Chapter 7 - THE SECOND WITNESS
I did not sleep that night.
At three in the morning, Elena finally gave up telling me to try.
At four, Camila woke from a nightmare and climbed into bed beside me.
She tucked her head beneath my chin the way she had when she was five.
I held her while staring at the ceiling.
Somewhere in Texas, Santiago was alive and hiding under the name of his dead brother.
Somewhere nearby, Nolan Price had reappeared after three years.
And Teresa had just proven that her lies were not finished.
At seven, I called Detective Monroe.
I told her about the diner.
I told her I had withheld the location.
She was quiet for so long I thought the call had dropped.
"Are you angry?" I asked.
"I'm choosing professional words."
"That's a yes."
"You went to a location associated with a missing man in an active threat situation without telling us."
"Yes."
"And you encountered a former federal agent whose disappearance is tied to the same case."
"Yes."
"With your sister."
"Yes."
"Do not do that again."
"I can't promise."
"Then I can't promise not to charge you if you interfere."
I almost smiled.
"Fair."
"Send me the texts from Teresa."
I forwarded them.
"And stay where you are."
"For how long?"
"Until I call."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the one you have."
She hung up.
At eight thirty, someone buzzed Elena's apartment.
My entire body tensed.
The building camera showed Teresa standing downstairs alone.
Elena looked at me.
"Do you want her up?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"I want her where I can see her."
Teresa entered the apartment carrying the same brown envelope I had seen at the diner.
She looked exhausted.
Her cheek still carried the faint mark from where I had slapped her.
I felt a flicker of shame.
Then I remembered the funeral and it disappeared.
"Where is Nolan?" I asked.
"Gone."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"Try again."
"I don't know."
She placed the envelope on the table.
"He contacted me two weeks before the wedding."
"You said you hadn't heard from him."
"I lied."
"You are surprisingly comfortable with that sentence."
Teresa looked down.
"I deserve that."
"What did he want?"
"To warn Santiago."
"About what?"
"A man named Charles Vale."
I glanced at Elena.
"Who is Charles Vale?"
Teresa opened the envelope.
Inside were photocopies of bank records, corporate registrations, and photographs.
One image showed a silver-haired man in a dark suit leaving a courthouse.
"He was one of the architects of the network," Teresa said.
"Victor Salazar worked for him."
"Why haven't I heard this name?"
"Because Vale was never charged."
"Why not?"
"Evidence disappeared."
"Because of the leak."
"Yes."
She removed another photograph.
Charles Vale stood at a charity gala beside a judge, two city council members, and the owner of Lone Star Premier Auto.
"He has friends," Elena said.
"He has leverage," Teresa replied.
"Different thing."
"Sometimes."
I looked at the papers.
"What does Nolan want?"
"The original ledger Sebastian took before the crash."
"I thought it was destroyed."
"So did he."
"You said you didn't know where it was."
"I don't."
"But Nolan thinks it exists."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Teresa pulled a small photograph from the envelope.
It showed Sebastian and Santiago as teenagers standing beside an old green pickup truck.
On the back, handwritten in blue ink, were five words.
THE SECOND WITNESS NEVER BURNED.
I stared at them.
"What does that mean?"
"Nolan thinks Sebastian made a duplicate."
"Of the ledger?"
"Or something that could reconstruct it."
"And he hid it."
"Before the crash."
I remembered Kessler's photograph of the gas station.
"Was Nolan the man at the gas station?"
Teresa nodded.
"Yes."
"Why did Kessler never identify him?"
"Nolan was working undercover in the task force."
"So he met them there."
"Yes."
"Then why did they keep driving?"
"Because Nolan realized he had been followed too."
I felt a chill.
"He sent them away."
"He told them to separate and dump the evidence."
"They didn't."
"Sebastian refused."
"Why?"
Teresa's face softened.
"Because he said if he destroyed everything, Victor would own them forever."
I looked at the teenage photograph.
The two boys were grinning, sunburned, careless.
One of them would eventually die in a burning SUV.
The other would live under his name.
"What is the second witness?" I asked.
"Nolan doesn't know."
"That phrase came from Sebastian?"
"Apparently."
"How?"
"Nolan received an anonymous message after the crash."
"From whom?"
"He believes Sebastian sent it before he died."
"Scheduled message?"
"Maybe."
I glared at her.
"Everyone in this story loves maybe."
Teresa ignored that.
"The message contained only that phrase and a photograph of the green truck."
I looked at the image again.
