Chapter 7
The shipyard was sealed before midnight.
Galen was not allowed near Celeste’s car.
For once, he did not argue.
He stood outside the maintenance building and stared through the open doorway.
The vehicle was covered in dust.
The front end was badly damaged.
The windshield fractured.
One side crushed from impact.
It looked exactly like the wreck photographs he had seen after Celeste’s death.
Except it should not exist.
The insurance company claimed it had been dismantled.
Galen remembered signing paperwork.
He remembered refusing to visit the salvage yard.
He could not bear to see it.
Someone had counted on that.
Ruiz approached.
“Our forensic team confirmed the VIN.”
Galen didn’t look away.
“Who authorized the vehicle disposal?”
“We’re pulling records.”
“I signed something.”
“You signed release paperwork.”
“To whom?”
“A contracted salvage operator.”
Galen finally looked at her.
“Let me guess.”
Ruiz’s expression said enough.
“Vale company?”
“Subsidiary.”
Galen laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“They built the entire lie around me.”
Marcus arrived holding a folder.
“I found something.”
He handed it to Ruiz.
“Old corporate records.”
Galen asked, “What?”
“Dominic had authorization over all Moretti fleet insurance while your father was ill.”
Galen closed his eyes.
Of course he did.
Ruiz asked, “Could he arrange disposal without Galen knowing?”
“Absolutely.”
They entered a temporary command trailer.
A forensic technician had photographed the hidden car from every angle.
The brake assembly showed signs of deliberate tampering.
Not conclusive yet.
But enough to change the original investigation.
Ruiz looked at Galen.
“I’m officially reopening Celeste’s death as a suspected homicide.”
Galen stared at the table.
Four years.
One sentence transformed four years.
An accident became murder.
Grief became evidence.
Guilt became rage.
“Who killed her?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“You know who ordered it.”
“We suspect.”
“Dominic.”
“We suspect.”
Galen slammed his palm against the table.
“Stop saying suspect.”
Ruiz remained calm.
“I say suspect because I want the case to survive court.”
He looked away.
She softened slightly.
“I understand what this is doing to you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“You’re right.”
That stopped him.
Ruiz continued.
“But I understand what happens when anger makes witnesses careless.”
Galen breathed slowly.
“What about Ainsley?”
“No sign of her.”
“Is she victim or accomplice?”
“Possibly both.”
Marcus sat beside them.
“Nolan is talking.”
Galen turned.
“What did he say?”
Ruiz nodded to an officer.
The officer brought in a transcript from Nolan’s hospital interview.
Ruiz summarized.
“According to Nolan, Harold Vale and Dominic Mercer began moving money through shell companies nine years ago.”
“That matches Celeste’s documents.”
“Yes.”
“When Vittorio became ill, Dominic used his access to approve transactions and steer contracts.”
Galen’s jaw tightened.
“Harold handled officials?”
“That appears to be the allegation.”
“And Ainsley?”
Ruiz looked at the transcript.
“She discovered her father’s files.”
“When?”
“About seven years ago.”
“Before Celeste died.”
“Yes.”
Galen remembered the photograph of Ainsley and Celeste.
“She approached Celeste deliberately.”
“Nolan claims Ainsley initially planned to find out how much Celeste knew.”
“So she befriended her.”
“Yes.”
“Then stalked her.”
“Nolan says Ainsley became obsessed with controlling the situation after Celeste pulled away.”
Galen’s stomach twisted.
“She was involved in the murder.”
“Nolan says no.”
“You believe him?”
“I believe people often minimize their own involvement.”
“What did he admit?”
Ruiz read.
“Nolan says Dominic ordered someone to tamper with Celeste’s brakes. Harold discovered it after the crash.”
“Who did the tampering?”
“He claims he doesn’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“He says Harold threatened to go to police. Dominic threatened Ainsley and Nolan.”
Galen frowned.
“Then Harold died.”
“Heart attack, officially.”
“Are you reopening that too?”
Ruiz nodded.
“Yes.”
Galen sat back.
One family.
Two dead parents.
Children living inside a crime their parents created.
“And Ainsley knew all of this?”
“Nolan says she knew enough.”
“Yet she still came after me.”
Ruiz hesitated.
“Nolan claims that was Ainsley’s idea.”
Galen’s face hardened.
“She wanted money.”
“More than money.”
“What?”
Ruiz looked at the transcript.
“She wanted control over Moretti Holdings.”
Marcus scoffed.
“Through marriage.”
“Yes.”
Galen felt disgust wash over him.
“Ainsley believed Dominic owed the Vale family after Harold’s death. Dominic apparently proposed a way for her to recover what she thought her father had lost.”
“Me.”
“You.”
“And Eira.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Eira inherited Celeste’s estate and a significant trust position in Moretti Holdings.”
Galen went still.
Celeste had owned shares independently.
Those shares passed to Eira.
Ainsley knew.
