CHAPTER 3 The Woman in the Red Coat
The note slipped from Laura's trembling fingers.
WE FOUND THE USB.
She looked instinctively toward her purse.
The flash drive was still there.
Hidden inside a small cosmetic pouch beneath Daniel's inhaler and a packet of tissues.
No one had taken it.
Which meant one thing.
There had been another USB.
Another copy.
Or another person inside Eduardo's operation who had been carrying evidence.
Someone had just been discovered.
And if Eduardo believed that person had betrayed him...
Laura didn't want to imagine what came next.
The police spent nearly three hours documenting the break-in.
Drawers had been emptied.
Closets searched.
The mattress in the guest bedroom had been sliced open.
Books lay scattered across the floor.
Even Daniel's toy chest had been dumped upside down.
The officer shook his head.
"This doesn't look like burglary."
"What does it look like?"
"They knew exactly what they were searching for."
"Did they take anything?"
He checked his notes.
"No cash."
"No jewelry."
"No electronics."
Laura looked around the destroyed house.
"So they broke in... to leave a message?"
The officer didn't answer.
His silence was answer enough.
Eduardo arrived forty minutes later.
He rushed from his car with convincing panic.
"My God!"
He wrapped Laura in a hug.
"Are you okay?"
She forced herself not to pull away.
"We're fine."
He looked around the living room.
"This is unbelievable."
He crouched beside Daniel.
"Buddy, did anyone hurt you?"
Daniel hesitated.
Then quietly shook his head.
But Laura noticed something.
Daniel didn't hug his father.
Normally he always did.
Today...
He took a tiny step backward.
Eduardo noticed it too.
For the first time all day...
His smile disappeared.
Only for an instant.
Then it returned.
That evening, after the police left, Eduardo ordered takeout.
"No one should cook after today."
He sounded like the perfect husband.
Helpful.
Gentle.
Protective.
Laura watched him carefully.
Not once did he ask whether anything important had been stolen.
Not once did he ask about documents.
Or computers.
Or bank records.
Almost as if he already knew.
At dinner, Daniel barely touched his food.
Finally he whispered,
"Daddy..."
Eduardo smiled warmly.
"Yes?"
"The man at school..."
Laura's heart stopped.
"...said he knew you."
The room fell silent.
Eduardo's fork froze halfway to his mouth.
"What man?"
"The one with the blue hat."
"I don't know any man with a blue hat."
Daniel frowned.
"He said..."
The little boy looked confused.
"...he works with you."
Eduardo laughed.
"There are hundreds of people where I work."
Daniel slowly shook his head.
"No."
"He called you..."
Daniel searched for the words.
"...Boss."
The fork slipped from Eduardo's hand.
It hit the plate with a loud metallic clang.
For a fraction of a second...
Pure fear crossed his face.
Then it vanished.
He smiled again.
"You probably misunderstood."
"I didn't."
Daniel's voice was barely audible.
"He said..."
The boy looked directly at his father.
"...'Tell your boss we're too late.'"
Eduardo stood so abruptly that his chair crashed backward.
"I need some air."
He walked out onto the patio.
Laura watched through the glass doors.
The moment he thought no one could see him...
He pulled out his phone.
His hands were shaking.
He dialed someone immediately.
Laura quietly activated the voice recorder on her own phone.
She slid the patio door open just enough to hear fragments.
"...How?"
"...No, he said it in front of everyone..."
"...Find her."
A pause.
"...I don't care what it costs."
Another pause.
Then one sentence that made Laura's stomach twist.
"If she talks..."
His voice dropped too low to hear.
When Eduardo returned inside, he smiled as though nothing had happened.
"Work emergency."
Laura nodded.
"Of course."
At midnight Elena arrived.
Laura had told Eduardo she needed help cleaning the house.
Instead, the two women locked themselves inside the guest bedroom.
Laura played the recording.
Elena listened twice.
Then looked up.
"He said, 'Find her.'"
Laura nodded.
"But who?"
"The person with the other USB."
Laura thought about the anonymous messages.
The rocking horse.
The documents.
Someone had been risking everything to protect her.
Now Eduardo knew someone had betrayed him.
That person was running out of time.
Elena opened the copied files from the flash drive.
"There are over two hundred documents."
She organized them by date.
One folder immediately stood out.
Medical
Laura felt her pulse quicken.
Inside were scanned reports.
Hospital invoices.
Consent forms.
Surgery schedules.
Everything related to her operation.
But one document didn't belong.
It was dated...
Two months before her surgery.
Its title read:
Recipient Compatibility Assessment
Laura frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Elena opened the file.
The page listed blood types.
Tissue compatibility.
Laboratory values.
Then Laura saw her own name.
Laura Mendoza
Below it...
Another name.
Patient B. Armenta.
Armenta.
Silvana Armenta.
Laura looked at Elena.
"No..."
Elena kept reading.
Her face slowly lost color.
"Oh my God."
"What?"
Elena whispered,
"This isn't about insurance."
"What is it?"
She pointed at one paragraph.
The report described Laura as an...
Ideal biological donor.
Laura stared at the words without understanding.
Donor?
Donor for what?
She continued reading.
Her vision blurred.
One sentence stood out.
High probability of compatibility for living organ transplantation.
Laura couldn't breathe.
"No..."
"This has to be fake."
But Elena was already comparing signatures.
"The doctor's signature matches the one on your surgery records."
The same doctor.
The man in the restaurant.
The man from the recovery room.
Laura suddenly remembered waking after surgery.
The unbearable pain in her side.
The doctor had smiled kindly.
"Completely normal after the procedure."
She had believed him.
She had never asked questions.
The next morning Laura called the hospital pretending she needed copies of her records.
The receptionist hesitated.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Mendoza."
"What?"
"Your records have already been collected."
Laura froze.
"When?"
"Last Friday."
"By whom?"
"I'm not authorized to..."
Laura interrupted.
"Please."
Another pause.
"Your husband."
Laura slowly lowered the phone.
Eduardo had taken every original medical record days ago.
Why?
That afternoon Daniel asked if they could stop for ice cream after school.
Laura agreed.
They sat outside a small café downtown.
For the first time in days...
Daniel smiled.
Chocolate covered his cheeks.
Laura laughed softly.
The sound felt unfamiliar.
Then Daniel stopped smiling.
His eyes fixed on something across the street.
"Mom..."
She turned.
A woman stood beside a newspaper kiosk.
Mid-fifties.
Elegant.
Wearing a long red coat despite the warm weather.
She looked directly at Laura.
Then slowly raised one finger to her lips.
A gesture for silence.
Before Laura could react, the woman crossed the street.
She stopped beside their table.
Without introducing herself, she placed a folded newspaper in front of Laura.
Then quietly said,
"You have exactly forty-eight hours."
Laura stood.
"Who are you?"
The woman ignored the question.
"Whatever Eduardo tells you tomorrow..."
She leaned closer.
"...say yes."
Laura felt every hair on her arms stand up.
"Why?"
"Because if you refuse..."
The woman's eyes filled with something Laura couldn't identify.
Fear.
Deep, genuine fear.
"...your son dies first."
Laura's heart seemed to stop beating.
Before she could speak again, a city bus pulled between them.
Only for three seconds.
When it passed...
The woman in the red coat was gone.
Vanished into the crowded afternoon.
Laura looked down at the newspaper she had left behind.
Inside was a folded hospital wristband.
Not hers.
Not Daniel's.
The patient's name printed on it was only one word.
SILVANA.
And beneath the name...
The scheduled procedure date.
May you like
Tomorrow.
End of Chapter 3
