“We know a lot of things, Paola. We know about your daughter, Elena, and your son, Pedro. And we know about your parents in Peru, to whom you send whatever money you can spare.”
Now, it’s worry that animates her. But she doesn’t move from her seat, stunned. “We’re not here to harm or threaten you,” I say before she can spiral any further. “All we want is to know a few things about Becker. And we’ll pay you a lot of money for it.”
She stares, still distrustful. After a quick glimpse at our surroundings, I bend forward to ask Lex, “Can I have the money?”
He pulls out three wads of cash, thirty thousand dollars in total, and hands them to me discreetly. “How about this,” I suggest to Paola, “For every question you answer, I’ll give you five hundred dollars. You can stop at any point. And if I run out of questions before this money is gone, then you get everything.”
She stares at the money with visible envy, and I know I’ve won before she asks, “What do you want to know?”
I can barely hold back a sigh of relief. When we discussed this, Lex and I agreed it would be better to start slowly, to ease her into the deeper questions. That’s why I simply go with, “How long have you worked for Becker?”
“Four years.”
Jesus. We really hit the jackpot. As promised, I take five bills out of one of the wads and give them to her. “In all those years, have you ever seen him get violent?”
“We’re supposed to be invisible. Whenever Mr. Becker or his family enters a room, we have to leave.”
“So, never?”
Her lips turn into a tight line, and she peers at the money. I give her another five hundred dollars and ask again, “So, you’ve never seen him get angry?”
“He has… moods. He almost destroyed everything in his office earlier this year. We had to clean it up, and there was almost nothing left intact.”
Five hundred dollars more, and I ask, “Was it around early April?”
She thinks about it for a moment and nods. That matches my cyber heist to get Lex out of jail. That must have pushed him over the edge. “And have you ever seen him violent with a woman?” I ask next.
“I’m not sure,” she says hesitantly.
“Tell me whatever you can.”
“I’ve always had a bad feeling about that man,” she confesses. “About a year ago, we had a beautiful girl from Colombia, who came to work for the family. She said she was twenty-two, but I know she was barely older than my daughter. One day, she told me Mr. Becker looked at her a lot. And I started noticing it too, the way his eyes were on her. Once, I even found them together in a room, close. Then suddenly, she had a bracelet. The expensive kind. She wouldn’t tell me who it was from, but I knew.”
“It was from him?”
She nods. “I think so. She didn’t like him like that. She played with him to get things. But she didn’t want to sleep with him. She had a boyfriend, you see.”
“What happened to her?”
“I noticed bruises on her arms one day. When I asked if her boyfriend did it, she said no. When I asked if it was Mr. Becker, she said nothing. She disappeared shortly after that. I never heard from her again.”
My stack of cash is getting thinner, but it’s alright. This is precious information, and we have enough for sixty questions. “What do you think happened to her?”
“There are rumors that Mr. Becker sends the bad employees back to their countries.”
“So, what I heard is true? He only works with undocumented immigrants?”
Paola goes quiet, wriggling on her chair uncomfortably. When I understand where her discomfort comes from, I say, “My grandparents came here from Mexico illegally. I wouldneversend ICE after anyone,” I reassure her. “You’re safe with me, Paola. I promise.”
After a few more reluctant seconds, she says, “Some of the maids are documented. But they only hire people who don’t speak English. The housekeeper says it’s to preserve the family’s privacy.”
“That girl you told me about, though, she was undocumented, right?”
She nods. “She told me Mr. Becker would help her get a green card. That’s why she played her game with him. I guess he changed his mind.”
“What was her name?”
“Amalia. Amalia Camacho. Do you think you can find her?”
