Chapter 5 - THE SEWING ROOM
Dante and Isabela entered the old sewing room after midnight.
The air smelled of cedar and dust. Dress forms stood under white sheets. Boxes of thread lined one wall. Dante found a lamp while Isabela tried the key in a small walnut desk.
The lock turned.
Inside were old invoices, fabric samples, and a sealed envelope addressed to Helena. Isabela recognized her mother’s handwriting immediately.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
Helena, I did not take the money. Augusto paid me to leave after I told him what I saw in the office. I kept a copy of the ledger page. If he says I’m lying, ask why the payments to the Santos Clinic were made under my name.
Isabela read the line twice.
“What payments?” Dante asked.
“I don’t know.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Rafael stood in the doorway. “The alarm on this wing was disabled.”
Dante held up the letter. “Can you find the old financial records?”
“I can try.”
Isabela kept reading. At the bottom, Marisa had written:
There is one more thing. The child in the photograph is mine. Please keep her away from Augusto until I can explain why.
Dante saw the words over Isabela’s shoulder.
“What did my father want with you?”
“I was a baby,” Isabela said. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
A sharp sound came from the hallway. Rafael stepped out, then shouted for them to stay inside.
Dante went after him. A man in a maintenance uniform was running toward the stairs. Rafael chased him down the corridor while Dante blocked the landing.
The man changed direction, slammed through a side door, and vanished into the garden.
Rafael returned with a torn piece of cloth in his fist. “He knew which hallway camera was down.”
Dante looked back at the open desk. “Someone knew we’d come here.”
His phone rang. The caller ID showed the private number of his uncle, Vicente Montenegro.
May you like
Dante answered.
Vicente spoke before he could say a word. “Leave Marisa Costa’s letter where you found it.”
