Chapter 13 - The Man in the Parking Garage
By evening, police had issued a warrant for Beatriz on charges related to forgery and child endangerment.
Javier Vega had disappeared too.
Ethan should have stayed with Isabella.
Instead, when Priya discovered that Sofia's flash drive contained the address of a storage unit rented under a fake name, he went with Detective Ortiz.
The unit held what looked like a second version of his life.
Copies of tax returns. Passport scans. Old contracts. Samples of his signature cut from birthday cards and legal forms. Sofia's jewelry in a plastic bin. Isabella's medical records.
And, in the back, twelve framed photographs removed from the family home.
Every photograph included Sofia.
"Why take these?" Ethan asked.
Ortiz looked around. "Control. Money. Maybe both."
A steel cabinet contained ledgers showing payments to Morrow and two different document-preparation companies.
Then the storage facility lights went out.
Ortiz drew her weapon.
"Stay behind me."
A door slammed somewhere down the corridor.
Footsteps ran.
They moved toward the parking garage.
A man burst through the stairwell.
Javier.
He saw Ethan and changed direction.
"Stop! Police!" Ortiz shouted.
Javier sprinted between parked cars. Ethan followed despite Ortiz yelling his name.
He caught Javier near the exit ramp.
Javier turned and swung.
The punch clipped Ethan's cheek.
Ethan drove him against a concrete pillar.
"Where is Beatriz?"
Javier laughed, breathless. "You still think she's the one running this?"
Ortiz reached them and pulled Ethan back.
"Hands where I can see them!"
Javier raised both hands.
"Ask your precious wife who gave her the passwords," he said.
"She is my wife."
"No. Your first wife."
Ethan froze.
Ortiz stared at him. "What is he talking about?"
Javier's smile vanished when he realized he had said too much.
"Sofia found the trust fraud before she got sick," he muttered. "She thought it started after her diagnosis. It didn't."
Ethan grabbed the front of his jacket.
"Who started it?"
Javier looked him straight in the eye.
"Someone inside your company."
Then Ortiz's radio crackled.
A patrol officer had located Beatriz's car.
Abandoned beside the interstate.
In the passenger seat was Isabella's school photograph.
May you like
Across the glass, written in red lipstick, were three words.
HE CAN'T SAVE HER.
