Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO SAT BESIDE THE KILLER
The Russo Foundation had seven board members.
Four were retired executives.
Two were attorneys.
The seventh was a man named Gabriel Santoro.
He had been Antonio Russo's closest friend.
For seventeen years, he'd represented several Bellini family interests.
And after my father's death, he helped Julia manage parts of her estate.
I recognized his photograph immediately.
“Uncle Gabriel.”
Vincent looked at me.
“You know him?”
I nodded.
“He visited Grandma every Christmas.”
Gabriel brought expensive chocolates.
Asked about my schooling.
And reminded Julia that keeping old secrets could hurt people.
I'd always thought he was protecting us.
Now I wondered whether he'd been checking how much we knew.
Rebecca examined financial records connected to Gabriel's companies.
Several payments linked his accounts to Morelli-controlled entities.
Other records showed unusually large transfers around the time of Alessandro's death.
But the most disturbing discovery was a legal authorization Gabriel filed three months later.
The document purported to transfer ownership of Alessandro's private financial research company to a Morelli subsidiary.
My father's signature appeared at the bottom.
Dated six weeks after his death.
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
Rebecca nodded.
“The signature appears to require forensic examination.”
I looked at Vincent.
“Gabriel forged it.”
“Possibly.”
I took a breath.
Then something else occurred to me.
“Why did Lorenzo hire Daniel?”
Vincent frowned.
“To locate you and the cookbook.”
“But why now?”
Rebecca turned toward us.
“Because Julia contacted Lorenzo before she died.”
I stared.
Then I remembered something Grandma said during our final visit.
When I'm gone, the people who buried your father will come looking for what he left you.
At the time, I thought she was confused.
Now I understood.
She'd known she was running out of time.
And she'd decided to force the truth into the open.
Rebecca reviewed her last communications.
One message had been sent to Gabriel Santoro.
I know what you did.
Sarah deserves the truth.
If you come after her, the records will be delivered to the authorities.
My hands tightened.
Grandma had been protecting me until her final days.
Then the investigator located another photograph.
Gabriel stood outside a hospital with Dr. Nathan Morelli.
Lorenzo's younger brother.
The same physician who supposedly examined my father's body.
I recognized him from the funeral.
He had told Grandma the injuries were too severe for us to see Alessandro.
My stomach turned.
“Who signed the death certificate?”
Rebecca checked.
Dr. Nathan Morelli.
Of course.
Then Vincent received a call.
Francesca had remembered something important.
She said Gabriel Santoro visited the Lake George retreat seventeen years earlier.
He was accompanied by two men.
And one of them carried a little girl wrapped in a blue blanket.
I stared.
“A little girl?”
Vincent nodded.
Francesca described dark hair and gray eyes.
Exactly like mine.
Then she said something that made my blood run cold.
“Sarah, Francesca believes you were taken there after your father's murder.”
I stopped breathing.
But I remembered none of it.
May you like
And according to the retreat's records, I hadn't arrived alone.
The second child had been listed as my twin sister.
