The Disappearance of Valentina Moreno

Chapter 14 ~ Surveillance

                Friday has arrived, and usually, I’m eager for the weekend to begin, but this time it’s just a ticking clock for the meetup with my father. 

However, at the moment, Mr. Jue sits across from me on the couch while Lisa makes us tea. He’s an older man, perhaps in his sixties, yet only a few strands of silver weave through his dark head of slick hair. There’s no mistaking he’s Lisa’s father with their similar shaped hooded eyes, thin noses, and sharp jawlines. Even his facial expressions are similar to hers as he studies the photos from the shed while telling me about what the next steps are. 

His lips are moving, but I don’t know what he’s saying because the apartment has become stuffy with each word that tumbles from his mouth.

I’m also quite anxious about meeting with my father in twenty-four hours.

“And he would like a swab of your DNA so we can cross-reference it with what the FBI has on file for Valentina.”

“Yes. Sure,” I reply.

“But I’ve got to say, just by looking at your childhood photos, and comparing them with images of Valentina, there’s one hell of an uncanny resemblance.”

“Well, our resemblance is what started this whole thing,” I laugh softly while twisting the hem of my shirt. I wish Moses were here.

“Do you think if you saw surveillance footage from the day of Valentina’s disappearance, it might stir a memory?”

“Why. Do you have some?” I straighten my posture.

“Yes. My friend at the FBI sent me this…” he pulls out his phone. “It’s a little grainy because of how old it is, but let’s see if it strikes a memory.”

Mr. Jue taps on his phone then rotates it towards me and hits the play button on the screen. Lisa hands me a cup of tea, so I reach for it, but my attention is centered on the video. 

“This is outside of the gift shop in Curry Village,” he says.

The camera angle is facing the walkup, and it takes a few seconds, but then I see little Valentina with her hand in Javier’s as they enter the store. Then the screen transitions to inside, where the two of them roam the aisles. Valentina is curious as she picks up items within reach, but Javier plucks them from her hands and puts them back. 

Moments later, little Valentina runs up to a woman with dark hair draped over one shoulder and a toddler on her hip. The woman bends and kisses the top of her head, and she smiles as if Valentina said something silly. It must be Amelia, and together the four of them look like such a happy family, having a fun day on vacation.

“Anything?” Mr. Jue asks.

“Um…” I touch my throat as I swallow a gob of saliva. My heartbeat is crashing like waves against a rocky shore, and my palms are sweaty, so I wipe them on my leggings. Seeing the Moreno family so peaceful and unaware of what's to come is unbearable. “No. I don’t remember it.”

“Well, it was worth a shot.”

Mr. Jue is about to close out the screen when I see something which causes my stomach to plummet to the carpet.

“Wait!” I grab his arm. “Keep playing the video.”

“See something?” He pulls it up again. 

“Maybe.” 

The camera footage resumes, and that’s when I see a young Angelo and Elaine Rossi walk into the gift shop. There, plain as day, are my parents, within a few feet from the Moreno family. Is this the moment when they spotted me—Valentina?