But there was something else.
The woman on the phone told us she had been watching Corsaro House for months.
She knew about Emilio’s illness.
She knew about Rafe.
And she knew what was inside the walls.
“The poison isn’t coming from the diffuser,” she said.
“Then where?”
“The ventilation.”
I looked at Emilio.
She continued.
“Someone installed a second ventilation line behind the bedroom wall.”
Emilio’s face hardened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you know something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“The line was installed nineteen years ago.”
Emilio went silent.
Nineteen years.
The same year his daughter disappeared.
I suddenly remembered the swollen paint.
The strange smell.
The sealed window.
The rooms nobody cleaned.
Everything connected.
Then Eleanor said something that made my blood run cold.
“Etta, Rafe isn’t trying to kill Emilio.”
“What?”
“He needs Emilio alive.”
“Why?”
“Because Emilio is the only person who can legally unlock the Corsaro trust.”
“And then?”
“He wants control of the family money.”
I looked at the documents.
“How?”
“He needs Emilio to sign.”
My stomach tightened.
“And if Emilio refuses?”
“Then Rafe will make him look mentally incapable.”
I turned toward Emilio.
The temporary authorization papers.
The doctors.
The medication.
The recordings.
