Chapter 9 - THE NAME ON THE DEED
The name was written in neat block letters.
PETER LANG.
Luca stared at it for a long time.
“That's impossible,” Matteo said.
“Why?”
“Lang represented the former owner when you purchased the estate.”
Luca looked up. “The former owner was my uncle.”
Matteo nodded. “The deed was transferred years ago.”
“Then why would Lang claim ownership?”
Elena placed another document on the desk. “Because he may not be claiming the property itself. He may be referring to a lien or a disputed trust interest.”
Luca read the page.
The estate had been purchased through a holding company. The company had been properly transferred, but a small unresolved claim remained attached to an old financing agreement. It had been inactive for years. Someone had recently filed a notice attempting to revive it.
“Who filed the notice?” Luca asked.
“An entity connected to Lang.”
“Was the filing legitimate?”
“We're checking.”
I looked at the paper. “Could the recording have been meant to make you acknowledge that claim?”
Luca turned toward me.
“Explain.”
“If they recorded you discussing the property, then edited it to sound like you accepted the claim, couldn't they use that to pressure you?”
Matteo frowned. “That is possible.”
Luca nodded slowly. “They needed me to say something that could be taken out of context.”
“And the chair was in the dining room because you were supposed to sit there before the private meeting,” I said. “They could record the conversation before you even reached the library.”
Elena looked at Luca. “The dinner was designed to get you comfortable and distracted.”
Luca's eyes returned to the paper.
“Then the question is whether Lang was acting alone or whether someone promised him a share.”
The answer came sooner than expected.
A call arrived from Celia Voss's attorney. Celia was willing to provide information in exchange for a formal agreement concerning her cooperation. She claimed Richard had hired her company to install the devices and that Vanessa had supplied the room access. She said she had been told the equipment was for security and evidence preservation, not for an unauthorized recording.
Matteo was skeptical. “She knew enough to use a false invoice.”
“Then verify everything,” Luca said.
Celia provided copies of emails. One showed Richard instructing her to install a device beneath the dining chair and another in the library clock. A second message from Vanessa described the engagement dinner as “the perfect opportunity to keep him in one place.”
The emails did not prove every part of the plan, but they supported the account.
Richard was still missing.
Then Elena found his car on a security camera outside a private storage facility. A guard recognized him entering the building with a document case.
Luca ordered the footage preserved and contacted the authorities. He did not send men to break into the facility. He did not want evidence contaminated or anyone hurt. He wanted the records secured through the proper channels.
Two hours later, the police located Richard at a hotel under a different name. He was taken in for questioning.
The news reached the mansion just after midnight.
I was in the kitchen making tea when Luca came in. He looked exhausted.
“Is he going to jail?” I asked.
“That is for the authorities and the court to decide.”
“Do you think he did it?”
“I think the evidence is serious. I want to know why.”
He poured a glass of water.
“Eleven years,” he said quietly. “I trusted him with everything.”
I thought of the years I had trusted Vanessa's polite smile and Richard's helpful gestures.
“People can hide a lot,” I said.
Luca looked at me.
“Yes. They can.”
Then he asked what I would do when the investigation was over.
“I want my mother to stop worrying about the mortgage. I want to finish the evening classes I put on hold. I want a life where I don't have to wonder whether someone is going to punish me for telling the truth.”
May you like
Luca listened.
“Then perhaps we should start with that.”
