Chapter 6 - WHERE THE MUSIC STOPPED|
Nobody spoke as Vanessa stepped into the kitchen.
Her eyes moved from Olivia to the photograph in Luca's hand.
Then her expression became unreadable.
"Where did you get that?"
Luca held up the photograph.
"Is this you?"
Vanessa crossed her arms.
"That was years ago."
"You told me you'd never worked for my mother's foundation."
"I worked for dozens of charities."
"Under a different name?"
She looked toward Olivia.
"Victoria Bell was my professional name."
Olivia gave a bitter laugh.
"How convenient."
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
"Your mother didn't like me, Olivia."
"Mom didn't trust Silas Voss either."
"Your mother didn't trust anyone."
Luca moved closer.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew her?"
Vanessa looked at the floor.
"Because I knew you'd judge me."
"You married me without mentioning that you worked for the man my mother accused of fraud."
"People change, Luca."
He held up Benjamin's placement letter.
"Apparently, some people don't."
Vanessa's face tightened.
"You're twisting everything."
"No."
Luca put the photograph down.
"I'm finally seeing what was in front of me."
She stared at him for several seconds.
Then she turned and walked away.
Luca did not follow.
Instead, he looked toward Olivia.
"Open the music room."
I had never heard those words spoken in three years.
The music room occupied the western corner of the mansion.
Its tall windows overlooked a garden Rosa Moretti had planted herself.
The door had remained locked since her funeral.
When Mateo brought the key, Luca stood outside for a long moment.
Olivia gently touched his arm.
"She wouldn't want you to be afraid of this room."
Luca took the key.
"I'm not afraid of the room."
His voice broke.
"I'm afraid of what I might find inside."
He unlocked the door.
The room smelled faintly of polished wood and old flowers.
White curtains hung beside the windows.
A chandelier glittered above the enormous piano.
There were photographs everywhere.
Rosa smiling with Benjamin.
Rosa standing beside Olivia at her college graduation.
Rosa holding Luca's hand when he was a little boy.
I watched Luca pause beside the last photograph.
For a moment, he looked less like a powerful man and more like a grieving son.
Benjamin entered quietly behind us.
He had insisted on coming after hearing we were visiting Grandma's piano.
"Can I show you something?"
Luca turned.
"Of course, buddy."
Benjamin walked toward the piano bench.
"Grandma always kept the blue book here when we played."
He lifted the cushioned seat.
Inside were neatly stacked sheets of music.
Nothing else.
Benjamin frowned.
"That's not right."
Luca crouched beside him.
"What do you mean?"
"Grandma said I had to remember where the music stopped."
Olivia examined the sheet music.
"She used to teach him a little song."
Benjamin nodded.
"It was about coming home."
He climbed onto the bench and pressed several piano keys.
The uneven notes echoed through the silent room.
Then he stopped.
"She always stopped right here."
He pointed toward the lower right corner of the keyboard.
I noticed a tiny brass plate beneath the piano.
One screw looked different from the others.
"Mr. Moretti, could you look at this?"
Luca knelt beside me.
He touched the brass plate.
It moved.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside lay a small package wrapped in blue velvet.
Olivia covered her mouth.
"Oh, Mom."
Luca carefully opened it.
There was a second blue notebook.
A USB drive.
And a sealed envelope.
Across the envelope, Rosa had written:
FOR MY CHILDREN, WHEN THEY ARE READY TO KNOW THE TRUTH.
Luca stared at those words for a long time.
Then he opened the letter.
He read silently at first.
Finally, his hands began trembling.
Olivia stepped closer.
"What does it say?"
Luca swallowed.
"She knew somebody was forging authorization forms."
He continued reading.
"She discovered payments being made for children who were never enrolled in the programs receiving the money."
Olivia closed her eyes.
"And Voss?"
"She named him."
Luca turned the page.
"She also said someone inside the foundation was giving him access to confidential records."
He looked toward the doorway.
"An assistant named Victoria Bell."
I felt cold.
Vanessa.
The woman who had convinced Luca that she loved his son.
The woman who had arranged to send that same boy away.
Luca handed the letter to Olivia and connected the USB drive to an old laptop in the room.
Several folders appeared.
There were scanned invoices, bank records, photographs, and audio files.
He opened the first recording.
Rosa's voice filled the room.
"Silas, these signatures are fraudulent."
A man's voice answered.
"You don't understand how the system works."
"I understand that children are being used to justify payments nobody can account for."
"Be careful, Rosa."
"Is that a threat?"
"It's advice."
Then the man said something that made my skin crawl.
"People who make themselves inconvenient sometimes stop being a problem."
The recording ended.
Olivia began crying.
Luca sat motionless.
I gently guided Benjamin toward the window before he could hear anything else.
The little boy looked up at me.
"Was Grandma trying to help other kids?"
"Yes, sweetheart."
He thought about that.
"Then she was brave."
I smiled through sudden tears.
"Very brave."
Behind us, Luca opened another folder.
It contained photographs from the foundation's old security system.
One showed Rosa entering an underground parking garage.
Another showed Silas Voss standing beside her car.
And in the third photograph, taken less than an hour before Rosa's fatal accident, a young woman stood near the driver's door.
She wore a dark coat and carried a leather handbag.
Her face was partially turned toward the camera.
But the bracelet on her wrist was clearly visible.
A gold chain.
May you like
A single ruby.
Luca whispered, "Vanessa was there the night my mother died."
