CHAPTER 2 THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
The footsteps vanished down the corridor.
Alejandro moved first.
He crossed Elena’s bedroom in three long strides and rushed through the open doors.
“Seal the mansion!” he shouted.
His voice thundered through the north wing.
“No one enters or leaves!”
The order traveled immediately through the radios clipped to the guards’ shoulders.
Metal gates began closing around the estate.
Heavy locks engaged.
Security lights flickered on across the gardens, even though the sun had not yet set.
Alejandro reached the end of the hallway just as a shadow disappeared around the staircase.
“Stop!”
The figure did not stop.
Alejandro drew the pistol hidden beneath his jacket and followed.
Behind him, Esteban stepped toward the bedroom door.
“I’ll secure Mateo.”
Valeria immediately tightened her grip on the boy’s hand.
“No.”
Esteban looked at her.
“This is not the time to argue.”
Mateo stared at the silver ring now bulging inside Esteban’s pocket.
His face had gone completely still.
That frightened Valeria more than his screams.
The child slowly moved behind her.
Esteban extended one hand.
“Give him to me.”
“He doesn’t want to go with you.”
“He is four years old. What he wants is irrelevant.”
Mateo made a small sound in his throat.
Valeria placed herself fully between them.
“He saw your ring.”
Esteban’s eyes hardened.
“So?”
“He drew it before you came upstairs.”
For one fraction of a second, the head of security looked surprised.
Then the emotion disappeared.
“Traumatized children draw many things.”
“He screamed when he saw it.”
“He screams at everyone.”
“He didn’t scream at me.”
The words landed harder than Valeria intended.
Esteban stared at her in silence.
His face remained calm, but a vein pulsed beneath his jaw.
From somewhere downstairs came the sound of breaking glass.
Then a guard shouted.
Esteban touched the radio on his shoulder.
“Report.”
Static answered him.
He tried again.
“South corridor, report.”
A breathless voice finally came through.
“We saw someone entering the service stairwell. Female, possibly a member of staff.”
“Block the kitchen exits,” Esteban ordered. “Search every room.”
Valeria watched him carefully.
He had regained control too quickly.
Almost as though he had expected someone to run.
Mateo tugged at her uniform.
When Valeria looked down, he pointed toward Elena’s writing desk.
Then he pressed one finger against his lips.
Be quiet.
Valeria understood.
Whatever else Elena had hidden, Mateo did not want Esteban to see it.
She forced herself to look frightened rather than suspicious.
“Perhaps I should take him downstairs.”
Esteban glanced toward the bedroom.
“No one touches anything in this room until I complete a security inspection.”
“You said no one had entered for two years.”
“No authorized person has entered.”
“That recorder had new batteries.”
His eyes shifted toward her.
Valeria immediately regretted saying it.
Esteban stepped closer.
“You notice a great deal for a maid.”
“My job is to notice dirt people with money don’t see.”
For the first time, something openly hostile entered his expression.
Before he could answer, gunfire exploded from below.
Three shots.
A woman screamed.
Mateo dropped to the floor and covered his head.
His whole body began shaking.
Valeria fell to her knees beside him despite the pain in her ribs.
“It’s all right,” she whispered.
But the words were useless.
Mateo was no longer in the hallway.
He was back inside the car with his mother.
Back beneath the sound of breaking windows and bullets striking metal.
Valeria pulled him against her chest.
“Listen to me, Mateo. You’re in the house. You’re with me. Feel the floor beneath your hands.”
His breathing became frantic.
“Look at me.”
He could not.
“Mateo, count my fingers.”
She held up one finger.
Then two.
Then three.
His eyes finally found her hand.
“That’s right,” she said. “Stay here with me.”
Esteban spoke into his radio.
“Who fired?”
No answer.
He cursed and hurried toward the stairs.
The moment he disappeared, Mateo pulled away from Valeria.
He ran into his mother’s room and crawled beneath the writing desk.
“Mateo!”
The boy reached behind one of the wooden panels.
A soft click sounded.
A narrow drawer slid from the underside of the desk.
Inside was a folded photograph.
A memory card.
And a bloodstained piece of white fabric.
Valeria stared at the objects.
The cloth looked as though it had been torn from a shirt.
Embroidered near one corner were two black letters.
