Chapter 3 - The Man Who Disappeared
I did not remember sitting down.
One moment I was standing with my phone in my hand.
The next, I was in a hard plastic chair outside Adrian’s room while Detective Cole read the message twice.
Dominic stood behind her.
Adrian remained visible through the glass.
Awake.
Watching.
Lily slept against my chest.
Her stuffed rabbit was wedged under her chin.
I wanted to wake up too.
Wake up from all of it.
The hospital.
The poison.
Daniel’s photograph.
The message.
But terror has a way of making everything brutally clear.
Someone knew where my daughter slept.
Someone had watched me.
Someone had stolen my badge, my bracelet, and my face.
And now they were telling me Lily was next.
Cole handed my phone to a technician.
“We’ll trace it.”
“They’ll throw the phone away.”
“Probably.”
“Then what good does tracing do?”
“It gives us towers. Location patterns. Device information.”
“And until then?”
“We place you in protective custody.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
Cole turned.
“You do not get a vote.”
“I do if the threat originates from someone trying to kill my employer.”
“This is a police investigation.”
“And how did the poisoner get onto a secured floor?”
Cole’s eyes narrowed.
“You implying hospital security is compromised?”
“I am stating a fact.”
“And your solution is what?”
“Move Elena and the child somewhere the attacker cannot reach.”
“Your people?”
“My people.”
Cole almost laughed.
“You expect me to hand a civilian witness and her three-year-old daughter to organized crime?”
Adrian’s voice came through the open doorway.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
He was trying to sit up.
A nurse pushed him back.
“Mr. Vale.”
“Detective.”
Cole entered his room.
“I was told you were sedated.”
“I dislike following instructions.”
“I’m noticing.”
He looked toward me.
“Her apartment is burned.”
“What?”
“Compromised.”
Cole folded her arms.
“You have another word for that?”
“No.”
“Do you know who did this?”
“Not yet.”
“Do you know why?”
Adrian looked at Dominic.
“Maybe.”
That word changed the room.
Cole noticed.
“So there is something you’re not telling us.”
“There is always something I’m not telling police.”
Dominic closed his eyes briefly.
Cole stepped closer.
“A child is being threatened.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“That is precisely why I will tell you what matters.”
“Then start.”
He looked at me.
“Six months ago, someone began stealing from me.”
I stared at him.
“What does that have to do with Daniel?”
“Possibly everything.”
He continued.
“The thefts were small at first. Shipment schedules. Vendor payments. Account codes.”
Cole frowned.
“Internal?”
“Yes.”
“Who had access?”
“Several people.”
“And then?”
“Three weeks ago, I discovered someone had sold information about a protected witness.”
Cole’s face changed.
“What witness?”
Adrian ignored the question.
“The information came from a system very few people knew existed.”
“So you narrowed the leak.”
“To four people.”
“Names?”
Adrian looked at Dominic.
Dominic handed her a sheet.
Cole scanned it.
Then her eyes stopped.
She looked at me.
“What?”
She did not answer.
I stood.
“What?”
Adrian spoke.
“Daniel Morales worked for one of my subcontractors.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He was a warehouse dispatcher.”
“He was a logistics analyst.”
“That is the same thing.”
“No.”
My skin prickled.
Adrian continued.
“He had access to port schedules.”
I shook my head.
“He never told me.”
“I doubt he told you much.”
“Do not talk about him like you knew him.”
“I did not.”
“Then stop.”
Lily shifted against me.
I lowered my voice.
Adrian watched her.
“Daniel disappeared eighteen months ago?”
“Yes.”
“His gambling debts?”
I froze.
“How do you know that?”
“I know who owes money in my city.”
Anger flared through the fear.
“Then where was your concern when men came to my apartment looking for him?”
“I did not know about you.”
“Convenient.”
“No.”
Something in his voice changed.
Almost regret.
“It was careless.”
I did not expect that.
Neither did Dominic.
Adrian looked at Cole.
“Daniel’s debt was purchased.”
“By whom?”
“Unknown.”
“Why would someone buy gambling debt?”
“To control him.”
Cole nodded slowly.
“They recruit him.”
“Yes.”
“They use his job.”
“Yes.”
“And now he’s involved in an attempt on you.”
“Possibly.”
I stared at the photograph again.
Daniel beside the woman.
He looked thinner.
Older.
Afraid.
That bothered me.
He did not look like a man in control.
He looked like a hostage.
“What if Daniel is being forced?”
Nobody answered.
I stood.
“What if that message wasn’t from him?”
Cole said, “Possible.”
“What if the photograph was meant to make us think he’s involved?”
“Also possible.”
Adrian watched me closely.
“You still trust him.”
“No.”
“Then why defend him?”
“Because he is Lily’s father.”
“That does not make him innocent.”
“No. But it does mean I need proof.”
Adrian nodded once.
“Fair.”
Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
A minute later, he said, “We found the car.”
Cole stood.
“Where?”
“Parking garage three blocks east.”
“Driver?”
“Gone.”
“Anything inside?”
Dominic looked at me.
“A child’s car seat.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“Empty.”
“Why would there be a car seat?”
Nobody answered.
Lily woke.
“Mama?”
“I’m here.”
She looked around.
“Can we go home?”
I kissed her hair.
“Not tonight.”
Her lip trembled.
“I want my bed.”
“I know.”
