Chapter 6 - THE GRAVE BENEATH THE MAUSOLEUM
The cemetery stood on a hill overlooking the river, its marble angels darkened by rain. The Moretti mausoleum occupied the highest ground, surrounded by iron fencing and old cypress trees.
Dominic arrived with Marco and six armed men.
Edward insisted on coming.
Vincent followed in a separate car, refusing to remain behind while the family secret was exposed.
Inside the mausoleum, Vanessa stood beside an open stone panel. Lily sat on a bench nearby, pale and shaken but conscious. Her hands were bound loosely with a silk scarf.
Dominic crossed the room in seconds.
"Lily."
"I'm okay," she whispered.
He untied the scarf and checked her face.
"Did anyone hurt you?"
Vanessa shook her head desperately.
"I brought her here because I found something. I wasn't going to hurt her."
Dominic turned on her.
"Then why did you disappear?"
"Because your father threatened me. He told me if I showed you the records, I'd end up in the same grave as my mother."
Vincent's face hardened.
"She's lying."
Vanessa pulled a folded document from her coat.
"My father kept copies of everything. Payments, adoption records, burial orders. He knew the truth about the night Catherine married you."
She pointed toward the open panel.
"There is another grave beneath the mausoleum."
Dominic looked at the stone steps descending into darkness.
"Who is buried there?"
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"My mother."
Vincent stepped forward.
"That's impossible. Richard Sterling told me she died in a car accident."
"He lied to you," Vanessa replied. "My mother was Catherine's closest friend. She helped deliver Edward's daughter. She knew where the baby was taken."
"Then why was she buried here?" Dominic demanded.
"Because she came back years later to tell Catherine that someone had found the child. The next morning, she was dead."
Dominic stared at the opening.
"Who killed her?"
Vanessa looked directly at Vincent.
"My father believed you ordered it."
Vincent's face turned red.
"I never ordered her death."
"Then who did?"
Silence.
Edward moved toward the stairs.
"We're opening the grave."
Dominic stopped him.
"Not until we know what we're dealing with."
He ordered Marco to photograph everything and call an independent forensic team. No one would move a single object until the site had been documented.
As the men descended, they found a small chamber containing a sealed coffin, a rusted metal box, and a second door built into the rear wall.
The coffin's plaque carried a name.
MARGARET STERLING — 1947–1987.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
"I was told she died in 1982."
Dominic examined the metal box.
Inside were letters, photographs, a cassette tape, and a hospital bracelet matching the one Margaret Ellis had preserved.
There was also a birth certificate.
The child's name had been changed.
ELENA MARGARET STERLING.
Edward stared at it.
"That's my daughter's name."
Vanessa looked up sharply.
"No. Elena Sterling was my mother."
Edward turned toward her.
"Your mother?"
Vanessa nodded, confused.
"She was born in 1960. Her parents were Margaret and Richard Sterling."
Dominic felt the pieces shift.
If Vanessa's mother had been born in 1960, she could not have been Edward's daughter, born in 1986.
Unless the document referred to another Elena.
He opened the next envelope.
Inside was a letter written by Catherine.
If this reaches Dominic, the family has failed again. There are two girls named Elena. One is Margaret's daughter. The other is Edward's. One carries the Moretti bloodline. The other carries the evidence that can destroy it.
Dominic read the sentence aloud.
Vanessa looked horrified.
"My father gave me my mother's locket and told me it belonged to a woman who died protecting a child. I thought he meant my mother."
Edward picked up the cassette.
"Where's a player?"
Marco produced a small device from his equipment bag.
The recording began with static, then Catherine's voice.
"If anyone hears this, it means Vincent has found the child or someone has discovered the second grave."
A pause followed.
Then Catherine continued.
"Edward survived the fire. Elena survived the birth. But the man who ordered the shooting is not the man everyone suspects."
Dominic leaned closer.
His mother's voice trembled.
"The firstborn son returned to the estate that night. He wore Vincent's coat. He carried Vincent's gun. And when the shots were fired, everyone believed they saw Vincent."
The recording crackled.
Then came a man's voice.
Not Vincent's.
Not Edward's.
A voice Dominic recognized from childhood photographs.
His grandfather.
"There cannot be three heirs to this family. One of them must disappear."
The tape stopped.
No one moved.
Then Lily gasped.
Dominic turned.
She was staring at the birth certificate.
Her lips parted.
"That's my mother's maiden name."
Dominic took the paper from her.
"Which one?"
Lily pointed to the signature at the bottom.
ELENA M. MORETTI.
"My mother told me her birth records were sealed. She said her parents died before she could meet them."
Edward looked at Lily.
His face drained of color.
"What's your mother's full name?"
Lily swallowed.
"Elena Marie Bennett."
Edward stumbled backward.
For forty years, he had searched for a daughter he believed had been hidden under a false identity.
Now a pregnant maid stood before him, carrying a child, with the same name as the woman he had lost.
But before anyone could speak, Marco's phone rang.
He listened, then turned toward Dominic.
"Boss, the forensic team found something else."
"What?"
Marco's voice dropped.
"The grave beneath this one is empty."
Dominic looked toward the dark passage behind the coffin.
"And the second door?"
Marco swallowed.
"It opens into a tunnel leading outside the cemetery."
A tunnel no one had known existed.
A tunnel that someone had used recently.
And in the mud beside its entrance lay a fresh footprint.
May you like
The heel bore the distinctive pattern of Dominic's own shoes.
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