Chapter 7
The archived fleet records arrived two days later.
Most were ordinary.
One was not.
The evening Anna died, the transportation schedule had originally assigned her sedan to Raffaele.
Raffaele had been expected to leave the Manhattan benefit at 9:30.
Anna had planned to leave later with a driver.
The schedule changed at 7:46 p.m.
Marcus’s credentials made the change.
Raffaele’s driver was reassigned to another vehicle.
Anna’s driver was told to take Lucy home early because the baby had developed a fever.
That part Raffaele remembered.
Anna had left the dinner unexpectedly to check on Lucy.
The black sedan waiting closest to the entrance was the vehicle originally assigned to Raffaele.
Anna took it.
Raffaele stayed in Manhattan another two hours.
The records did not prove sabotage.
But they proved Marcus had arranged the vehicle rotation.
Rebecca Sloan, the forensic accountant Claire hired, found Northbridge Fleet next.
It had received more than six hundred thousand dollars from Corsini-related companies over four years.
Much of the work appeared legitimate.
Some did not.
One payment occurred three days before Anna died.
Forty-eight thousand dollars.
Listed as emergency equipment procurement.
The receiving account transferred nearly the same amount to another company two days later.
Claire warned Raffaele.
“Money moving doesn’t prove murder.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I’m trying to remember it.”
They also examined Anna’s photograph.
The photographer who took it still had the original digital image.
The metadata confirmed the date.
June 18.
The enlarged version showed Marcus beside Peter Sloan.
More importantly, it showed another man near Anna’s sedan.
Raffaele recognized him.
Daniel Price.
A contractor Marcus occasionally used for vehicle recovery and roadside work.
Daniel had disappeared from Corsini business shortly after Anna’s death.
Claire located him in Pennsylvania.
He refused contact.
That refusal proved nothing.
But Rebecca found that one of the companies receiving money from Northbridge had once paid Daniel’s business.
The pattern was narrowing.
Raffaele made a decision.
“No more family investigation.”
Claire looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means this leaves my house.”
He would give the records to the authorities reviewing Anna’s crash.
All of them.
Including the statements about Marcus.
Including Celeste’s attempted removal of Lucy.
Including what Raffaele himself had done when he struck them.
Claire studied him.
“You understand you don’t control what happens after that.”
May you like
Raffaele looked toward Anna’s photograph.
“That’s why I’m doing it.”
