Chapter 10 - The Photograph Outside the Window
The threatening message arrived at 8:16 that evening.
It was sent to Rosa's phone from an unknown number.
There were no words at first.
Only a photograph.
It showed the front entrance of St. Luke's Church.
A light glowed through the basement window.
A volunteer's van was parked beside the sidewalk.
And standing near the entrance was Maya.
The photograph had been taken less than an hour earlier.
Rosa stared at it.
Then another message appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT TOWN WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE.
She dropped the phone.
Maya looked up.
"Mom?"
Rosa pulled both children toward her.
"Stay close to me."
Within minutes, Sergeant Ruiz had been notified.
Additional officers arrived at the church.
The families were moved away from the windows while police searched the surrounding streets.
No one found the photographer.
But the message made one thing unmistakable.
Someone wanted the witnesses frightened into silence.
Nathan stood beside me in the basement hallway.
His face was pale.
"This is what Maya was afraid of," he said.
I turned toward him.
"What do you mean?"
"Mercer told them he could find them wherever they went."
I looked through the doorway at Rosa.
She was holding Eli close against her chest.
Maya sat beside them, gripping a small stuffed rabbit.
Suddenly, I understood why the families had been so frightened of reporting what had happened.
They weren't simply afraid of losing temporary shelter.
They believed that the people controlling their housing could reach into every part of their lives.
And for weeks, nothing had happened to prove them wrong.
Avery Bennett arrived shortly afterward.
She spoke with Ruiz, then arranged for the families to be transferred to a supervised emergency shelter operated independently of Mercer's company.
The location would not be shared with the city housing office until investigators could establish who had access to the records.
June remained beside Rosa as arrangements were made.
I approached Maya.
She looked up at me with enormous brown eyes.
"Are Nathan and Cole in trouble?" she asked.
I sat beside her.
"They're safe."
"Are you mad at them?"
I hesitated.
"I'm upset that they didn't tell me what was happening."
Maya looked down.
"They wanted to."
I studied her.
"What do you mean?"
She twisted the rabbit's worn ear between her fingers.
"Sometimes Nathan said he should tell you. But I was scared."
"Scared of what, sweetheart?"
"That people would come and take us away."
I reached for her hand.
"Maya, asking for help doesn't mean you deserve to be punished."
She stared at me.
"But that's what Mr. Mercer said."
I felt anger burn through my chest.
The man had used frightened children to keep their families silent.
And my son had believed protecting those children meant hiding everything from me.
Maya slowly moved closer.
"Mrs. Laura?"
"Yes?"
"Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
She glanced toward the hallway to make sure no one was listening.
Then she reached down and removed one of her shoes.
From beneath the thin inner lining, she carefully pulled out a tiny black memory card wrapped in tissue.
I stared at it.
"Where did you get that?"
"Cole gave it to me before he went back for Eli."
My heartbeat quickened.
"Why?"
"He said if anything happened, I had to give it to somebody I trusted."
She placed the memory card in my palm.
"He said everything was on there."
I looked toward Nathan.
He had gone completely still.
"Maya," he whispered, "is that from Cole's camera?"
She nodded.
Then she said something that sent a shiver through me.
"Cole told me the camera recorded the men talking."
May you like
I immediately contacted Sergeant Ruiz.
Because whatever was stored on that tiny card might explain why someone had been willing to lock two children inside a flooding factory.
