Chapter 4
Damian’s explanation was simple.
Elena wanted help leaving quietly.
She asked Vivienne.
Vivienne asked Damian.
Damian arranged a car that could leave the estate without drawing attention.
Cassandro stared at him.
“You helped my wife disappear.”
“For three days.”
“What?”
Damian leaned forward.
“That was the plan. She wanted space. She was going to Santa Barbara. She was supposed to call you after she settled down.”
Cassandro’s expression became still.
“She never called.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you hide your involvement?”
“Because when she disappeared for real, I knew how it would look.”
Cassandro nearly laughed.
Again.
How it would look.
Damian said Elena drove herself from a private garage in Malibu after he arranged transportation from the estate.
He claimed that was the last time he saw her.
Cassandro asked:
“What black bag did you take from her room?”
Damian froze.
Audrey remembered that too.
“A work bag.”
“What was inside?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is it?”
“Gone.”
Cassandro stood.
Damian’s attorney immediately leaned forward.
“We're done for today.”
Cassandro walked away.
The bag became the next question.
Estate inventory from fourteen months earlier showed Elena’s laptop had never been found.
Neither had two external drives she used for charity work.
Cassandro had assumed she took them.
Now Damian admitted carrying a bag from her room.
The family’s IT manager examined backups.
Elena had been reviewing financial records from the Moretti Coastal Foundation before disappearing.
The foundation managed several conservation properties and marinas along the California coast.
Damian oversaw security vendors for some of them.
Vivienne handled donor relations.
Cassandro frowned.
Elena had never officially worked in finance.
Why was she reviewing vendor payments?
The answer came from an old email to the foundation accountant.
Can you explain why Knox Coastal Security invoices doubled this quarter?
Damian’s company.
Cassandro read the message twice.
May you like
Elena had not only been planning to leave her marriage temporarily.
She had also been asking questions about Damian’s money.
