Chapter 5 - THE PHOTOGRAPH HER MOTHER HID
Maria’s father was named Rafael Alvarez.
She remembered almost nothing good about him.
Cigarette smoke.
Work boots.
A green pickup.
Arguments behind closed doors.
Then one morning, her mother said he was gone.
Dead in a workplace accident.
Maria was nine.
Carlos eleven.
No funeral body.
Closed casket.
Her mother refused questions.
Now Rafael stood in a twenty-eight-year-old photograph beside Viktor Sokolov outside a Petrov warehouse.
Alexei studied the image.
“That is my father’s original Cicero facility.”
“What was my father doing there?”
“I don’t know.”
Dmitri did.
Or at least knew where to look.
Old payroll archives.
Paper records.
Within hours, they found Rafael Alvarez.
Job title:
Night shipping supervisor.
Employment:
1996–1999.
Termination reason:
VOLUNTARY.
But another internal memo had been attached.
Security concern.
Missing manifests.
Federal inquiry anticipated.
Then Rafael disappeared.
Maria’s childhood “work accident” happened three weeks later.
She looked at Alexei.
“My father didn’t die at work.”
“No.”
“Did your family kill him?”
The room went silent.
Dmitri shifted.
Alexei did not.
“I don’t know.”
Maria stared.
“If you did know, would you tell me?”
“Yes.”
She believed him.
That frightened her more than a lie.
Then another archive file surfaced.
Rafael had reported irregular freight shipments.
Crates entering under agricultural invoices.
Leaving under electronics manifests.
He suspected Viktor was using company routes for unauthorized cargo.
What cargo?
The records were incomplete.
Then one handwritten note:
R.A. requests meeting with Mikhail Petrov.
Mikhail.
Alexei’s father.
The meeting occurred.
Two days later, Rafael stopped showing up.
Then Viktor was promoted.
Maria felt sick.
Her father may have tried to expose Viktor.
And Alexei’s father might have ignored him.
Or worse.
Then Sophie wandered into the room holding her stethoscope.
Maria immediately covered the files.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Can Mr. Alexei have crackers?”
Everyone stared at her.
Alexei actually answered.
“I would like crackers.”
Sophie nodded.
“I’ll check them.”
She had become obsessed with food labels after his reaction.
Maria crouched.
“You don’t have to protect Mr. Alexei’s food.”
“But I’m doctor.”
“No, sweetheart. You’re four.”
Sophie considered.
“Almost five.”
“Still not staff.”
Alexei looked away, hiding another smile.
That tiny normal moment saved Maria from breaking.
Then Dmitri received a call.
Carlos wanted another conversation.
This time with Alexei.
Carlos said Viktor had shown him a document.
A shipping manifest from 1999.
Rafael’s signature.
It appeared to prove Maria’s father had participated in the smuggling operation.
Maria shook her head.
“No.”
Carlos said:
“I thought that too.”
Then:
“But I found another version.”
Same shipment.
Same date.
Different signature.
Viktor’s.
One of them was forged.
Carlos believed he knew which.
“How?”
“Because Dad was left-handed.”
Maria froze.
He was.
The signature supposedly belonging to Rafael slanted the wrong direction.
Then Carlos whispered:
“Viktor framed Dad.”
The pattern suddenly became terrifyingly familiar.
May you like
Viktor had framed Rafael Alvarez twenty-seven years earlier.
And now someone had tried to frame Rafael’s daughter for poisoning Alexei.
