The Waitress's Seventy-Four Dollars
Chapter 06 - The Waitress's Seventy-Four Dollars
Sophie returned to her apartment and found a final notice taped to the door. She had spent so much time helping Luca and cooperating with investigators that she'd missed two shifts at her second job. Her supervisor couldn't guarantee she'd get them back.
She counted the cash in her purse: seventy-four dollars. Exactly what she'd had left when this nightmare began.
For a minute she wanted to call Luca and ask him to make everything disappear. Instead, she phoned her landlord, arranged a payment plan, and contacted a nonprofit that helped service workers facing emergency housing problems. Accepting help wasn't weakness, she reminded herself. Depending entirely on a man she barely knew would be dangerous.
Her neighbor, Mrs. Alvarez, brought soup and sat with her on the kitchen floor. "Your sister would want you to eat."
Sophie stared into the bowl. "What if I find her and she doesn't want to see me?"
"Then you will have given her the choice. That's all anyone can do."
The words steadied her.
Later, Luca called with news. The clinic photograph was genuine. Elena had received treatment for an untreated wrist injury and had paid in cash. Staff recalled that she looked frightened when anyone mentioned notifying relatives. She had left with a woman named Teresa.
Sophie knew the name immediately. Teresa Bell was their mother's cousin, a nurse who had moved to Pennsylvania years ago.
"I thought she died," Sophie said.
"She didn't."
Sophie closed her eyes. In her family, the missing had begun to seem more numerous than the living.
Luca asked if she would help contact Teresa. Sophie agreed, on the condition that they approach her without threats.
"No guns, no intimidation, no making decisions for her," she said.
"Agreed."
May you like
"I mean it, Luca."
"So do I."
