Chapter 5 - The Interpreter They Tried to Erase

Emma had imagined proving herself innocent a thousand times.

She hadn't imagined doing it while Luca Moretti sat across from her in a small legal office, studying the document that destroyed her career.

The complaint called her dishonest.

It accused her of selling confidential conference material to a competing bidder.

There was no buyer named.

No payment record.

No witness.

Just an electronic signature from a compliance officer whose company belonged to Vescari Capital.

"They made an accusation impossible to disprove," Emma said.

Ana Vega had forwarded the original complaint after obtaining permission from her counsel.

Attached was an audit trail.

The first draft had been created eleven minutes after Belini sent Nabil a message referring to "the interpreter in booth three."

Luca looked up.

"That's why they didn't want the notebook. It wasn't only the Black Crown line. Your notes could establish what you heard, and when."

Emma shook her head.

"They didn't just take work away from me. They made every agency afraid of my name."

"We can present this to your professional association."

"We will," she said. "But I want to know whose life was worth ruining mine."

Matteo returned with the old hotel access records.

Alessandro's room key had been used twice after the time he supposedly left for his final drive.

The first use was assigned to Belini.

The second belonged to an unidentified master key.

"Someone searched the room after the crash," Matteo said.

Luca remembered a leather folder his father always kept beside him.

A black case with a silver crown set into the clasp.

Nobody had found it after the explosion.

"Nabil asked about the witness," Emma said. "A witness had already signed. Maybe they needed a record of who was there."

They retrieved an old photograph of Alessandro in his office.

Behind him stood the same black case.

The image had been taken months before the crash.

Emma pointed to a paper sticking out of it.

"The blue seal."

"What about it?" Matteo asked.

"It's the same seal Nabil's conference delegation used to mark revised contract drafts."

Luca studied her.

"You're certain?"

"That mark was on every version we interpreted for three days."

She opened her vocabulary sheet.

Near the bottom she'd written an unfamiliar initial.

M.V.

"I thought it belonged to a document reviewer," she said. "But it appeared beside 'witness' and 'substitution.'"

Luca turned toward Matteo.

"My father's former finance adviser was Marcello Vieri."

"He retired after the funeral," Matteo said.

"Find him."

They located Vieri in a modest house outside Philadelphia.

He agreed to speak only after Luca promised that Emma could attend as an independent witness.

The old adviser looked at her notes and began to shake.

"I warned Alessandro about those trustees," he said.

"Which trustees?" Luca asked.

"The two outsiders. They weren't independent. Their votes were controlled by Vescari debt."

"And Black Crown?"

Vieri stared at the window.

"It was never supposed to transfer ownership. Your father wanted temporary administration if he became incapacitated."

"Then why did I receive papers that could hand control to strangers?"

"Someone changed the annex."

"Who?"

Vieri rubbed his forehead.

"I signed a draft under pressure. I believed Alessandro would review the final version. The next day his car burned."

Emma leaned forward.

"Did he ever approve the revision?"

"No."

"Then say that on record."

Vieri met her eyes.

"They threatened my daughter."

"They threatened my career," Emma said. "And Luca lost his father. Silence hasn't protected anyone."

Vieri looked toward Luca.

"I kept something. Not the annex itself. A courier receipt with the delivery address."

"Where was it delivered?"

"A private medical facility in northern Spain."

Luca went still.

"Why would succession documents go to a hospital?"

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Vieri lowered his voice.

"Because Alessandro wasn't buried in that coffin, Luca."