Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN AT THE TRUCKING OFFICE
Jenna Cross had worked with Valerie for five years.
She was the person who introduced Valerie to Alejandro at a company dinner.
Jenna described the meeting as accidental.
Security footage proved otherwise.
Valerie waited outside the restaurant until Alejandro arrived.
Jenna signaled when he entered.
Their relationship had been planned from the beginning.
Police reached the trucking headquarters before Jenna deleted the cloud account.
She locked herself inside the server room.
When officers forced the door, they found her destroying financial records.
Jenna claimed she acted because Martin ordered her.
Detective Brooks showed her the tablet access log.
“You tried to erase evidence from a dead woman’s account.”
Jenna looked toward the floor.
“She was not supposed to record that meeting.”
“Were you there?”
“No.”
“But I helped Valerie find the tablet afterward.”
They searched Marissa’s home after the funeral.
They never found the device because Sophie had wrapped it inside her blanket.
Jenna also admitted creating fake employment records for Valerie.
Alejandro believed Valerie had worked at one company branch for three years.
She had worked there for less than six months.
Most of her history was invented.
“Why help her?” Brooks asked.
Jenna began crying.
“Martin paid me.”
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“For setting up a marriage?”
“For helping Valerie enter the company.”
Jenna revealed that Martin feared Alejandro would eventually discover the anonymous investments supporting the trucking business.
He needed someone close enough to influence Alejandro’s decisions.
Valerie agreed because she wanted the trust.
Jenna became their connection inside the office.
She scheduled Alejandro’s meetings.
She arranged the rooftop event where Valerie first impressed him.
She canceled background checks.
She even delayed the prenuptial agreement until after the wedding.
Alejandro listened from the observation room.
His marriage had been designed like a business acquisition.
Detective Brooks asked Jenna about Raymond Lane.
Jenna’s fear became immediate.
“Raymond did not disappear after the accident.”
“We know that.”
“No.”
“I mean he never stopped watching the family.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“He blamed Valerie when police reopened the case.”
“He said he would take Sophie and trade her for protection.”
Alejandro stood.
Sophie was still inside the hospital.
He called Rosa.
No answer came.
He called hospital security.
The pediatric floor had just suffered a power failure.
Cameras were offline.
The emergency generator had activated, but the electronic doors remained unlocked for forty seconds.
A man wearing a maintenance uniform entered Sophie’s corridor during that window.
Rosa’s phone lay on the hospital room floor.
May you like
The pink blanket was gone.
So was Sophie.
