Chapter 8 - Isabella's Final Record
Nico brought the frame to a meeting with Elena and a document preservation specialist. We photographed it before opening the damaged backing.
Inside was a folded, age-yellowed list of shipment references and account numbers. A tiny message in Isabella's handwriting appeared along the edge.
If anything happens, give this to someone who isn't afraid of Aldo.
We sat in silence.
The papers alone did not prove murder, but they identified discrepancies in the company's books and led investigators toward records that had survived elsewhere.
My mother had noticed that money from legitimate waterfront contracts was being diverted through false vendors. She had copied enough information to establish what she suspected, then tried to protect her children by splitting the evidence between the frame and her own notes.
Cedric asked to see the list through his attorney. I refused a private meeting but agreed that investigators could obtain relevant records from him.
He sent a handwritten letter instead.
Anna, I have known pieces of the truth for years. I convinced myself that silence was protection. It wasn't. Whatever follows, I will tell investigators what I know, even when it incriminates me.
For once, he wasn't asking me to trust him. He was offering to accept scrutiny.
Then Nico found another item in Grace's box: a cassette labeled “Isabella, Tuesday.” A specialist arranged safe playback and preservation.
My mother's voice emerged through faint background noise.
“If you're hearing this,” she said, “the men at the warehouse know I've discovered their accounts.”
I clutched Nico's hand.
May you like
Then Isabella named the person who had ordered workers to stay in the building on the night the fire was planned.
Lucian Bellini.
