“We found something on Isabella’s old tablet.”
A partially synchronized note.
The subject line read:
NORTH PIER — DO NOT TRUST INTERNAL APPROVALS
Below it were several lines.
Vendor numbers don’t match. More than $9 million moved through shell subcontractors. Vincent’s credentials appear on multiple approvals.
Lorenzo’s stomach turned.
Vincent Moreau.
His chief operating officer.
His closest friend.
The man who had stood beside him at Isabella’s grave.
They had known each other since they were seventeen.
Vincent had once taken a knife meant for Lorenzo outside a nightclub in Brooklyn.
Lorenzo had been best man at Vincent’s wedding.
Godfather to his first son.
“Impossible.”
Rachel tapped the paper.
“Evidence doesn’t care.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Neither should you.”
The case against Vincent formed almost too perfectly.
Payments connected to shell corporations.
Altered security records.
A vehicle used the night Isabella vanished registered through one of his subsidiaries.
A dentist who falsified Isabella’s records had received $180,000 through an offshore consulting firm linked to a Vincent-controlled vendor.
Then police arrested Anthony Bell, a disgraced former security contractor.
Anthony talked after twelve hours with his attorney.
According to him, Isabella had been intercepted before meeting Claire.
Claire had discovered fraudulent invoices and contacted Isabella.
Both women were taken.
Claire was drugged and placed inside Isabella’s car.
Isabella’s jewelry was transferred to her.
The car was driven toward the ravine.
Claire never woke up.
Isabella was transported to a farmhouse.
“Who ordered it?” Rachel asked.
Anthony stared at the table.
“Vincent Moreau.”
When Lorenzo heard the confession, he stood so violently the chair toppled behind him.
Mason caught his arm.
“Don’t.”
Lorenzo spun toward him.
“He buried my wife while she was alive.”
“We don’t know everything yet.”
“I know enough.”
“No.”
Mason’s grip tightened.
“You know enough to do something stupid.”
For several seconds the two men stared at each other.
Then Lorenzo pulled his arm away.
“Where is Vincent?”
“Under surveillance.”
“Why not arrested?”
“Rachel wants more corroboration.”
Lorenzo laughed bitterly.
“She has a confession.”
“From a criminal trying to reduce his sentence.”
“She has money.”
“Which can be falsified.”
“Security records.”
“Which can be manipulated.”
Lorenzo narrowed his eyes.
Mason said quietly:
“You taught me never to confuse a convincing story with the truth.”
The sentence stopped him.
Because it was exactly what Vincent seemed to have done with Isabella’s death.
Lorenzo sat down.
“Find her first.”
Isabella had escaped captivity three weeks after the crash.
Anthony claimed she broke a bathroom window during a transfer and disappeared into woods with Bruno.
Her captors searched.
They failed.
She survived in shelters, abandoned buildings, churches, and cheap motels.
But why had she never called?
Anthony answered that too.
“They told her people inside DeLuca security were compromised.”
Lorenzo went still.
“They told her if she contacted you,” Rachel continued, “Sophia Walker and Emma would be killed first.”
The room became very quiet.
“Why Sophia?”
“She occasionally helped Isabella review household invoices.”
Lorenzo remembered.
Isabella had once asked Sophia to collect receipts from estate vendors because she believed someone was overbilling the household.
