Chapter 8 - The Wrong Friendly Face.
Celia Ward had worked beside Sebastian Vale for six years.
To Emma, she was simply the nice office lady who sometimes gave children peppermint candy during staff Christmas parties.
That familiarity was exactly why Emma had followed her.
The hospital camera showed Celia kneeling beside Emma near the elevators.
There was no force.
No struggle.
Celia said something, held out her hand, and Emma went with her.
Alessandro watched the clip three times during the drive back to Manhattan.
Each viewing made him angrier at himself.
"Get her phone."
Marco shook his head.
"Celia's is still off."
"Emma's?"
"Sophia's spare phone is in the hospital room."
Rosa sat rigid beside Alessandro.
"Emma probably thought Celia was taking her somewhere safe."
"Why would she leave her mother?"
Rosa looked at him.
"Because children believe adults who sound certain."
Alessandro remembered being ten years old and obeying men he despised because they wore his father's approval like armor.
"What did Celia tell her?"
Marco's phone rang.
This time it was Sophia.
Alessandro answered immediately.
"Sophia."
"Where is she?"
Her voice was stronger than yesterday and far more terrified.
"We're finding her."
"Don't tell me that."
Alessandro closed his eyes.
"Tell me what happened."
"I fell asleep."
Sophia's breath shook.
"When I woke up, there was another note."
"From Emma?"
"Yes."
"Read it."
Sophia unfolded paper near the phone.
"Mom, the office lady says Mr. Moretti found the money and needs me to show where I got your envelope. I'll be right back. Don't worry."
Alessandro looked at Marco.
The same question crossed both their faces.
Where had Emma gotten Sophia's envelope?
Alessandro had assumed she took it from home.
He had never asked.
"Sophia, where did you keep the pay envelope Emma brought to the mansion?"
Silence.
"I didn't."
Alessandro felt cold.
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't bring it home."
"Then how did Emma get it?"
"I don't know."
Marco spoke from beside him.
"Ask whether Sophia ever saw that envelope."
Alessandro did.
Sophia hesitated.
"No."
The realization rearranged everything.
The envelope inside Emma's bucket had not come from Sophia.
Someone had placed it there.
Someone wanted Alessandro to discover the deduction and warning.
The morning's exposure had not been an accident.
It had been staged.
But if Sebastian had staged it, he had invited an investigation into himself.
That made no sense.
"Who knew Emma might come to the mansion?" Alessandro asked.
"Nobody."
Then Sophia stopped.
"Wait."
"What?"
"She called June."
"When?"
"Yesterday evening."
"Why?"
"June's daughter sometimes watches Emma."
Sophia's breathing quickened.
"Emma told June she wanted to help me if I stayed sick."
Alessandro remembered the blue flower on the evidence sent to Anthony Ferraro.
June had been quietly collecting records.
June knew Emma might show up.
And June had access to laundry carts, staff corridors, and service entrances throughout the mansion.
"Where is June now?"
Marco was already searching.
"Not at work."
"Home?"
"No answer."
Rosa whispered.
"You think June planted the envelope."
"I think she wanted me to see it."
"Then why take Emma?"
Alessandro looked again at the image of Celia leading Emma away.
"Maybe she didn't."
They reached the hospital twenty minutes later.
Sophia was standing beside her bed despite the nurse telling her to sit.
The oxygen line pulled across her cheek.
"I'm coming with you."
Alessandro shook his head.
"No."
"That's my daughter."
"And you have pneumonia."
"I don't care."
"Emma will care if you collapse."
Sophia glared at him with enough force to make Marco turn away.
Alessandro lowered his voice.
"Stay here and help me think."
"I've been thinking."
She reached for her phone.
"Emma knows one place connected to my work besides the mansion."
Alessandro looked at her.
"Where?"
"The church basement on West Twenty-Third."
"Why?"
"Some staff meet there once a month."
"About payroll?"
Sophia nodded.
"June organized it."
Marco was already moving toward the door.
"I'll send a team."
Alessandro followed.
Sophia grabbed his sleeve.
He turned.
"Bring her back."
The words were not a request from an employee to an employer.
They were an order from a mother.
Alessandro nodded once.
"I will."
The church basement smelled of old coffee and floor wax.
Marco entered first.
Alessandro followed with two security men several steps behind.
The room appeared empty.
A circle of folding chairs stood near a corkboard covered in community notices.
On one table lay dozens of copied pay stubs.
Alessandro heard a small voice behind a storage partition.
"Mr. Moretti?"
He turned sharply.
Emma stepped into view.
She was unharmed.
Her face was pale, but her eyes were dry.
Alessandro crossed the room in three strides and crouched in front of her.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Where is Celia?"
Emma pointed toward the back door.
"She left when the other lady came."
"What other lady?"
A woman emerged slowly from behind the partition.
It was June Palmer from the mansion laundry staff.
Her hands were raised.
"Please don't misunderstand."
Marco stepped between her and Emma.
"Start explaining."
June looked directly at Alessandro.
"I planted Sophia's envelope in the bucket."
Alessandro's expression hardened.
"Why?"
"Because I needed you to finally look."
"You used a child."
June flinched.
"I never thought she'd come alone."
"But you knew she might come."
"Yes."
Emma watched both of them.
Alessandro kept his voice controlled.
"Did you send the photograph?"
"No."
"Did you tell Sebastian Emma was at the mansion?"
"No."
"Did you take her from the hospital?"
"No."
June pointed at the back door.
"Celia did."
"Why?"
June swallowed.
"Because Sebastian wanted the notebook Emma found inside the bucket."
Alessandro stared at her.
"What notebook?"
Emma looked down.
Then she reached beneath the oversized gray uniform she had refused to remove and pulled out a small black book.
"This one."
June gave Emma a cup of water while they waited in the church basement.
Emma refused the peppermint candy Celia had left on the table.
"Why?" June asked.
"Mom says don't take food from people when you don't know why they're being nice."
June's face tightened.
"Your mom has had to teach you too many things."
Emma looked at the copied pay stubs spread across the table.
"Did Mr. Vale take your money too?"
June nodded.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell Mr. Moretti?"
June almost laughed.
"Because we thought Mr. Moretti was the reason."
Emma frowned.
"He said he wasn't."
"I know that now."
"Do you believe him?"
June looked toward the basement stairs.
"I'm trying to."
Emma accepted that answer because it sounded honest.
When footsteps finally approached, she moved closer to June instead of hiding.
By then she had learned that grown-ups could be scared and still do the next useful thing.
When Emma was returned safely to Sophia, her mother did not yell.
She pulled Emma against her and held on until the child complained that the hospital bracelet was scratching her cheek.
Then Sophia asked one question.
"Why did you go?"
Emma whispered that Celia said Alessandro needed help.
Sophia closed her eyes.
"You don't have to help every grown-up who says they need you."
Emma looked confused.
"But what if they really do?"
Sophia touched her face.
May you like
"Then they find another grown-up."
Alessandro heard the sentence from the doorway and wished someone had taught it to him at ten.
