Chapter 5 - The Missing Girl in the Photograph
"Carlo had a daughter?"
Nia couldn't hide her disbelief.
Matteo looked toward the hospital window.
"Her name was Sophia Costa. Everyone called her Sophie."
"Why haven't I heard of her?"
"Because Carlo made sure nobody mentioned her."
Matteo explained that Sophie had been seven when her mother, Elena, began questioning financial irregularities at a housing development controlled by the family.
Elena had discovered that the buildings were being used to disguise stolen funds.
Residents were paying rent.
Repair budgets were disappearing.
And the company overseeing everything belonged to Carlo.
When Elena threatened to expose him, she vanished.
Three weeks later, Sophie disappeared too.
Police investigated.
No bodies were found.
Carlo claimed his wife had taken their daughter and fled.
"Did you believe him?" Nia asked.
Matteo looked ashamed.
"I wanted to."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
He rubbed his face.
"I didn't believe him. But I never found enough evidence to prove anything else."
Nia took out Evelyn's letter.
"My grandmother knew Sophie."
Matteo nodded.
"She met her once."
"Where?"
"At Lakewood."
The housing complex had been one of Evelyn's volunteer projects.
She delivered groceries to elderly residents and helped children with homework.
On one of those visits, she'd met Elena and Sophie.
A week before disappearing, Elena left a small package with Evelyn.
Matteo had never known what it contained.
Nia felt her pulse quicken.
"The box."
"What?"
"The metal box from my grandmother's greenhouse."
Matteo looked at her.
"What was inside?"
"Documents. Recordings. Photographs."
"Anything else?"
Nia thought carefully.
There had been a small brass key attached to the envelope.
She had assumed it belonged to an old cabinet.
Now she wasn't sure.
"There's a key."
Matteo sat forward.
Pain crossed his face.
Keller immediately stepped into the room.
"Mr. Costa, lie back."
"I need to see that key."
"You need to recover."
Matteo ignored him.
Nia stepped closer.
"If you want to help, tell me everything."
He looked at her.
"Everything?"
"Yes."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Matteo said something she hadn't expected.
"I built a business on fear."
Nia remained still.
"I told myself I could keep the violence away from ordinary people. That I could control what happened."
He looked at the medical equipment around him.
"I was wrong."
Nia didn't offer comfort.
"You can start fixing that."
Matteo nodded slowly.
"I intend to."
That night, Nia and Enzo reviewed the photographs from the greenhouse.
One showed Sophie standing beside a painted wooden birdhouse.
Another showed Elena holding a birthday cake.
The third was different.
Elena stood outside a storage facility.
On the back was a handwritten number.
Unit 317.
Enzo checked the address.
The facility was still operating.
And someone had paid for Unit 317 every month for twelve years.
Through an anonymous account.
Nia stared at the screen.
"Who?"
Enzo opened the transaction details.
His expression changed.
"Your grandmother."
Nia leaned closer.
Evelyn had been paying for the unit since Sophie disappeared.
Even during the final months when she could barely afford medication.
"Why would she keep a storage unit all that time?"
"Maybe she was protecting something."
"Or someone."
Enzo looked at her.
Nia picked up the brass key.
"We're going."
They notified the investigators, who arranged to examine the unit with the necessary authorization.
The following morning, Nia stood beside a metal door marked 317.
An investigator opened it.
The storage unit contained six cardboard boxes.
A child's pink bicycle.
A folded stroller.
And a small wooden desk.
Nia approached the desk.
There was a painted birdhouse sitting on top.
The same birdhouse from the photograph.
Inside the desk drawer was a purple notebook.
Its cover displayed a little girl's name.
Sophie.
Nia opened it.
The first pages contained drawings.
A yellow house.
A brown dog.
A woman wearing a red dress.
Then the drawings changed.
One showed a little girl crying beside a dark car.
Another showed a man standing over a woman on the floor.
The man had a distinctive ring.
A gold signet ring with the Costa family crest.
Nia remembered seeing that ring.
Carlo wore it every day.
She turned the page.
A sentence was written in uneven childish handwriting.
Daddy said Mommy went away because she was bad.
Nia swallowed.
The next sentence made her chest tighten.
But I saw Daddy put Mommy in the car.
Enzo stood beside her.
Neither spoke.
Then the investigator discovered another object.
A small envelope taped underneath the desk.
Inside was a photograph taken years after Sophie's disappearance.
A teenage girl stood beside Evelyn Lewis outside a bakery.
On the back, Evelyn had written:
Sophie is alive. She is safe. Never tell Carlo.
Nia gasped.
Enzo leaned over her shoulder.
The photograph had been taken only three years earlier.
Sophie hadn't died.
Her grandmother had hidden her.
And Carlo had spent twelve years believing his daughter was gone.
Nia looked at Enzo.
"We need to find her."
But before he could answer, his phone rang.
It was one of the estate guards.
"Sir, we have a problem."
Enzo's face tightened.
"What kind of problem?"
"Carlo's gone."
"Where?"
"We don't know."
A pause.
Then the guard spoke again.
"And somebody just accessed Matteo's private medical records."
Enzo gripped the phone.
"Who?"
May you like
The answer came immediately.
"Daniel Mercer."
