Chapter 11 - The Recording That Could Destroy an Empire
The evidence that could destroy Margaret Sinclair arrived in a plain brown envelope.
No return address.
No note.
Just an old flash drive wrapped in tissue paper.
Matteo placed it on his desk while Abigail sat across from him.
Gabriel checked the envelope for anything suspicious before handing the device to a forensic technician.
"Who sent it?" Abigail asked.
"We don't know."
Matteo looked troubled.
For years, he'd searched for the person responsible for his father's murder.
Now the answers seemed to be appearing faster than he could process them.
The technician connected the drive to an isolated computer.
A folder appeared.
LORENZO ROMANO — FINAL MEETING.
Matteo went still.
"Open it."
The screen filled with grainy surveillance footage.
A date appeared.
August 14, eight years earlier.
Lorenzo Romano stood inside a private office.
Across from him sat Margaret Sinclair.
Abigail leaned forward.
"That's her."
Margaret wore a cream-colored suit.
She looked almost exactly as she did in the recent photographs.
On the recording, Lorenzo placed a folder on the desk.
"You've been stealing from the hospital foundation."
Margaret smiled.
"That's an ugly accusation."
"I have the transfers."
"You have copies of documents you don't understand."
Lorenzo leaned closer.
"Children are losing access to treatment because you're moving charitable donations into private accounts."
Abigail covered her mouth.
Her mother had worked at one of the hospitals funded by the Sinclair Foundation.
She remembered Evelyn complaining that promised medical equipment never arrived.
On the recording, Lorenzo continued.
"I've already contacted federal investigators."
Margaret's smile disappeared.
"You shouldn't have done that."
"I gave you a chance to make this right."
"You're making a terrible mistake."
Lorenzo stood.
"The only mistake was trusting you."
He walked toward the door.
Margaret picked up her phone.
Then the recording ended.
Matteo stared at the black screen.
"That's it?"
The technician opened another file.
An audio recording began.
Margaret's voice emerged.
"Lorenzo knows. He has everything."
A male voice replied.
"What do you want done?"
Margaret paused.
"Make sure he doesn't reach tomorrow's meeting."
Matteo gripped the desk.
Isabella, who had entered moments earlier, began crying.
Their father had been murdered the next morning.
And for eight years, nobody had been held responsible.
Abigail reached across the desk.
Matteo looked at her hand.
Then he gently took it.
"We have her," Gabriel whispered.
Matteo shook his head.
"We have evidence. Let the investigators determine what it proves."
Before anyone could speak again, the technician opened the final file.
A scanned hospital report appeared.
The date was from the night Isabella's car crashed.
A name had been added beneath the original medical notes.
Evelyn Foster — Witness.
And attached was a handwritten statement.
The man who caused Isabella Romano's accident was acting under Margaret Sinclair's orders.
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Below it was the signature of someone Matteo never expected.
Richard Sinclair.
