Chapter 5 - THE LOCKED NURSERY DRAWER
Clara left my parents’ house without saying goodbye to Sofia.
I hated that I noticed.
I hated more that Sofia noticed too.
On the drive home, my daughter asked, “Is Mommy Clara mad because I told?”
“No.”
It was a lie, and she knew it.
“Am I in trouble?”
I pulled into our driveway and turned off the engine.
“No, baby. You are not in trouble for telling the truth.”
She studied me. “Even if grown-ups cry?”
That question broke something open in me.
“Especially then.”
Clara’s car was gone. The house was dark.
Camila came with us. She said she was not leaving me alone with a fake pregnancy, a frightened preschooler, and my talent for believing the best in people.
In the nursery, the crib was assembled. Tiny clothes hung by color. A wooden sign over the dresser read MATEO JR.
I had carved it myself.
Sofia walked to the bottom drawer of the changing table.
“That one is always locked.”
I tried it. She was right.
Camila found a small brass key taped beneath the top drawer.
Inside were three rolled skin-tone straps, two gel pads, unopened theatrical adhesive, and a second silicone belly still in plastic.
Underneath everything sat a prepaid phone.
I turned it on.
No passcode.
The message screen opened to a conversation labeled M.
M: Ultrasound sent. Same clinic style as last time.
Clara: Need one with clearer profile.
M: You said you’d pay the rest after the party.
Clara: Tomorrow after he signs.
My thumb froze over the screen.
Camila read over my shoulder.
“Signs what?”
A new message appeared while we watched.
M: I’m done after tomorrow. I never agreed to fake legal papers.
Then another.
M: And I’m not lying to police for you.
Sofia was standing behind us.
“What are police?” she asked.
I locked the phone.
May you like
Before I could answer, headlights swept across the nursery wall.
Clara had come back.
