Chapter 10 - The Price of Telling the Truth|
The police arrived at Harbor House before Sadi and Roman.
Yellow tape stretched across the front entrance.
Two patrol cars blocked the street.
Miguel stood beside the sidewalk, trembling beneath an old brown jacket.
When Sadi stepped out of the car, he rushed toward her.
"I should have stayed."
She caught his hands.
"Tell me what happened."
"Gloria said she needed to find some old documents."
He wiped his face.
"She told me to help the families move."
"And when did you last see her?"
"Yesterday evening."
Sadi looked toward the building.
"Did she say which documents?"
Miguel nodded.
"Something about Ruth Mercer."
Roman approached the detective supervising the scene.
The detective was a middle-aged woman named Maya Reynolds.
She recognized Roman immediately.
Her expression became guarded.
"Mr. Voss."
"Detective."
"This is an active investigation."
"I understand."
"Then I'll need your people to stay outside."
Roman nodded without argument.
Sadi stepped forward.
"Gloria is like family to me."
Detective Reynolds studied her.
"Mrs. Voss?"
"Yes."
"I understand you're worried."
"Can you tell us whether she's hurt?"
"We don't know yet."
Sadi glanced toward the blood on the office floor.
The detective noticed.
"The amount is small."
She spoke carefully.
"It could be from a minor injury."
Sadi held onto that possibility.
An hour later, investigators discovered that someone had entered the shelter using an old service key.
Gloria's phone was missing.
Her handbag remained behind.
And a filing cabinet had been forced open.
The records inside concerned the original charitable trust.
Someone had searched for exactly the documents Sadi needed.
Back at the temporary shelter, Sadi found Lily sitting beside her mother.
The little girl held her damaged stuffed rabbit.
"Where's Miss Gloria?"
Sadi crouched.
"Some people are helping us find her."
"Is she lost?"
"Maybe for a little while."
Lily looked at her seriously.
"When I got lost in the grocery store, my mommy said I should stay somewhere safe until she found me."
Sadi felt tears sting her eyes.
"That's good advice."
Lily nodded.
"Maybe Miss Gloria is doing that."
Sadi hugged her.
"I hope so."
Later that afternoon, Roman received a message from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Gloria sitting in a small room.
She appeared frightened, but conscious.
Beneath the photograph was a demand.
Withdraw every complaint against Vale Development.
Destroy the copies of the property documents.
Or she doesn't come home.
Roman showed the message to Sadi and Detective Reynolds.
The detective immediately opened a kidnapping investigation.
She instructed them not to reply without coordinating with investigators.
Roman agreed.
But Sadi recognized the expression on his face.
It was the same dangerous stillness she had seen in the boutique.
"Roman."
He looked at her.
"Don't do anything that makes this worse."
His jaw tightened.
"She's one of the people who stood beside us at our wedding."
"I know."
"She's family."
"I know."
He looked away.
Sadi touched his cheek.
"Then let's bring her home without making another family suffer."
Roman closed his eyes.
When he opened them, the anger was still there.
But it was under control.
"All right."
The next clue arrived unexpectedly.
A short message appeared on Sadi's phone from Gloria's number.
It contained only five words.
Bread smell. Red brick. Water.
Detective Reynolds immediately began investigating possible locations near the waterfront.
Sadi stared at the message.
Bread smell.
Red brick.
Water.
Something about the combination felt familiar.
Then she remembered.
Years earlier, Gloria had taken her to a small bakery near the old riverfront warehouses.
The bakery occupied the ground floor of a redbrick building.
Behind it stood several vacant apartments overlooking the water.
The building was owned by a company connected to Vale Development.
Sadi called the detective.
"I think I know where she is."
Police verified the location before moving in.
Roman and Sadi waited several blocks away while officers entered the building.
Those were the longest twenty minutes of Sadi's life.
She sat in the passenger seat with both hands clasped together.
Roman kept his hand over hers.
Neither spoke.
Then Detective Reynolds called.
"We found her."
Sadi covered her mouth.
"Is she alive?"
"Yes."
The tears came immediately.
"Is she hurt?"
"She's shaken, and we're having her examined."
Sadi leaned forward.
"Can I see her?"
"Soon."
The detective paused.
"And Mrs. Voss?"
"Yes?"
"We've detained one of Gerald Vale's security employees at the scene."
Sadi looked toward Roman.
"Was it Damon Pike?"
"No."
The detective lowered her voice.
"It was a man who had previously worked for a company associated with Voss Holdings."
Roman went rigid.
The past he had tried to bury was reaching into the present.
When Gloria was finally brought to the hospital, Sadi embraced her carefully.
Gloria cried against her shoulder.
"I thought they were going to make me sign away the shelter."
"You're safe now."
Gloria shook her head.
"Listen to me."
Sadi stepped back.
"The original trust records weren't in the filing cabinet."
"Where are they?"
Gloria gripped her hand.
"Ruth Mercer left instructions."
"What instructions?"
"She said if anybody ever tried to take the building, there was one person we needed to find."
Sadi leaned closer.
"Who?"
Gloria whispered the name.
"Hannah Mercer."
Sadi frowned.
"Ruth's daughter?"
"Granddaughter."
Gloria nodded.
"She has the original trust documents and the authority to protect them."
"Where is she?"
Gloria's face crumpled.
"That's the problem."
She looked at Roman.
"Gerald Vale has spent six months trying to find her."
"And?"
May you like
Gloria swallowed.
"Hannah disappeared three weeks ago."
