Chapter 4 - THE BLACK RING
Luca took off the ring and placed it on the table.
"Every Moretti man has one."
"Not every man in my house," I said.
Our father had given us matching onyx signets when we turned twenty-one.
Mine was in a safe.
Luca wore his constantly.
Torres asked Lily to describe what she had seen without leading her.
Lily said the man wore dark clothes under a white kitchen coat.
She saw his hand when he opened the silver box.
"Was it Uncle Luca?" Ethan asked.
"I didn't see his face."
Torres did not look convinced either way.
Then Luca surprised me.
"My ring was stolen two weeks ago."
"And you're wearing what?"
"A replacement."
He showed us the jeweler's receipt.
The original ring had disappeared after a poker night at the Mercer Club.
Luca reported it to club security.
Torres confirmed the report within an hour.
That did not make him innocent.
It made the setup smarter.
The lab called before midnight.
The silver case carried traces of the same allergen found in the frosting.
It also carried one partial fingerprint.
Not Luca's.
Not Vincent's.
Not mine.
Unknown.
"I pulled Elena's trust."
I knew the basics.
After Elena died, part of her family's shipping shares passed to Ethan.
Hannah placed one amendment in front of me.
"If Ethan dies before eighteen, temporary voting control passes to the alternate trustee."
I read the name.
Luca Moretti.
"What?"
"The amendment was filed six months after Elena's death."
"I never approved this."
"It has your electronic signature."
"Dominic, I didn't know."
"You're telling me you were named trustee of thirty-one percent of Moretti Maritime and nobody told you?"
"Yes."
"That's convenient."
"So arrest me."
Torres said, "Sit down."
Luca ignored her.
"If I wanted Ethan dead, would I do it at a ballroom full of cameras?"
Vincent spoke for the first time in several minutes.
"The cameras were off."
The room went silent.
Then Hannah tapped the amendment.
"There's one more problem."
May you like
"What?"
"The lawyer who prepared this disappeared yesterday."
