Gabriel looked at him in disbelief.
—Are you accusing me of something based on the word of a woman who has been missing for months?
“No,” Mateo replied. “I’m asking you a question. Why is my daughter afraid of you?”
Gabriel looked at Sofia.
—Come here, little one. Tell your dad you’re confused.
The girl started to cry.
—Don’t call me little!
The silence that followed was absolute.
Elena hugged Sofia and whispered something in her ear.
Mateo felt a cold rage, unlike any anger he had ever experienced before.
—Don’t you ever come near my daughter again.
Gabriel gritted his teeth.
—You’re going to regret this.
An officer asked him to step back and informed him that he had to accompany them to answer some questions. Gabriel protested, but ended up leaving the house escorted by two officers.
Before crossing the threshold, he turned towards Mateo.
—Ask him what he signed before he disappeared. Ask him why he needed so much money. Then we’ll talk.
The door closed.
Mateo stared at the place where his brother had come out.
Elena lowered her head.
—Don’t believe him.
—What did you sign?
She did not answer.
—Elena, I need to know.
The woman pressed her lips together. The paramedic offered her a blanket, but she barely seemed to notice.
“Six months ago I discovered some bank transfers,” he finally said. “They were coming from our joint account and going to a company I didn’t recognize.”
Mateo felt a void in his stomach.
—Which company?
—A real estate company. The same one that was buying houses in our neighborhood.
—I never told you I wanted to sell our house.
—I know. That’s why I reviewed the documents.
Elena looked towards the desk in the study.
—I found a copy of your signature on a sales contract. There was also a power of attorney that supposedly authorized me to act on your behalf.
Matthew shook his head.
—I never signed that.
—That’s exactly what I told Vanessa.
—And what did he do?
Elena breathed shakily.
“First he told me to keep quiet. Then he told me that Gabriel was involved and that if I spoke, I would lose my job, my house, and custody of Sofia.”
Mateo ran a hand over his face.
—Why didn’t you go to the police?
—I tried.
He looked at her.
-That?
—I went to a police station. But before I could submit all the documents, someone called your phone. Later, I received a photograph of Sofia leaving her preschool.
Elena began to cry.
—Vanessa told me that if I tried to report her again, I would never see our daughter again.
Mateo felt the air leaving his lungs.
—I would never have allowed them to hurt you.
—I didn’t know that. Vanessa told me that you had chosen to believe her. That you thought I had abandoned Sofia.
Mateo couldn’t hold his gaze.
Because, in part, it was true.
He had believed Vanessa’s explanations without looking any further. He had mistaken the absence of evidence for proof that there was no danger.
Sofia gently tugged on her sleeve.
—Dad, can we all go home now?
Mateo knelt in front of her.
—Yes, princess. But first we have to make sure Mom is okay.
The girl looked at Elena.
—Are you going to disappear again?
Elena kissed his forehead.
—I never wanted to leave, my love.
At that moment, one of the agents returned from outside with a small transparent bag.
Inside there was an old key and a folded photograph.
“Mr. Reyes,” he said, “we found this under your brother’s passenger seat. Your wife asked us to give it to you.”
Mateo took the photograph with trembling hands.
It was a picture of his house, taken from the street.
Vanessa appeared in the kitchen window.
Behind her, reflected in the glass, the silhouette of a man could be distinguished.
Mateo brought the photograph closer to the light.
The man was wearing his own blue work shirt.
And on the back, written in black ink, was a sentence:
* “If Matthew finds out who opened the door that night, we’re all doomed.” *
Mateo looked up at Elena.
—Which door?
She paled.
—The basement door wasn’t the first one they closed, Mateo.
—That key belongs to the house where your mother died.
Mateo felt the hallway tilting beneath his feet.
His mother, Rosa Reyes, had died three years earlier in a domestic accident. According to the report he had read, she had fallen down the stairs of the old family home, located twenty minutes away.
Gabriel had been the first to arrive that night.
He was also the one who gave Mateo the documents to close the property after the funeral.
