Chapter 9 - The Man Outside the Nursery
Luis called hospital security immediately.
Within minutes, two officers arrived at Rachel's office to take a statement.
Luis showed them the photograph.
The threatening message.
The call record.
One officer examined the image.
“Is this your daughter?”
“Yes.”
“Was the picture taken today?”
Luis nodded.
“I think so.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“We need the hospital to preserve its security footage.”
The officer nodded.
“We'll contact them.”
Luis was already reaching for his keys.
“I'm going back.”
Rachel stopped him.
“Luis.”
He turned.
“Don't contact Daniel again.”
“He threatened my baby.”
“I know.”
“Then why are we standing here?”
“Because whoever sent that photo may want you to act without thinking.”
Luis stared at her.
She continued.
“Let security do its job. Let us preserve the evidence.”
He took a breath.
Then nodded.
At St. Catherine's, the NICU security team had already begun reviewing visitor records.
The unit required controlled access.
No one could simply walk to an incubator without authorization.
But the photograph appeared to have been taken through a window near a restricted hallway.
At 3:10 p.m., the security supervisor approached Luis.
“We've identified someone who was near the unit.”
Luis stood.
“Who?”
“A man in his late fifties. Gray suit. He entered the public waiting area and approached the security desk.”
Luis felt his stomach tighten.
“Daniel Varela?”
The supervisor showed him a still image.
Luis recognized him immediately.
“Yes.”
The supervisor nodded.
“He claimed to be an attorney for your family.”
Luis clenched his fists.
“He isn't my attorney.”
“He was not admitted into the unit.”
“Then how did he take the picture?”
“He may have taken it through the outer observation window before staff redirected him.”
Luis stared.
“Did he speak to anyone?”
“He asked whether your daughter was stable.”
Luis felt sick.
“And?”
“The employee did not provide medical information.”
He nodded.
“What happens now?”
“We've restricted him from visiting without your authorization. We are preserving the footage and coordinating with law enforcement.”
Luis looked through the glass at Sofia.
She lay beneath warm lights.
Still fighting.
He turned back.
“No one from my mother's side of the family gets access.”
The supervisor nodded.
“We can document your visitor restrictions.”
“And Rosa Hernández.”
“Understood.”
Luis stayed beside the incubator for nearly an hour.
He watched Sofia's tiny hand open and close.
Then he whispered, “I'm sorry, sweetheart.”
A nurse named Caroline approached.
“Don't apologize to her.”
Luis looked up.
Caroline smiled gently.
“Just keep showing up.”
He swallowed.
“I'm trying.”
She nodded.
“I can see that.”
Later, Luis returned to Mariana's room.
She was sitting upright with help from a nurse.
Her face was still pale.
But her eyes were clearer.
“How's Sofia?” she asked immediately.
Luis smiled.
“Stubborn.”
Mariana gave a weak laugh.
“Just like her mom.”
He sat beside her.
Then told her about Daniel.
The photograph.
The threat.
Mariana went still.
“He came here?”
“Yes.”
“To the hospital?”
Luis nodded.
Her hands began shaking.
Luis took them gently.
“Security knows.”
“Why would he threaten our baby?”
Luis looked down.
“Because he thinks we're going to stop looking.”
Mariana swallowed.
“Are we?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
For several minutes they sat quietly.
Then Mariana whispered, “I need to tell you something.”
Luis looked up.
“What?”
“Yesterday, after your mother refused to take me to the hospital…”
She stopped.
Tears filled her eyes.
Luis squeezed her hand.
“You don't have to talk about it.”
“Yes, I do.”
She looked toward the window.
“I thought I was going to die.”
His chest tightened.
“I know.”
“No. I mean I knew.”
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“I could feel something was terribly wrong.”
Luis closed his eyes.
“I kept thinking about Sofia.”
She touched her abdomen.
“I kept telling her to stay.”
Her voice broke.
“Just stay with me, baby.”
Luis leaned forward.
Mariana wiped her face.
“And then I thought about you.”
He opened his eyes.
“I wanted to tell you I loved you.”
She began crying.
“But I didn't want those to be my last words.”
Luis pressed her hand against his forehead.
“Mariana…”
She looked at him.
“I don't want to live in that house anymore.”
He lifted his head.
“Okay.”
She blinked.
“Okay?”
“Yes.”
“Luis, it's our house.”
“Then we'll sell it.”
“But—”
“It's just a house.”
He swallowed.
“You and Sofia are my home.”
Mariana stared at him.
Then began crying again.
Luis moved closer.
She leaned against him carefully.
They stayed that way until a nurse came to check her blood pressure.
That evening, Rachel called.
She had contacted a retired detective who'd worked on missing person cases in Bexar County.
His name was Thomas Mercer.
He'd reviewed the basic documents.
And he remembered Elena Morales.
Luis stood beside the hospital window.
“Remembered her how?”
Rachel hesitated.
“He investigated her disappearance in 2001.”
Luis gripped the phone.
“Is he willing to talk?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
Luis exhaled.
“Thank you.”
“There's something else.”
He closed his eyes.
“What?”
“Mercer says the original investigation was closed after a witness claimed Elena left Texas voluntarily.”
Luis frowned.
“What witness?”
Rachel paused.
“Daniel Varela.”
Luis felt his blood run cold.
“Of course.”
“But Mercer never believed him.”
Luis straightened.
“Why not?”
“Because Elena's car was found with her purse inside.”
He stared.
Rachel continued.
“And there was blood on the passenger seat.”
Luis stopped breathing.
“Whose blood?”
“That's one of the questions Mercer wants to revisit.”
He looked through the window.
The sky over San Antonio was darkening.
Below, cars moved along the street.
Ordinary people.
Ordinary lives.
For thirty-one years, Luis had believed he was loved by a woman who had rescued him.
Now he was learning that another woman had spent years trying to find him.
And somewhere in the middle of those two stories, someone had disappeared.
Rachel spoke again.
“Luis?”
“Yes?”
“Mercer asked me to tell you one more thing.”
“What?”
“He remembers your father.”
Luis looked up.
“Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“What about him?”
Rachel's voice softened.
“Gabriel came to the police station in 2012.”
Luis felt his heart pounding.
“What did he say?”
“He told Mercer he thought he'd found Elena.”
Luis froze.
“Found her?”
Rachel paused.
“He gave Mercer the name of a private medical facility outside Austin.”
Luis stared into the darkness.
“What facility?”
Rachel read the name.
“Willow Creek Behavioral Center.”
Luis closed his eyes.
His father had spent years looking.
And before he died, he might have found the woman everyone said was gone.
But why hadn't he brought her home?
Rachel answered the question before Luis could ask.
“Luis, according to Mercer, your father died before investigators could verify the lead.”
A long silence followed.
Then Rachel added.
“But the facility's records may still exist.”
Luis looked toward Mariana's room.
Then toward the NICU.
For the first time, he understood what his father had been trying to do.
He hadn't only wanted to confess.
May you like
He'd wanted to bring Elena back.
And now Luis intended to finish what Gabriel had started.
