Chapter 9 - The Night Lucia Died
Rosa came back to the hospital as soon as Valeria called.
“Was an Aranda car at the crash?” Valeria asked.
Rosa studied Esther’s photograph. “I never saw this.”
“Lucia was meeting Gabriel that night,” Alejandro said.
Rosa nodded. “He promised to bring the missing payment records.”
Alejandro called Gabriel from Marisol’s phone.
“Tell us what happened to Lucia.”
Gabriel was silent long enough that Alejandro thought he might hang up.
“I’ll talk to Tessa,” Gabriel said at last. “Not over the phone.”
They arranged a meeting for six. Gabriel never arrived.
Police found his car near the river, keys in the ignition and doors unlocked. There was no sign of a struggle. The detective said Gabriel might have left on his own, but she agreed to look for him.
Back in Valeria’s room, Rosa held Lucia’s address book open.
“The number beside ‘second account’ still works,” she said. “It belongs to a storage company.”
Rosa searched the bag of letters again and found a small brass key tucked inside an envelope.
Tessa sent an investigator with Alejandro and Rosa to the storage facility. They found one cardboard box under Lucia’s name.
Inside were copies of clinic payments, foundation reports, and letters Lucia had never mailed. At the bottom lay a small voice recorder.
Alejandro pressed play.
His father’s voice filled the storage unit.
“Bring me the ledger, Lucia. I’ll make sure those families get their money.”
“You said we’d meet alone,” Lucia answered.
A car door slammed.
Esther’s voice followed. “Give me the ledger.”
“You followed us?” Alejandro’s father asked.
Esther ignored him. “Lucia, you don’t know what you’re putting at risk.”
May you like
The recorder scraped against something. Lucia drew a breath.
Then it stopped.
