Chapter 3 - The Freight District
They found the first piece of evidence forty-seven minutes later. Mason called from the freight district. “Lorenzo.”
He never used that tone unless something mattered. “What?”
“We found dog prints.”
Silence. “Large canine.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No.”
“Anything else?”
“A food wrapper. Blanket fibers.”
“And?”
Mason hesitated. “A button.”
Lorenzo’s stomach tightened. “What kind?”
“Dark horn. Four-hole. Nothing distinctive.”
“So why mention it?”
“Because Isabella’s tailor used the same buttons on the charcoal winter coat she wore last year.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes. Still circumstantial. Still nothing.
Then Mason said: “There’s blood.”
His eyes opened. “Human?”
“Unknown. Small amount on broken concrete. We’re preserving it.”
“Do not test privately.” Lorenzo stopped. Two months earlier, he might have ordered a lab immediately, but if this became evidence, chain of custody mattered.
Mason replied: “I know.”
“Police?”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something else.”
“What?”
“A camera. Small battery unit mounted inside a utility box. Pointing directly at the warehouse entrance.”
“Recent?”
“Looks recent.”
“Who installed it?”
“Unknown.”
“Can we access it?”
“Not without taking it.”
“Then don’t. Photograph it in place. Get police. Now?”
“Yes.”
That decision hurt. Police meant loss of control, documentation, search warrants, questions. But if Isabella was alive, he needed truth that would survive more than his own certainty.
Detective Rachel Ortiz had handled Isabella’s death investigation. She arrived within an hour. She did not like Lorenzo; that helped. People who fear you tell you what you want to hear. Rachel Ortiz never did.
She examined the location, listened to Sophia, spoke to Emma separately with a child specialist present later, reviewed the original crash file, and then looked at Lorenzo. “You understand that a child recognizing a dog is not proof your wife is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Blood may belong to anyone.”
“Yes.”
“The coat button proves almost nothing.”
“Yes.”
“You’re unusually cooperative today.”
“My wife may be alive.”
May you like
Rachel’s expression softened by approximately one percent. Then: “We’ll do this properly.”
Good.
