The Housekeeper's Testimony
Chapter 07 - The Housekeeper's Testimony
June Bell arrived at the investigators' office wearing a coat with a missing button and carrying a binder. Angelo had offered to pay for transportation, but she had insisted on taking the train. "I want to arrive as myself," she'd told Rafael.
Inside the binder were copies of schedules, messages, and notes June had kept while employed at the Vance—no, Caruso—estate. She had recorded the dates Vincent's visitors entered through side doors, the occasions Sofia complained about missing documents, and the morning after Gabriel died when his workshop was searched before the family returned from the hospital.
There were gaps. Some entries were secondhand. June acknowledged them honestly.
The investigator thanked her for not pretending to remember what she could not.
June then described seeing Celia hide Matteo's letters to his mother. The boy had drawn planes, birds, and pictures of the family together. Celia told him the letters were being mailed. June found several in the kitchen trash.
When Angelo heard, he had to sit down.
Matteo hadn't simply been missing Sofia. He'd been made to believe she was receiving his messages and choosing not to answer.
June showed him a photograph she'd rescued: a crayon drawing of a little airplane above two stick figures, one large and one small. Across the bottom Matteo had written, with help, PLEASE COME BACK MAMA.
Angelo took a breath and asked June whether she'd be willing to give the drawing to Matteo when the time was right.
"Of course," she answered. "I never stopped thinking about him."
Sofia's independent attorney contacted the investigators that evening. A safe arrangement had been made for her to provide a statement, and a plan was being developed for a careful reunion with Matteo.
Meanwhile, the company audit revealed transfers from legitimate freight contracts into firms controlled by a man named Damon Calder. The timing lined up with Gabriel's warnings. Further investigation would be needed to determine who authorized the payments and whether criminal offenses had occurred.
Angelo met with the board and voluntarily suspended Vincent's financial authority pending review. The directors objected to the scandal, but none could explain why the company should ignore missing money merely to protect the family name.
That night, Angelo slept in a chair beside Matteo's hospital bed.
In the morning, the boy woke to find him still there.
"You stayed," Matteo said in surprise.
Angelo smiled sadly. "I did."
"Will you stay tomorrow too?"
May you like
"Yes."
This time, he arranged his life so that the promise could be kept.
