Only Her Touch のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 81 - チャプター 88

Priya found the woman behind the camera in less than a day, and what she found made Roberto sit down."The photographs were sent from a prepaid phone," she said, laying three printouts across the kitchen table. "It was activated two days before the dinner and used exactly once. I traced where it was bought. A small electronics shop two blocks from the hotel. The shop has a camera over the register."The first printout showed a woman in a gray coat paying cash, a cap pulled low over her face. The second was from the hotel hallway, timestamped 10:05 the night before. The same coat. The same cap. The same slim black case tucked under one arm."Her name is Tessa Brandt," Priya said. "She is a freelance event photographer. Weddings, charity galas, corporate dinners. Her studio is forty minutes from the hotel, and her real phone has been sitting at that studio since last night."Roberto looked at the grainy face for a long time. He had never seen her before. Yet this stranger had stood in a

The door opened only an inch, and the face behind it was already crying."You shouldn't be here," Elena whispered. "He was just here. Dale. He left twenty minutes ago."Roberto stood on the narrow porch with his hands open at his sides, the way a person stands when he does not want to frighten an animal. He had promised himself on the long drive that he would not raise his voice. He had promised himself that whatever she said, he would listen first."I'm not here to hurt you," he said. "I only need to know what happened to me. I think you are the only person who can tell me."She looked at him for a long moment. Then she stepped back and let him in.Her apartment was small and bare, a single lamp burning in the corner. A half packed suitcase sat open on the floor. Elena sank onto the edge of the sofa and wrapped both arms around herself, and Roberto stayed standing near the door, giving her all the space the room allowed."He told me to say it," she said at last. "That morning. When I

Roberto did not say a word. He only stared at the phone, his hand trembling slightly against the table, and then he looked at Alicia.She understood. He was asking her to take the call."Mr. Alvarez is not available," Alicia said into the speaker, her voice calm. "You have me instead."A soft, pleased sound came down the line. "Mrs. Alvarez. How lovely. I confess I hoped it would be you."Priya had slipped into the kitchen without a sound, a laptop open against her chest. She held up three fingers, then two, then one. The trace had started. Alicia kept her eyes on the phone and her voice level."What do you want, Dale?""Nothing at all," he said. "I called to congratulate you. That was a very moving statement tonight. The applause. The brave husband." A pause. "I want you to understand something, though. Applause is temporary. Photographs are not. A year from now, people will remember the pictures and forget the explanation. That is how people work.""People remember what they are tau

"The contractions are real," the doctor said.Alicia lay propped against the hospital pillows, a monitor strapped across her stomach, its small green line rising and falling in a pattern she could not read. Roberto stood beside the bed, close enough that she could feel the warmth of him, not touching. His face was calm in the way it became only when he was terrified."You are thirty three weeks," the doctor went on, a tall woman with quiet eyes and a steady voice. "That is early, but it is not dangerous by itself. Your cervix has only opened a little. We can try to slow things down. I am going to give you medicine to quiet the contractions, and a shot that will help your baby's lungs grow stronger. If we can hold off for forty eight hours, her chances improve a great deal.""And if we can't?" Alicia asked."Then we meet her a little sooner than planned," the doctor said gently. "She will be small, but she will be strong. We have a very good team here."Alicia nodded. She did not trust