Chapter 11 - Hawthorne House
Police took Rafael downstairs in handcuffs.
He kept insisting the fire had been an accident.
Nobody believed him.
By midnight, Sofia, Mara, Elena, and Daniel were in the kitchen with detectives while technicians boxed the ledger, the surviving records, and the damaged medical file.
The lead detective, Maya Chen, looked at Sofia.
"Hawthorne House was a private neurological care facility. It closed in 2012."
Mara leaned forward. "Where did the patients go?"
"We're tracing them."
"How long?"
"As fast as we can."
Mara stood abruptly and walked to the window.
Sofia followed.
"You don't have to do this alone."
Mara laughed once, without humor. "I came here because I thought my grandmother had left me some weird family puzzle. Twelve hours later, I have a mother who may be alive and an uncle who tried to erase her."
"Great-uncle," Sofia said softly.
Mara looked at her.
"Sorry. Bad time for genealogy."
That pulled the smallest smile from her.
Elena approached holding Teresa's old payment receipt, recovered from the vault.
"There's something you should see."
On the back Teresa had written an address.
Hawthorne House - Cottage 6.
Below it was a second note.
If they move her, ask for Evelyn Hart.
Detective Chen searched the name.
Evelyn Hart was seventy-six and lived two hours away in a coastal town.
They drove there before sunrise.
Evelyn answered the door in a robe, took one look at Mara, and began to cry.
"Oh, Teresa," she whispered. "You kept your promise."
Mara's voice shook. "Where is Camila?"
Evelyn let them inside.
"Camila survived the crash, but her memory was badly damaged. She remembered pieces. Music. A blue door. A baby crying. She was terrified of a man named Rafael."
"Where did she go after Hawthorne closed?"
Evelyn stared at Mara.
"She didn't go anywhere."
Mara stopped.
May you like
Evelyn opened a bedroom door at the end of the hall.
A woman stood by the window, brushing long dark hair streaked with white.
