Chapter 4 - THE MISSING LETTERS
Arthur arranged for Teresa and Lucy to stay temporarily at the Cardenas mansion.
Reporters had discovered Teresa’s apartment.
People stood outside the building holding signs accusing her of stealing the family fortune.
Teresa entered the mansion through the front doors for the first time.
For fifteen years, she had used the narrow entrance beside the laundry room.
The main foyer felt different when she was not carrying grocery bags.
Veronica waited beside the staircase.
“You cannot live here.”
Arthur handed her a court order.
“The mansion belongs to the Isabel Trust.”
“It belonged to my father.”
“He transferred it legally.”
Veronica looked at Teresa.
“She will turn it into a boardinghouse.”
Teresa walked past her.
She refused to be pulled into another argument.
Lucy stopped beneath the large family portrait.
She moved the decorative vase that had covered the young woman’s face.
Isabel appeared beside Manuel.
Someone had scratched the paint near her shoulder.
“Who damaged this?” Lucy asked.
Veronica’s silence answered.
Arthur opened the family archive that afternoon.
Several boxes involving Isabel were missing.
The inventory showed that Veronica ordered them destroyed eight years earlier because of alleged mold damage.
The remaining files contained copies of letters Isabel had written after Miguel died.
None had been delivered to Manuel.
Teresa unfolded the first one.
Manny,
Miguel is gone.
Teresa has been sick for three days.
I am not asking Father to forgive me.
I only need help finding work.
Another letter said,
Please answer.
I do not want my daughter punished because I chose the man I loved.
Teresa pressed the paper against her mouth.
Her mother had asked for help.
She had not been too proud.
She had not chosen poverty.
Someone had simply made sure her words never reached the person who might have answered.
“Who intercepted these?” Lucy asked.
Arthur examined the envelopes.
“They were returned to Joaquin’s private office.”
Veronica entered the archive.
“Ancient letters do not change the present.”
Teresa looked at her.
“You destroyed records because you were afraid they would.”
Veronica’s mouth tightened.
“I protected my father from a woman who had abandoned him.”
“My mother was dead when you burned those files.”
“She was still a threat.”
Teresa understood then.
May you like
Veronica had known who she was for years.
She had allowed Manuel’s niece to scrub the floors because silence kept the inheritance uncomplicated.
