Chapter 3 - THE BRACELET WITH THE YELLOW BEAD
The girl from the bus refused to speak until someone promised Nolan Price would not be allowed near her.
Her name was Nina Parker.
She was seventeen.
And she had been told that if she caused trouble, her younger brother would lose the housing assistance their family depended on.
I sat beside her in the hotel's private lounge.
“You're safe here,” I said.
Nina looked toward Sebastian.
“Is he one of them?”
Sebastian's expression tightened.
“One of who?”
“The men who own the program.”
He didn't answer immediately.
That silence told Nina everything.
She started crying.
“I shouldn't have come here.”
Eleanor moved toward her.
Instead of touching the girl without permission, she sat across from her and signed slowly.
YOU ARE NOT IN TROUBLE.
I interpreted.
Nina studied Eleanor's hands.
Then she raised her own.
Her signing was hesitant, but understandable.
LUCIA TAUGHT ME.
Sebastian stopped breathing for a moment.
“You know my daughter?”
Nina nodded.
“She told us about her grandmother. Said she was the bravest person she'd ever known.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Nina reached for the black bracelet.
“She gave me this yesterday.”
“Where?” Sebastian demanded.
“At a place they called the training residence. We were there for two nights before they separated us.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know. They kept the curtains closed in the van.”
Sebastian took a step toward her.
Nina flinched.
I immediately stood.
“Mr. Caruso, sit down.”
He stared at me.
“Excuse me?”
“She's seventeen. She's frightened. And you're standing over her like she's being questioned by a judge.”
His jaw tightened.
Then he sat.
Nina looked at me gratefully.
“She said her grandmother would recognize the bracelet,” Nina continued. “She told me to wear it where someone could see.”
“Did she tell you anything else?”
Nina nodded.
“She said, 'If they pretend I'm gone, don't believe them.'”
Sebastian lowered his head.
I carefully examined the bracelet.
The black threads were worn.
The yellow bead had been tied into place with a newer piece of string.
When I loosened it, a tiny strip of paper slipped into my palm.
Nina leaned closer.
“She told me not to open it.”
I unfolded the paper.
Six words had been written in cramped handwriting.
JULIAN WATCHED HIM TAKE ME AWAY.
Sebastian read them once.
Then again.
“No.”
His voice was barely audible.
Eleanor held out her hand.
He gave her the note.
She looked at the handwriting.
Then she reached inside her handbag and removed a small photograph.
Lucia at thirteen.
Laughing beside Eleanor in a sunny garden.
On the back was a handwritten message.
Grandma, next summer we're making matching necklaces. Love, Lucia.
The same slanted letters.
The same unusually narrow capital L.
Sebastian looked toward the ballroom.
“My brother watched her get taken.”
Nina suddenly grabbed my sleeve.
“There's something you need to understand.”
I turned.
“Lucia didn't say Julian arranged everything.”
Sebastian looked back.
“What?”
“She said he watched. She said there was another man.”
“Who?”
Nina shook her head.
“She wouldn't tell me his name. She said we weren't supposed to say it out loud.”
The lounge door opened.
Damon entered with Detective Rosa Delgado, a Chicago investigator who specialized in crimes involving vulnerable teenagers.
Damon had contacted her after the passengers were secured.
Delgado introduced herself to Nina, explained that she was not under arrest, and asked permission to hear what she knew.
Nina agreed.
Within twenty minutes, a disturbing picture emerged.
The scholarship program had not been sending teenagers to an accredited overseas school.
Participants were being transferred between private residences and commercial training sites.
Some were required to work without pay.
Their passports and personal documents were controlled by staff.
Several had been warned that their families would suffer financially if they left.
“Do you know who managed these places?” Delgado asked.
Nina nodded slowly.
“There was a man who visited every month.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall. Gray hair. Always wore a gold ring with a black stone.”
Sebastian's expression changed.
Eleanor noticed.
WHO IS IT?
I translated.
Sebastian swallowed.
“Martin Keene.”
I recognized the name.
Everyone at the gala knew it.
Martin Keene was the foundation's largest donor.
He was also the honorary chairman of the scholarship program.
His portrait hung beside the ballroom entrance.
Nina suddenly looked frightened.
“He was here tonight.”
Sebastian stood.
“Where?”
“I saw him when we arrived. He was standing beside Julian.”
Detective Delgado looked toward Damon.
“Keep both men in the building if possible. Quietly. Don't alert them yet.”
But Nina wasn't finished.
“Lucia said Mr. Keene was afraid of something she had.”
“What did she have?” I asked.
“A little blue notebook.”
Sebastian frowned.
Nina looked directly at him.
“She said it contained the names of everyone the scholarship program had sent away.”
“How many names?”
Nina hesitated.
“More than a hundred.”
The room fell silent.
Then Nina spoke so softly I almost missed it.
“Lucia told me she could have escaped once.”
Sebastian leaned forward.
“Why didn't she?”
“Because Mr. Keene promised that if she disappeared, the youngest students would be punished.”
Nina began crying again.
“She stayed because she thought she was protecting us.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Sebastian stared at the bracelet.
His daughter had not abandoned her family.
She had spent three years trying to protect other people's children.
And then Nina revealed the detail that changed everything.
“Yesterday, Lucia heard them discussing tonight's ceremony.”
“What did they say?” Delgado asked.
Nina's lips trembled.
“They said Mr. Caruso was going to sign something after the speeches.”
Sebastian frowned.
“I wasn't scheduled to sign anything.”
May you like
Nina looked terrified.
“Lucia said if you signed it, they wouldn't need her alive as a witness anymore.”
