Chapter 13 - The Red Coat
I returned to the hospital with Park, not as a frightened father searching the halls but as a witness reviewing security footage. I could scarcely recognize the difference.
The video showed a person in a red coat walking past the pediatric entrance on Saturday morning. The hood hid most of the face. The person paused beside the desk, looked toward the family waiting area, then disappeared when an employee approached.
"Vanessa owns a coat like that," I said. "But that's not proof it's her."
Park nodded. "Exactly. We have to identify the person."
The employee remembered the visitor asking whether Lily Hayes had been admitted. She hadn't provided any information. The red-coated person left without arguing.
At home I went through the messages I had ignored during the last six months. School notices. Elena's requests to talk. A photograph of Lily on a playground, sent with the words SHE DOESN'T WANT TO GO BACK TO YOUR HOUSE.
I'd replied: She just needs time to adjust.
That sentence hurt worse than Vanessa's threats. I had made the danger sound reasonable because I didn't want another marriage to fail.
I called Elena.
"I found your messages."
"I know what I sent."
"I kept asking you for proof instead of asking Lily what she needed."
There was a long silence.
"I should have pushed harder," Elena said. "I let our arguments become the story. She was the story."
"We don't do that again."
"No," she said. "We don't."
Detective Park interrupted with another call. The hospital had preserved a clearer camera angle from the parking lot. The face under the red hood was not Vanessa's.
May you like
It was Ricardo Salazar.
And he had been carrying a folder marked with Lily's name.
