Chapter 8 — The Arrest Order
By the time Juliano brought Clara and Elena upstairs, six police officers were waiting in the entryway.
Vanessa stood beside them with her arm bandaged.
She wore a fresh dress.
Her hair had been fixed.
She looked less like a victim than someone ready for photographs.
The lead detective stepped forward.
“Clara Mendes?”
Clara’s breathing changed.
Juliano moved in front of her.
“She needs medical attention.”
“She can receive it in custody.”
“On what charge?”
“Aggravated assault, theft, and attempted extortion.”
Clara stared.
“Extortion?”
Vanessa lifted her chin.
“She threatened to expose private information unless I paid her.”
“That never happened,” Clara said.
Vanessa pulled out her phone.
“I have the messages.”
The detective held up a printed transcript.
Juliano took it.
The messages appeared to come from Clara’s number.
They demanded five hundred thousand dollars.
They threatened to reveal Vanessa’s affair.
Clara read them.
“I didn’t send these.”
Vanessa smiled without warmth.
“Of course not.”
Juliano looked at Clara.
“Where is your phone?”
She looked toward the scattered belongings still lying near the door.
Her cracked phone was gone.
Vanessa spread her hands.
“How convenient.”
Elena stepped forward.
Weak.
Unsteady.
But alive.
Vanessa’s face changed for one raw second.
Recognition.
Then fear.
The detective looked at Elena.
“Ma’am, who are you?”
Elena stared directly at Vanessa.
“She knows.”
Vanessa recovered quickly.
“I’ve never seen this woman.”
Elena laughed.
It was dry and painful.
“You used to bring me tea.”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
Juliano turned to the detective.
“My mother was declared dead eleven years ago. She has been held beneath this property and drugged.”
The detective blinked.
“What?”
“I have evidence.”
Vanessa stepped closer to him.
“Juliano, listen to yourself. That woman is confused.”
Elena lifted a trembling finger.
“You changed the medication.”
Vanessa recoiled.
Clara looked at her.
“You knew she was alive.”
“No.”
“You were in the tunnel.”
“No.”
“You locked us in the room.”
“I was upstairs getting my wound treated.”
Juliano watched her.
Vanessa’s breathing had quickened.
She was finally losing control.
The detective raised his hand.
“Everyone stop.”
Then he looked at Clara.
“We still have an arrest warrant.”
Juliano stepped between them.
“Based on forged messages and a staged assault.”
“That is for a court to decide.”
The officer reached for Clara’s arm.
Elena suddenly collapsed.
Chaos erupted.
Juliano caught his mother.
Clara dropped beside them, pressing two fingers against Elena’s neck.
“Her pulse is too slow.”
Vanessa backed toward the staircase.
Mateo blocked her path.
“Where are you going?”
“To call a doctor.”
“There are six phones in this room.”
Vanessa looked at him.
Mateo’s face hardened.
Then a ringtone sounded.
Not from anyone standing there.
It came from inside the wall.
The detective pulled open the hidden panel beside the staircase.
A phone lay inside.
Clara’s missing phone.
On the screen was a new message.
She found Elena. Finish it tonight.
The sender’s name was saved as MATEO.
Every face turned toward the security chief.
May you like
Mateo slowly raised his hands.
And said, “That isn’t my number.”
