Chapter 6 - The False Notary
Nora learned that she had kidnapped Elena Ventresca from a television mounted above the staff kitchen refrigerator.
A local news anchor stood outside the estate gates beneath a red BREAKING NEWS banner.
Behind him, reporters clustered along the road while police vehicles blocked one entrance.
"Sources say an elderly member of the prominent Ventresca family may have been removed from her residence under suspicious circumstances," the anchor said.
A photograph of Elena appeared beside him.
Then Nora's employee identification photograph filled the screen.
Nora stared at her own face.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Luis stood beside her.
"They put your photo on television fast."
"Where did they get that?"
"Probably payroll."
The anchor continued.
"Authorities are seeking information regarding thirty-two-year-old Nora Hayes, an employee of the Ventresca household who was reportedly involved in a dispute shortly before Mrs. Ventresca disappeared."
Nora grabbed the remote and turned the television off.
"Celeste is trying to make me run."
Luis looked toward the hall.
"Are you going to?"
"No."
"Good."
"I do not have anywhere to go."
"Also good."
She looked at him.
He smiled despite the bruise.
"I am trying to be supportive."
Marco entered carrying two phones.
"Nora, you need to come with me."
"Am I being arrested?"
"No."
"That answer has had a terrible record today."
Marco handed her one of the phones.
"Luca wants to speak to you."
Nora stared at the screen.
The call was already connected.
She lifted it to her ear.
"Mr. Ventresca."
"My mother is safe."
The relief was immediate and sharp.
Nora sat down.
"Where is she?"
"Somewhere Celeste cannot reach."
"Did Elena arrange the van?"
"Yes."
"Then tell the police."
"We will."
Nora's anger returned.
"When?"
"After an independent doctor documents that she is competent and left voluntarily."
"Celeste put my face on television."
"I know."
"People think I abducted an eighty-year-old woman."
"I know."
"You keep saying that."
There was a pause.
"You are right."
The answer surprised her.
Luca continued.
"I should have come back into the house the moment I saw the medication."
Nora looked at Marco.
He turned away, giving her privacy without leaving.
"Why didn't you?" she asked.
"Because I believed the larger threat required patience."
"And now?"
"Now I believe patience without limits becomes cowardice."
Nora had not expected an apology, even one disguised as analysis.
"Your mother was scared," she said.
"I know."
This time the words sounded different.
"She also outplanned all of us," Luca added.
Nora let out a breath.
"That sounds like Elena."
"She wants to speak to you later."
"First, I need you to listen."
Nora glanced at Luis.
"Warren said Gabriel paid him."
"We recorded the statement."
"He also said he never touched Elena's medication."
"We are checking the medical cabinet logs."
"And somebody removed Luis's memory card."
"Marco told me."
Nora lowered her voice.
"Celeste knew I was in the blue room before she opened the door."
"How?"
"I do not know."
"But she did."
Luca was silent for a moment.
"The room has no active estate camera."
"Could there be another camera?"
"Celeste's?"
"Or Gabriel's."
Luca spoke to someone away from the phone.
Then he returned.
"Marco is going to sweep the room."
"There is something else."
"Tell me."
"The notary."
"What about him?"
"Celeste told whoever she called that he should say Elena signed at home."
"Marco pulled the name."
"Paul Rainer."
Nora frowned.
"I know that name."
"From where?"
She searched her memory.
"A charity dinner."
"Which one?"
"The Beaumont Foundation winter gala."
"Celeste's family's foundation?"
"Yes."
"He was seated with her father."
Luca went quiet.
"Are you sure?"
"I served that table."
"Charles Beaumont introduced him as an old family adviser."
"Do you remember when?"
"December."
"Can you identify him from a photograph?"
"Yes."
Luca gave Marco an instruction through the secure line.
Within minutes, a folder of notary-license photographs appeared on the tablet.
Nora studied them.
Paul Rainer was not there.
"None of these."
Marco frowned.
"The name appears in the state database."
"Then the photograph is wrong."
"Licensing photo is not public."
"These are firm website images."
Nora shook her head.
"The man at the dinner was older."
"Gray beard."
"Scar near his left eyebrow."
Marco searched another database.
An image appeared from a corporate conference.
Nora pointed immediately.
"That's him."
The caption identified the man as Edmund Vale, senior counsel to Beaumont Maritime Group.
Marco and Nora stared at each other.
"He is not a notary named Paul Rainer," Nora said.
"Apparently not."
Marco called Luca.
Ten minutes later, Daniel Russo had a preliminary answer.
Paul Rainer was real.
He was a fifty-nine-year-old mobile notary from Westchester.
He had died eight months earlier.
His commission had never been properly closed in the online registry.
Someone was using the credentials of a dead man.
