Chapter 6 - LENA’S BOX
Charles was stopped at the hospital entrance. He said he had come to check on Ada because she had been hurt at his event.
Ada turned her face to the wall when Bell told her.
Victoria watched Charles through the lobby glass. He looked tired. For a moment she remembered the man who had sat up with her for weeks after Rosalind vanished, making sure she ate. Then he saw her watching and raised a hand, as if they were having an ordinary disagreement.
She walked away.
Bell obtained access to Lena’s storage unit. Inside were two plastic bins, three winter coats, and a blue box with Rosie’s name written across the lid.
There were school drawings, medical papers, and photographs of Rosie growing up. In one, she was missing a front tooth. In another, she held a lopsided birthday cake. She was smiling in almost every picture.
Victoria cried when she saw those. Lena had given her daughter birthdays. Lena had kept her alive.
The second bin held notebooks.
Bell opened the first. Lena had dated each entry.
The earliest was the Tuesday Charles had mentioned.
Charles said Victoria has had another episode. He says the doctor wants Rosie away from the house for a few days. Victoria is asleep. He asked me to take Rosie to the clinic and wait for instructions.
Victoria looked up. “What episode?”
Bell kept reading. Two days later, Lena wrote that she had been turned away from the Hale house. Charles told her Victoria had agreed to a longer stay and wanted no contact. Then Lena had seen a television report saying Rosalind was missing.
“She knew you were looking,” Bell said.
“She knew by Thursday.”
“She says she tried to return Rosie on Friday. Crane met her before she reached the house.”
Another page described Crane’s threat: if Lena went to the police, he would say she had kidnapped Rosie. He had photographs of her taking the child to the clinic. Charles had signed the admission papers using Lena’s name as the parent.
Lena wrote that she fled with Rosie because she feared Crane would take the child from her.
Victoria shut the notebook. “Why didn’t she call me after that?”
Bell turned several pages.
Lena had called. Twice. The first time, a woman at the family office told her Victoria was unavailable. The second time, Crane answered.
There was more. A clipping from a newspaper about the lake search. A photo of the empty casket. Beside it, Lena had written:
They are telling her Rosie is dead. I can end this. I have to find a way they cannot block.
For eight years, she had never found one.
At the bottom of the bin sat a cheap audio recorder. Bell pressed play.
Lena’s voice filled the storage unit. “My name is Lena Ortiz. This is for Victoria Hale. If you’re hearing it, please know I took care of Rosie the best I could. I should have come forward years ago.”
A pause. A door sounded somewhere in the recording.
Then a man spoke. “Turn that off.”
Victoria recognized Charles’s voice.
Lena said, “She deserves to know why you sent her away.”
Charles answered, “You don’t understand what would happen if she remembered.”
The recording ended with a sharp click.
Bell examined the device. The file had been recorded eleven days earlier.
May you like
Lena had met Charles less than two weeks ago.
And Charles had said Victoria might remember.
