Chapter 10 - Beatrice’s Secret
Matteo reached the vehicle first.
The rear door stood open.
One guard was unconscious on the pavement.
The second was gone.
So was Beatrice.
Nico’s car seat was empty.
Liana stopped breathing.
“No.”
Not again.
Matteo’s face became something she had never seen before.
Not anger.
Terror.
He turned toward Rafe.
“Find them.”
Rafe ran toward the gate.
Helen called for units.
Naomi checked the unconscious guard.
Liana stared at the empty car seat.
A small blue blanket lay on the ground.
She picked it up.
Something hard was sewn into the corner.
A button?
No.
A tiny metal bell.
Liana frowned.
Then she remembered.
The video.
Beatrice had said:
Blue birds don’t fly at night.
No one had asked why she knew what language to use.
Maybe she had not been helping them.
Maybe she had been guiding them exactly where Damian wanted them.
Matteo came beside her.
“Vale lied.”
Liana looked at him.
“You don’t know that.”
“Beatrice raised Sofia from the time she was nineteen.”
“And?”
“She loved her.”
“People can love someone and still betray them.”
Matteo looked away.
He knew that too well.
Rafe returned.
“Tire tracks.”
“Direction?”
“North.”
Helen joined them.
“Units are covering the highway.”
Matteo shook his head.
“She knows every Varric property.”
Liana stared at the bell.
“What is this?”
Matteo looked.
“Sofia sewed bells into Nico’s blankets.”
“Why?”
“She said she wanted to hear him move.”
Liana turned the bell.
Something was engraved on it.
S.V.
Underneath was a number.
317.
“Is that meaningful?”
Matteo frowned.
“No.”
Rafe looked.
“Could be a locker.”
Liana remembered Beatrice hiding Sofia’s notebook.
Music box.
False compartment.
Keys.
Numbers.
A woman who had worked in the household for years.
“What if Beatrice wasn’t the one who gave Damian Sofia’s schedule?”
She asked.
Matteo looked at her.
“Vale said the betrayal began in the kitchen.”
“Who else worked there?”
Rafe answered.
“Dozens of people.”
“Eight months ago?”
“Fifteen.”
Liana looked at Matteo.
“Beatrice knew someone searched Sofia’s room.”
“Yes.”
“She hid the notebook.”
“Yes.”
“She hired me because my name was inside it.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she do any of that if she was protecting Damian?”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“She wouldn’t.”
Liana looked toward the road.
“So maybe she didn’t take Nico.”
“Someone took them both.”
They returned to Vale.
He sat handcuffed in the back of Helen’s vehicle.
Matteo opened the door.
“You said Beatrice betrayed Sofia.”
Vale smiled.
“I never said Beatrice.”
Liana’s anger exploded.
“You knew we’d think it.”
Vale looked at her.
“I said someone who knew the kitchen.”
Matteo grabbed his shirt.
Helen pulled him back.
“Enough.”
Vale laughed.
“Still predictable.”
Matteo released him.
Liana stepped forward.
“Who?”
Vale looked at her.
“You really want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“You already met her.”
Liana froze.
“Who?”
“The maid who said she saw Sofia’s coat.”
Liana remembered the young blonde woman in the hallway.
The one who appeared after the smoke device.
The one who sent them toward the garage.
“What’s her name?”
Matteo asked Rafe.
He checked his phone.
“Emily Kerr.”
“Find her file.”
Rafe searched.
His expression changed.
“There is no Emily Kerr.”
“What?”
“She started four months ago.”
“Background check?”
Rafe stared at the screen.
“The agency provided it.”
“Which agency?”
Rafe went pale.
“Bellmore Staffing Services.”
Liana nearly laughed at the arrogance.
“They put someone in the house.”
Matteo whispered.
“And I never saw her.”
Grace spoke from behind them.
“I did.”
They turned.
Grace had followed Naomi outside.
“Emily used to bring Nico’s laundry.”
“What else?”
“She sometimes covered night shifts.”
“Did she have nursery access?”
Grace nodded.
“Occasionally.”
Liana felt cold.
“There’s your injector.”
Matteo called the estate.
No answer from Emily’s room.
Security searched.
Empty.
But Rafe found one important thing.
A map.
A red circle had been drawn around an old Varric hunting lodge.
Matteo knew it immediately.
“My father’s place.”
They drove north.
