Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT MATEO DISAPPEARED
Elena had spent four years refusing to replay that night.
Now Detective Kim made her do it.
Every minute.
Every face.
Every sound.
Mateo was asleep in another room with a child services specialist and Daniel.
Elena sat under fluorescent lights.
Kim placed a legal pad between them.
“Tell me about the night he disappeared.”
Elena stared at the table.
“It was raining.”
“What time?”
“Around eight.”
“Where were you?”
“My apartment.”
“Was Mateo sick?”
“A fever.”
“How high?”
“One hundred three.”
“So you went to the hospital?”
Elena nodded.
“St. Matthew’s.”
Kim waited.
“Vanessa was working.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They said Mateo needed fluids.”
“Who is they?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Dr. Pierce.”
Kim wrote.
“Continue.”
“They gave me something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were medicated?”
“I thought it was for anxiety.”
“Did you consent?”
Elena opened her eyes.
“I don’t remember.”
Kim’s pen stopped.
“I woke up in a different room.”
“How long later?”
“Almost six hours.”
“And Mateo?”
“Gone.”
“What did staff say?”
“That my sister had taken him home.”
“But your sister was in Texas.”
“Yes.”
“What happened when you told them?”
“They said I was confused.”
Kim’s mouth tightened.
“They showed me paperwork with my signature.”
“Was it yours?”
“It looked like mine.”
“But?”
“I never signed it.”
Kim leaned back.
“And Vanessa?”
“Gone.”
“What did police say?”
“That security footage showed me leaving with Mateo.”
Kim looked up sharply.
“You?”
“A woman wearing my coat.”
Elena rubbed her arms.
“She had my hair.”
“My height.”
“From the camera angle, it looked like me.”
Kim was silent.
Elena whispered:
“I spent months trying to convince people I wasn’t crazy.”
Kim’s expression softened slightly.
“What happened next?”
“Two weeks later, I found out I was legally dead.”
Kim stared at her.
“How?”
“My debit card stopped working.”
Elena laughed without humor.
“I went to the bank.”
“They told me the account holder was deceased.”
Kim exhaled.
“That’s when you began investigating?”
“That’s when I realized somebody wanted me erased.”
The door opened.
Daniel entered.
His face was gray.
Kim frowned.
“You’re supposed to stay with Mateo.”
“He fell asleep.”
Daniel placed something on the table.
A photograph.
“I found this in Vanessa’s cloud storage.”
Elena picked it up.
It showed Vanessa holding baby Mateo in a hotel room.
The date was the morning after his disappearance.
Behind her was Dr. Pierce.
And a third person.
Elena stared.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You know her?”
Elena could barely breathe.
The woman in the photograph was her older sister.
Marisol.
Kim stood.
“Your sister?”
Elena whispered:
“She told police she was in Texas.”
Daniel looked sick.
“She wasn’t.”
Elena stared at Marisol’s smiling face.
For four years, Marisol had called every week.
Listened while Elena cried.
Sent money.
Told her not to give up.
Held her when investigators stopped returning calls.
Elena whispered:
“No.”
Then louder:
“No.”
Kim placed a hand near the photo.
“We need to find her.”
Elena was already calling.
The line rang twice.
Marisol answered.
“Elena?”
Her voice sounded normal.
Warm.
Familiar.
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“At home.”
“Are you alone?”
Another pause.
“Elena, what’s wrong?”
Elena stared at the photograph.
“You tell me.”
Silence.
Then Marisol whispered:
“You found Mateo.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Kim’s eyes sharpened.
Daniel went still.
Elena’s voice dropped.
“How do you know?”
Marisol began crying.
“Elena…”
“How do you know?”
A man spoke faintly in the background.
“Hang up.”
Elena recognized the voice.
May you like
Dr. Pierce.
Then the line went dead.
