Chapter 5 - THE DETECTIVE WHO NEVER SEARCHED
Alejandro stared at the photograph.
Hale had never been brought into Elena’s disappearance by chance.
He had been waiting.
For years.
That realization changed everything.
“He was assigned to her case,” Alejandro said.
Isabella nodded.
“Because someone made sure he would be.”
“How?”
“Vivian had connections in the department.
Hale had connections everywhere else.”
Elena sat beside sleeping Marco.
“So the search was fake.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
He remembered helicopters.
Search teams.
Press conferences.
Divers.
Private investigators.
Hale standing beside him promising they would never stop.
“How much of it?”
Isabella answered carefully.
“Enough to make you believe people were searching places where Elena was never going to be.”
Alejandro looked toward Elena.
“I should have known.”
“No.”
She spoke firmly.
He looked at her.
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I lived here.”
“You were manipulated too.”
“I left this house dozens of times.”
“They moved me.”
Alejandro frowned.
“When?”
“Whenever you came home unexpectedly.”
He stared.
Elena continued.
“There are old staff apartments beneath the guesthouse.
Sometimes they kept me there.
Sometimes in the east wing.
Once in a medical facility for six weeks.”
“What medical facility?”
“Saint Catherine Behavioral Center.”
Alejandro knew it.
It had closed the previous year.
He had donated two million dollars to it.
At Vivian’s recommendation.
He stood suddenly.
Elena flinched.
Alejandro immediately stopped.
He hated that she still reacted to sudden movement.
“Sorry.”
She looked down.
“That will take time.”
The words almost broke him.
He sat across from her.
“Take all the time you need.”
For the first time, Elena looked directly into his eyes.
Something familiar appeared.
Not trust yet.
But memory of trust.
Then Marco stirred.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
He fell asleep again.
Alejandro watched his son.
“Does he know who I am?”
“I told him stories.”
“About me?”
“Every night.”
His throat tightened.
“What did you tell him?”
“That his father never stopped looking.”
Alejandro covered his mouth.
Elena reached across and touched his hand.
It lasted only a second.
But it was the first voluntary touch she had given him.
Isabella closed the laptop.
“We need to decide what happens next.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“I’m getting federal authorities.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because we don’t know who is compromised.”
“Not every agency belongs to Vivian.”
“No.
But she only needs one person to learn where we are.”
Daniel entered after checking outside.
“She’s right.”
Alejandro looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“Vivian’s network is built on information.
Not muscle.”
Elena whispered.
“She always knows what people’re afraid of.”
Isabella nodded.
“She buys some.
Blackmails others.
Threatens whoever remains.”
Alejandro looked at the drive.
“Then we take this directly to someone I trust.”
“Who?”
Alejandro thought.
Then one name came to him.
Nathan Cole.
His college roommate.
Now a federal prosecutor in Washington.
They had not spoken in nearly two years.
That distance was exactly why Vivian might not expect him.
Alejandro borrowed Isabella’s phone.
Nathan answered on the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
“It’s Alejandro.”
Silence.
“Where are you?”
“Can’t say.”
“Half the news is reporting you assaulted police officers at your estate.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
“That was fast.”
“They’re saying your wife is mentally ill and you removed her from protective custody.”
Elena heard.
Her face tightened.
Nathan continued.
“And Alejandro…”
“What?”
“They say you kidnapped a seven-year-old boy.”
Alejandro looked at Marco.
“He’s my son.”
Nathan said nothing.
Then quietly.
“Tell me where you are.”
Alejandro hesitated.
“I need to know I can trust you.”
Nathan’s response came immediately.
“You once pulled me from a burning car.
If this is the moment you collect, I’m listening.”
Alejandro gave him a location thirty miles away.
Not the motel.
A church parking lot.
Nathan agreed to come alone.
Three hours later, Daniel watched from a nearby rooftop while Alejandro approached Nathan’s car.
Nathan stepped out.
Tall.
Forty-three.
Gray beginning at his temples.
He looked exhausted.
Then he saw Elena.
His face changed completely.
“My God.”
Elena remained behind Alejandro.
Nathan raised his hands.
“Elena.
I’m not coming closer.”
She nodded.
Alejandro handed him a copy of the drive.
Nathan plugged it into a secure laptop.
His expression grew darker with every file.
“This isn’t a kidnapping case.”
“What is it?”
“Racketeering.
Fraud.
Judicial corruption.
Money laundering.
Possibly attempted murder.”
“Possibly?”
Nathan looked at him.
“I need evidence connecting Vivian directly.”
Elena spoke.
“I can give you that.”
Everyone turned.
She swallowed.
“There is a room underneath the mansion.”
Daniel frowned.
“Underneath where?”
“The old chapel.”
Alejandro stared.
“What room?”
“I only saw it once.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.
Vivian was drunk.”
“What’s inside?”
Elena’s face went pale.
“Records.”
“What kind?”
“People.”
Nathan frowned.
Elena shook her head.
“Not records about people.”
She looked at Alejandro.
“Records of people Vivian owns.”
A sound suddenly came from Nathan’s car.
His radio.
Static.
Then a woman’s voice.
“Hello, Alejandro.”
Everyone froze.
Vivian.
Alejandro stared at the dashboard.
The phone in Nathan’s pocket began ringing.
He pulled it out.
Unknown number.
Alejandro answered.
Vivian laughed softly.
“You really should stop trusting old friends.”
Alejandro looked at Nathan.
Nathan went pale.
“I swear—”
Vivian continued.
“Nathan’s daughter attends Georgetown University, doesn’t she?”
Nathan stopped breathing.
Vivian said pleasantly.
“She just left the library.”
Nathan grabbed the phone.
“If you touch her—”
“You see, Nathan?
Everyone has something.”
Alejandro looked toward the surrounding buildings.
Vivian was watching.
Somehow.
Nathan whispered.
“How did she know?”
Elena answered.
“Because she didn’t follow us.”
Everyone looked at her.
“She didn’t need to.”
May you like
Elena stared at the laptop.
“She’s inside the drive.”