The lodge sat deep inside wooded hills.
Police units remained several minutes behind.
Matteo refused to wait.
Helen cursed him.
Then followed.
They approached on foot.
A light glowed in one downstairs room.
Liana heard crying.
Nico.
She ran.
Matteo caught her.
“Wait.”
“That is him.”
“I know.”
They entered through the back.
The kitchen was empty.
A chair lay on its side.
Blood marked the floor.
Not much.
But enough.
Liana heard Nico again.
They followed.
In the living room, Beatrice sat against the wall.
Her forehead was bleeding.
Her wrists were tied.
Nico lay beside her.
Liana rushed forward.
“Nico.”
She picked him up.
He buried his face against her.
Matteo cut Beatrice’s restraints.
“Who did this?”
Beatrice opened her eyes.
“Emily.”
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“Why?”
“She wanted something.”
“What?”
Beatrice looked at Matteo.
“Your father’s confession.”
Matteo froze.
“What confession?”
Beatrice began crying.
“Sofia recorded him.”
Silence.
“When?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
Beatrice said.
“Vittorio was sick.”
“He admitted it?”
“Not everything.”
She shook her head.
“But enough.”
“Where is the recording?”
Beatrice looked at the tiny bell in Liana’s hand.
“Locker 317.”
Matteo stared.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Beatrice looked ashamed.
“Because Sofia told me not to.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“She trusted everyone except me.”
“No.”
Beatrice’s voice sharpened.
“She loved you enough to understand your weakness.”
That stopped him.
“She knew if she gave you a name without enough evidence, there would be another Elias Moretti.”
Matteo looked away.
Beatrice continued.
“She wanted evidence you could not bury beneath revenge.”
Liana held Nico.
“What is locker 317?”
“Central train station.”
Beatrice whispered.
“Sofia placed evidence there the day before she died.”
Matteo looked at Rafe.
“We go.”
Beatrice grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Emily already knows.”
“How?”
“She made me tell her.”
Matteo’s expression hardened.
“She has the key?”
Beatrice shook her head.
“No.”
“Then we still have time.”
“What opens it?”
Liana asked.
Beatrice looked at her.
“The bell.”
Liana stared at the tiny engraved object.
It wasn’t a bell.
She twisted the bottom.
A thin key slid out.
Matteo almost smiled.
“Sofia.”
They drove toward Central Station.
Helen finally received confirmation that state investigators were securing the laboratory.
Vale was in custody.
For the first time, they had something resembling legal control.
But Damian remained free.
So did Emily.
And both were searching for the same recording.
They reached Central Station at 4:38 a.m.
Locker 317 stood near the old baggage hall.
Matteo inserted the key.
The door opened.
Inside sat a phone.
Nothing else.
Liana lifted it.
Battery still active.
One video file.
They played it.
Vittorio Varric sat in a hospital bed.
Sofia stood off camera.
“You tested Velorin on Nico.”
Her voice said.
Vittorio looked tired.
“You don’t understand.”
“He is your grandson.”
“He is a Varric.”
“He is a baby.”
Vittorio’s eyes hardened.
“Pain makes men weak.”
Sofia’s voice shook with anger.
“He is not a man.”
Vittorio leaned forward.
“He will be.”
Sofia whispered.
“I’m taking this to the authorities.”
Vittorio smiled sadly.
“My dear girl.”
He said.
“You won’t make it to them.”
Matteo stopped the video.
No one spoke.
His father’s voice seemed to remain in the room.
Then the phone rang.
Unknown number.
Matteo answered.
Emily’s voice.
“You finally found it.”
Matteo looked around the station.
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
Liana turned.
People moved across the distant terminal.
Commuters.
Cleaning crews.
Security guards.
Any one of them could be Emily.
“What do you want?”
Matteo asked.
“The phone.”
“Why?”
“Because Damian wants every piece of Sofia erased.”
“And you work for Damian.”
Emily laughed.
“No.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“Then who?”
A shot shattered the glass beside them.
People screamed.
Matteo pulled Liana down.
Rafe returned fire.
Chaos exploded through the station.
Emily’s voice remained on the phone.
“I work for the person Damian is afraid of.”
Then she hung up.
Liana looked at Matteo.
Damian was not the top of the operation.
Someone else had been watching from above him.
Someone powerful enough to make a Varric afraid.
May you like
And that person had just declared war.
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