Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN HE MARRIED
The Suburban disappeared into the dark.
Police followed.
Andrés climbed into Salgado’s vehicle without permission.
“Get out.”
“No.”
“You’re not police.”
“Drive.”
Salgado looked at him.
Then hit the accelerator.
The chase tore through narrow country roads.
Dust swallowed the headlights.
The Suburban stayed three hundred yards ahead.
Then two hundred.
Then one hundred.
“Roadblock coming,” Salgado said.
A voice crackled over the radio.
Units were moving into position near the highway.
The Suburban suddenly turned.
Not onto another road.
Onto a dirt trail.
Salgado swore and followed.
The patrol vehicle bounced violently.
Andrés grabbed the dashboard.
Ahead, brake lights flashed.
Then vanished.
They reached a fork.
Nothing.
No lights.
No engine.
“They killed their lights,” Andrés said.
Salgado stopped.
Listened.
Far left.
A motor.
Then silence.
They followed.
Two miles later they found the Suburban.
Empty.
Rear door open.
Blood on the seat.
Andrés touched it.
Fresh.
“Mom.”
Salgado checked the ground with his flashlight.
Footprints.
Three people.
One being dragged.
Toward a dry riverbed.
They followed for half a mile.
Then the prints disappeared at an old service road.
A second vehicle had been waiting.
Prepared again.
Renata was always one move ahead.
His phone rang.
Renata.
Salgado motioned for him to answer on speaker.
Andrés did.
“Where is she?”
Renata sounded calm.
“Your mother is alive.”
“I asked where.”
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop the police.”
“That isn’t happening.”
“Then she dies.”
Andrés closed his eyes.
“What do you want?”
“Mateo released.”
“Not possible.”
“The evidence destroyed.”
“Not possible.”
“And you come alone.”
Salgado shook his head.
Andrés ignored him.
“Where?”
Renata laughed softly.
“You know where.”
Click.
The call ended.
Salgado asked, “Where?”
Andrés looked into the darkness.
“At first I didn’t.”
Then he remembered.
A promise from the beginning of their marriage.
Renata had once taken him to a half-finished house outside Tala.
Her father had started building it before abandoning the family.
She called it “the skeleton.”
Concrete walls.
No doors.
No electricity.
No neighbors.
She had once joked that if she ever needed to disappear, nobody would find her there.
Andrés gave Salgado the location.
“No marked units,” he said.
“You don’t give orders.”
“She sees police, Teresa dies.”
Salgado’s jaw tightened.
“Fine.”
They coordinated quietly.
Plain vehicles.
Long perimeter.
Andrés wore a wire.
He entered alone.
The unfinished house stood beneath a moonless sky.
A candle burned inside.
Andrés walked through the open doorway.
“Renata?”
Her voice came from upstairs.
“Leave the gun.”
“I don’t have one.”
“Lift your shirt.”
He did.
“Turn.”
He turned.
Then he climbed.
Second floor.
Teresa sat tied to a chair.
Blood ran from her forehead.
Renata stood behind her holding a pistol.
César Valdés stood near the window.
Andrés looked at his wife.
“You look tired.”
Renata almost laughed.
“You always do that.”
“What?”
“Act calm when you’re furious.”
“Works better than screaming.”
“You screamed plenty when your father died.”
The words hit him.
She saw it.
Enjoyed it.
“Why, Renata?”
Her face changed.
Not guilty.
Offended.
“Because I was tired.”
“Of what?”
“Of waiting for your mother to die.”
Teresa’s eyes closed.
Renata continued.
“Do you know what it’s like living in a house where everything belongs to somebody else? Her house. Her furniture. Her rules.”
“So you drugged her.”
“She humiliated me for years.”
“So you stole from her.”
“She treated me like trash.”
“So you planned to sell her home.”
“I deserved something!”
Andrés stared at her.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
Renata’s eyes filled with tears.
“You left me alone.”
“I was deployed.”
“You always leave.”
“That made you sleep with Mateo?”
“That made me realize I needed a life.”
“Then you could’ve walked out.”
Renata’s face twisted.
“And leave with nothing?”
Andrés almost pitied her.
Almost.
César snapped, “Enough. Sign.”
He placed documents on a concrete ledge.
Andrés glanced down.
Property transfer.
Account authorization.
Statement withdrawing allegations.
All prepared.
“You think this works?”
César pointed his gun at Teresa.
“It works if you want your mother alive.”
Andrés picked up the pen.
Renata smiled.
Then Teresa suddenly laughed.
Everyone looked at her.
Even Andrés.
Renata snapped, “What’s funny?”
Teresa lifted her head.
“You stupid girl.”
Renata stepped closer.
“What did you say?”
Teresa smiled through the blood.
“You still think this house belongs to your father.”
Renata froze.
Teresa looked at Andrés.
“Tell her.”
Andrés didn’t know what she meant.
May you like
Then Teresa said the one thing nobody expected.
“This land belongs to me.”
