Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH UNDER THE FLOORBOARD
By sunrise, Hunter's apartment had been searched from top to bottom.
Nothing valuable had been stolen.
Not her laptop.
Not her cash.
Not her jewelry.
Only one thing was missing.
A small envelope.
Hunter's hands trembled when she realized what it contained.
Photographs of Noah.
The only photographs she had.
Lorenzo stood beside the broken bedroom door.
“Why would someone want pictures of your son?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
Hunter closed her eyes.
Then remembered.
The hospital.
The woman in the hallway.
A nurse who had asked strangely specific questions.
“How much did he weigh?”
“When was he born?”
“Did anyone else know about him?”
Hunter had thought it was routine.
Now she wasn't sure.
“Someone asked me about Noah.”
Lorenzo's eyes sharpened.
“Who?”
“I don't remember her name.”
“Describe her.”
Hunter did.
Matteo immediately left to investigate.
Two hours later, he returned with a photograph.
Hunter's face went white.
“That woman.”
Lorenzo took the picture.
The woman was Dr. Vale's assistant.
A person who had disappeared the same day Dr. Vale supposedly died.
Matteo placed another file on the table.
“She worked for Sophia's father before she worked for Dr. Vale.”
Lorenzo stared.
“My father-in-law?”
“Yes.”
Hunter suddenly understood.
“This isn't about Leo.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“What?”
“They needed me because I was producing milk.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
Hunter's mind raced.
“Because if Leo survived on my milk, they'd have time.”
“Time for what?”
“To do something else.”
Silence.
Then Leo began crying upstairs.
Hunter ran.
Lorenzo followed.
The baby's monitor was flashing red.
His breathing had become irregular.
Dr. Gallagher rushed in.
“What's happening?”
Hunter picked Leo up.
“He's cold.”
Gallagher checked his temperature.
“That's impossible.”
Hunter touched his cheek.
“No.”
She looked at the bottle.
Then froze.
“The milk.”
“What?”
“It's contaminated again.”
Gallagher stared.
“But those bottles were sealed.”
Hunter pointed.
“Not that one.”
A tiny needle mark was visible beneath the rubber seal.
Lorenzo's expression became murderous.
“Someone injected it.”
Matteo checked the hallway camera.
“No one entered.”
Lorenzo turned.
“What?”
“No one.”
Hunter looked toward the ceiling.
“Then they didn't enter.”
Everyone followed her gaze.
A ventilation grate.
Lorenzo understood.
“Seal the vents.”
Guards rushed in.
A metallic object fell from the duct.
A tiny syringe.
Hunter stared at it.
Then she noticed something attached to the syringe.
A photograph.
She picked it up.
Her heart stopped.
It was Noah.
But Noah was not alone.
Beside him stood a woman Hunter had never seen.
On the back of the photograph was one sentence.
Your son was not supposed to die.
Hunter couldn't breathe.
Lorenzo read it.
His face became cold.
“Matteo.”
“Yes?”
“Find out who this woman is.”
The answer came twenty minutes later.
Her name was Sophia Rossi.
Lorenzo's dead wife.
Hunter stared at him.
“But she's dead.”
May you like
Lorenzo looked at the photograph.
“That's what I was told.”
