The building looked like it had learned how to disappear.
No sign. No cameras. No security desk pretending to care. Just concrete, old paint, and the smell of something boiled too long.
Miguel counted the floors as he climbed. The elevator was broken. Or disabled. Hard to tell in places like this.
Rina followed one step behind him.
"You notice," she said quietly, "how no one ever remembers places like this until something bad happens?"
Miguel nodded. "That's why they pick them."
Fourth floor.
Apartment 4C.
Miguel knocked once.
Then again.
Nothing.
Rina knocked harder.
A sound came from inside. A scrape. Like a chair dragged across tile. Then silence.
Miguel leaned in. Lowered his voice.
"Mr. Alvarez," he said. "My name's Miguel Delgado. I'm a lawyer."
Silence stretched.
"I'm not with the police," Miguel added.
The lock clicked.
The door opened just enough for one eye to appear. Bloodshot. Alert. Afraid.
"You shouldn't be here," the man said.
Miguel didn't argue. "We just want to talk."
A pause.
Then the door opened wider.
Luis Alvarez stepped back. Motioned them in. Locked the door behind them. Checked it twice.
The apartment was small and tense. Like it had learned to hold its breath. A couch shoved too close to the wall. A TV playing a courtroom show with the sound off. Pill bottles lined up like soldiers on the counter.
Alvarez didn't sit.
Neither did Miguel.
"You saw something the night Councilman Price died," Miguel said.
Alvarez laughed. Too quick. Too loud.
"No," he said. "I didn't see anything."
Miguel waited.
Rina leaned against the wall. Arms crossed. Watching Alvarez's hands.
Miguel set his phone on the table. Screen dark.
"No recording," he said. "This isn't official."
Alvarez's eyes flicked to the phone.
"They already came," Alvarez said.
Miguel nodded. "Who?"
"Two men," Alvarez said. "Didn't say from where. Didn't need to."
Rina spoke softly. "What did they say?"
Alvarez finally sat. Hard.
"They said memories get unreliable," he said. "Especially at night."
Miguel watched the man's shoulders. Tight. Too tight.
"You were working that night," Miguel said. "Near the river."
Alvarez rubbed his face. "Streetlights. City contract."
"And you heard something."
"A pop," Alvarez said. "Thought it was a car."
Miguel didn't interrupt.
"I looked up," Alvarez continued. "Saw the car. Door open. Engine running."
Rina stepped closer.
"You see the councilman?" she asked.
Alvarez nodded. "Slumped forward."
Miguel leaned in. "Anyone else?"
Alvarez hesitated.
Then shook his head. "No."
Miguel didn't move.
"Luis," he said quietly, "your hands are shaking."
Alvarez looked down. Like he hadn't noticed.
"There was someone," Alvarez said suddenly. "Standing back. Watching."
Miguel felt it lock in.
"Where?" he asked.
"Across the street," Alvarez said. "Near the pole."
Rina's eyes sharpened. "What did he look like?"
Alvarez opened his mouth—
And stopped.
His eyes shifted to the window.
His jaw clenched.
"There was also—" he began.
Miguel waited.
Alvarez swallowed.
"There was also a—"
A loud bang echoed from somewhere above them.
All three froze.
Footsteps. Fast. Heavy.
Alvarez's face drained of color.
"They're here," he whispered.
Miguel moved first. Crossed the room. Looked through the peephole.
Nothing.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence returned. Thick. Wrong.
Miguel turned back.
"Luis," he said. "Finish that sentence."
Alvarez shook his head. Hard.
"No," he said. "I can't."
"You were about to say something important," Miguel said.
Alvarez stood abruptly. Backed away.
"There was also—" he tried again.
His voice broke.
"No," he said again. "I'm done."
Rina stepped in. "They already know you talked."
Alvarez laughed weakly. "That's why I'm still alive."
Miguel held his gaze.
"They'll come back," Miguel said. "And next time they won't knock."
Alvarez stared at the floor.
"I have a daughter," he said.
Miguel nodded once. "So do I."
That landed.
Miguel placed a card on the table.
"Call me," he said. "If anyone comes near you. Anyone."
Alvarez didn't pick it up.
.....
Rain smeared the windshield as they drove away.
Rina broke the silence.
"He was going to say something else," she said.
Miguel nodded. "A second detail. Something they didn't want finished."
Rina checked her phone. "You think he survives the week?"
Miguel didn't answer.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Yes?"
A calm voice. Male. Controlled.
"Mr. Delgado," the voice said. "You're misplacing your curiosity."
Miguel tightened his grip on the wheel.
"You called me," he said.
"A courtesy," the voice replied. "Before things get unpleasant."
Miguel smiled. Cold.
"You already sent people to scare a witness," he said. "That ship sailed."
A pause.
"You misunderstand," the voice said. "We didn't scare him."
Miguel felt his stomach drop.
"We reminded him," the voice continued. "Of what happens when sentences don't end."
The call ended.
Miguel didn't move.
Rina watched him. "That was them."
"Yes," Miguel said.
"And?"
"And now I know," Miguel said, "that what he didn't say matters more than what he did."
.....
The call came at dawn.
Luis Alvarez was found unconscious. Head injury. No forced entry.
Miguel closed his eyes.
The sentence never finished.
But someone was desperate enough to stop it.
And that told Miguel everything he needed to know.