"Where is the truck?"
"Sold years ago."
"To who?"
"I don't know."
Elena picked up the photograph.
"Wait."
She turned it over.
"What's this number?"
In the lower corner, nearly hidden beneath Teresa's thumb, someone had written 2147.
Teresa looked confused.
"I never noticed that."
"Could be nothing," Elena said.
"Or a locker."
"Or a date."
"Or an address."
I took the photograph.
Behind the twins was a faded sign for Morales & Sons Auto Repair.
Their father's old garage.
The business had closed after he died in 2012.
The property was sold and turned into storage units.
I remembered the address.
2147 East Cesar Chavez.
My pulse quickened.
"It's the old garage address."
Teresa looked at me.
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
Elena was already searching her phone.
"There's a storage company there now."
"What company?"
"Bluebonnet Storage."
Teresa whispered, "Oh God."
"What?"
"Sebastian kept a unit after the garage closed."
"For what?"
"Tools, family things."
"Unit number?"
"I don't remember."
I reached for my keys.
Elena stepped in front of me.
"No."
"Move."
"Monroe told you to stay here."
"Monroe also doesn't know about the address yet."
"Then call her."
I did.
She answered instantly.
After I explained, she said, "Do not go there."
"We're going there."
"Mariana."
"You can arrest me when you arrive."
She swore.
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"At least wait for me."
"How far are you?"
"Twenty minutes."
"We'll wait ten."
"That is not how waiting works."
I hung up.
Elena stared at me.
"You are becoming impossible."
"I learned from my husband."
We left Camila with Mrs. Kim again.
This time, Teresa came with us.
Bluebonnet Storage had replaced the old garage completely except for one brick wall along the back.
I recognized it from childhood photographs.
The office manager was a young man named Dylan who looked irritated until Teresa gave Sebastian's full name.
Then his expression changed.
"Mr. Morales has a unit here."
My heart jumped.
"Which Mr. Morales?"
Dylan glanced at the computer.
"Sebastian Morales."
Teresa and I looked at each other.
"Is it current?" I asked.
"Paid through next year."
"Can we access it?"
"Not without the code or legal authorization."
I placed my wedding certificate on the counter.
I had brought it without knowing whether it would help.
"I'm his wife."
Dylan looked uncomfortable.
"That doesn't automatically authorize access."
"Police are coming."
That made him more uncomfortable.
"Then we should wait for them."
We did not have to wait long.
Monroe arrived with two officers and the expression of someone reconsidering her career choices.
"Ten minutes," she said to me.
"It was closer to fifteen."
"Don't test me."
She obtained access through emergency investigative authority after explaining the threat connection.
The unit was number 47.
The lock looked new.
Inside were old tool chests, boxes of family photographs, a rusted bicycle, and three pieces of furniture wrapped in plastic.
Nothing looked like a secret ledger.
We searched slowly.
Monroe stopped us from touching anything until photographs were taken.
Then Teresa opened a box labeled PAPÁ.
Inside were her late husband's work gloves, invoices, and an old baseball glove.
Elena opened another marked CHRISTMAS.
Decorations.
I looked toward the back wall.
A green metal toolbox sat beneath a shelf.
The paint was the same color as the old truck in the photograph.
"That," I said.
Monroe approached first.
The toolbox was locked.
Dylan brought bolt cutters.
Inside were sockets, wrenches, drill bits, and an old tire-pressure gauge.
I felt disappointment crash through me.
Then Monroe lifted the removable tray.
Beneath it was a sealed plastic bag.
Inside the bag lay a small external hard drive and a folded note.
Teresa made a sound beside me.
Monroe put on gloves and opened the note.
The handwriting was unmistakably Sebastian's.
I remembered birthday cards.
Christmas tags.
A note he once left after fixing our sink.
Monroe read aloud.
"If Santiago is reading this, then I failed to get us out."
Teresa covered her mouth.
Monroe continued.
"Do not trust Victor."
"Do not trust Price."
Every person in the unit went still.
"And whatever you do, do not trust Mom."
Teresa staggered backward.
I stared at her.
Her face had gone completely white.
"What did you do?" I whispered.
"Nothing."
"Sebastian warned Santiago not to trust you."
"I don't know why."
Monroe kept reading.
"The second witness is not a person."
"It is the drive."
"There are two copies."
"One is here."
"The other is somewhere only Mariana can find."
My heart stopped.
Everyone looked at me.
The note ended with one final line.
May you like
"Ask her where Santiago proposed."
