Chapter 10 - THE GREENHOUSE MESSAGE
Daniel read the message twice.
“No one is bringing Natalie anywhere.”
Natalie looked terrified. “Vanessa wants me because I know where the other records are.”
Detective Brooks ordered a search of the estate. Security footage showed Rosa entering the greenhouse after receiving a text from my number.
My phone had never left my hand.
“They cloned your contact,” Priya said.
Inside the greenhouse, officers found a torn piece of Rosa’s scarf and muddy tire marks near a service road. No blood. No sign of a struggle beyond a fallen rack of tools.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Detective Brooks connected a recorder and motioned for me to answer.
“Evelyn,” Vanessa said. “You finally know what it feels like to have your family taken.”
“Where is Rosa?”
“Safe, for now.”
“Let me speak to her.”
A pause, then Rosa’s voice came through, shaky but controlled.
“Mrs. Whitmore, do not come. She has—”
The call cut off.
Vanessa returned. “Midnight. The old St. Matthew’s parking garage. Natalie comes alone with the storage key and every copy of the notebook.”
“You know the police have the key.”
“Then convince them to give it back.”
She ended the call.
Daniel slammed his fist into the table. “We are not waiting until midnight.”
Detective Brooks agreed. Using traffic cameras and the cloned call route, police traced a vehicle toward an abandoned wedding venue outside Nashville.
The building had once been owned by Cole Event Group.
We drove only as far as the command post. Detective Brooks refused to let Daniel or me enter.
For forty minutes, we waited under flashing red and blue lights.
Then an officer ran from the building.
“No one inside.”
They found Rosa’s scarf, a chair, and a phone playing a recording of her voice.
Vanessa had used the location as a decoy.
Grant checked the estate tracking system.
“Mrs. Whitmore, one of our foundation vans just left the downtown office.”
Priya called the office. No answer.
Then the building’s fire alarm appeared on the emergency network.
My foundation office held decades of donor files, employee records, and legal evidence.
More important, Maribel had gone there to retrieve archived payroll documents.
Daniel grabbed the car keys.
Detective Brooks blocked him. “You cannot rush into a possible trap.”
“That is exactly what Vanessa expects us not to do,” he said.
We reached downtown behind the first fire engine.
Smoke poured from a second-floor window, but the main fire doors were locked from the inside.
A figure pounded against the glass.
Maribel.
Behind her, through the smoke, I saw Rosa tied to a chair.
May you like
And Vanessa stood beside her holding a lighter.
The Housekeeper Test
