Chapter 8
Cassandro changed the estate before he found another clue.
Business meetings moved to a separate property.
Capos stopped entering the residential wing.
Armed staff no longer sat inside family spaces unless there was an immediate reason.
He had ignored Elena when she asked for those changes.
He would not pretend her disappearance was the only reason to make them now.
Then the investigator found a postal record.
Three months after Elena vanished, a certified envelope had been sent to Cassandro from Monterey.
It was returned as undeliverable.
That made no sense.
The Moretti estate received mail every day.
The envelope had been addressed correctly.
Security records showed Damian’s office supervised all private correspondence during that period because Cassandro was traveling constantly.
Cassandro looked at Damian.
“You saw it.”
Damian denied it.
The estate’s former mail coordinator remembered differently.
“A letter from Mrs. Moretti came.”
Cassandro felt the room change.
“You knew it was from her?”
“Her handwriting.”
“What happened?”
“Mr. Knox took it.”
Damian’s attorney objected immediately.
Cassandro did not care.
“Did you give it to me?”
Damian looked away.
That was enough.
“What was in it?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is it?”
“Gone.”
Cassandro nearly crossed the room.
His attorney stepped between them.
Cassandro stopped himself.
Damian watched.
For years men like Damian had relied on Cassandro eventually becoming violent enough to make every other issue secondary.
Not this time.
Cassandro sat back down.
“You intercepted a letter from my missing wife.”
Damian remained silent.
Cassandro continued.
“If you opened it, destroyed it, or concealed it, people outside this family are going to determine what that means.”
Damian smiled faintly.
“You think outsiders are going to fix your marriage?”
“No.”
Cassandro looked at him.
“I think they might tell me what you did to it.”
The mail coordinator remembered one more thing.
The return address.
May you like
A post-office box in Monterey County.
The investigator drove north that afternoon.
