Chapter 3 - The Visitor Before Noon.
I called Mrs. Ortiz three times before she answered.
Each unanswered ring made my pulse climb higher.
When her face finally appeared on Sebastian's office tablet, she was wrapped in a blue robe and sitting beneath the yellow lamp beside her sofa.
"Mija, why are you calling from a strange number?"
Relief almost made me dizzy.
"Are you okay?"
"I am old, not dead."
"Did someone come to your apartment today?"
Her expression changed.
It was small, but I saw it.
"Mrs. Ortiz."
"A woman stopped by."
Sebastian moved closer.
"What woman?"
"She said she worked with Maya."
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
"What did she look like?"
"Dark hair."
Mrs. Ortiz squinted toward the screen.
"Maybe fifty."
"Was it Veronica?"
I turned the tablet toward Veronica.
Mrs. Ortiz's eyes sharpened.
"No."
Veronica smiled with relief.
Mrs. Ortiz continued.
"But she looked a little like her."
The smile vanished.
Sebastian asked Mrs. Ortiz what the visitor wanted.
"She brought soup."
"Soup?" I said.
"She said Calder House sent it because you mentioned I was sick."
I stared at Veronica.
"I never told anyone at work Mrs. Ortiz was sick."
Veronica shook her head.
"You probably mentioned childcare trouble."
"Not before I arrived."
Sebastian lifted a hand.
"What happened after she brought the soup?"
Mrs. Ortiz rubbed her temple.
"She asked whether I would be watching Lily tonight."
"What did you say?"
"I told her no."
"Did you tell her Maya planned to bring Lily to work?"
Mrs. Ortiz hesitated.
My heart dropped.
"I might have."
"Why?"
"Because I was upset."
Her voice became smaller.
"I told her Maya would lose her job if she stayed home again."
I wanted to tell Mrs. Ortiz it was not her fault.
Instead, another thought struck me.
"Did you eat the soup?"
Mrs. Ortiz frowned.
"A little."
Sebastian and Marcus looked at each other.
"Why?" she asked.
"How did you feel afterward?" Marcus said.
"Sleepy."
My skin prickled.
"You were already dizzy before she came, right?"
Mrs. Ortiz shook her head.
"No."
I went completely still.
"What?"
"I was fine when I woke up."
She looked confused.
"The dizziness started after breakfast."
"But when I came over, you had the blood pressure cuff on."
"Because that woman said I looked pale."
Marcus leaned toward the tablet.
"Ma'am, did she give you anything before the soup?"
Mrs. Ortiz thought for a moment.
"Coffee."
My stomach turned.
"She made you coffee?"
"She said she used to be a nurse."
Marcus was already dialing emergency services from another phone.
Mrs. Ortiz frowned.
"Do not make a fuss."
"Mrs. Ortiz," I said, "please let them check you."
Her irritation faded when she saw my face.
"Maya, what happened?"
I looked down at Lily.
"Someone took her from the linen room."
Mrs. Ortiz covered her mouth.
"No."
"She's safe now."
"Who?"
I looked toward Veronica.
"Ethan."
Mrs. Ortiz's expression changed again.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
"He came here too."
I nearly dropped the tablet.
"When?"
"Last week."
"You never told me."
"He asked me not to."
Anger surged so quickly that my hands shook.
"Why would you agree to that?"
Mrs. Ortiz looked ashamed.
"Because he gave me money for Lily."
I could not speak.
"How much?" Sebastian asked.
"Three thousand dollars."
My throat tightened.
"Where is it?"
"In an envelope in my kitchen drawer."
"Did you spend any?"
"Not one dollar."
"What did Ethan want?"
Mrs. Ortiz looked directly at me through the screen.
"He wanted to know whether you ever left Lily with anyone else."
"Why?"
"He said his mother was threatening to take you to court."
Veronica looked toward the door.
Marcus noticed.
He moved subtly between her and the exit.
Mrs. Ortiz continued.
"Ethan said he needed proof you were a good mother."
I laughed bitterly.
"So he collected evidence for the woman trying to take my child?"
"He sounded afraid of her."
"He is thirty years old."
"Fear does not check birth certificates, mija."
The words struck me because they sounded true.
Sebastian asked whether Mrs. Ortiz had security cameras.
"The laundromat does."
"Does it cover your hallway?"
"Part of it."
Marcus sent an employee to preserve the footage before anyone could erase it.
Within twenty minutes, paramedics were checking Mrs. Ortiz while we watched through the tablet.
Her vital signs were stable.
They advised her to go to the hospital for testing.
She complained the entire way.
The moment the call ended, Sebastian turned to Veronica.
"Who visited her?"
"I don't know."
