Chapter 6 - Secrets from the Grave
Lorenzo lunged forward again, this time breaking past the bodyguards who were too stunned by Salvatore’s posture to react.
"Dad, tell me! Is it hers? Tell me the truth!" Lorenzo shouted, tears streaming freely down his handsome young face.
Salvatore did not look at his son, his gaze remaining locked onto Clara’s terrified, unblinking eyes.
"That necklace was buried with my wife," Salvatore whispered, the devastating confession dropping like an anvil onto the floor.
Clara’s lips parted in utter shock, her mind recoiling from the terrifying horror implied by his quiet words.
"What did you just say?" Clara gasped, taking an involuntary step back until her shoulders bumped the dark wall panel.
"Fifteen years ago, my wife Elena was declared dead following a catastrophic vehicle explosion outside New York," Salvatore said.
"Her body was recovered from the burning wreckage, burned almost beyond visual recognition," Salvatore continued hollowly.
"The coroner identified her through dental records, and I personally placed that exact necklace inside her closed casket," he said.
"I locked the family mausoleum in North Philadelphia with my own keys after her marble tomb was sealed," Salvatore added.
Lorenzo grabbed his head in both hands, pacing frantically back and forth across the shattered crystal on the floor.
"That's impossible! That's insane! Are you saying someone dug up Mom's grave?" Lorenzo screamed in mounting hysteria.
Clara shook her head frantically, horror turning her pale skin completely white as she processed the horrific implications.
"No! You’re lying! My mother wasn't a grave robber! She was a nurse!" Clara defended, her voice rising to a frantic pitch.
"Her name was Martha Collins! She worked twelve-hour shifts at St. Jude’s Hospital to put me through school!" Clara yelled.
Salvatore reached into his pocket and pulled out his encrypted smartphone, his thumb hovering over a speed-dial contact.
His heart pounded against his ribs with a frantic, terrifying rhythm that made his chest ache under his burgundy tie.
If the necklace was in this room, then either Elena’s tomb had been desecrated, or the corpse inside was not his wife.
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"Marco, call Father Rossi at the cemetery immediately," Salvatore ordered in a deadly, low rumble that Brooked no delay.
"Tell him to unlock the Valetti crypt right now, or I will bring bulldozers to tear down the cathedral gates," Salvatore said.
