Chapter 4 - THE BLUE DRESS IN THE ATTIC|
The following morning, Luca took me back to the mansion.
Neither of us had slept.
Frank remained in the hospital under observation, and Detective Alvarez had arranged for the medical evidence and original recordings to be examined.
Vanessa had disappeared shortly after the ambulance left.
Gabriel discovered that her personal driver had collected her from the side entrance at 11:18 p.m.
Her phone was switched off.
Luca hadn't said much about that.
But I noticed he was no longer wearing his wedding ring.
As we entered the mansion, the house seemed different.
The chandeliers still glittered.
The marble floors were still spotless.
But the beautiful rooms felt like a place where something terrible had happened and everyone was afraid to mention it.
Mrs. Ellis met us near the staircase.
"Mr. Moretti, I've been searching for your mother's dress."
Luca immediately stopped.
"Did you find it?"
She hesitated.
"Not exactly."
My stomach tightened.
"Mrs. Ellis?"
She folded her hands.
"Three weeks ago, Vanessa ordered me to clear your mother's belongings from the attic."
Luca stared at her.
"She did what?"
"She said keeping those things was unhealthy for your father."
Mrs. Ellis's eyes filled with tears.
"I couldn't throw them away, sir."
"So I packed them into boxes and moved them into the old linen storage room."
Luca exhaled.
"Thank God."
We followed her down a narrow hallway.
The storage room smelled of cedarwood and old fabric.
Mrs. Ellis opened a cardboard box labeled CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.
Inside lay a carefully folded blue silk dress.
I recognized it immediately.
It was the dress Maria had worn in the birthday recording.
The fabric had faded slightly.
Tiny embroidered flowers decorated the sleeves.
And near the collar, someone had sewn a small pearl button shaped like a heart.
Luca stood motionless.
"My mother loved that dress."
He touched the sleeve.
"She wore it every Christmas because Dad said she looked like a movie star."
His voice cracked.
"I haven't seen it since she died."
I didn't know what to say.
So I quietly moved the box toward him.
For a long moment, Luca simply held the dress against his chest.
Then he looked at me.
"Claire, would you help me check it?"
I nodded.
We placed it on a clean table.
Because the dress could contain evidence, Detective Alvarez had instructed us not to remove anything we found.
I carefully examined the lining while Luca photographed the seams.
At first, nothing appeared unusual.
Then I noticed something near the hem.
A section of stitching was slightly darker than the surrounding thread.
"Mr. Moretti?"
Luca leaned closer.
"What is it?"
"This part has been sewn by hand."
He stared at the uneven stitches.
"My mother did that."
"How can you tell?"
"She always used black thread when she couldn't find matching colors."
I smiled sadly.
"That sounds like someone I would have liked."
Luca looked at me.
"She would have liked you too."
The words made my cheeks warm.
But before I could respond, Gabriel appeared at the doorway.
"Detective Alvarez is here."
Minutes later, the detective carefully examined the seam.
With our permission, she opened the small section of lining while her colleague documented the process.
A folded envelope slipped onto the table.
Luca stopped breathing.
Across the front, written in delicate blue ink, were four words.
For Frank, My Love.
His fingers trembled.
"That's her handwriting."
Detective Alvarez photographed the envelope before allowing Frank's attorney, who had arrived with her, to inspect it.
The paper inside was yellowed with age.
It had been folded so many times that the edges were beginning to crack.
Luca asked me to read it aloud.
I hesitated.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded.
"I don't think I can."
I unfolded the letter.
"My dearest Frank," I began.
"If you are reading this, it means I wasn't brave enough to tell you everything myself."
I looked up.
Luca was staring at the floor.
I continued.
"Simon Voss has been stealing from the foundation we built for families who have nowhere else to turn."
"He is not acting alone."
"I found payments hidden inside the restaurant accounts and transfers made through companies that do not exist."
"I believe Raymond knows."
Luca's head snapped up.
"Raymond?"
I kept reading.
"I trusted Raymond Calder because you trusted him."
"But yesterday I heard him tell Simon that the problem must be handled before I speak to the authorities."
My voice began shaking.
"Frank, I am frightened."
"Not for myself, but for Luca."
"If they can make your son believe that his own mother has become unstable, they can make him believe anything."
Tears blurred the final paragraph.
"I have hidden copies of the records where we first learned what it meant to feed someone who was hungry."
"If I cannot bring them to the police, please do it for me."
"Promise me that our son's future will not be purchased with someone else's suffering."
"All my love, Maria."
Nobody spoke.
Then Luca whispered, "Uncle Raymond."
Raymond Calder had been the Moretti family's financial adviser for nearly thirty years.
He had attended every birthday.
Every Christmas.
Every family funeral.
Luca had trusted him since childhood.
I folded the letter carefully.
"Where did your parents first feed people who were hungry?"
Luca looked at me.
Then something changed in his eyes.
"Maria's Table."
"The restaurant?"
He nodded.
"Before Mom turned it into a business, she used to leave meals outside the back door for anyone who couldn't afford food."
I remembered Frank telling me the same story.
"Do you think that's where she hid the records?"
Luca stared at the letter.
"I think she wanted Dad to know exactly where to look."
Then Gabriel's phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
His face went pale.
"Boss, there's a problem."
Luca turned.
"What problem?"
"Raymond Calder just arrived at the hospital."
My breath caught.
Gabriel swallowed.
"He's requesting access to your father's medical records."
Luca immediately reached for his phone.
But Gabriel wasn't finished.
"He also brought documents claiming that Frank Moretti is no longer mentally competent to manage his own affairs."
I stared at him.
Then Gabriel delivered the final blow.
"The paperwork says you authorized it."
Luca shook his head.
"I never signed anything."
And suddenly, we understood what Vanessa and her accomplices had been preparing.
May you like
They weren't simply trying to steal money.
They were trying to erase Frank Moretti's right to speak.
