Chapter 5 - The Voice Inside the Rabbit
Matteo returned to the mansion at 1:13 a.m.
Carlo's death followed him through the doors like a second shadow.
He had spent eleven years believing his father's brother was family.
Tonight he had learned Carlo had hidden children, covered up murders, protected conspirators, and died before giving Matteo the only name that mattered.
Now his dead mother's voice was waiting upstairs.
Elena sat beside Sophie in Matteo's private study.
The child had finally fallen asleep beneath a blanket.
Her cloth rabbit lay on the desk.
The seam along its back had been cut open.
Inside was a tiny digital recorder wrapped in plastic.
"Where did that come from?" Matteo asked.
Elena stood.
"My mother gave Sophie the rabbit before she died."
"Seven years ago?"
"Yes."
"And you never knew?"
"No."
Luca connected the device to an isolated laptop.
"There are eleven audio files."
"Play the first."
Static.
Then a woman's voice.
Matteo had not heard it since he was sixteen.
Alessia Valenti.
His mother.
"If Alessandro ever hears this, I hope he forgives me."
Matteo closed his eyes.
Her voice was younger than he remembered.
Softer.
"I discovered something I wasn't supposed to find. Carlo says I'm imagining it, but I'm not. Men have been moving money through the Valenti shipping accounts. Judges. Police. People Alessandro believes are allies."
Matteo looked at Luca.
"Next."
Second recording.
Alessia sounded afraid.
"Anthony Russo came to see me today. He warned me to stop asking questions. He said this is bigger than Alessandro."
Victor Hale.
Then Anthony Russo.
Same man.
Or same identity?
Matteo listened carefully.
Third file.
"I'm beginning to think Anthony isn't who he says he is."
Fourth.
"I followed him."
Fifth.
"Oh God."
The recording ended abruptly.
Matteo leaned forward.
"Next."
Sixth.
Alessia was crying.
"Anthony Russo is dead."
Everyone looked at one another.
Matteo whispered, "What?"
The recording continued.
"The real Anthony Russo died four years ago. The man working for Alessandro stole his identity."
Victor had assumed Anthony's name before later becoming Victor Hale.
Layer after layer.
Seven.
"I know who he really is."
Static swallowed the next six seconds.
Then Alessia said:
"His name is Victor."
Matteo clenched his jaw.
Eight.
"Victor told me his father is Carlo."
Isabella covered her mouth.
Nine.
"I confronted Carlo."
Matteo held his breath.
His mother's voice shook.
"He begged me not to tell Alessandro. He said Victor was angry, reckless, but not dangerous."
A bitter laugh.
"He was wrong."
Ten.
"I found the account."
Papers rustled.
"The money isn't going to Victor. It's going through him."
Matteo leaned closer.
"To whom?"
Alessia continued.
"The person controlling them is—"
The audio cut.
Luca frowned.
"Corrupted file."
"Recover it."
"I'll try."
"Last recording."
Eleven.
A car engine.
Alessia was apparently driving.
Her breathing fast.
"I'm going to meet Alessandro. If something happens to me before I get there, he needs to know I wasn't wrong."
Then another voice came faintly through the car's hands-free system.
Male.
"Alessia, pull over."
She gasped.
"How did you get this number?"
The man repeated:
"Pull over."
"No."
"If you reach Alessandro, Matteo will pay for it."
Matteo's face became stone.
His mother whispered:
"You wouldn't."
The man answered:
"You know I would."
Tires screamed.
The recording became chaos.
Alessia cried out.
Metal crashed.
Silence.
Then the file ended.
Elena's eyes were wet.
"I'm sorry."
Matteo did not answer.
His grief had been buried for twenty years.
Not healed.
Buried.
There was a difference.
"Can you identify the man's voice?" Luca asked.
Matteo replayed it.
Older recording.
Distorted.
But familiar.
His mind searched.
Carlo?
No.
Benedetti?
No.
His father?
Definitely not.
Someone else.
Someone he had heard recently.
"Clean it up."
Luca worked.
Isabella paced.
Elena sat beside Sophie.
Matteo stood at the window, looking over the dark grounds.
Carlo had said:
Ask Elena.
He turned.
