Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO ERASED THE CAMERAS|
"Play it again."
Luca's voice was dangerously quiet.
Detective Ellis restarted the recovered security footage.
On the screen, Vanessa stood outside the basement door beside Dr. Adrian Vale.
Her face was calm.
His expression was impatient.
And neither of them looked remotely concerned that an elderly man was trapped downstairs.
The audio played again.
"If Frank won't sign, we'll have to handle him the same way we handled Rosa."
Luca turned toward Detective Ellis.
"That's enough to arrest them, isn't it?"
"It's significant evidence," she answered.
"But we need to establish the full context, authenticate the recording, and locate both suspects."
Luca stared at her.
"While they're running around Chicago?"
"We're working on it."
He looked ready to explode.
Then Rex approached and pushed his head beneath Luca's hand.
My employer looked down.
Slowly, his breathing steadied.
"Okay," he whispered.
"Do it your way."
That afternoon, detectives questioned every employee who had been working when Frank disappeared.
The housekeepers were frightened.
The kitchen staff were confused.
Nobody understood how Vanessa could have locked Frank away without anyone noticing.
But I remembered something.
That morning, Henry had told the staff that the basement hallway was closed for maintenance.
He had also redirected everyone to the service elevator.
I'd thought nothing of it.
Now I realized it had kept us away from Frank for hours.
When I mentioned this to Ellis, she immediately contacted her partner.
"Add that to the timeline."
A few minutes later, Luca received an unexpected call.
It was Henry.
"Boss, please don't hang up."
Luca's expression hardened.
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere safe."
"You helped my wife imprison my father."
"I know how it looks."
"Then explain it."
Henry's breathing sounded ragged.
"Vanessa found out about a security contract I falsified two years ago."
"She said she'd turn everything over to the authorities unless I did what she wanted."
Luca stared at the phone.
"You could have come to me."
Henry gave a bitter laugh.
"I was afraid you'd kill me."
The words seemed to strike Luca harder than an insult.
He said nothing.
Henry continued.
"She told me Frank was meeting a lawyer in the basement."
"She said I only needed to keep the cameras offline until the meeting ended."
"Then I heard him shouting."
Luca's fingers tightened around the phone.
"And you left him there?"
Henry began crying.
"I panicked."
I watched Luca struggle to contain himself.
For years, men had obeyed him because they feared what would happen if they didn't.
Now that same fear had helped his wife commit a terrible crime.
Detective Ellis quietly motioned for Luca to keep Henry talking.
"Where are you, Henry?"
"I kept a copy of the original footage."
"Vanessa doesn't know."
"There's more than what Malik recovered."
Luca looked at Ellis.
She nodded.
"Then give it to the detectives."
Henry hesitated.
"Victor Bellini has people looking for me."
Ellis took the phone.
"Mr. Ward, this is Detective Maya Ellis."
"If you want protection, tell us where you are."
After a long silence, Henry gave her the name of a roadside motel outside Chicago.
Ellis immediately sent officers.
But before she ended the call, Henry said something strange.
"Tell Luca they weren't planning to stop with Frank."
Luca stepped forward.
"What does that mean?"
Henry's voice shook.
"Vanessa had another document."
"Something from a doctor."
"It said your father couldn't manage his own affairs."
Frank was eighty-two.
He had a walking cane and occasional memory lapses, but he remained mentally alert.
Luca's face tightened.
"She was going to have him declared incompetent?"
"Yes."
"And once the court believed it, they planned to take control of his property without his consent."
I felt sick.
The basement wasn't simply a punishment for refusing to sign.
It had been part of a larger plan.
If Frank surrendered, Vanessa would get his shares.
If he refused, she would try to portray him as incapable of making decisions.
And if he died, somebody might attempt to use his condition and death to advance their claims.
A few hours later, Ellis returned with news.
Henry had been found alive.
He was frightened and bruised, but he had handed over a storage device containing the missing security footage.
One recording showed Vanessa entering the basement at 8:14 that morning.
Another showed her leaving at 8:27.
At 10:36, she returned.
We watched her stand outside the locked door.
Then we heard Frank calling faintly from below.
"Vanessa, please."
"Something's wrong with my wrist."
"Please open the door."
Vanessa didn't move.
Instead, she looked directly at the door.
"If you'd just signed, none of this would have happened."
I covered my mouth.
Luca watched without blinking.
Then Vanessa walked away.
That was the moment I understood she hadn't simply underestimated the danger.
She had known Frank was suffering.
She had heard him asking for help.
And she'd left him there anyway.
Luca turned off the monitor.
"Claire, would you take Rex outside?"
His voice was unusually gentle.
I nodded.
But before I reached the door, he spoke again.
"I owe you an apology."
I stopped.
"For what?"
"For not believing you immediately."
"You told me something was wrong with Rex."
"And I let Vanessa speak before you could finish."
I looked at the enormous dog beside me.
"Rex wouldn't give up on your father."
Luca's eyes filled with tears.
"Neither did you."
Later that evening, Detective Ellis received another update from Henry's interview.
Investigators had uncovered an appointment scheduled for the following day.
Vanessa intended to meet a private physician and two attorneys to discuss Frank's supposed incapacity.
But that wasn't the detail that frightened me most.
Henry had also described a conversation he'd overheard between Vanessa and Victor.
They were searching for something called the second chart.
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According to Henry, Victor believed Rosa had hidden it before she died.
And he had told Vanessa that whoever found it first would decide whether the Moretti family survived.
