Chapter 7 - Behind Storage Door Nineteen, I Found the Evidence That Could Destroy the Spedaros
The storage facility stood beside a freight yard.
Its windows were painted black.
Daniel checked the corridor before allowing us inside.
I unlocked unit nineteen.
There were no boxes of clothes. No childhood toys.
Only a metal cabinet and a folding chair.
Inside the cabinet sat a tape recorder, a ledger, and a child's red mitten.
I recognized the mitten.
I'd sewn the loose seam myself.
My throat closed.
Cedric remained at the doorway, giving me room.
I pressed play.
My mother's voice crackled through the speaker.
"My name is Elena Vincenzi. If this reaches Anna, I want her to know I tried to come home."
I covered my mouth.
She described payments routed through false charities, shipments concealed in medical vehicles, and threats against witnesses.
Then she said something that made Cedric grip the doorframe.
"Vittorio isn't acting alone. His partner has access to the courthouse."
A second voice interrupted the recording.
A man's voice.
"Elena, turn that off."
Cedric went rigid.
"That's my father," he whispered.
The tape ended with a sharp click.
I turned to him.
"You said your father was helping her."
"I thought he was."
He sounded as shaken as I felt.
Daniel called from the hallway.
"We have company."
Footsteps echoed beyond the door.
Cedric motioned me behind the cabinet.
"Take the ledger," he said.
"And you?"
"I'll keep them talking."
I didn't move.
"I'm tired of being hidden while men decide what I can know."
His eyes met mine.
"Then stay beside me."
The door swung open.
A woman in a charcoal coat stood there with two men.
She held a badge.
"Federal investigator Mara Bell," she said. "I've been searching for that tape for eleven years."
May you like
Her gaze moved to Cedric.
"And you've just made yourself a witness."
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