Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WITH THE BADGE
By the time I reached the hospital, every entrance to Lena’s floor had a guard.
The woman with the badge was gone.
A nurse had stopped her because the transport request wasn’t in the system.
One question.
One nurse unwilling to be rushed.
That was what stood between my daughter and another disappearance.
Lena sat against the headboard with Sophie on her lap.
Both were fully dressed.
Their small bag waited beside the bed.
“We’re leaving,” Lena said.
“Ruiz is arranging somewhere safe.”
“I’m not waiting for another person to arrange my life.”
She wasn’t shouting.
That made it worse.
“I understand.”
“No, you keep saying that.”
Her voice cracked.
“You don’t understand what happens when everyone says they’re helping.”
I stood by the door.
“What do you want me to do?”
She looked surprised by the question.
Then exhausted.
“Let me choose who comes near us.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t tell your office where we go.”
“Okay.”
“And don’t make promises to Sophie unless you know you can keep them.”
I nodded.
That afternoon, Lena chose a small apartment arranged through a victim advocate Ruiz trusted.
My name wasn’t on the booking.
Neither was hers.
I paid through my attorney and was given the address only after Lena agreed.
The apartment had mismatched furniture and a kitchen table with one loose leg.
Sophie walked through every room.
“Where are the cameras?”
Lena closed her eyes.
“There aren’t any, baby.”
Sophie looked at the smoke detector.
“Not even the ceiling ones?”
I had to leave the room.
In the kitchen, Marcus placed his phone on the table.
“Hospital footage.”
The woman in the fake badge stood beside an elevator.
Dark coat.
Hair tucked beneath a scarf.
I didn’t recognize her.
Marcus swiped to the next image.
A gray sedan at the curb.
The driver’s face was clear.
Graham Vale.
My mother’s personal security chief.
I had known him since I was seventeen.
He taught me how to drive in snow.
I called Ruiz.
She already had the images.
“We’re looking for both of them.”
“What about my mother?”
“She’s agreed to an interview with counsel.”
“Agreed.”
“I know how that sounds.”
“No. You don’t.”
Ruiz let the silence sit.
Then she said, “I know what evidence survives anger. Help me build that.”
I put the phone down.
From the bedroom, Sophie called for water.
I brought it to her.
She took the cup with both hands.
“Are you sleeping here?”
“If Mama says that’s okay.”
Lena stood behind her.
“The couch,” she said.
I nodded.
That night, I woke to my phone lighting up.
My mother had sent a photograph.
It showed the front entrance of the apartment building.
May you like
Below it were four words.
You cannot protect everyone.
