Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT SOPHIA REMEMBERED
Sophia's memories returned slowly.
Not in a single dramatic confession.
Not in perfect sentences.
But through drawings.
Colors.
Small details.
She remembered the conservatory.
The purple door.
Her mother telling her to hide beneath the stairs.
Vincent arguing with Elena.
A woman crying.
And a car waiting outside.
Dante wanted answers immediately.
But I reminded him that Sophia was five.
She needed patience.
Not interrogation.
A child psychologist joined the investigation.
She helped Sophia communicate without pressure.
The investigators carefully documented what Sophia volunteered.
One afternoon, Sophia drew a yellow light.
Then a green garden.
Then a large building.
I looked at the drawing.
“Is this where Mommy went?”
Sophia nodded.
Dante studied it.
“A garden?”
She whispered:
“Glass.”
I looked up.
“Glass?”
Sophia nodded.
“Big glass.”
The Ashford Conservatory had enormous glass ceilings.
But investigators had already searched it.
Then Sophia drew something else.
A small house.
Inside the big building.
I stared.
“Was there a little house inside?”
She nodded.
Dante called Rafael.
“Find every greenhouse connected to the foundation.”
There were seven.
Six were public.
One was privately owned.
An old research greenhouse outside the city.
The property belonged to a company connected to Vincent.
Investigators obtained a warrant.
They entered the greenhouse before dawn.
Inside were rows of neglected plants.
Broken irrigation pipes.
Empty offices.
And a locked room behind a wall of climbing vines.
The room contained a bed.
A chair.
A table.
And fresh food.
Someone had been living there.
Recently.
On the wall, scratched into the paint, were five words.
SOPHIA, MOMMY IS STILL HERE.
Dante stared at the photograph.
His hands shook.
He looked at me.
“She was there.”
I nodded.
He swallowed.
“And now she's gone again.”
I took his hand.
“We're closer.”
He stared.
“How can you be sure?”
I looked at the photograph.
May you like
“Because she's leaving messages.”
For the first time, Dante allowed himself to hope.
