Chapter 7
Mia remembered colors better than words.
Dr. Price discovered that during a session with blocks and paper.
When asked nothing about the investigation, Mia began sorting colored rectangles into piles.
Blue.
Yellow.
White.
Red.
Then she said, “Blue goes with Uncle Adrian.”
Dr. Price did not interrogate her.
She later told Rocco only that Mia repeatedly associated Adrian’s visits with blue paper.
Rocco knew what that meant.
Moretti Holdings used blue divider sheets in approval packets.
Clue number three.
Mia had been watching business documents move through the bedroom at night.
Without glasses, she might not read anything.
But she could still see color.
Rocco felt sick imagining it.
His daughter in bed.
Celeste removing her glasses.
Adrian arriving.
Adults whispering over documents ten feet away while assuming blur was the same thing as blindness.
Then Claire discovered something more serious.
Three vendor-approval pages carried signatures resembling Rocco’s.
Two were authentic signatures lifted from prior documents and reproduced digitally.
One was handwritten.
The handwriting expert believed it was an imitation.
Celeste denied writing it.
Adrian denied writing it.
Rocco believed neither yet.
More troubling was what the approvals did.
They did not only benefit Blue Cedar.
Two also allowed Adrian-controlled vendors to avoid new compliance checks.
Now both adults benefited financially.
Rocco called Elaine and asked the question he had avoided.
“If these documents are discovered during an audit, who appears responsible?”
She did not answer immediately.
“You.”
“Not Adrian?”
“He benefits. But your approval overrides the conflict.”
“Celeste?”
“She has no corporate title.”
Rocco leaned back.
So the paper trail pointed upward.
At him.
Claire watched him understand.
“Someone may not simply have been stealing,” she said.
“They were creating protection.”
“For themselves.”
“By making me responsible.”
Possibly.
Not proven.
Yet.
That night Adrian asked to speak privately.
Rocco refused.
“Lawyers present.”
Adrian became irritated.
“We grew up together.”
“And you entered my bedroom eight times while my daughter’s glasses were being taken away.”
Adrian flinched.
“That wasn’t my idea.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And kept coming.”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
There would be no easy way around that.
Then he said:
“I never thought those pages would be used against you.”
Rocco went still.
“You knew pages were being changed.”
May you like
Adrian realized too late what he had admitted.
The conversation ended there.
