Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
I was not allowed to return to the staff quarters alone. Elena assigned another housekeeper to accompany me, and Matteo asked me to remain on the estate until they completed their first review. He said it was a precaution, not an accusation.
At 11:30 p.m., my phone vibrated.
Mom.
I stepped into the laundry room to answer.
“Grace? Honey, are you still at work?”
“Yes.”
“Your landlord called me.”
My stomach tightened. “Why?”
“He said the rent transfer didn't arrive. I told him you'd handle it, but he sounded upset.”
I had sent the payment two days earlier. It should have cleared.
“I'm checking on it,” I said.
“Are you all right? You sound strange.”
I looked at the closed door. “I'm fine. Something happened at the estate, but I'll explain tomorrow.”
“Did you lose your job?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
When I hung up, I opened my banking app. The rent payment was marked pending. There was enough in my account to cover it, but the timing mattered. My mother had spent years trying to keep our small house after my father's death. The mortgage was paid, but repairs, taxes, and insurance were not. I had promised her she would never have to move again.
A knock came at the door.
Elena stood there. “Luca wants to see you.”
His study was on the second floor. The room smelled of leather, cedar, and the coffee he had forgotten to drink. On his desk lay the transmitter, sealed in a clear evidence bag.
“Sit down,” he said.
I took the chair nearest the door.
“We reviewed the footage,” he continued. “Vanessa entered the sitting room at 8:09. She carried the chair herself. At 8:26, she returned while you were in the kitchen. She stayed beside it for forty-one seconds.”
“That's when she put it there.”
“We believe so.”
He turned a monitor toward me. The footage showed Vanessa crouching beside the chair. Her body blocked the camera's view of her hands.
“Can you identify anything?” he asked.
I leaned forward. “She has a ring on her right hand. A large oval stone.”
“She wears that ring every day.”
“But there's something else.” I pointed to the lower corner. “Her sleeve. It looks like there's a small mark on the cuff.”
Luca paused the video and enlarged it. A tiny embroidered silver bird appeared near her wrist.
“I've seen that before,” I said.
“Where?”
“At the charity dinner last month. A woman who came with Miss Bellini wore the same symbol on her clutch. She spoke to Vanessa near the staircase.”
Luca studied the image. “Could it be a designer mark?”
“Maybe.”
He opened another file. It showed a photograph from a charity gala. Vanessa stood beside a dark-haired woman in a silver dress. The woman's clutch had the same embroidered bird.
“Do you recognize her?”
I nodded slowly. “That's her.”
“Her name is Celia Voss,” Luca said. “She handles private event security for several wealthy families.”
I frowned. “Why would she be involved?”
“That is what I intend to find out.”
He closed the photograph and looked at me. “You mentioned your mother depends on your income.”
I felt embarrassed. “It's not your problem.”
“If someone tried to use you to get to me, it became my problem.”
He warned me that Vanessa might try to make me look unreliable. He arranged for a driver to take me home if I wished, and for the security team to check the area without approaching my mother unless necessary.
“Why are you helping me?” I asked.
“Because you could have kept quiet. You could have let me sit down. You would have kept your job, and no one would have blamed you. Instead, you moved the chair.”
He looked up.
“People rarely risk something for a stranger when silence would be easier.”
As I reached the door, he added, “Don't tell Vanessa anything about what we find.”
May you like
I nodded.
Then he said, “And if she contacts you, tell me immediately.”
