The Warehouse on the River
Chapter 06 - The Warehouse on the River
The police searched the ferry warehouse before dawn. Victor was not permitted inside. He waited in a nearby car with his attorney, hands locked together, watching flashlights move through dirty windows. He hated being told to stay back. He hated still more that he had spent months in meetings while Matthew had faced fears no child should know.
Inside, investigators found a converted office, locked storage rooms, and evidence that someone had been living temporarily in a small room near the back. There were blankets, prescription containers, and a notebook in Rosa Alvarez's handwriting. Rosa was not there. But the notebook included times, names, and descriptions of meetings between Raymond and men connected to Victor's business empire.
A detective explained that the case had expanded beyond possible abuse. There was evidence suggesting that Raymond was using the warehouse as a pressure point in a financial scheme. False invoices and property transfers had moved money through shell companies. Rosa had witnessed something and attempted to protect Matthew from being used as leverage. The authorities would not tell Victor everything yet. For once, he did not demand they do so.
At home Matthew woke screaming. Victor found him upright in bed, gripping his blanket. 'Don't close it,' he pleaded. Victor sat at the doorway. 'I won't.' 'Promise?' 'I promise.' Matthew looked at him for a long time. 'Uncle Raymond says promises only count if you're strong enough to make everybody listen.' Victor shook his head. 'A promise counts because you keep it, even when nobody is afraid of you.'
Hannah's life began to shift in smaller ways. The worker-assistance clinic helped her dispute her lost shifts, and a former restaurant guest offered an interview at a neighborhood bakery. It paid less per hour but offered stable scheduling and health benefits. She attended the interview in borrowed shoes, worrying that accepting the job meant abandoning Matthew. Denise told her, 'You are allowed to have a life while doing what's right.'
The bakery owner, Mrs. Kaplan, asked why Hannah wanted to leave Romano's. Hannah said she was looking for a workplace where she could be proud of how people treated one another. Mrs. Kaplan studied her for a moment and replied, 'Then we'll have plenty to talk about.' When Hannah left, a rainbow touched the edge of the damp sidewalk, and she realized she had been holding her breath for days.
In the warehouse notebook, detectives found a repeated notation: 'L. Ward, Friday transport.' They traced it to a private ambulance operator. Records showed a trip two nights after Rosa disappeared, but the destination was entered only as a warehouse return address. A driver remembered transporting an unconscious woman to a medical facility in Pennsylvania. He claimed he'd been told she was a relative requiring discreet care. The investigators obtained the facility name.
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Victor received the update as Matthew was choosing pajamas. 'Is Rosa coming back?' the boy asked. Victor could not lie. 'They're looking for her.' Matthew rubbed a corner of his blanket between two fingers. 'Sometimes when somebody goes away, they never come back.' Victor sat beside him. 'That's true. But we're not giving up. And nobody is going to make you face this by yourself again.'
Then Matthew asked the question that brought Victor to tears: 'Can you stay until I fall asleep, even if your phone rings?' Victor switched the phone off. He stayed.
