Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN IN THE RECORDING
Grant Miller was released at 8:15 p.m.
The official explanation was insufficient evidence and conflicting witness statements.
By 8:30, he had called Norah seventeen times.
By 9:00, someone had tried to access the Moretti estate's security network.
By 9:15, Dante had ordered every entrance sealed.
Norah sat in the library, staring at her phone.
"He'll never stop."
Dante stood behind the desk.
"He will."
"You don't know him."
"I know men like him."
"That's not the same thing."
Dante accepted the correction.
"No. It isn't."
She hesitated.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
"Grant used to work late. Sometimes he'd come home with blood on his shirt. He said it was from training exercises."
Dante's attention sharpened.
"How long ago?"
"About six months ago. Once, I found a photograph in his jacket. A woman. He told me she was a confidential witness."
"Did you recognize her?"
"No."
Norah took a breath.
"But I saw the photograph again after the police came to our apartment. It was the same woman on the missing-person poster."
Dante went completely still.
"Rachel Hayes?"
Norah nodded.
"Do you remember anything else?"
"On the back, there was a date. And a name."
"What name?"
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"Elena."
Dante's face hardened.
His sister's name.
Nico arrived with a laptop.
"We recovered something from Miller's old department account."
He played a recording.
The video showed Grant sitting in a police interrogation room with another man.
"She has the documents," Grant said.
The other man leaned forward.
"Then find them."
"She won't talk."
"Everyone talks eventually."
Grant smiled.
"Not if they don't get the chance."
The video ended.
Norah covered her mouth.
Dante looked at the screen.
"Who is the other man?"
Nico enlarged the image.
A silver-haired man appeared.
Dante recognized him instantly.
His uncle.
Victor Moretti.
The man who had raised him after his parents died.
The man who had stood beside him at Elena's funeral.
The man who had told him to stop asking questions about the accident.
Dante slowly closed the laptop.
"Get Victor on the phone."
Nico hesitated.
"Boss—"
"Now."
Victor answered on the second ring.
"Daniel. What a pleasant surprise."
Dante's voice was cold.
"Why was Grant Miller discussing Elena?"
Silence.
Then Victor chuckled.
"You've been digging into old things again."
"Answer me."
"Your sister was troubled. She made mistakes. You need to let her rest."
Dante's hand tightened around the phone.
"Did you kill her?"
Victor sighed.
"Be careful what you accuse family of."
The call ended.
Dante stared at the screen.
Behind him, Norah whispered.
"He's your uncle?"
"Yes."
"Can he hurt you?"
Dante turned.
"Anyone can."
He walked toward the window.
"But that doesn't mean they get to."
Later that night, Norah couldn't sleep.
She went downstairs and found an old photograph displayed on the library mantel.
Dante stood beside a young woman.
Elena.
Norah recognized the face immediately.
She also recognized the necklace around Elena's neck.
A small silver pendant shaped like a star.
The same pendant Norah's mother had worn for twenty years.
Norah reached into her bag and pulled out the necklace she had inherited after her mother's death.
The two pendants were identical.
On the back of hers were two engraved letters.
E.M.
Her hands began to shake.
May you like
Because her mother's name had been Margaret Hayes.
And Elena Moretti had been wearing the necklace of a woman Norah had been told was dead.
