Chapter 5 – THE SECOND PASSENGER
The room spun.
I gripped the edge of the bed to keep from falling.
“That… that’s a mistake,” I stammered, my voice trembling. “I was fifteen years old when your wife died, Mr. Moretti. I didn’t even know her.”
Luca stared at the train ticket in his hand.
Elena Moretti.
Rachel Morgan.
One-way to Montreal.
He looked up at me, his dark eyes searching my face for a lie.
“Your father was David Morgan,” Luca said slowly, piecing it together. “My accountant.”
“Yes.”
“David was killed two weeks before Elena’s accident,” Marco interjected from the corner. “The police said it was a random mugging. But his ledger went missing. The ledger tracking the offshore accounts.”
Luca stood up, the train ticket crushed in his grip. He turned his attention back to Vanessa, who was pressing herself against the hallway wall, looking like a trapped animal.
“Elena wasn’t running from me,” Luca realized, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “She was running with the accountant’s daughter. Because she knew who killed him.”
Vanessa shook her head frantically. “Luca, you’re not thinking straight. Elena was unstable! She was probably trying to kidnap the maid’s kid out of some twisted guilt!”
“Stop talking,” Luca commanded.
He didn’t raise his voice, but Vanessa snapped her mouth shut instantly.
Luca looked at me. “Rachel. Where were you the night of October 16th?”
I swallowed hard, forcing my panic down. “I was at home. With my mother. We had just buried my dad. I remember sitting by the front door all night because my mom said someone was coming to take us somewhere safe.”
“Who?” Marco asked.
“She wouldn’t tell me,” I whispered. “But the person never showed up. The next morning, my mom packed our bags and moved us to the south side of the city. We changed our phone numbers. We disappeared.”
Luca looked at the ticket again.
Elena was supposed to be the one taking us to safety.
Because she had the ledger.
“You found the ledger, didn’t you, Vanessa?” Luca asked, his voice dead cold. “That’s what you took from her coat pocket while she was bleeding in the car.”
Vanessa’s bravado finally cracked.
She collapsed to her knees on the hardwood floor, sobbing.
“I had to, Luca!” she cried, looking up at him with ruined makeup. “My brother was stealing from the accounts to pay off gambling debts! If David Morgan showed you that ledger, my family would have been ruined! You would have killed him!”
Luca didn’t flinch. “So you killed David instead.”
“No! My brother did! I just wanted to cover it up so you wouldn’t find out!”
“And my wife?” Luca asked, stepping closer to the kneeling woman. “Did your brother run her off the road, too?”
Vanessa sobbed harder, wrapping her arms around her stomach. “She wouldn’t listen to me. I chased her car. I just wanted to talk. I swear, Luca, it was an accident! The roads were slick!”
“But you didn’t call an ambulance.”
“If she lived, she would have told you everything!” Vanessa shrieked. “I did it for us, Luca! So we could be together! So I could be a mother to Mia!”
Mia let out a small, terrified whimper.
Luca looked at his daughter. Then, he looked at his head of security.
“Marco,” Luca said quietly.
“Yes, Boss.”
“Take Vanessa to the basement. Do not let her make a phone call. Do not let anyone see her.”
Vanessa scrambled backward, terror seizing her features. “No! Luca, please! We’re engaged! I’m going to be your wife!”
As Marco stepped forward and grabbed Vanessa by the arm, hoisting her up, Vanessa frantically dug into her dress pocket.
“You can’t do this to me!” she screamed, thrashing against Marco’s grip. “I’m already family, Luca!”
She pulled something out and thrust her hand forward.
A heavy gold ring with a massive, square-cut emerald glittered in the bedroom light.
Luca froze.
I gasped.
It was Elena’s wedding ring. The one that had gone missing from her hand the night of the crash.
“I’ve been wearing it on a chain around my neck for years!” Vanessa screamed hysterically. “I’m the one who stayed, Luca! I raised your daughter while you grieved!”
Luca stared at the ring.
Then, he looked at Marco.
“Get her out of my sight.”