Nora felt a chill.
"Edmund Vale."
Marco nodded.
"Celeste's father's attorney."
"So her family is part of this too."
"Maybe."
"How many maybes do you people keep in storage?"
Marco ignored that.
"We need Vale."
"Then go get him."
"He left New York this afternoon."
"Where?"
"His office says London."
Nora laughed once.
"Of course."
Marco looked at the screen.
"His flight has not departed yet."
"JFK?"
"Private terminal at Teterboro."
"Can you stop him?"
"Not legally."
"The police can."
"If we give them enough to act before the aircraft moves."
Nora looked at her photograph frozen on a news website.
"Maybe the police would like to hear from the woman they think kidnapped Elena."
Marco's head turned.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Celeste wants you in police custody."
"Which means she expects me to talk."
"Or expects somebody to reach you there."
"That sounds paranoid."
"You work for the Ventrescas."
"Paranoia is an employee benefit."
Despite everything, Nora laughed.
Then Marco's expression changed.
His phone displayed a security alert from the blue room sweep.
"They found something."
They went upstairs together.
The blue room looked exactly as they had left it except for a strip of molding removed near the ceiling.
An engineer stood on a ladder holding a tiny black device inside an evidence bag.
"Wireless microphone," he said.
"Battery powered."
Marco took it.
"Range?"
"With a repeater in the house, a few hundred feet."
"Stored audio?"
"No."
"Live transmission only."
Nora looked around.
"So Celeste heard us."
The engineer shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
"This microphone has been dead for at least two weeks."
Marco frowned.
"Then how did she know?"
The engineer pointed at the writing cabinet.
"Because someone opened that."
A thin magnetic sensor had been taped behind the door frame.
It was newer than the microphone.
Its battery was active.
Marco scanned its transmitter ID.
"Who receives the alert?"
"We need to trace the device."
The answer came sooner than expected.
The signal pinged a tablet connected to the estate guest network.
That tablet belonged to Gabriel Ventresca.
Nora exhaled.
"There is your maybe."
Marco looked toward the hall.
Gabriel was still in the library under guard.
Celeste was in a guest suite.
Neither knew Elena was safe.
The police were at the gates.
Reporters were growing louder.
And Edmund Vale was preparing to leave the country.
"We need Luca back publicly," Nora said.
Marco's eyes met hers.
"He knows."
At St. Agnes, Luca listened while Daniel ended a call with a state investigator he trusted.
"They can hold Vale's aircraft for a customs review," Daniel said.
"Twenty minutes, maybe thirty."
"Enough?"
"If we can give them probable cause before the review ends."
Luca looked at the copied amendments.
"A forged notary seal tied to a dead man's license is probable cause."
"Tied to Vale by Nora's memory, not evidence."
Elena spoke from the window.
"Then use my evidence."
Both men turned.
She opened the blue ledger to a pocket in the back cover.
Inside was an old photograph.
It showed Antonio Ventresca shaking hands with a younger Edmund Vale at a marina.
On the back, Antonio had written three words.
VALE - ROUTE PAYMENT.
Luca stared at it.
"Father knew him."
"Your father suspected him," Elena said.
"Two days before the crash, Antonio told me Vale had moved money for someone inside our family."
"Why was he still alive after that?"
Elena's expression hardened.
"Because your father was trying to prove which family member."
Luca looked at the circled payment initialed G.V.
Daniel took a photograph of the old picture.
"This still does not prove the current forgery."
Elena opened another pocket.
A business card slipped out.
Edmund Vale's name was printed across the front.
On the back was a handwritten note dated February seventeenth of the current year.
E.V. SIGNATURE COMPLETE.
Rainer seal accepted.
G.V. approved final language.
Luca looked at his mother.
"Where did you get this?"
"From Celeste's handbag."
Daniel blinked.
Elena shrugged.
"People leave things near women in wheelchairs because they assume we cannot reach them."
For the first time all day, Luca smiled.
It vanished when Daniel's phone rang.
He listened for ten seconds.
"Vale's jet just requested immediate departure clearance."
Luca stood.
"Send the card to the investigator."
Daniel photographed both sides.
Before he could transmit them, another message arrived.
This one was from Marco.
Luca read it.
Then read it again.
"What?" Elena asked.
Luca looked at her.
"Celeste has changed her story."
"How?"
"She no longer says Nora kidnapped you."
"What does she say now?"
Luca's face went cold.
"She says I did."
Elena stared at him.
Daniel's phone rang again.
This time he answered on speaker.
A detective's voice filled the room.
"Mr. Russo, I need to know whether your client Luca Ventresca is currently in the United States."
May you like
Daniel looked at Luca.
The Zurich lie had reached its end.
