Chapter 3: The Midnight Healer
“If you were being poisoned,” Alejandro demanded, his mind racing, trying to piece together the shattered reality he was standing in, “why didn’t you go to the hospital? Why didn’t you call me? Why sneak a man in here at midnight?”
“Because the hospital staff here in the valley are all on the Aranda payroll,” Valeria explained. “Dr. Morales has been your mother’s personal physician for thirty years.
If I went to him, he would have covered it up. And I couldn’t call you... I didn’t know if you were in on it.”
The words struck Alejandro like a physical blow. She didn’t know if I was in on it.
“I was completely alone,” she sobbed. “I contacted a specialist from the city, Dr. Julian Silva. He is a toxicologist. I found him online and begged him to come.
He agreed to visit in secret. He took blood samples and examined the bruises—from where your mother pushed me down the stairs two days ago, claiming I simply fainted.”
Alejandro’s head snapped toward his mother. The “fainting spell.” He had rushed home early from his trip because Esther had called him, sounding frantic, saying Valeria had collapsed.
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“He came back last night,” Valeria said. “He brought the lab results and the bandages for my sprained ankles and bruised shins.
He gave me treatments to flush the remaining toxins from my system to protect the baby. That is the man you saw on the security cameras, Alejandro. A doctor trying to save my life.”
