Chapter 6 - What Happened to Rosa
"Who has your cousin?" I asked.
"Nobody," Iris said, then shook her head. "I don't know. Rosa isn't answering."
She pushed her sleeve up, wiped her eyes, and forced herself to explain. Rosa and her two children were living temporarily with friends after Haven Bridge emptied their apartment. Yesterday, Rosa had photographed movers taking furniture out of units that were supposed to be under repair.
"She sent the pictures to Ms. Bell," Iris said. "Then some guy told her to stop asking questions."
I called the number on Iris's screen. It went straight to voicemail. I left nothing.
"Give me Rosa's address."
"You're calling the police?"
"I already did. I'm calling them again and giving them a second person to check."
I contacted dispatch and explained the threat and Rosa's possible location. The operator confirmed officers were en route to the hotel and would pass the welfare concern to another unit.
Iris looked at the folder. "I was supposed to give these to a reporter."
"Where is she?"
"Inside the gala. Sloane Price. She covers city housing. But Pike caught me before I could meet her."
At the end of the hall, Grace came out of the pantry carrying two bottles of water. She saw Iris's wrist and stopped.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Iris tried to smile. "You don't have to look at me like that."
"I wasn't looking at you. I was looking for the person who did it."
Grace brought us into the empty staff break room. I photographed every document in the folder, including their page numbers, and sent the images to the email address I used for incident reports. I included the time and Iris's account without pretending I'd verified everything.
Then Grace pointed to a new message on the hotel's staff channel: ALL STAFF ARE INSTRUCTED NOT TO ASSIST LENA ORTIZ. SUSPECTED ASSAULT. SECURITY WILL HANDLE.
A photograph of me gripping Vanessa's ankle filled the screen.
It had been cropped so tightly that Vanessa's kick was gone.
May you like
Beneath it, another instruction appeared.
THE VIDEO WILL BE SHOWN TO GUESTS AT 9:30.
