Chapter 2 - REBECA RUNS
Mateo moved before he had time to think.
He vaulted across the broken boards and chased Rebeca into the hallway.
She reached the front door first.
Her hand closed around the handle.
Mateo caught the back of her blouse.
The fabric tore at the shoulder.
Rebeca screamed and twisted around.
“Let me go.”
“You kept my son under your floor.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand enough.”
Mateo pulled her away from the door.
Rebeca slapped at his arms.
She was crying so violently now that mascara streaked down both cheeks.
“The police cannot take me yet.”
Mateo stared at her.
“Yet?”
“I need to tell you what happened.”
“You can tell them.”
“They won’t believe me.”
“I barely believe you’re human.”
Rebeca flinched as though he had struck her.
The sirens grew louder.
Security guards outside the gated community were already opening the entrance.
Rebeca looked past Mateo toward the living room.
“Emiliano was never supposed to stay here this long.”
Mateo’s jaw tightened.
“That sentence is not helping you.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”
“What was supposed to happen?”
Rebeca opened her mouth.
Then the front door burst inward.
Two police officers entered with weapons drawn.
“Hands where we can see them.”
Mateo stepped away.
Rebeca raised her hands.
An ambulance crew followed seconds later.
Mateo pointed toward the living room.
“My son is under the floor.”
The paramedics stared at him.
“Under the floor?”
“Move.”
His tone made them stop asking questions.
Within minutes, firefighters were cutting through the remaining boards.
Jimena stood against the wall wrapped in a police officer’s jacket.
Mateo stayed beside the opening.
When they finally lifted Emiliano out, the entire room went silent.
The boy weighed almost nothing.
A paramedic carried him like a bundle of blankets.
Mateo walked beside the stretcher.
Emiliano’s fingers remained locked around his father’s hand.
Outside, neighbors gathered behind gates and parked cars.
Phones appeared.
People whispered.
Rebeca’s perfect new life was collapsing in public.
Detective Adrián Salgado arrived as paramedics loaded Emiliano into the ambulance.
He was in his late forties with silver beginning at his temples and the exhausted eyes of a man who had spent years hearing lies.
He looked at Mateo.
“You’re the father?”
“Yes.”
“I remember this case.”
Mateo did too.
Salgado had been one of the first detectives assigned after Emiliano vanished.
He had questioned everyone.
Neighbors.
Relatives.
Delivery drivers.
Even Mateo and Laura.
Now his eyes moved toward Rebeca.
Two officers were placing her in handcuffs.
Salgado’s expression changed.
“She was interviewed three times.”
Mateo looked at him.
“You cleared her.”
Salgado did not defend himself.
“Yes.”
Something about the answer made Mateo’s anger sharpen.
Inside the ambulance, Emiliano stirred.
“Daddy.”
Mateo climbed in.
“I’m here.”
Emiliano looked toward the open rear doors.
He saw Rebeca in handcuffs.
Then fear entered his face.
“The man will know.”
Mateo leaned closer.
“What man?”
Emiliano swallowed.
“The one Aunt Rebeca calls Sebastián.”
May you like
Salgado, standing outside the ambulance, heard the name.
And for the first time that afternoon, the detective looked afraid.
