Chapter Twelve C: The Wrong Number
Samuel called Emily that afternoon while she was waiting for a bus outside the hospital.
“Adrian says you visited Lucia,” he began.
“She wanted to see me,” Emily replied.
“She remembered another vehicle.”
Samuel was quiet for several seconds.
“I heard,” he said.
“Nadia called me after the deputy left.”
“Do you know anything about it?”
“I know one family is still unaccounted for,” Samuel said.
“A father named Tomas Velez and his infant daughter.”
Emily moved away from the traffic noise.
“Why wasn’t their name on the list?” she asked.
“Because Tomas wasn’t a resident of Bellwether Court,” Samuel answered.
“He was visiting his sister when the evacuation began.”
“And the baby?”
“His daughter was with him.”
Emily remembered the empty carrier in Lucia’s description.
“Have you called the sister?” she asked.
“Adrian tried,” Samuel said.
“The number on her registration form connects to a closed pharmacy.”
“Then someone wrote down the wrong number.”
“Or someone copied the number from an old record,” Samuel replied.
Emily looked across the road at a laundromat with a broken sign.
The bus she had been waiting for passed without stopping because she was too far from the curb.
She barely noticed.
“Where is the sister now?” she asked.
“A temporary residence on Cedar Street,” Samuel said.
“Her name is Maribel.”
“Is somebody with her?”
“A volunteer is sitting with her, but she doesn’t trust us,” Samuel replied.
“She thinks we took her brother away.”
Emily heard the strain in his voice.
“Did you?” she asked.
“No,” Samuel said.
“But I understand why she thinks so.”
“Then tell her what you know.”
“Adrian has tried,” Samuel answered.
“She refuses to speak with him.”
Emily considered the problem.
“Maybe she doesn’t want another man in a dark suit explaining why he can’t find her family,” she said.
Samuel gave a weary laugh.
“That is probably fair.”
“I’m not a counselor,” Emily warned.
“I’m not asking you to be one,” he replied.
“I’m asking whether you would sit in a room while I tell her the truth.”
Emily checked the time on her phone.
She had an interview to prepare for and only enough money in her wallet for groceries and a bus fare.
“I can give you an hour,” she said.
“And I won’t promise her anything you can’t deliver.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Samuel replied.
Emily ended the call and crossed toward the next bus stop.
She did not know whether her presence would help.
She knew only that Maribel deserved to hear a clear answer from someone willing to stay while she asked the next question.
Chapter Twelve D: Maribel’s Room
The temporary residence occupied a former motel beside a busy road.
Its windows had been painted cream, and children’s shoes stood outside several doors.
Emily arrived to find Samuel seated on a plastic chair in the courtyard.
His cane leaned against the wall, and a paper bag rested beside his feet.
“I brought food,” he said when he saw her.
“I thought that might be appropriate.”
Emily looked inside the bag.
There were sandwiches, oranges, and two cartons of milk.
“Did you pay for them?” she asked.
Samuel lifted an eyebrow.
“Every penny,” he replied.
Maribel Velez opened her door after Samuel knocked twice.
She was younger than Emily expected, with tired eyes and a hospital wristband still attached to her arm.
“I told your friend I don’t want another meeting,” she said.
Samuel stepped back.
“You can close the door whenever you wish,” he answered.
“I came because we learned something new.”
Maribel looked at Emily.
“Who is she?”
“Emily Carter,” Emily said.
“I was working at the diner when the families came through.”
“Are you with the company?”
“No,” Emily answered.
“I don’t work for them.”
Maribel opened the door wider.
“Then you can come in,” she said.
Samuel followed after she nodded.
The room contained two narrow beds, a kettle, and a small suitcase with a broken zipper.
A photograph of Tomas holding his baby stood beside the television.
Maribel picked it up before anyone sat down.
“This is my brother,” she said.
“He came to help me carry my things downstairs.”
“His daughter was with him?” Emily asked.
“Yes,” Maribel answered.
“Her name is Alma.”
Samuel explained what Lucia had remembered about the white van.
He told Maribel that the deputy was checking vehicles and speaking with drivers.
He did not say that Tomas had been found.
Maribel listened without interrupting.
Then she asked a question that made Emily look toward the door.
“Why did the men tell Tomas that his baby needed to be examined?”
Samuel leaned forward.
“Who told him that?”
“Two men wearing yellow vests,” Maribel said.
“They said the children had to travel separately because of the smell in the building.”
“Did they show identification?” Emily asked.
“One of them held a clipboard,” Maribel replied.
“I didn’t see a badge.”
She pointed to the photograph.
“Tomas refused to hand Alma over, so they told him to come with her.”
“Did he leave willingly?” Samuel asked.
“He was frightened,” Maribel said.
“He kept asking me to follow.”
Her voice broke.
“They said there wasn’t room for me.”
Emily looked at the photograph again.
The baby was wearing a yellow knitted hat.
“Was Alma wearing that hat?” she asked.
Maribel shook her head.
“A pink one,” she said.
“Tomas packed the yellow one in her bag.”
Emily made herself remember the details without imagining an ending.
“Would you tell Deputy Kent everything you just told us?” she asked.
Maribel looked at Samuel.
“Will she listen?”
“She listened to Lucia,” Emily answered.
“She asked questions and wrote down the answers.”
Maribel set the photograph on the table.
“Then call her,” she said.
Samuel reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, a vehicle stopped outside the motel.
Maribel looked through the curtain and went pale.
“That’s the man with the clipboard,” she whispered.
