Chapter 5 - THE MAID WHO SAW EVERYTHING
Detective Ortiz arrived at the estate before noon.
She watched the maintenance footage twice.
After the second viewing, she requested an immediate warrant for Victoria’s arrest.
But Victoria was no longer at her apartment.
Her private jet remained in its hangar.
Her driver claimed he had not seen her since the previous night.
Her attorney said she was unavailable for questioning.
Nathan Crowe also disappeared from Vale International’s headquarters.
His office computer had been wiped.
His company vehicle was found abandoned in a parking garage.
By evening, the story had reached the press.
The first headlines were cautious.
BUSINESS HEIRESS QUESTIONED AFTER INCIDENT AT VALE ESTATE.
The later reports were not.
ASHFORD EXECUTIVE CAUGHT ON VIDEO ATTACKING PREGNANT WOMAN.
Victoria’s representatives released a statement calling the footage incomplete and misleading.
They claimed Elena had provoked a confrontation and that the video had been manipulated.
Then a second story appeared.
VALE INTERNATIONAL FACES FINANCIAL CRISIS AFTER CEO’S DOMESTIC DISPUTE.
Nathan had leaked internal records before disappearing.
The documents showed delayed construction projects, debt obligations, and dependence on Ashford financing.
Shares fell eighteen percent before the market closed.
Adrian spent the afternoon speaking with banks.
Every lender gave the same answer.
They needed time.
Vale International did not have time.
At six, Rosa Alvarez returned from the clinic.
She was sixty-three, small, dignified, and furious.
The doctor had ordered her to rest.
She ignored him.
“I leave this house for one hour,” she said, “and a woman with no manners tries to murder the future mother of this family.”
Elena almost smiled.
“It was longer than an hour.”
“That does not improve the situation.”
Rosa sat beside her.
“I should not have allowed you to wear my assistant’s uniform.”
“You did not allow me.”
“That is true.”
Rosa looked toward Adrian.
“She has always been difficult to control.”
Adrian nodded.
“I am aware.”
Rosa’s expression grew serious.
“There is something I did not tell security.”
Marcus moved closer.
“What?”
“Before I became dizzy, I saw Ms. Ashford speaking with Sofia.”
Sofia Bennett was a twenty-one-year-old junior housekeeper who had started work at the estate three months earlier.
She had not reported for duty that morning.
Her phone was disconnected.
“What were they discussing?” Elena asked.
“I could not hear.”
“Did Sofia seem frightened?”
“Yes.”
Rosa folded her hands.
“But not of Ms. Ashford.”
“Who was she watching?”
Rosa looked toward the grand staircase.
“Mr. Crowe.”
Security searched Sofia’s small apartment.
The door was unlocked.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Her clothes remained in the closet.
Her passport lay inside a drawer.
On the kitchen table sat an envelope addressed to Elena.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Mrs. Vale,
I am sorry.
I did not know what they were planning when I accepted the job.
I was supposed to report where you went, who visited you, and what documents you kept in the house.
Mr. Crowe paid me.
Ms. Ashford frightened me.
But there is someone else above both of them.
I copied what I could.
Do not trust the doctors they recommend.
Do not trust the board vote.
And do not let them take you to St. Catherine’s Clinic.
The note ended without a signature.
There was no copied evidence in the envelope.
Marcus searched the apartment again.
Inside the lining of Sofia’s suitcase, he found a small brass key.
A number had been engraved into it.
Adrian recognized the style.
It belonged to a private locker at Grand Central Station.
Marcus and Detective Ortiz traveled there together.
Locker 804 contained a flash drive, three photographs, and a sealed medical file bearing Elena’s name.
The photographs showed Nathan meeting Victoria in an underground parking garage.
A third person stood with them.
His face was turned away.
He was older.
He carried a cane with a gold handle shaped like a lion’s head.
Elena had seen that cane before.
It belonged to Edmund Ashford, Victoria’s father.
Edmund had officially retired from business five years earlier after suffering a stroke.
Publicly, he lived quietly in Europe.
Privately, he appeared to be directing everything.
The medical file was more disturbing.
It contained Elena’s actual records from Dr. Mercer’s office.
Someone had stolen copies of her tests, ultrasound images, blood type, and medication history.
Attached to the file was an appointment confirmation for St. Catherine’s Clinic.
The appointment was scheduled for the following morning.
Elena had never made it.
At the bottom of the confirmation was a physician’s note.
PATIENT MAY REQUIRE URGENT ADMISSION.
HUSBAND SHOULD BE ADVISED THAT EXTENDED HOSPITALIZATION IS LIKELY.
Adrian read it twice.
“They planned to put you inside that clinic.”
“For how long?” Elena asked.
No one answered.
The flash drive required a password.
Marcus’s team began attempting to unlock it.
At nine that night, the estate gate called.
A taxi had arrived.
The passenger was Sofia.
She stumbled from the back seat with no coat and no shoes.
Rosa ran toward her.
Sofia collapsed before reaching the front door.
As Adrian lifted her from the ground, she opened her eyes.
“They know about the locker,” she whispered.
“Who knows?”
Sofia clutched his sleeve.
“The man with the gold cane.”
May you like
Then she looked at Elena.
“He said your baby belongs to the agreement.”
