Chapter 5 - THE SECOND SEAL
Dante had the family seal examined by a conservator under the pretext of documenting heirlooms for insurance. The woman studied the bronze through a magnifying lens, then compared it with photographs of the wax impressions.
"The impression on your disputed shipment isn't from this seal," she said.
Dante leaned forward. "Explain."
"The scratch is too regular. Someone copied it from a photograph. Your original has a microscopic notch beneath the wing. The counterfeit doesn't."
A duplicate. The object in his drawer had been removed not to authorize one shipment but to make a mold for countless documents.
Dante asked Carlo to trace everyone who had handled the shipping files. Carlo's preliminary review uncovered an unexpected connection: a clerk named Daniel Vasquez had flagged Bellwether shipments five years earlier. He had been killed in a highway collision before his report reached regulators.
Elena's husband.
Dante read the file twice. He had known Elena was widowed. He had never asked how Daniel died.
When he called her, she answered cautiously. He told her about the old report, then asked whether Daniel had mentioned Bellwether.
A long silence followed. "He said some trucks were carrying things the invoices didn't describe," Elena replied. "He was frightened. He told me if anyone asked, I knew nothing. Two days later, the police called about the accident."
"Do you have anything he left?"
"Only his watch, his wedding ring, and a notebook Sophia drew in. I threw away the work papers. I thought they were why he died."
"You were protecting your daughter."
Elena's voice sharpened. "I couldn't protect her father."
Dante did not offer reassurance he had no right to give. Instead he told her that an attorney could review Daniel's death and that she could decide whether to participate.
"Why now?" she asked.
"Because I should have asked five years ago."
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After hanging up, Dante returned to the conservator's report. Isabella had been searching for the seal, but someone had already created a copy. She might be a conspirator. She might also be a messenger being used by someone who knew the household better than she did.
The distinction mattered. Dante wanted evidence, not revenge dressed up as certainty.
