Chapter 4 - What Isabel Asked Him to Carry
Isabel's account arrived in fragments. She had worked as a hotel laundry attendant under a staffing company that controlled her housing and deducted fees she didn't understand. She kept copies of time sheets to contest the charges. When a supervisor learned she planned to speak to investigators, she began receiving threats about losing her job and place to live. Mateo, servicing an alarm panel one night, noticed that her recorded entry times exceeded the hours she was paid.
"He asked whether I wanted someone to see it," Isabel said. "I said yes. I didn't know what yes would cost."
Mateo copied records that might corroborate the workers' claims. He also removed a small backup device from a network cabinet after a technician told him the data was about to be overwritten. That choice may have violated his access agreement, even if his purpose was to preserve evidence. He planned to deliver the material to a lawyer at the freight office. Isabel asked him to carry her handwritten notebook because she feared her supervisor would search her room.
"Did he reach the meeting?" Sofia asked.
"He did. He gave the lawyer a packet. Then someone followed him. He called me and told me to leave town. I did. I thought he left too."
Isabel had received one postcard from Mateo a year later. It carried no return address and said she should speak only to the attorney she'd already met. She assumed he was safe. When Sofia asked whether she still had the postcard, Isabel said she had given it to investigators after seeing news of the hotel confrontation.
The postcard raised more questions than it answered. If Mateo had been free to mail a card, why hadn't he contacted his mother? Had he been hiding to protect Isabel, avoiding legal exposure for taking data, or prevented by someone else? Isabel couldn't know. She felt guilty for asking him to help, but Sofia told her the blame didn't belong to a worker who wanted accurate wages and safe housing.
Marco's lawyer supplied an invoice showing his company paid for a confidential meeting room at the freight office after the first evidence packet was delivered. He insisted Marco was attempting to protect business documents while assessing possible wrongdoing. Chen asked why a hotel investor, rather than an independent investigator, arranged the space. The explanation remained incomplete.
Sofia lost her job the following week. Her manager said the hotel couldn't maintain trust while she was accused of taking guest material. Sofia asked for a written decision and copies of her original service assignment. She wanted to challenge the termination through appropriate channels, but she also needed rent money. She accepted temporary cleaning shifts at an office complex and began carrying a small notebook to record hours accurately. It felt like a bitter echo of the workers Mateo had tried to help.
Elena cooked dinner for Sofia on the first night after her dismissal. "Your brother would be angry," she said.
"He'd tell me to find another job."
"He'd tell you not to let them make you think you were worth less than a room key."
Sofia laughed through tears. Her mother could still make Mateo sound like a person rather than a missing photograph.
Chen called with an update about the freight office. Archived building access records showed Mateo entered on the date of the postcard's alleged origin, not just the day he vanished. The record was authenticated through a backup created for insurance purposes. Someone had renewed a lease on the office under a company connected to Marco months earlier.
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The next morning a contractor arrived at Elena's house with a notice that an old storage unit in Mateo's name had fallen behind on fees and would be auctioned. Nobody in the family knew he had rented one. The address on the notice matched a unit near the freight office.
Sofia stared at the notice, realizing her brother had continued making decisions in the city long after they believed he was gone.
