Chapter 7 - The Missing Hour
Rico called Dante into the study.
Clara stayed near the open door.
“You went into her office?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“Vincent asked me to collect the insurance folder.”
Rico stepped closer.
“And you obeyed him?”
“You were at the morgue.”
The words landed hard.
Dante looked sick.
“He said you needed the documents. I believed him.”
“What did you take?”
“A blue folder from the desk.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Did you watch him open it?”
“No.”
Rico laughed once, without humor.
“My head of security.”
Dante accepted it.
Then he placed his phone on the desk.
“I kept the messages.”
Vincent’s instructions were still there.
The date.
The time.
The request for Elena’s blue folder.
Rico read them twice.
At Nora Keene’s office the next morning, Detective Lena Ortiz laid out what the records did and did not show.
The invoices suggested fraud.
The messages showed Vincent had removed documents.
Neither proved murder.
Rico leaned forward.
“My wife is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then act like it.”
Ortiz did not blink.
“If you want someone arrested fast, you know people who can do that badly. If you want the right person convicted, stop threatening everyone who might help.”
Clara watched Rico sit back.
His lawyer touched his sleeve.
For once, he listened.
Nora showed them Elena’s last email.
I’m concerned the restaurant vendors are being used to move charity money. I need independent advice before I confront anyone else.
Below it was a spreadsheet.
Payments to three companies.
The same bank account received money from all three.
Marco Bellini was listed as an authorized signer.
Clara felt cold.
“The manager.”
Ortiz nodded.
“We’re looking for him.”
“He was at work Tuesday,” Clara said.
“He hasn’t been there since.”
Rico reached for his phone.
Ortiz stopped him.
“Do not warn him. Do not send your people.”
Clara’s own phone vibrated in her coat.
She almost ignored it.
Then she saw the restaurant number.
A voice message.
Marco sounded breathless.
“Clara. I know you found the invoices.”
A scrape.
A car door.
“I didn’t know what they were going to do to her.”
His breathing broke.
May you like
“Please. Tell Moretti I can prove—”
The recording ended with a crash.
