CHAPTER 6 – The Woman Who Never Had an Accident
CHAPTER 6 – The Woman Who Never Had an Accident
At dawn, Matteo reopened the investigation into Sofia's death.
Officially...
She had died in a rainy-night car accident three years earlier.
Unofficially...
Matteo had never questioned it.
Until now.
Within hours, Marco returned carrying sealed evidence boxes obtained through people who still owed Matteo favors.
One contained photographs from the crash scene.
Another held the original autopsy.
A third contained the wreckage report.
Something immediately stood out.
The brake lines had never been examined.
Matteo looked at me.
"Why?"
I turned another page.
"The investigation was closed in forty-eight hours."
Too fast.
Far too fast.
Marco placed one final document onto the desk.
"A retired mechanic called this morning."
"He says he inspected Sofia's car the day before she died."
"And?"
"He replaced the brake system."
My pulse quickened.
"So the brakes couldn't have failed."
Marco nodded grimly.
"They were cut afterward."
The room went completely still.
Sofia hadn't lost control.
Someone had made sure she never reached home.
Leo wandered toward the giant office window.
He pressed his small hand against the glass.
"I miss Mommy."
Matteo stood behind him.
"So do I."
Then Leo quietly said something that made every adult in the room freeze.
"She hid the bird."
Matteo frowned.
"What bird?"
"The singing bird."
Leo smiled faintly.
"It tells secrets."
I exchanged a confused glance with Marco.
But Matteo suddenly remembered something.
Without a word, he hurried upstairs.
We followed him into Sofia's old music room.
Everything remained untouched.
Her piano.
Her books.
Her paintings.
Even the antique mechanical songbird sitting on the bookshelf.
Matteo picked it up carefully.
Nothing.
Then he noticed tiny scratches underneath the base.
He twisted it.
A hidden compartment clicked open.
Inside...
Was a tiny memory card.
No larger than a fingernail.
Matteo's hands shook.
We inserted it into the computer.
A video began playing.
Sofia appeared on the screen.
She looked frightened.
Exhausted.
She spoke directly into the camera.
"If you're seeing this..."
"...I'm probably dead."
Matteo's face drained of color.
She continued.
"Silvio has been stealing from the family for years."
"I confronted him."
"He threatened Leo."
Tears filled Matteo's eyes.
Then Sofia said the sentence that changed everything.
"If anything happens to me..."
"...it won't be an accident."
The recording suddenly glitched.
Static filled the screen.
Then another face appeared behind Sofia.
Just for a split second.
Silvio.
Smiling.
The video cut to black.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Finally, Matteo whispered,
"I buried my wife..."
"...while the man who murdered her carried her coffin."
Before anyone could process the horror of that realization—
Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression instantly hardened.
"Boss..."
"We found Silvio."
Matteo looked up.
"Where?"
Marco swallowed.
"At the old DeLuca vineyard."
"He sent a message."
"What message?"
Marco slowly looked toward Leo.
"He says..."
"...if you want your son to live long enough to remember his mother..."
"...come alone."
Matteo reached for his pistol.
I reached for his arm.
Because deep down...
We both knew.
May you like
This wasn't an invitation.
It was the beginning of the final trap.
