Chapter 8
Victoria stopped the recorder.
No one spoke.
Then Marcus laughed.
Too loudly.
“This is ridiculous.”
Victoria looked at him.
“What happened the night Daniel died?”
“Heart attack.”
“That is what I was told.”
“That is what happened.”
Helena crossed her arms.
“Don’t let grief make you stupid.”
Victoria stared.
Marcus smiled.
“Uncle Daniel was sick.”
“No.”
The answer came from Margaret—
No Margaret. Here Clara. Need consistent. Use Clara maybe overheard? Better a family doctor? Not introduced. Could use Daniel's recording. Victoria says "Daniel wasn't sick." Continue.
Victoria’s voice remained calm.
“He wasn’t.”
Helena scoffed.
“You weren’t with him every minute.”
“No.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“But I was with him every morning.”
Daniel had collapsed in his study after midnight.
Marcus found him.
Helena arrived before Victoria.
By the time Victoria reached him, Daniel was unconscious.
He died before sunrise.
No police.
No investigation.
The Hart—Bellacorte? Keep Bellacorte. Family had buried its patriarch quickly and quietly.
Victoria had accepted grief instead of suspicion.
Now Marcus couldn’t look at the recorder.
“Play the rest,” she said.
Helena snapped:
“No.”
Victoria pressed the button.
Daniel’s voice returned.
“Marcus has been meeting Caldero men.”
Different rival. We haven't introduced. Could introduce Rinaldi crew. Fine.
“He thinks I don’t know.”
Marcus swore.
Daniel continued.
“The night I confronted him, Helena arrived.”
Victoria watched Helena.
“She told me blood excuses betrayal.”
Pause.
“I told her blood makes betrayal worse.”
The recording crackled.
“If I die suddenly, do not avenge me blindly.”
Victoria’s eyes burned.
“Find the silver vial in the globe base.”
Everyone looked toward the broken antique globe upstairs.
Marcus moved.
My? Third-person. Victoria signaled guard.
A bodyguard ran.
Returned minutes later.
Small silver vial.
Empty.
Helena looked at Marcus.
Not Victoria.
Again.
Victoria saw it.
“What was inside?”
Marcus said nothing.
Helena answered:
“Medicine.”
“For Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“What medicine?”
Silence.
Clara whispered:
“I saw Mr. Marcus carrying that the night Mr. Daniel died.”
Marcus turned on her.
“You lying little seamstress.”
Noah flinched.
Marcus smiled at him.
“Your mother should learn what happens when servants remember too much.”
Victoria stepped between them.
“Finish that sentence.”
Marcus stopped.
Daniel’s recording continued behind her.
“The vial does not prove murder.”
Victoria looked at it.
“Then what does it prove?”
Daniel’s voice answered from eleven months ago:
“It proves Marcus had access to something he was forbidden to touch.”
And the mystery became worse.
Daniel had known he was in danger.
May you like
Yet he had still chosen not to name exactly what Marcus carried.
Which meant there was one more person involved.
