Chapter 8
I returned to the council room with a different question.
“Tell me about Isabella.”
Vanessa froze.
Enzo did not.
Matteo looked sick.
Interesting.
My late wife had been dead two years.
Horse threw her near the north vineyard.
Neck injury.
Gone before I reached her.
No enemy claim.
No retaliation.
No reason to suspect otherwise.
Until now.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“This has nothing to do with Isabella.”
I looked at Matteo.
He stared at the floor.
Enzo spoke.
“Don’t do this.”
I almost smiled.
“Do what?”
“Turn grief into paranoia.”
Classic.
When truth threatens powerful people, emotion becomes the problem.
I leaned toward Matteo.
“Were you at St. Catherine’s the day Isabella died?”
Silence.
I remembered the guest list.
Enzo was there.
Matteo arrived later.
Or claimed he did.
“Matteo.”
“Yes.”
My hands tightened.
“What time?”
“Morning.”
“You told me afternoon.”
“I lied.”
There.
Simple.
Clean.
Ugly.
“Why?”
He looked toward Enzo.
My uncle’s face finally changed.
I saw it.
“Because Enzo asked me to.”
Vanessa whispered his name.
Too late.
I stood.
“What happened?”
Matteo’s breathing became uneven.
“Isabella found the route.”
My chest tightened.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“She wanted it closed.”
Of course.
Isabella hated old Castellano traditions more openly than I did.
“What did Enzo do?”
Matteo looked at him.
Enzo snapped.
“Think carefully.”
I turned toward my uncle.
“No.”
My voice stayed low.
“He should finally stop.”
That silenced him.
Matteo continued.
“Enzo confronted her near the stable.”
“And?”
“They argued.”
“Did he touch her?”
“No.”
I watched him.
Truth.
At least there.
“What happened to the horse?”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“It had been agitated.”
“How?”
Silence.
Enzo’s jaw tightened.
I already knew.
“You tampered with the tack.”
Matteo whispered:
“Only the saddle strap.”
The room disappeared around me.
Not enough to guarantee death.
Enough to create an accident.
Same philosophy.
Same method.
Two years earlier Isabella.
Now Audrey.
May you like
My family had not learned to stage accidents from Vanessa.
Vanessa had learned it from them.
