Chapter 9 - The Server Named Rosa
Rosa Delgado lived above a laundromat on the east side of the city, in a brick building with rusted fire escapes and curtains faded by years of sun.
She opened the door with a chain lock still attached.
When she saw Marcus, she almost closed it.
Then she saw me.
Her face changed.
“You’re alive,” she whispered.
“So are you,” I said. “I wasn’t sure everyone from that kitchen would be.”
Rosa’s eyes filled with fear.
Marcus kept his hands visible. “We’re not here to hurt you.”
“That’s what men in suits always say.”
“I’m not with the Blackwoods.”
“No,” she said. “You’re with money. That’s close enough.”
I liked her immediately.
Agent Cole showed her credentials. “We need to ask about Daniel Reyes.”
Rosa’s hand tightened on the door.
“He didn’t do anything.”
“We know.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“Then help us.”
Rosa looked up and down the hallway before unhooking the chain.
Her apartment was small and neat. A child’s drawing hung on the fridge, though no child was visible. The air smelled like coffee and laundry soap. On the kitchen table sat an envelope stuffed with cash.
Marcus noticed.
Rosa noticed him noticing.
“That came this morning,” she said. “No return address.”
“How much?” Agent Cole asked.
“Ten thousand dollars.”
“For what?”
Rosa’s mouth twisted. “To forget I saw Evelyn put something in the glass.”
I looked at the envelope.
“Why didn’t you take it and run?”
She looked at me sharply.
“Because my mother died in a hospital that told us poor people misunderstand paperwork. Because men like the Blackwoods think silence is something they can buy wholesale. Because I saw your face when she ripped that pump off you.”
Her anger filled the little apartment like heat.
I sat at her table because my legs had begun trembling again.
“Did you know Daniel?”
Rosa nodded slowly.
“We worked events together sometimes. He was quiet. Too quiet. Always watched doors.”
“Did he ever mention his family?”
“No. But once, when he saw your name on the wedding schedule, he asked me to point you out.”
My pulse jumped.
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘That’s her?’ Then he looked like someone had punched him.”
Marcus leaned forward. “Did he speak to anyone else at the wedding?”
Rosa thought.
“There was an older man from the Blackwood side. Not family, I don’t think. Lawyer type. Silver glasses. He went into the service hallway with Daniel about an hour before you collapsed.”
Agent Cole pulled up a photo on her phone.
“Was it this man?”
Rosa recoiled.
“Yes.”
The phone showed Grant’s father, Alistair Blackwood.
I had met him only twice. Evelyn’s husband was quieter than she was, but not kinder. He had the air of a man who let others do violence because delegation was efficient.
“He was at the wedding?” I asked.
“He disappeared before the police arrived,” Agent Cole said.
Of course he did.
Rosa continued. “After Daniel talked to him, he came back pale. He told me if anything happened, I should give this to the woman with the medical bracelet.”
She went to a cupboard and removed a small packet wrapped in foil.
Marcus took it carefully.
Inside was a key card.
And a note.
Not written to Marcus.
Not to Rosa.
To me.
If you’re Elena, I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner. Room 612. Harborlight Motel. Don’t trust the man who says he’s your father until you see the blue file.
I looked up.
Thomas had not come with us. He was at the lake house under guard, recovering from what the morning had revealed.
Don’t trust the man who says he’s your father.
My chest tightened.
Marcus read the note, his expression darkening.
“Daniel knew about Thomas.”
“Or someone told him,” Agent Cole said.
“Who has the blue file?” I asked.
No one answered.
Rosa crossed her arms. “Daniel carried a backpack. Old army green one. He kept it under the catering van seat.”
“The van was found abandoned,” Marcus said.
“Then someone took it.”
A sound came from the hallway.
A floorboard.
Small, but wrong.
Rosa’s face changed.
Marcus moved first, crossing silently to the door. He looked through the peephole.
Then he stepped back and motioned for us to move away.
Someone knocked.
Not loudly.
Three polite taps.
Rosa mouthed, Don’t.
A man’s voice came through the door.
“Miss Delgado, we’re from building management. There’s a leak downstairs.”
Agent Cole drew her weapon.
Marcus opened the door without warning and yanked the man inside.
He was young, broad-shouldered, and holding a suppressed pistol.
Agent Cole disarmed him in less than two seconds.
Rosa backed against the fridge, hand over her mouth.
The man said nothing.
Marcus searched him and found no ID.
Only a phone.
It buzzed while Marcus held it.
The screen showed one incoming message.
Is she there?
Agent Cole took a photo of the screen.
Then another message appeared.
Both of them?
My blood went cold.
Not just Rosa.
Me.
Marcus looked at me.
“We need to leave. Now.”
But the phone buzzed again.
This time, it was an image.
A photograph of Thomas Ashford sitting in the lake house, taken through a window.
May you like
Under it was a message:
Bring the girl, or the old man dies first.
