Chapter 7 - Rosa's ShoesRosa Alvarez had cleaned the Harrington estate for fourteen years. She had two grown sons, a mother with mobility problems, and a habit of leaving her work shoes by the laundry-room radiator. Theo knew all of this; what he didn't know was where she'd gone.
“Could she have left willingly?” Ortiz asked.
“Not without saying goodbye to her mother.”
Investigators checked on Rosa's family. Her younger son, Mateo, answered the door holding a phone he hadn't stopped watching.
“She texted me yesterday,” he said. “‘Don't come to work. Take Grandma somewhere safe.’ She works for the Harringtons, not me. Why would she say that?”
Ortiz asked for the message. Mateo showed her, then insisted on calling his mother again. The call went straight to voicemail.
Hours passed. We waited in a conference room while officers followed leads I wasn't authorized to know. I hated waiting. For decades, I had made order out of fraud reports and testimony. Now my daughter needed me, and the best thing I could do was stay out of the way.
At last Ortiz returned. “We've located Rosa. She's physically safe.”
My knees almost gave out.
“Will she talk?” Nora asked.
“Not until we can address threats made against her family.”
A little later, Rosa joined the interview through a secure video connection. Her dark hair was tied back, and her eyes looked hollow.
“Mrs. Ward,” she whispered. “I tried to pull Evelyn away from her.”
“I believe you.”
“Garrett took Chloe's phone. She had another one, hidden in a cleaning bucket, but I don't know if they found it.”
“Where's the bucket?” Ortiz asked.
“In the service hallway. Blue handle. Bottom shelf.”
Investigators requested a warrant for relevant areas of the estate. Rosa leaned toward the camera.
“There's another thing. Evelyn keeps a private ledger in the old conservatory. Nobody opens it except her.”
“What's in it?” Nora asked.
May you like
Rosa's mouth trembled.
“Payments for every person the Harringtons ever paid to disappear.”
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