Chapter 5 - The Stranger at the GateThe man at the gate was old.
Seventy, perhaps.
He wore a wet black coat and held an umbrella.
When Leo approached, the stranger smiled.
“You look like your mother.”
Leo stopped.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who knew her before you did.”
“Name.”
“Father Luca Moretti.”
Clare frowned.
Leo recognized the name.
A priest.
One of the few people his mother trusted.
“You knew Rosalia?”
“She came to me once.”
“When?”
“Sixteen years ago.”
Leo stared.
“She was planning to leave your father.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered something.”
“What?”
The priest looked toward the mansion.
“Your family built its empire on more than illegal money.”
Leo's expression hardened.
“I know what my family was.”
“No.”
Father Luca shook his head.
“You don't.”
He handed Leo a small envelope.
“This belonged to your mother.”
Leo opened it.
Inside was the sparrow pendant.
The one his mother had worn.
His hands began to shake.
“There are twelve names in that envelope,” the priest said.
“Whose names?”
“People who helped your father.”
Leo unfolded the paper.
He recognized the first name.
His uncle.
The second.
A family lawyer.
The third.
A judge.
The fourth.
A hospital director.
The fifth.
A police captain.
And the sixth...
Leo looked at Clare.
Her face had gone white.
“What?”
“That name.”
He turned the paper toward her.
Mrs. Gable.
Clare almost dropped the paper.
“No.”
“She hired you,” Leo said slowly.
“She helped my family.”
“Exactly.”
Clare shook her head.
“Mrs. Gable has been working here for twenty years.”
Leo looked at the list.
“She may have been working for my family before that.”
The priest suddenly grabbed Leo's sleeve.
“You must understand something.”
“What?”
“Your mother wasn't hidden because she knew too much.”
Leo stared.
“She was hidden because she refused to give them something.”
“What?”
“The location of the Rossi ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one containing every payment.”
Leo's eyes widened.
“That doesn't exist.”
Father Luca smiled sadly.
“Your mother hid it.”
A gunshot cracked across the estate.
The priest jerked.
Blood appeared on his coat.
Clare screamed.
Leo caught him before he fell.
The old priest whispered:
“Your library.”
“What?”
“The sparrow.”
Then he died.
Leo looked toward the surrounding trees.
Nothing.
The shooter was gone.
But Clare had noticed something.
A tiny glint on Father Luca's finger.
A ring.
Engraved with the same sparrow.
She pulled it free.
Inside the band was a hidden inscription.
One sentence.
FOLLOW THE WOMAN WHO CLEANED THE BLOOD.
Clare stared.
“Leo…”
He looked.
His expression changed.
May you like
Because there was only one woman who had cleaned blood in the Rossi estate for twenty years.
Mrs. Gable.
