Chapter 3
The police arrived twelve minutes later.
Those twelve minutes felt longer than the previous three years of my life.
Nobody was allowed to leave the upstairs hallway.
Dad stood near the stairs.
Marcello guarded the bedroom door.
Victor sat in a chair after realizing there was nowhere to go.
Isabella remained silent.
And Lily clung to me.
When Detective Elena Brooks entered the room, she took one look at the silicone bellies and stopped.
“What happened here?”
Dad answered first.
“We may have uncovered fraud, theft, forged documents, and possibly something involving a missing pregnant woman.”
The detective’s expression sharpened.
She looked at Lily.
I immediately stepped forward.
“My daughter is three.”
“I understand.”
“You are not questioning her alone.”
“I wouldn’t.”
Elena spoke gently.
Within minutes, officers separated everyone.
Victor was searched.
They found two phones.
Three fake IDs.
And a key card from Saint Matthew’s Women’s Clinic.
Isabella had the same type of key card hidden inside her purse.
Marcello stared at it.
“You told me you received prenatal care at Saint Matthew’s.”
She looked away.
Detective Brooks heard him.
“Did you?”
Isabella said nothing.
The detective turned to Victor.
“What is your connection to the clinic?”
“Consultant.”
“For what?”
He smiled.
“Security.”
Elena looked at the fake IDs again.
“Interesting security work.”
Another officer called from the bathroom.
“Detective.”
He held up a small plastic bag.
Inside was a syringe.
My stomach turned.
Marcello looked at Isabella.
“What is that?”
She began crying again.
“I don’t know.”
The detective didn’t react.
“We’ll test it.”
Then Lily tugged my necklace.
“Mommy, baby room.”
I looked at her.
“What baby room?”
She pointed toward the end of the hallway.
Grandmother’s bedroom connected through a narrow service corridor to an old nursery.
Nobody used it anymore.
The door had been painted shut years ago.
At least I thought it had.
Lily pointed.
“That way.”
Isabella stood suddenly.
Detective Brooks immediately told her to sit.
My heart started racing.
I carried Lily toward the corridor with two officers following.
The old nursery door looked normal.
Then I noticed fresh marks around the lock.
An officer pushed it open.
The room was empty.
Except for supplies.
Diapers.
Formula.
Newborn clothes.
A portable bassinet.
Sterilized bottles.
And a new infant car seat.
Marcello entered behind us.
He stared at the items.
The color drained from his face.
On the wall hung a wooden sign.
MATTEO.
The name he had chosen.
Marcello reached for the crib rail.
His knees buckled.
I caught him.
For several seconds, my brother could not speak.
“They were going to put a baby here.”
Detective Brooks searched the room.
Inside a drawer she found paperwork.
Birth certificate templates.
Hospital discharge forms.
A blank vaccination record.
And an envelope containing cash.
Twenty thousand dollars.
Victor finally stopped smiling.
Elena turned toward him.
“You want to reconsider your story?”
He remained silent.
She looked at Isabella.
“How about you?”
Isabella whispered, “I want a lawyer.”
The detective nodded.
“Then stop talking.”
Two officers handcuffed Victor after discovering an outstanding warrant for identity fraud.
Isabella was not immediately arrested.
That shocked Marcello.
“You’re letting her leave?”
“No,” Elena said. “We’re taking her downtown. But we need evidence before charging her with everything you’re describing.”
Marcello pointed toward the room.
“What more do you need?”
“A missing woman.”
My heart tightened.
“Sofia.”
Elena nodded.
“We’re checking.”
Lily suddenly spoke.
“She has yellow shoes.”
The detective crouched.
“Sofia?”
Lily nodded.
“Yellow shoes. Her belly was big.”
I swallowed.
“You saw her?”
Lily nodded again.
“Where?”
Lily pointed toward the floor.
“Down.”
A chill ran through me.
“What does down mean?”
She looked frustrated.
Little children knew things but didn’t always have the words adults needed.
“Stairs.”
“What stairs?”
“Little stairs.”
I remembered something.
The servants’ staircase.
It ran from the second-floor service corridor directly into the basement.
Nobody used it anymore.
Dad’s face changed when I said it.
Police moved immediately.
We followed until Detective Brooks stopped us.
“Stay here.”
I refused.
“If there is a pregnant woman in my house, I’m coming.”
Elena stared at me.
Then at Lily.
“Your daughter stays upstairs.”
Mom took Lily.
I followed Marcello and Dad.
The basement smelled of dust and wine.
Officers searched storage rooms.
The laundry room.
The boiler area.
Nothing.
Then one officer noticed a new padlock on the old wine cellar.
Dad stared at it.
“That isn’t ours.”
They cut it.
The door opened.
A mattress lay on the floor.
An empty water bottle.
Food wrappers.
A blanket.
And one yellow shoe.
My legs almost failed.
Marcello picked it up.
“Where is she?”
No one answered.
Then Detective Brooks found dried mud near a rear service exit.
The door led outside.
A security camera covered it.
Dad rushed to the control room.
Our camera system stored thirty days of footage.
Someone had deleted footage from the previous night.
But they hadn’t deleted everything.
One hallway camera had been overlooked.
At 2:13 a.m., it showed Victor walking through the basement.
Beside him was a terrified young woman.
Pregnant.
Barefoot except for one yellow shoe.
Her hands were bound in front of her.
Isabella followed behind them.
Marcello stared at the screen.
“No.”
Sofia stumbled.
Victor grabbed her.
Then Isabella leaned close to her face.
The camera had no sound.
But whatever Isabella said made Sofia start sobbing.
They led her through the service exit.
Three hours later, Isabella returned alone.
Victor did not.
The detective looked at him.
“Where did you take her?”
Victor stared at the screen.
His confidence finally cracked.
“I didn’t hurt her.”
“Where?”
He looked at Isabella.
She shook her head slightly.
Elena saw it.
“So did I.
Victor swallowed.
“She was supposed to be moved.”
“To where?”
“A house outside the city.”
“Address.”
He refused.
Detective Brooks handcuffed him fully.
Marcello turned toward Isabella.
“You watched them take her.”
Isabella whispered, “She agreed.”
“To being tied up?”
“She changed her mind.”
My stomach twisted.
“About giving you her baby?”
Isabella looked at me.
Her silence was enough.
Marcello stepped closer.
“You planned to take Sofia’s child and pretend it was ours.”
Tears slid down Isabella’s face.
“We had an arrangement.”
Detective Brooks asked, “Did she sign anything?”
“She promised.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Isabella said nothing.
Then an officer called Elena aside.
They whispered.
Elena’s face became grim.
She returned to us.
“Saint Matthew’s has no employee named Victor Hale.”
Victor looked down.
“And Sofia Ramirez was reported missing three days ago.”
My breath caught.
“By whom?”
“Her mother.”
Marcello closed his eyes.
Elena continued.
“Sofia is thirty-seven weeks pregnant.”
Dad whispered, “Dear God.”
The detective faced Victor.
“Mr. Hale, this has moved far beyond fraud.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Then Marcello’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then a woman’s trembling voice came through the speaker.
“Marcello?”
His eyes widened.
“Yes.”
“My name is Sofia.”
Every person in the basement froze.
She was crying.
“I found your number in Isabella’s bag.”
Marcello gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
A sound echoed behind her.
A door slamming.
Sofia gasped.
Then she whispered the words none of us would ever forget.
May you like
“They came back for me.”
The call ended.
