Chapter 6 - What Valentina Remembered.
.The alarm lasted less than a minute.
To Adrian, it felt endless.
Doctors and nurses surrounded the bed while he was pushed into the hallway.
Maurice arrived just as Dr. Cole closed the door.
"What happened?"
Adrian looked at him.
"She woke up."
Maurice's face shifted.
"She spoke?"
The question came too fast.
"She cannot speak yet."
Maurice relaxed slightly.
Adrian saw it.
"But she communicated."
The relief disappeared.
"What did she say?"
"Why are you afraid of the answer?"
Maurice's voice sharpened.
"Because she is my wife."
"Then start acting like it."
Dr. Cole emerged and explained that Valentina had become agitated, causing a temporary change in her vital signs.
She was stable again.
He wanted visitors limited.
Maurice immediately asked to go inside.
Valentina's nurse spoke quietly to Dr. Cole.
The doctor then turned to Maurice.
"Not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because when she heard your voice in the hallway, her heart rate rose dramatically."
Maurice stared at him.
"That means nothing."
"Medically, it means I am reducing stimulation."
Adrian almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Detective Park returned before noon with another discovery.
Before she spoke, Adrian asked whether anyone had contacted the maintenance worker who found Valentina.
Park nodded.
His name was Thomas Reed, a fifty-eight-year-old electrician who serviced dock lighting.
He had been finishing a late repair when he noticed a handbag near the service road.
Then he heard a faint sound from behind a parked utility cart.
He found Valentina there and called emergency services immediately.
Thomas told investigators he had seen taillights leaving the lane several minutes earlier, but he could not identify the vehicle.
He also remembered something else.
Valentina's phone had been lying several feet away with the screen still illuminated.
The outgoing call display showed Maurice's name.
"He stayed with her until the ambulance arrived," Park said.
Adrian looked through the glass at his daughter.
A stranger had done in seconds what her husband had failed to do in nineteen minutes.
The comparison lodged inside him like a stone.
Detective Park then returned to the reason she had come.
Camille had voluntarily come to the station with an attorney.
She claimed Valentina confronted her about the foundation payments.
According to Camille, they argued near the service road.
Then Camille walked away.
"She says Valentina was standing when she left," Park explained.
"Do you believe her?" Adrian asked.
"I believe the camera shows Camille returning alone."
"And Maurice?"
"He says he knew nothing until your call."
Adrian handed Park a copy of the voice recording.
"Then he has another problem."
Park listened with headphones.
When Maurice's voice said, Give me the key, Valentina, she looked up.
"Where was this recorded?"
"The locker."
"We need the original device."
"My attorney has it secured."
Park nodded.
"Good."
That afternoon, the hospital removed Valentina's breathing tube.
She remained weak and confused.
Adrian was allowed inside for five minutes.
Valentina looked smaller than he remembered.
"Dad," she whispered.
His throat tightened.
"I'm here."
"Maurice?"
"He's outside."
Fear crossed her face.
Adrian took her hand.
"He cannot come in unless you want him here."
Valentina stared at the ceiling.
"Camille found me."
"At the marina?"
She nodded slightly.
"I told her I had copies."
"What happened next?"
Valentina closed her eyes.
"She wanted the key."
"Did she hurt you?"
Valentina hesitated.
"I don't remember."
Her voice broke.
"I remember a car door."
Adrian leaned closer.
"Whose car?"
"Black SUV."
"Maurice's?"
Valentina's eyes opened.
"No."
She swallowed with difficulty.
"Dad, Maurice wasn't on the yacht the whole time."
Adrian went still.
"The cameras show him there."
Valentina shook her head.
"Not him."
May you like
She looked directly at her father.
"His phone."
