Chapter 12 - Rosa Makes a Bad Choice
Emily did not answer her phone.
Her apartment was empty.
Her desk at Nolan Care Group had been cleared.
By midnight, police had an alert out for her car.
Grace sat in a motel room under protective watch because the Nolan house was now a crime scene and the hospital had discharged her.
Rosa stood at the window, opening and closing the curtain two inches at a time.
“Stop that,” Grace said.
“I’m checking.”
“You’ve checked twelve times.”
“Thirteen.”
Grace threw a pillow at her.
Rosa caught it.
For the first time all day, the room felt almost normal.
Then Rosa’s phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen and went pale.
“Who is it?”
“No one.”
Grace sat up. “You are a terrible liar.”
Rosa didn’t answer.
The phone buzzed again.
Mateo.
Rosa walked into the bathroom and shut the door.
Grace heard only fragments.
“…don’t move…”
“…I said no…”
“…where are you?”
Then silence.
Rosa came out wearing her coat.
“No.” Grace pointed at her.
“I didn’t ask.”
“Whatever you’re about to do, no.”
“Mateo says Emily contacted him.”
Grace stood too quickly. “Why?”
“She offered him money for the memory card. He told her police have it.”
“Then call the detective.”
“I did.”
Grace looked at the phone in Rosa’s hand.
“You did not.”
Rosa’s eyes hardened. “Emily says she knows where Ellis is buried.”
Grace went still.
“She wants to meet me alone.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Grace—”
“No. You don’t get to save everybody by doing the dumbest possible thing.”
Rosa flinched.
The words were too sharp.
Grace knew it as soon as they landed.
But she did not take them back fast enough.
Rosa slipped the phone into her pocket.
“My mother died behind a chained door,” she said quietly. “I stayed in Daniel’s house for a year pretending to dust his furniture. I watched him eat breakfast. I washed his coffee cup. Every day I told myself I was waiting for the right moment.”
She looked at Grace.
“Maybe I like dumb moments because I hate waiting.”
Then she walked out.
Grace stood frozen for three seconds.
Four.
Five.
Her mistake was not letting Rosa go.
May you like
Her mistake was believing she could fix it alone.
Grace grabbed the motel key, ignored the deputy downstairs, and followed her into the night.