E.S.
Esteban Salgado.
Valeria’s heart began pounding.
Mateo grabbed the photograph and shoved it into her hand.
It showed Elena standing beside a fountain during what appeared to be a charity event.
She was smiling at the camera.
Alejandro stood on one side of her.
Esteban stood on the other.
Behind them were several politicians, businessmen, and security officers.
At first, Valeria saw nothing unusual.
Then Mateo tapped the background.
A woman stood partly hidden behind a stone pillar.
Tall.
Thin.
Dressed in white.
A large scar ran from her temple to her jaw.
Valeria turned the photograph over.
A message had been written on the back.
If Luciana returns, Mateo is in danger.
Below the message was a date.
Three days before Elena’s murder.
Valeria heard footsteps approaching.
She quickly slipped the photograph, memory card, and stained fabric into the deep pocket of her cleaning uniform.
Mateo pushed the hidden drawer closed.
“Valeria!”
Alejandro entered the bedroom with his pistol still in his hand.
A smear of blood marked his white shirt.
Valeria stood quickly.
“Are you hurt?”
“It isn’t mine.”
Behind him, two guards dragged a struggling woman into the room.
Doña Socorro.
The elderly housekeeper’s gray hair had come loose from its tight bun.
Blood ran from a cut above her eyebrow.
One guard held both of her arms behind her back.
The other carried a small handgun wrapped in a kitchen towel.
Alejandro’s face was dark with fury.
“She was found in the service stairwell.”
Doña Socorro looked at Valeria.
Not at Alejandro.
Not at Mateo.
At Valeria.
And in her eyes was a silent warning.
Do not speak.
“She fired at one of my men,” Alejandro said.
“That is a lie,” Doña Socorro replied.
“You were holding the weapon.”
“I found it beneath the stairs.”
“And then you ran.”
“I was running toward the boy.”
Esteban appeared behind the guards.
His suit remained immaculate.
His breathing was calm.
Too calm.
“She was also carrying this.”
He held up a small black device.
A signal jammer.
Alejandro took it from him.
The muscles in his face tightened.
The device explained why the radios had failed.
It also meant whoever had entered Elena’s bedroom could have disabled the security cameras.
“Why did you have this?” Alejandro demanded.
“I didn’t.”
Esteban gave a humorless smile.
“It was inside her apron.”
Doña Socorro looked at him with hatred.
“You put it there.”
One of the guards struck her behind the knee.
She collapsed onto the marble floor.
Mateo flinched.
Valeria stepped forward.
“Don’t hit her in front of him.”
Alejandro raised one hand.
The guard stopped immediately.
Doña Socorro remained on her knees.
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at Mateo.
“I tried to protect you,” she whispered.
Alejandro’s pistol lowered slightly.
“Protect him from whom?”
The housekeeper said nothing.
Alejandro moved closer.
“You have worked for my family for twenty-seven years.”
“I served your mother before I served you.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
“I cannot.”
“You entered my dead wife’s rooms.”
“No.”
“You ran from my men.”
“Because someone was chasing me.”
“Who?”
Doña Socorro’s gaze shifted briefly toward Esteban.
He stood completely still.
But Valeria saw his right hand move toward the inside of his jacket.
A weapon.
Valeria spoke before she could stop herself.
“She’s afraid of someone in this room.”
Every guard looked at her.
Esteban slowly turned his head.
Alejandro studied Doña Socorro’s face.
“Is that true?”
The housekeeper’s lips trembled.
Before she could answer, every light in the north wing went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A suppressed gunshot cracked through the silence.
Doña Socorro gasped.
Valeria threw herself over Mateo.
Alejandro fired toward the doorway.
The guards shouted.
Someone struck Valeria from behind.
Pain burst through her injured ribs.
She fell against the carpet but refused to release Mateo.
A shadow moved beside the bed.
Then came the sound of glass shattering.
Alejandro reached the window as the emergency lights flickered on.
A rope hung from the balcony.
Someone was descending toward the garden.
“North courtyard!” he shouted into his radio. “Stop that person!”
The guards ran from the room.
Valeria looked toward Doña Socorro.
The housekeeper lay on the floor.
Blood spread across her uniform.
The bullet had entered just below her shoulder.
Valeria crawled toward her.