If Ainsley married Galen and became deeply embedded in Eira’s life, she could potentially influence both.
Maybe not legally own everything.
But control mattered more than ownership.
Galen whispered.
“She wanted Eira afraid of me.”
Ruiz looked at him.
“Explain.”
“Over the past six months, Eira started hiding things.”
“What things?”
“Small mistakes. Broken toys. Food she didn’t eat. Nightmares.”
He swallowed.
“Ainsley told me Eira was becoming manipulative.”
Marcus looked angry.
“She was isolating the child.”
Galen nodded slowly.
“She made me think comforting Eira was reinforcing bad behavior.”
Ruiz’s face darkened.
“Did you follow that advice?”
“Sometimes.”
The shame nearly suffocated him.
“I made my daughter cry alone because I thought I was helping her.”
Marcus put a hand on his shoulder.
Galen pulled away.
He didn’t deserve comfort yet.
Ruiz said, “What matters now is what you do next.”
His phone rang.
Bianca.
Galen answered immediately.
“Mom?”
Her voice was shaky.
“Eira remembered something.”
Galen stood.
“What?”
“She says Dominic took her somewhere.”
Every person in the trailer went silent.
“When?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“What do you mean took her somewhere?”
“She thought you knew.”
Galen’s heart pounded.
“I never gave Dominic permission to take her anywhere.”
Ruiz was already signaling officers.
“Where are you?”
“At the secure house.”
“Stay there.”
Galen and Ruiz drove back immediately.
Eira sat on a couch wrapped in a blanket.
She looked frightened by all the adults.
Galen sat beside her.
“You’re not in trouble.”
She nodded.
“Grandma said.”
“Can you tell me about Uncle Dom taking you somewhere?”
Eira looked at Bianca.
Then back at Galen.
“He said it was a surprise.”
“When?”
“When Ainsley went dress shopping.”
Galen remembered.
Three weeks earlier.
Ainsley had gone to a bridal fitting.
Galen had been in Chicago overnight.
Bianca thought Eira was with their nanny.
The nanny believed Bianca had her.
Dominic had exploited the confusion.
“Where did he take you?”
“A big house.”
“What color?”
“Brown.”
“Do you know where?”
She shook her head.
“What happened there?”
“There was a lady.”
Ruiz asked gently, “What lady?”
“Old lady.”
“What did she look like?”
“White hair.”
“What did she say?”
Eira hugged her stuffed lamb.
“She cried.”
“Why?”
“She said I looked like Mommy.”
Galen’s throat tightened.
“Did she know Mommy?”
Eira nodded.
“She had pictures.”
Ruiz leaned forward.
“What pictures?”
“Mommy when she was little.”
Galen stared.
Celeste’s mother had died before Galen met her.
Her father was also dead.
She had no living close relatives that Galen knew of.
“Did the lady tell you her name?”
Eira thought.
“Rose.”
Galen froze.
Celeste’s middle name was Rose.
But that meant nothing.
Ruiz asked another question.
“Did Dominic call her Rose?”
“No.”
“What did he call her?”
Eira whispered.
“Mrs. Hart.”
Galen’s head snapped up.
Hart.
Celeste’s maiden name.
“What?”
Eira repeated.
“Mrs. Hart.”
Galen looked at Bianca.
“That’s impossible.”
Bianca was pale.
Celeste’s mother, Lorraine Hart, had supposedly died in a house fire when Celeste was nineteen.
Galen had seen the obituary.
Celeste rarely discussed it.
Ruiz asked carefully, “Are there any living Harts?”
Galen shook his head.
“Not that I know.”
Eira climbed off the couch.
“The lady gave me something.”
Every adult froze.
“What?”
“She said don’t let Uncle Dom see.”
“Where is it?”
Eira looked embarrassed.
“In Bunny.”
Her stuffed lamb was named Bunny for reasons only a four-year-old understood.
Galen handed it to her.
She turned the toy over.
At the back, near the seam, tiny child fingers had forced something beneath the fabric.
Galen carefully opened the loosened stitching.
A plastic memory card fell into his palm.
Ruiz stared.
“When did she give you this?”
“That day.”
“Did Dominic know?”
Eira shook her head.
“The lady said he was a bad man.”
Galen’s pulse accelerated.
“Did she say anything about Mommy?”
Eira nodded.
“She said Mommy saved me.”
Galen went completely still.
“Saved you from what?”
Eira’s eyes filled with confusion.
“She said the wrong person died.”
Bianca gasped.
Galen felt the room tilt.
Ruiz crouched closer.
“Eira, think carefully. Did Mrs. Hart say ‘the wrong person died’?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Eira whispered.
“She said Mommy wasn’t supposed to be in the car.”
Galen stopped breathing.
Celeste’s murder had not simply been planned.
May you like
The killer may have targeted someone else.
And a woman believed dead for more than twenty years apparently knew why.
