moretti stood at the head of a mahogany table addressing twelve directors.

He was seventy-one, silver-haired and immaculate in a dark blue suit.

He looked almost amused when Dominic entered.

"Nephew. I heard about the unfortunate birthday incident."

Dominic stopped beside the table.

"Did you?"

"Terrible thing."

"Where is Evelyn?"

For the first time, Vittorio's expression changed.

"With her sister."

"No."

The room became quiet.

Vittorio looked at the directors.

"Perhaps we should speak privately."

Dominic said, "We're done speaking privately."

Vittorio's eyes sharpened.

"What does that mean?"

"It means Isabelle was right."

The color left Vittorio's face.

Around the table, directors exchanged confused looks.

Dominic continued.

"I found the ledger."

Vittorio stared at him.

Then he did something Dominic did not expect.

He whispered, "Then Luca is in more danger than ever."

Sophia, standing near the doorway with Naomi, felt the room shift.

Dominic said, "Explain."

Vittorio looked genuinely afraid.

"I didn't poison the cake."

"You hired Owen."

"For an audit."

"You forged trust instructions."

"Yes."

Murmurs spread across the table.

Vittorio raised his voice.

"Yes, I did. And I'll answer for it. But I did not order anyone to murder Luca."

Dominic stepped closer.

"Leon said the boy should have died."

Vittorio's face went blank.

"Leon said that?"

"Yes."

Vittorio reached for his phone.

Naomi moved forward.

"Hands away."

He ignored her.

"Dominic, call the estate."

"What?"

"Call now."

Dominic stared at him.

"Why?"

Vittorio's voice shook for the first time Sophia had ever heard.

"Because Leon has never worked for me alone."

Dominic felt ice move through his chest.

"Who else?"

Vittorio looked across the directors.

His eyes stopped on one empty chair.

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Claire Beaumont's chair.

"Isabelle's sister."