Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Catherine Sterling had been dead for eleven years.
At least, that was what her family had told the world.
Dante stared at the frozen image on the monitor.
The woman wore a dark coat and a silver necklace.
Her face was unmistakable.
He had met Catherine Sterling twice before her supposed death.
She had been elegant, soft-spoken, and strangely interested in the Moretti family.
At their first meeting, she had asked Dante whether his father still kept a sailboat.
At the time, he hadn't thought anything of it.
Now the question felt like a warning.
“Play it again,” Dante said.
Caleb rewound the videotape.
Catherine appeared in the warehouse corridor.
She locked Daniel Cross inside the office.
Then turned toward the unseen person.
Your son will take the blame, Antonio. Just like we agreed.
Dante gripped the edge of the table.
“My father was involved.”
Caleb said nothing.
Dante watched the footage a third time.
Something bothered him.
Catherine spoke with confidence.
But her eyes kept moving toward the left side of the corridor.
As if someone were threatening her.
“Pause there.”
Caleb stopped the tape.
Dante pointed toward the bottom corner.
A shadow stretched across the floor.
Someone stood beyond the camera's view.
“Can we enhance that?”
“Not enough to identify a person.”
“Then find the original recording system. I want every camera angle that still exists.”
Caleb nodded.
Dante took a breath.
“Get me Catherine Sterling's death certificate.”
Back at the estate, Eleanor listened as Dante described the videotape.
When he mentioned Catherine, she covered her mouth.
“No.”
“Mom, did you know her?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Before she married Richard.”
Dante frowned.
“How well?”
“She was my closest friend.”
The room went silent.
Clara looked between them.
Eleanor lowered her head.
“We grew up together in Philadelphia. Catherine was the person who introduced me to your father.”
Dante stared.
“Why have you never told me that?”
“Because she betrayed us.”
“How?”
Eleanor rubbed her hands together.
“Your father once trusted Richard with a shipping contract. When money began disappearing, Catherine came to me and begged me to convince Antonio not to investigate.”
“Why?”
“She said Richard would destroy both families if Antonio continued.”
Dante sat beside her.
“And what did Dad do?”
“He investigated anyway.”
“Then?”
“Catherine disappeared from our lives.”
Eleanor paused.
“Years later, I heard she'd died.”
Dante looked toward the window.
“What if she didn't?”
Eleanor stiffened.
“Dante?”
“The certificate may say she died. That doesn't prove she did.”
Clara spoke softly.
“Sir, why would someone fake a death?”
Dante looked at the frozen image on his phone.
“To escape prosecution. To hide from someone. Or because someone wanted the world to stop looking.”
By noon, Caleb had an answer.
Catherine Sterling's death had been recorded after a boating accident off the Connecticut coast.
Her body had supposedly been recovered three days later.
But the official identification had relied on dental records provided by a private dentist.
That dentist had retired to Florida two months after the accident.
His office had subsequently closed.
“There was no independent DNA identification,” Caleb explained.
Dante leaned back.
“Who signed the paperwork?”
“Richard Sterling.”
Dante stared at him.
“Of course he did.”
Caleb placed another document on the desk.
“And there's more.”
A life insurance policy.
Eight million dollars.
Richard had collected the payout.
Dante looked up.
“Find the dentist.”
“Already working on it.”
“And Catherine?”
“No recent records under that name.”
Dante studied the file.
“Someone doesn't disappear for eleven years without help.”
His phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
He answered.
“Dante Moretti.”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“You found the boat.”
Dante stood.
“Gabriel?”
A pause.
“Don't say my name.”
Dante's throat tightened.
“Where are you?”
“Listen carefully. The tape isn't what you think.”
“I saw Catherine Sterling lock Daniel Cross inside.”
“You saw part of it.”
“Then tell me the rest.”
Gabriel's breathing was audible.
“Dad didn't agree to sacrifice me. Catherine was trying to make someone believe he had.”
“Who?”
“Richard.”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Gabriel, please. Come home.”
“I can't.”
“Mom knows you're alive.”
Silence.
“She never stopped waiting for you.”
Gabriel made a broken sound.
“I know.”
Dante gripped the phone.
“Then why are you hiding?”
“Because the person who ordered that fire is still alive.”
“Richard?”
“No.”
Dante went still.
“Then who?”
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“Someone Dad trusted more than Richard.”
The connection crackled.
“Gabriel, don't hang up.”
“There's a woman who can prove everything. Her name is Catherine.”
Dante froze.
“Catherine Sterling?”
“Yes.”
“She's alive?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“She was three weeks ago.”
“Where?”
Before Gabriel could answer, a distant crash sounded through the phone.
A woman screamed.
Gabriel shouted something.
Then the call ended.
Dante immediately dialed back.
The number was disconnected.
He turned toward Caleb.
“Trace it.”
Caleb was already moving.
That evening, Clara found Eleanor sitting alone in Antonio's study.
The elderly woman held a photograph against her chest.
“Mrs. Moretti?”
Eleanor turned.
“Clara, would you sit with me?”
“Of course.”
Clara pulled up a chair.
Eleanor reached for her hand.
“I've been selfish.”
“No, ma'am.”
“I wanted my boys safe. I convinced myself that keeping secrets was the same as protecting them.”
Clara listened.
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“Antonio made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. But I loved him so much that sometimes I pretended not to see them.”
Clara squeezed her hand.
“Loving someone doesn't mean you have to defend everything they did.”
Eleanor began crying.
“Dante deserved the truth.”
“He still does.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Then I need to tell him about the night Catherine came to see me.”
Clara leaned closer.
“When?”
“Two weeks before Antonio died.”
Clara froze.
“But Catherine had already been declared dead.”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“She brought a little girl.”
Clara stared.
“A child?”
“About six years old. Catherine said the girl was in danger.”
“Who was she?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“She wouldn't tell me.”
“What happened to her?”
“Antonio sent them away. He said our home was no longer safe.”
Eleanor reached into her pocket.
“Catherine left something behind.”
A small silver pendant lay in her palm.
It was shaped like a crescent moon.
On the back were two initials.
V.S.
Clara frowned.
“Vanessa Sterling?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“That's what I thought at first. But Catherine said the initials belonged to someone else.”
Clara turned the pendant over.
A tiny inscription ran along its edge.
For Violet. Always.
“Violet,” Clara whispered.
Eleanor nodded.
“I think that was the little girl's name.”
Before Clara could respond, the study door opened.
Dante entered with Caleb.
“We traced Gabriel's call,” he said.
Eleanor rose unsteadily.
“Where is he?”
“A roadside motel outside Albany.”
“Is he safe?”
“We don't know.”
Caleb looked grim.
“Police found a woman unconscious in one of the rooms. She'd been struck on the head.”
Dante swallowed.
“She survived. She's at the hospital.”
“Who is she?” Clara asked.
Dante looked at his mother.
“Catherine Sterling.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Dante continued.
“She woke up twenty minutes ago.”
“Did she say where Gabriel went?”
“No.”
“Then what did she say?”
Dante's expression changed.
“She asked the nurse to call me.”
Eleanor gripped Clara's arm.
“Why?”
May you like
Dante took a slow breath.
“BECAUSE SHE SAYS VANESSA STERLING ISN'T HER DAUGHTER.”
