Chapter 6 - Rafael Didn't Die Naturally
Bell locked the library.
Victoria called security.
Claudia stared at her father’s messages.
“I thought he was protecting the company.”
I said, “Maybe he is. From me.”
She flinched.
Bell said, “We need the nurse.”
“Mara?”
“Yes.”
Claudia shook her head.
“She hated Dad.”
Victoria looked at her.
“What?”
“She told me once she was quitting.”
“When?”
“A week before Uncle Rafael died.”
“Why?”
“She said Dad asked her to do something she would not do.”
Bell leaned forward.
“What?”
Claudia swallowed.
“She would not tell me.”
I looked at her.
“You knew she was afraid.”
“I did not know this.”
“No one in this family ever knows anything until money moves.”
Victoria snapped, “Enough.”
“No.”
I turned.
“This house has been built on enough.”
Bell’s phone buzzed.
His investigator.
Possible location on Mara.
An old apartment outside Providence.
We left immediately.
The apartment door was unlocked.
Inside:
No Mara.
No clothes.
No toiletries.
One coffee cup still warm.
Someone had been there minutes earlier.
A back window stood open.
Bell’s guard checked the alley.
Nothing.
I saw a paper taped under the kitchen table.
My name.
LUCIA.
I pulled it free.
Three words.
HE SWITCHED ROOMS.
Bell frowned.
“Who?”
Another line below.
RAFAEL KNEW.
Then a storage key.
Unit 88.
I looked at Bell.
Before we could move, tires screamed outside.
A black SUV stopped.
Two men got out.
Bell shoved me behind the wall.
One man raised a gun.
The shot broke the window.
Glass sprayed the kitchen.
We dropped.
Security returned fire.
The men ran.
The SUV disappeared.
Bell checked me.
“I’m fine.”
I was not fine.
My hands would not stop shaking.
He picked up the storage key.
“Mara expected us.”
“Or expected me.”
We drove to the storage unit with police.
Inside:
Medical logs.
Copied emails.
Rafael’s room schedule.
And a small recorder.
I pressed play.
Mara’s voice.
“Mr. Montenegro told me not to give him anything Adrian sent.”
Then Rafael.
Weak.
“Switch the room numbers.”
Mara:
“Why?”
Rafael:
“Because if I’m wrong, nobody gets hurt.”
Bell and I looked at each other.
The recording continued.
Rafael:
“And if I’m right, we find out who he means to drug.”
Mara:
“What if Adrian notices?”
Rafael laughed softly.
“He always notices too late.”
Then another voice entered.
Adrian.
“Uncle?”
The recorder clicked.
Stopped.
Bell searched the remaining files.
One envelope.
TO ISABEL’S GRANDDAUGHTER.
Inside:
A key.
And one sentence.
IF MARA DISAPPEARS, THE REST IS IN 914.
I looked at Bell.
“What is 914?”
His face changed.
“Rafael’s old warehouse.”
Then his phone rang.
The police investigator at the apartment.
They had found a woman two blocks away.
Alive.
Mara.
Bell put the call on speaker.
Mara’s voice shook.
“I didn’t poison Rafael.”
I said, “I didn’t ask if you did.”
Silence.
Then she whispered:
“Adrian made me drug the wrong man.”
May you like
CUT.
