Chapter 6 - THE EVIDENCE ROOM
The investigation grew larger after Salvatore's arrest.
Detective Alvarez obtained records showing that he had paid a former hospital administrator to alter documents connected to Luca's birth. The false death notice had been created using a genuine hospital form, but the patient number belonged to another child.
The police also found evidence that Salvatore had paid people to intercept Eleanor's letters.
Vanessa cooperated after her attorney advised her to provide a full account. She admitted that she had destroyed the letters she received and arranged for Eleanor to be escorted off the property.
She also admitted that she had instructed security to search Mrs. Carter's coat.
The diamond bracelet had been placed there by Vanessa herself.
The plastic restraint had been applied by a guard acting on her instructions.
The driver who transported Eleanor told investigators that Vanessa had ordered him to take her away from the estate. When Eleanor began struggling to breathe, he had called emergency services and taken her to St. Catherine's.
The police recovered the vehicle's navigation history and the hospital call records.
Salvatore's involvement was more difficult to establish.
He claimed he had acted to protect Luca from a threat. He said Giovanni had agreed to raise the child and that he had believed Eleanor would eventually accept the arrangement.
But a former hospital employee gave investigators a different account.
She remembered Salvatore arriving with two men and leaving with a newborn baby. Eleanor had been sedated after a difficult delivery. The employee had been told the baby was being transferred to another hospital.
No transfer had been authorized.
The employee had kept a copy of the original nursery log.
It showed that Luca had been discharged to a person named Salvatore Bellini.
Detective Alvarez showed the record to Luca.
He read it in silence.
“Can this prove he took me?”
“It supports Eleanor's account,” she said. “We are also comparing the hospital records with the documents Salvatore submitted later.”
“What happens now?”
“He will face charges related to the abduction, fraud, and the threats made against Eleanor. The exact charges will depend on the prosecutor's review.”
Luca nodded.
He asked one more question.
“Will Vanessa be charged?”
“She may face charges related to unlawful restraint, evidence tampering, and the false accusation against Mrs. Carter. Her cooperation will be considered, but it doesn't erase what happened.”
Luca looked at the papers.
“I don't want revenge.”
Detective Alvarez closed the folder.
“Then let the evidence speak. That's what the process is for.”
Later that afternoon, Salvatore requested a private meeting with Luca.
Luca refused.
Instead, he sent a message through his attorney.
There is nothing you can tell me that will make what you did acceptable. If you want to explain yourself, do it under oath.
Salvatore sent no reply.
The wedding venue called the next morning. The ceremony had been scheduled for Saturday, with more than three hundred guests expected.
Luca canceled everything.
He also instructed the estate staff to return deposits where possible and pay the workers who had already completed their preparations.
The flowers were donated to a children's hospital. The untouched food was sent to a shelter.
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When the event planner asked what should happen to the wedding photographs, Luca said to keep them in a sealed box.
“Don't destroy them,” he said. “I want to remember how close I came to making a terrible mistake.”