"Elena."
She looked up.
"Carlo said you knew who ordered my mother's death."
Her face changed.
"I don't."
"He said ask you."
"I swear."
"Think."
Elena looked at the recorder.
"My mother knew more than she told me."
"What exactly did she say before she died?"
"That there was one man your father trusted completely."
"Name."
"She never gave me one."
"Why?"
"She said names were dangerous."
Matteo laughed humorlessly.
"Everyone in this story loved riddles."
Sophie moved beneath the blanket.
Her eyes opened.
"Mommy?"
Elena immediately went to her.
"I'm here."
Sophie looked toward Matteo.
"Did you hear Grandma Lucia?"
Elena froze.
"What?"
Sophie rubbed her eyes.
"Grandma talked to the bunny."
"When?"
"When I was little."
Elena crouched.
"What did she say?"
Sophie thought.
"She said if bad people came, I should give Bunny to Mr. Matteo."
Matteo approached.
"Anything else?"
The child nodded.
"She said the important thing wasn't inside Bunny."
Everyone went silent.
"Where was it?" Elena asked.
Sophie sat up.
"Under Bunny."
Matteo picked up the torn rabbit.
Under its cloth belly, beneath a second stitched layer, was something flat.
He cut carefully.
A photograph fell onto the desk.
Six people stood outside the Valenti mansion twenty years earlier.
Alessandro.
Alessia.
Carlo.
Father Benedetti.
Lucia Romano.
And a sixth man.
Matteo knew him.
Everyone did.
Senator Richard Hale.
Victor's supposed adoptive father.
A man who had built his political career on "cleaning corruption" from the city.
He was currently campaigning for governor.
Matteo turned the photo over.
Lucia had written:
HE GAVE THE ORDER.
Isabella whispered, "Richard Hale."
Matteo stared.
Everything connected.
Victor was Carlo's biological son but had been raised publicly by Richard Hale.
Richard used Victor to infiltrate the Valenti organization.
Alessia discovered it.
Richard threatened Matteo.
Her car crashed.
Alessandro began collecting evidence.
Then he was poisoned.
"Victor didn't run from Carlo's house because of us," Matteo said.
Luca understood.
"He ran to Hale."
Matteo nodded.
"Find the senator."
"Public schedule says he's at his lake residence tonight."
"Get cars."
Elena stood.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"He took me."
Matteo looked at her.
"Victor?"
"Yes."
That was new.
"He was the one behind Room 317?"
"He questioned me the first night."
"Why didn't you say that?"
"Because he told me he'd kill Sophie if I named him."
Matteo glanced toward the child.
"That threat ended when you walked out."
Elena's face hardened.
"I know."
Matteo understood her anger.
It looked much like his own.
But anger did not make people bulletproof.
"You stay."
"No."
"This isn't a negotiation."
"You promised Sophie you'd find me. I promised my mother I'd finish what she started."
Matteo stared.
Then nodded once.
"Stay behind me."
Before they could leave, Luca held up a hand.
"Wait."
The audio software had finished cleaning the damaged section of File Ten.
The speaker crackled.
Alessia's voice:
"The money isn't going to Victor. It's going through him."
Static.
Then clearly:
"It's going to Richard Hale."
Matteo looked toward the old photograph.
Another sound followed.
A door opening.
A man's voice spoke in the background.
Alessia said:
"You shouldn't be here."
The man replied:
"Neither should you."
Matteo stopped.
That voice.
Not Richard Hale.
Someone else.
Someone who had been sitting in Matteo's house less than two hours earlier.
Father Benedetti.
Everyone slowly turned toward the wounded priest resting in the adjoining medical room.
Matteo walked to the door.
Luca followed.
They entered.
The bed was empty.
The window stood open.
On the pillow lay Father Benedetti's silver cross.
Underneath it was a handwritten note.
Matteo picked it up.
Three words.
I'M SORRY, TEO.
A second line followed.
DON'T GO TO HALE'S HOUSE.
Matteo stared at the message.
Then his phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
Father Benedetti sat tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Victor Hale.
And beside Victor stood a man Matteo had believed was dead for eleven years.
May you like
His father.
Alessandro Valenti.
