Chapter 4 - The Woman in Silver.
.Camille Voss arrived at the hospital shortly after nine in the morning.
She had changed out of the silver dress.
Now she wore dark trousers, a cream blouse, and the expression of someone hoping ordinary clothes could erase an extraordinary night.
Maurice met her near the coffee machines.
"Why are you here?" he whispered.
"Because you stopped answering."
"You cannot be seen with me."
Camille folded her arms.
"I was seen with you for six hours on your yacht."
"Lucent is not my yacht."
"You paid for the party."
Maurice glanced down the corridor.
"Adrian found the locker."
Camille's face changed.
"All of it?"
"I don't know."
"The ledger?"
"I said I don't know."
A voice behind them interrupted.
"Perhaps I can help."
Adrian stood ten feet away.
Camille looked like she had forgotten how to breathe.
Adrian approached slowly.
"Ms. Voss, I presume."
"Mr. Moretti."
"My daughter is fighting for her life, and both of you seem most concerned about paperwork."
Maurice stepped between them.
"Leave Camille out of this."
Adrian looked at him.
"She is already in it."
Dr. Cole entered the corridor before the argument could grow louder.
Valentina had shown a small improvement, he said.
Her pupils were responding normally, and the pressure had decreased.
But she had not regained consciousness.
Maurice asked whether stress could have caused her collapse.
Dr. Cole gave him a long look.
"Stress does not explain the injury we treated."
Maurice lowered his voice.
"Do you know when it happened?"
"We can estimate."
Camille stared at the floor.
Adrian noticed.
"Doctor," he said, "was my daughter injured where the paramedics found her?"
Dr. Cole hesitated.
"That is a question for investigators."
That answer was enough to make Maurice tense.
A hospital security officer approached and asked Maurice to remain available because police wanted to speak with him.
Camille immediately backed away.
"I should go."
Adrian stopped her with one sentence.
"The foundation transfers lead to your company."
Camille froze.
Maurice looked furious.
"Adrian, enough."
Camille's voice was barely audible.
"You don't understand those payments."
"Then explain them."
"Consulting work."
"What kind?"
"Maritime acquisitions."
"For a children's arts foundation?"
Camille had no answer.
Maurice grabbed her elbow and guided her toward the elevators.
Adrian watched them leave.
He returned to Valentina's room and found a nurse replacing the bag of fluid beside her bed.
Her wedding ring had been removed during surgery and now rested inside a small plastic cup on the bedside table.
Adrian stared at it longer than he meant to.
He remembered the day Maurice asked for permission to propose.
Maurice had arrived at Adrian's office wearing an expensive suit and carrying no nervousness at all.
He had spoken about loving Valentina, protecting her, and building something independent from the Moretti name.
At the time, Adrian had thought the confidence sounded rehearsed.
Valentina had called him cruel when he said so.
Now Adrian wished he had been wrong.
The nurse noticed where he was looking.
"Would you like me to put the ring with her belongings?" she asked.
Adrian shook his head.
"Leave it where she can decide what to do with it when she wakes up."
That decision, he realized, belonged to Valentina and no one else.
Ten minutes later, his phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar.
"Mr. Moretti?"
The caller introduced herself as Detective Lena Park.
She was at the marina reviewing security footage from the previous night.
"We found something you may want to know before you speak with Mr. Laurent again," she said.
Adrian looked through the glass at Valentina's room.
"What did you find?"
"Your daughter did not arrive at the service road alone."
Adrian gripped the phone tighter.
"Who was with her?"
There was a pause.
"A woman in a silver dress."
Adrian slowly turned toward the elevator where Camille had disappeared.
May you like
Detective Park continued.
"And according to the timestamp, Ms. Voss was with Valentina less than forty minutes before she appeared on the yacht beside Maurice."