"Mrs. Ortiz said the woman resembled you."
"Half of Chicago has dark hair."
"The woman knew Maya's schedule."
"So do dozens of employees."
"She knew the sitter's address."
Veronica said nothing.
Marcus's phone buzzed.
He answered, listened, and looked at Sebastian.
"The Hale family is still upstairs."
"Good."
"Their attorney says they will leave only with Lily or a written refusal from Ms. Delgado to surrender temporary care."
I felt sick.
"What does that mean?"
Sebastian's expression remained controlled.
"It means they want a document they can use tomorrow."
"What kind of document?"
Marcus answered.
"If you sign a refusal after they claim they offered a safe family placement, they may argue you are acting against Lily's best interests."
I looked at Veronica.
"They planned every direction I could move."
She stared back.
"Families protect their own."
"Lily is my family."
"Lily is a Hale."
The words slipped out before Veronica could stop them.
I stood slowly.
"There it is."
Veronica's face tightened.
"Biologically."
"No."
I stepped closer.
"You do not care about biology."
"You care about the trust."
"You know nothing about our family."
"I know Ethan disappeared when diapers got expensive."
"Ethan did what he was told."
The room went silent.
Veronica realized what she had said.
I did not let her take it back.
"What was he told?"
She looked away.
"Nothing."
"What was he told?"
Sebastian's voice cut through mine.
"Marcus."
The security chief nodded.
"Ms. Hale, I'm asking you to remain here until police arrive."
Veronica laughed.
"For what?"
"Potential evidence tampering and endangering a child."
"I did not touch the baby."
"The recording shows you staging the room."
"That is not a crime."
"Then explaining it should be easy."
Veronica's composure cracked.
"You think you can bully my family because your name is on the building?"
Sebastian's eyes went flat.
"No."
"I think I can preserve evidence because my name is on the security system."
She stared at him.
"You should remember who financed your first property."
Sebastian did not move.
I looked between them.
"What does that mean?"
Veronica smiled despite Marcus standing beside her.
"Ask him."
Sebastian's jaw flexed.
For the first time since I entered his office, he looked personally angry.
"My first lender was Harrison Hale's bank," he said.
"Twenty years ago."
Veronica nodded.
"And Harrison never forgets a debt."
Sebastian turned to me.
"I repaid every dollar with interest."
"Money is not the only kind of debt," Veronica said.
Marcus's phone buzzed again.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
"What?" Sebastian asked.
Marcus lowered the phone.
"The laundromat footage came through."
He connected it to the wall screen.
The hallway outside Mrs. Ortiz's apartment appeared.
At 10:06 A.M., a woman in a beige coat walked into frame carrying a paper bag.
Her face was partially hidden by sunglasses.
At 10:51, she left.
She removed the sunglasses as she turned toward the stairs.
I did not recognize her.
Sebastian did.
His face went completely still.
"Who is she?" I asked.
He did not answer immediately.
Veronica did.
"That's Celeste's sister."
I looked at her.
"Your sister?"
Veronica shook her head.
"Celeste is my sister-in-law."
The woman on screen was Diane Hale, Harrison Hale's youngest daughter.
Marcus zoomed in on the paper bag she had carried into the apartment.
A pharmacy logo was printed on the side.
Sebastian called the hospital where Mrs. Ortiz had been taken and asked them to preserve toxicology results for law enforcement.
Then another file arrived from the laundromat.
The camera covered the rear entrance.
At 9:43 A.M., twenty-three minutes before Diane entered Mrs. Ortiz's hallway, Ethan appeared beside a black SUV.
He handed Diane the pharmacy bag.
I stopped breathing.
The image froze on Ethan's face.
Sebastian looked at me.
"Maya."
I was already dialing the number from the call log.
Ethan answered on the second ring.
"I can explain."
I did not ask how he knew what I had seen.
That answer frightened me even more.
"Then explain why you gave your aunt something she carried into my sitter's apartment."
Silence.
"Ethan."
His voice became barely audible.
"Because she told me it was blood pressure medication."
I closed my eyes.
"For Mrs. Ortiz?"
"No."
"Then for who?"
Another silence.
Then Ethan said, "For my grandfather."
Sebastian straightened.
"Why did Diane take it to Mrs. Ortiz?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?" I said.
"Maya, I swear."
A woman shouted in the background.
Celeste.
"Give me the phone."
Ethan moved away from her.
"I have to go."
"No."
"Listen to me."
His breathing became fast.
"Do not let my mother near Lily."
"I was already planning on that."
"You don't understand."
"Then make me understand."
He spoke so quietly I almost missed it.
May you like
"My grandfather isn't dying naturally."
Then the call ended.
