Chapter 7 - The Recording That Proved the Crime but Could Not Tell Us Where Maya Was
The memory card contained a recording of Victor approving payments to a private detention company.
It also held photographs of altered medical files and a ledger linking Westhaven to a chain of shell companies.
Naomi sent copies to an independent prosecutor and two investigative journalists. She refused to hand the originals to the local police.
"We need three doors open," she said. "If one closes, the evidence survives."
I watched Maya on the final video. She had placed the camera on a windowsill and was whispering to someone offscreen.
"If I disappear, tell Clara I'm sorry I didn't come home."
I replayed that sentence until Lorenzo gently shut the laptop.
"You're not helping her by hurting yourself," he said.
"You don't get to tell me how to love my sister."
He accepted that without argument.
That evening we learned Westhaven had been emptied again. A transport manifest listed five patients. Maya's name was absent.
Evelyn recognized a logo on the driver's uniform: a small compass inside a circle.
"Victor's old freight company," she said. "He kept the trucks after the merger."
The company had a distribution yard across the river. We gave the address to the prosecutor.
I wanted to go myself. Lorenzo refused to arrange it.
"I won't send you into a place where she may be held by armed men," he said.
May you like
For the first time, his refusal sounded like concern instead of possession.
I still hated waiting.
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