Adrian spoke softly.
“Lily.”
She looked at him.
“You can stay at my house.”
She frowned.
“Do you have pancakes?”
Dominic looked away.
I almost laughed.
Adrian blinked.
“I have people who can make pancakes.”
“That’s not the same.”
For the first time all night, the room became almost human.
Then Detective Cole’s radio sounded.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“Elena, we need to go.”
“Where?”
“Your apartment.”
“No.”
“We found someone inside.”
My body went rigid.
“Who?”
“They’re alive.”
“Who?”
Cole hesitated.
Then said, “Daniel.”
The apartment building was surrounded by police.
I stayed in the unmarked car with Lily while Cole went inside.
Dominic sat in the front passenger seat despite her objections.
Ten minutes later, Cole returned.
“He’s hurt.”
“How badly?”
“Not life-threatening.”
“Can I see him?”
“He asked for you.”
I looked at Lily.
Dominic said, “She stays with me.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Cole pointed toward an officer outside.
“She stays with uniformed police.”
I agreed.
The apartment smelled wrong when I entered.
Not chemical.
Destroyed.
Drawers ripped open.
Couch cushions cut apart.
Photographs smashed.
My bedroom mattress sliced.
Daniel sat at the kitchen table.
His face was swollen.
One eye nearly shut.
His wrists were bruised.
He looked up.
“Elena.”
I stopped.
For eighteen months, I had imagined what I would say if I ever saw him again.
I had imagined slapping him.
Cursing him.
Demanding every dollar.
Instead I whispered, “What did you do?”
His eyes filled.
“I tried to stop them.”
“Who?”
“I can’t say.”
“You can.”
“They’ll kill Lily.”
“They already threatened her.”
His face crumpled.
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“Why was your photograph taken with that woman?”
“She found me.”
“Who is she?”
“I don’t know her real name.”
“What did she make you do?”
Daniel looked toward Cole.
Then Dominic.
“I need Elena alone.”
“No,” Dominic said.
Cole agreed.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Then I don’t talk.”
I stared at him.
“You lost the right to make demands.”
“I know.”
“Tell me.”
His breathing shook.
“They wanted access.”
“To what?”
“Vale.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“How?”
“I gave them schedules.”
“What schedules?”
“Hospital deliveries. Staff changes. Service access.”
I wanted to be sick.
“You helped them.”
Daniel looked at me.
“They said if I didn’t, they would take Lily.”
“You should have gone to police.”
“They own people.”
“Who?”
Daniel stared at Dominic.
“That is the problem.”
Dominic’s face became still.
Daniel whispered, “Someone inside Vale’s organization is helping them.”
Silence.
“Name,” Dominic said.
“I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
Daniel looked at me.
“They asked questions about Elena.”
“What questions?”
“Her shift.”
My knees weakened.
“Her access.”
I gripped the chair.
“Her daughter.”
Daniel looked down.
“I tried giving them old information.”
“Then why did they know where I lived?”
“They already knew.”
I wanted to hate him.
Part of me did.
Another part saw the bruises around his wrists.
“Why did you come here?”
“To warn you.”
“You broke into my apartment?”
“I still had a key.”
“Of course you did.”
He flinched.
“I sent the text.”
Cole stepped forward.
“You sent the threat?”
“No. I sent the first part.”
My heart pounded.
“Do exactly what they say?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought if you cooperated, they wouldn’t hurt Lily.”
“The photograph of my door?”
Daniel’s face went white.
“I didn’t send that.”
The room went silent.
Cole took out her phone.
“Then someone else had access to his number.”
Daniel nodded.
“They clone devices.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What do they want now?”
Daniel swallowed.
“A book.”
“What book?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian’s ledger.
That was my first thought.
I hated that movies had taught me enough to think that.
Dominic’s reaction confirmed something.
His eyes flicked away.
Daniel saw it.
“You know.”
Dominic said nothing.
Daniel leaned forward.
“They think Vale hid something before he was hospitalized.”
“What?” I asked.
“Names. Accounts. Evidence.”
“Why would I matter?”
Daniel looked at me.
“They think he gave it to you.”
I laughed once in disbelief.
“I clean his room.”
“I told them.”
“They didn’t believe you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Daniel’s eyes moved toward the stuffed rabbit Lily had left in the police car.
Then back to me.
“Because Adrian Vale asked for your daughter by name three days before someone poisoned him.”
I froze.
“What?”
Dominic turned sharply.
“That is not true.”
Daniel reached inside his jacket.
Every gun in the room came up.
“Stop!”
He froze.
“Slowly,” Cole ordered.
Daniel pulled out a folded piece of paper.
He placed it on the table.
Dominic opened it.
A photocopy of a hospital visitor log.
Adrian Vale.
Room 814.
Authorized visitor request.
LILY MORALES.
Date: three days earlier.
My throat closed.
“Why would he request Lily?”
Nobody answered.
Then I noticed something handwritten at the bottom of the page.
Four words.
BRING THE RABBIT WITH HER.
I looked toward the front door.
Toward the car outside.
Toward Lily.
And suddenly I understood that Bun-Bun was not just a stuffed toy anymore.
I ran.
By the time I reached the sidewalk, the police officer guarding Lily was unconscious beside the car.
The rear door stood open.
May you like
The child seat was empty.
And Bun-Bun was lying in the gutter.
