Chapter 6 - MARCO’S ACCIDENT
Marco Morello died on a wet November road.
His car crossed the center line.
Hit a concrete barrier.
No other vehicle.
No suspicious mechanical failure.
Victor had read the report personally.
Nothing suggested murder.
Isabella’s letter did not claim otherwise.
That mattered.
Victor kept reading.
Marco told me weeks before he died that Harrow had been threatening Celestine over old debt.
He also told me he had finally learned the full amount she gave Harrow in information.
Victor frowned.
Full amount.
Not money.
Information.
Marco created a list.
Dates.
Locations.
Names.
Including the hospital.
He planned to give it to Victor.
Then he died before doing so.
Isabella found a copy hidden inside Marco’s desk after Celestine asked her to help organize estate papers.
Instead of revealing it, Isabella hid it.
Why?
Her explanation:
Because I was afraid you would kill Celestine before I knew whether Marco’s death was accident or consequence.
Victor sighed.
Again.
His reputation had turned his wife into a private investigator.
Not admirable.
A warning.
The letter:
I hired someone independent.
Name: David Keene.
If you find this, ask him what he found.
David Keene was alive.
Retired investigator.
Florida.
He remembered Isabella immediately.
“She paid in cash.”
“Why?”
“She didn’t want household financial staff noticing.”
Victor looked at Grace.
Grace said nothing.
Keene’s conclusion:
Marco’s death was an accident.
No sabotage.
No pursuing car.
No tampered brakes.
Rain.
Speed.
Fatigue.
Victor felt a strange release.
Not every death was conspiracy.
Good.
But Keene found something else.
Marco had been driving from a meeting with Adrian Harrow.
At that meeting, Marco secretly recorded Harrow.
Audio survived.
Keene kept a copy because Isabella asked.
Grace played it.
Marco:
You used my wife.
Adrian:
Your wife used me too.
Marco:
You threatened a baby.
Adrian:
I threatened Victor.
Marco:
By using his daughter.
Silence.
Then:
Marco:
I’m telling him everything.
Adrian:
Then tell him why Celestine came to me in the first place.
Marco:
Her debts.
Adrian:
Not just debts.
Victor leaned forward.
Adrian continued:
She wanted your brother distracted.
Marco:
From what?
Adrian:
Ask her.
The recording ended soon after.
Victor frowned.
Distracted from what?
Keene never learned.
Isabella had tried.
That was why somebody began searching her belongings.
Perhaps Celestine feared Marco had told Isabella.
The fourth letter provided the next clue.
Victor,
Celestine’s debt was real.
But Harrow believed she originally contacted him because she wanted information about Isabella’s family.
Victor stopped.
“Isabella’s family?”
Grace frowned too.
Isabella came from the DeLuca family.
Old Boston money.
Legitimate pharmaceutical holdings.
Her parents dead.
One brother abroad.
Nothing obviously relevant.
Then the hidden compartment’s photograph finally mattered.
Victor had ignored it among the letters.
It showed Isabella at twenty-three beside another woman.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
Almost identical.
Victor stared.
“She had a sister?”
Grace looked at the back.
Names:
ISABELLA + ROSE.
Victor had never heard of Rose.
He felt betrayed again.
Then corrected himself.
Curious.
Not every unknown was betrayal.
Beatrice Morello, Victor’s elderly aunt, knew.
“Twin.”
Victor stared at her over tea.
“Isabella had a twin sister.”
“Yes.”
“Why did nobody tell me?”
“Rose died young.”
“When?”
“Before you met Isabella.”
“Then why hide her?”
Beatrice looked uncomfortable.
“She didn’t die.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Of course.
“What happened?”
“Family break.”
Rose left.
Changed her name.
Refused contact.
Surname?
Whitaker.
Victor slowly looked down.
The hospital alias suddenly had another possible meaning.
Helen Whitaker’s surname might not have been chosen randomly.
May you like
Was Helen connected to Rose?
The story twisted again.
