Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Alejandro grabbed his phone.
He opened Marcela's message again.
The photograph looked different now.
Not romantic.
Not secretive.
Threatening.
The figure leaving the back door wore dark clothes and carried something under one arm.
Alejandro enlarged the image.
There was a white medical case in the man's hand.
"Who is he?"
Valeria shook her head.
"I only know his first name."
"Tomás."
"He used to work for your father."
Alejandro stared at her.
"My father has been dead for seven years."
"I know."
Valeria pushed herself slowly upright.
Her face tightened with pain.
"Tomás came through the service hallway while they were holding me down."
"He recognized the doctor."
"He shouted."
"Marcela panicked."
"Your mother told him to leave."
"He refused."
Alejandro's heart pounded.
"What happened after that?"
"The doctor ran."
"Marcela followed him."
"Your mother stayed."
Valeria stopped.
Her hands began shaking.
"What did she do?"
Valeria looked at him.
"She told me if I ever told you what happened, she would make sure you believed I was having an affair."
Alejandro stared at the phone in his hand.
Marcela's message suddenly became horrifyingly clear.
The photograph had not been evidence.
It had been preparation.
A story planted before Valeria could speak.
"Why didn't you call me?"
Valeria's expression hardened.
"I did."
Alejandro frowned.
"No, you didn't."
"I called six times."
His mouth opened.
She picked up her phone from the nightstand.
Six outgoing calls.
All placed that night.
All to his number.
Alejandro checked his own phone.
Nothing.
Then he remembered.
During the Monterrey dinner, Marcela had borrowed his phone.
She said hers had died.
Only for a few minutes.
He looked up slowly.
"She deleted them."
Valeria nodded.
"I sent messages too."
Alejandro checked.
Gone.
His hands tightened.
"Why stay in bed for three days?"
Valeria's eyes dropped to her belly.
"Because after the attack, I started cramping."
His face lost all color.
"The baby?"
"Still alive."
She swallowed.
"But the doctor at the private clinic told me strict rest."
"Why didn't the clinic contact me?"
Valeria looked ashamed.
"Because I didn't go under my real name."
Alejandro stared.
"Why?"
"Because Tomás said your family's doctor couldn't be trusted."
Alejandro's stomach twisted.
"What does our doctor have to do with this?"
Valeria reached beneath her pillow.
She removed a small plastic bag.
Inside was a glass vial.
Clear liquid.
No label.
"This fell out of the medical case during the struggle."
Alejandro took it carefully.
Valeria whispered.
May you like
"Tomás said your father once found the same kind of vial in this house."
"Two weeks before he died."
