Chapter 2 - THE LETTERS CARMEN KEPT
Police arrived in eleven minutes.
Adrian was still in the hallway.
He did not run.
That mattered.
He told officers:
Lucy had become hysterical,
she had refused to let him hold his son,
the baby had been crying for hours,
and Carmen had struck him with a cane.
All technically connected to reality.
Then Lucy described:
Adrian hitting Emiliano,
slapping her twice,
chasing her,
trying to force her back inside.
Carmen confirmed what she witnessed.
She had not seen the first strike against Emiliano.
She had heard the baby scream.
She had seen both hallway slaps.
The officers separated everyone.
Emiliano was evaluated that night.
No fracture.
No head injury.
Minor redness.
Otherwise stable.
Lucy cried when the doctor said the word stable.
It sounded too generous for the day.
Then Carmen said:
“There’s something else.”
She returned to her apartment and brought out a grocery bag.
Inside were envelopes.
Seven.
All addressed to Lucy.
Three had been delivered to Carmen’s mailbox by mistake over the previous six months because the apartment numbers were almost identical.
Carmen had slid four under Lucy’s door.
The last three she kept because Adrian once opened the door and told her:
“Give me anything with Lucy’s name. I handle finances.”
Carmen had not liked that.
The unopened envelopes came from:
Weston Credit Services,
Northline Capital,
Metro Commercial Lending.
Lucy stared.
“I don’t know these companies.”
Adrian, standing down the hall with an officer, looked over.
His expression finally broke.
May you like
Carmen tapped the envelopes with one finger.
“I thought so.”
