Chapter 10 - THE CAMERA ABOVE HER BED
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I had spent six weeks believing our conversations were private.
Six weeks of sitting beside Eleanor's bed while she told me about her garden, her husband, and the books she used to read.
Six weeks of signing quietly while Vanessa walked through the house pretending Eleanor couldn't understand a word.
And now Detective Morales was telling me that someone had been recording us.
I felt sick.
“Where's the camera?” I whispered.
“We don't know yet. Harlan described a device connected to the security system. Don't touch anything until our technicians examine the room.”
I looked at Luca.
He had gone pale.
“What's wrong?” he asked.
I put the phone on speaker.
Morales repeated what she'd learned.
Luca stood so quickly that his chair scraped across the kitchen floor.
“I'm going upstairs.”
“Don't,” Morales warned. “I have a forensic team on the way. If the device exists, we need it preserved properly.”
Luca stopped.
His jaw flexed.
Then he sat back down.
I realized how difficult restraint must have been for him.
But he did it.
Twenty minutes later, technicians arrived.
They found the camera concealed inside a decorative smoke detector above Eleanor's bed.
It wasn't part of the mansion's authorized security system.
The device contained a small storage card and could transmit video over a separate wireless connection.
I watched from the hallway as the technician carefully documented its location.
Eleanor stood nearby with her walker, supported by an independent nurse.
When she saw the camera, her face crumpled.
She signed:
They watched me sleep?
My throat tightened.
“Yes,” I said softly. “It looks that way.”
She lowered her head.
I wanted to tell her everything would be fine.
But I knew better than to make promises I couldn't guarantee.
Instead, I signed:
They can't use this camera anymore.
She nodded.
Then something extraordinary happened.
Eleanor straightened her shoulders.
She looked at Luca.
And for the first time since the accident, she managed a full sentence aloud.
“This is my house.”
Her voice was weak.
The words came slowly.
But everyone heard them.
Luca's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes, Mom.”
Eleanor gripped her walker.
“My house.”
He knelt in front of her.
“I know.”
She touched his cheek.
Then signed:
Don't let them take it.
“I won't,” he whispered.
By afternoon, the first details from the recovered recordings began emerging.
The camera had captured Vanessa entering Eleanor's bedroom with Dr. Harlan.
It showed him giving Eleanor medication.
It showed Vanessa placing documents on a small writing table.
And it showed Vanessa gripping Eleanor's hand while she appeared heavily sedated.
The video didn't answer every question.
But it destroyed Vanessa's claim that the documents were signed during an ordinary meeting with an attorney.
It also showed something else.
Something nobody expected.
Three nights before the dinner, Vanessa entered Eleanor's bedroom carrying a phone.
She stood beside the bed and spoke to someone.
The camera recorded her voice.
“I don't care what Dominic says. We have to finish this before Luca finds out.”
A pause.
Then she continued.
“The old woman remembers too much.”
I covered my mouth.
Vanessa looked toward Eleanor, who appeared to be sleeping.
Then said, “Move her to Wisconsin. Once the court accepts the guardianship paperwork, we'll have access to everything.”
The recording ended.
Morales replayed the conversation.
Then turned toward Luca.
“Do you recognize the voice on the other end?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
The detective nodded.
“We'll attempt to identify it.”
But Eleanor was signing.
I turned.
My lawyer.
I blinked.
“Silas Crane?”
She nodded.
Luca looked furious.
The same attorney who had handled his father's estate had apparently helped arrange the forged documents.
But one question remained.
Why now?
If Richard Bellini had been stealing from the trust for years, why risk another attempt on Eleanor's life?
Morales asked the same question.
Luca studied the financial records.
Then suddenly leaned forward.
“There's a property sale scheduled.”
“What property?” the detective asked.
“The old Moretti shipping warehouse and the land surrounding it. The city approved a redevelopment plan.”
He turned the laptop toward us.
The sale was worth nearly eighty million dollars.
And a large portion of the proceeds belonged to the family trust.
Money that Richard Bellini could not legally access without the proper authority.
I stared at the screen.
“So that's what this is about?”
Luca nodded grimly.
“They were trying to gain control before the sale closed.”
“Which is when?” Morales asked.
He checked the document.
Then his face changed.
“Friday.”
Two days away.
Morales began making calls to seek emergency restrictions on the disputed transfer.
But before she left, an officer entered.
“Detective, we located Richard Bellini.”
“Where?”
“At his lake house.”
“Has he been arrested?”
“Not yet. He's agreed to speak with us.”
The officer hesitated.
“And he says Vanessa has disappeared.”
Luca looked up.
“Disappeared?”
The officer nodded.
“Her father says she left him a message this morning.”
Morales frowned.
“What message?”
The officer read from his notes.
If they find the second ledger, we're all finished.
Eleanor suddenly reached for my arm.
Her fingers moved.
There is another book.
I stared at her.
“Where?”
She looked directly at Luca.
May you like
Then signed:
Your father's grave.