“Bring a doctor!”
Doña Socorro grabbed her wrist with surprising strength.
“Listen.”
“Don’t speak. You need help.”
“Listen to me.”
Her fingernails dug into Valeria’s skin.
“The woman in the photograph…”
Valeria’s blood turned cold.
Doña Socorro knew what Mateo had given her.
“Who is she?”
The housekeeper struggled to breathe.
“Luciana.”
“Who is Luciana?”
Doña Socorro glanced toward Alejandro, who was still shouting orders from the balcony.
Then she pulled Valeria closer.
“Elena’s sister.”
Valeria stared at her.
Alejandro had never mentioned that his wife had a sister.
“Why would Mateo be in danger if she returned?”
Doña Socorro’s face twisted with pain.
“Because Luciana died eighteen years ago.”
Valeria felt the room tilt around her.
“That’s impossible.”
“I saw her body.”
A doctor and two guards rushed into the room.
Doña Socorro released Valeria’s wrist.
As the doctor pressed cloth against the wound, Alejandro turned back from the balcony.
“The intruder escaped over the western wall.”
Esteban entered behind him.
He had a fresh scratch across his cheek.
“The cameras were disabled for exactly ninety-four seconds,” he reported. “Whoever did this understood our entire security system.”
Alejandro looked down at Doña Socorro.
“Take her to the medical room. She remains under guard.”
“She is the victim,” Valeria said.
“She was found with a gun and a signal jammer.”
“She was shot while the lights were out.”
“She may have been shot by an accomplice trying to silence her.”
“Or by the person who planted the jammer.”
Esteban stepped toward Valeria.
“You are making serious accusations.”
“I didn’t name anyone.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Alejandro moved between them.
“Enough.”
Mateo crawled out from behind Valeria.
His eyes were fixed on the balcony.
He walked toward the broken window.
“Mateo, stay back,” Alejandro warned.
The boy ignored him.
He crouched beside a shard of glass and picked up something that had fallen onto the carpet.
A necklace.
A silver chain with a small white flower.
Mateo stared at it.
Then he began to scream.
The sound tore through the room.
He stumbled backward, pointing at the necklace.
Alejandro grabbed it from the floor.
His expression collapsed.
Valeria saw the recognition in his eyes.
“What is it?” she asked.
Alejandro opened the small flower-shaped pendant.
Inside was a faded picture of Elena and another young woman.
They looked almost identical.
Sisters.
Alejandro turned toward the dark garden beyond the balcony.
“This belonged to Luciana.”
Doña Socorro was being lifted onto a stretcher.
She looked at the necklace.
Terror filled her eyes.
“She’s inside the mansion,” she whispered.
Alejandro heard her.
“You said she died.”
“She did.”
“Then who escaped from this room?”
Doña Socorro shook her head.
“The person who escaped was not Luciana.”
Valeria looked down at Mateo.
The little boy had stopped screaming.
He was staring at the bedroom mirror.
Slowly, he raised one shaking finger.
Written across the glass in fresh red lipstick were six words.
THE WRONG SISTER DIED THAT NIGHT.
Alejandro stepped toward the mirror.
His reflection stared back at him beneath the message.
Then his phone began to ring.
The number was private.
He answered without taking his eyes from the words.
“Who is this?”
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then a woman spoke.
Her voice was almost identical to Elena’s.
“You finally opened the room.”
Alejandro’s face went white.
“Luciana?”
The woman laughed softly.
“No, Alejandro.”
A pause followed.
“I’m the woman your wife died trying to hide from you.”
The call ended.
Alejandro lowered the phone.
At that exact moment, the mansion’s main security alarm began to howl.
Esteban touched his radio.
“What happened?”
A guard answered through heavy static.
“Sir, we have a breach beneath the north wing.”
“What kind of breach?”
The guard hesitated.
“Someone opened the underground passage.”
Alejandro looked toward the bedroom floor.
“There is no underground passage.”
Mateo suddenly stepped forward.
For the first time in two years, his lips moved.
His voice was weak.
Broken.
But unmistakable.
“Yes… there is.”
Every person in the room froze.
Alejandro slowly turned toward his son.
Mateo pointed beneath his mother’s bed.
May you like
Then he whispered one more word.
“Bodies.”
