Chapter 4
I left the meeting with Miriam and Adrian.
Rosa was safe. She had heard the records-room door open from the hall and stayed in the kitchen while she called me. Our guard had found the door ajar, but whoever entered had gone out through the side passage.
The room held my husband’s papers and older company files. Dante knew it well. For years, I had trusted him to find records there when I could not.
On the drive home, I called Hale. He asked us to wait outside the room until officers arrived.
Adrian sat beside me in the car.
“What’s in there?” he asked.
“Old contracts. Your father’s letters. Some of the first freight accounts.”
“Why would Dante need them now?”
“I intend to find out.”
At home, the guard showed Hale where he had found the door open. Hale saw damage around the lock and photographed it. I pointed out the cabinets Dante had used in the past. One drawer stood open.
Inside, a folder marked RIVER TERMINAL was gone.
I knew the folder. It contained the agreement my husband had signed when we took over the property. An attachment set limits on what could be stored there. It also required a full review of the terminal’s past use before any sale.
Dante had complained about that attachment for years.
“Do you have another copy?” Miriam asked.
“Possibly at the lawyer’s office. My husband also kept one in a bank box.”
Hale asked who knew about the folder. I named Dante, two former assistants, Miriam, and Adrian. Adrian shook his head.
“I knew there were papers here. I didn’t know which drawer.”
I believed him, though believing him had become a choice I made carefully.
Hale’s team found a footprint on the passage floor. There was no clear image from the side camera; someone had turned it toward the garden the day before for the reception and had not turned it back.
I asked the guard who had changed it.
“Grant told me the catering trucks needed a clear path,” he said. “He said Mrs. Bellini approved.”
I had not.
By afternoon, the board chair postponed the suspension vote until an independent doctor could review the statement Dante had submitted. Miriam obtained a written confirmation. It bought us time, but Dante still had enough allies to call another meeting.
We went to the bank. My husband’s box contained a copy of the river agreement and three sealed envelopes. One was addressed to me in his handwriting.
I had not opened it after his death. At the time, every piece of paper he left behind felt like proof that he would never walk into our kitchen again.
I opened it with Adrian beside me.
Eleanor,
If Dante ever says the river terminal belongs to him because he arranged the purchase, check the original ownership list. I paid for his share when he could not. He asked me to keep it private. I agreed for his children’s sake, but I kept the receipts.
The rest of the letter was about Adrian. My husband wanted him to have the freedom to choose a different life if he wanted one.
I read those lines twice before handing him the page.
“Dad wrote this?” Adrian asked.
“He did.”
“He never said it to me.”
“He may have thought there was time.”
The receipts showed my husband had bought Dante’s interest long before he died. Dante had remained on the board because we gave him a seat, not because he owned the terminal.
“Why would he tell the directors otherwise?” Adrian asked.
“Because it made him sound as if he could sell it.”
Miriam took copies of the receipts and agreement. The originals stayed secured at the bank.
That night, Serena came to the front gate.
She told the guard she wanted to return the engagement ring. I went out with Hale’s number ready on my phone and Rosa watching from the house.
Serena stood under the gate light holding the ring between two fingers.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said.
“Did Dante send you?”
“No. I wanted to speak to Adrian.”
“He can decide whether to see you. Give the ring to the guard.”
Her hand closed around it.
“You think I wanted to hit you?” she asked. “Dante said you would never accept me. He said one strong scene would make Adrian stand up for us.”
“You chose the hose. You chose to strike me.”
She looked away.
“Grant brought the cards,” she said. “He told me the guests were with us. I didn’t know Dante had promised them money.”
“Did you know about the proxy?”
“Yes.”
That answer cost her more than the apology.
“Then tell Hale what you know,” I said.
Serena shook her head. “Grant says Dante has enough on Adrian to put him in prison.”
“Adrian will speak for himself.”
I turned toward the house. Serena called after me.
“Ask your son where he was the night the shipment arrived.”
Inside, Adrian waited near the stairs. He had heard the last sentence through the open front door.
“I wasn’t at home,” he said.
May you like
I stopped.
“I went to the terminal,” he continued. “I saw what was in the crates.”
