Chapter 2 - THE FORBIDDEN HALLWAY
Every guard reached for a weapon.
Alejandro moved first.
“Stay with Mateo.”
He climbed the stairs two at a time.
Valeria stood.
Mateo refused to let go of her hand.
Alejandro looked back.
“I said stay downstairs.”
Mateo pulled Valeria toward the staircase.
“No!”
It was the clearest word he had spoken in two years.
Alejandro went still.
Mateo pointed at Valeria.
Then upstairs.
“You want her to come?”
Mateo nodded.
Nobody in the room seemed to know what to do with that.
Finally, Alejandro said, “Fine.”
Doña Socorro stepped into his path.
“Señor, maybe this isn’t—”
“Move.”
The old housekeeper lowered her eyes.
Alejandro led the way.
Valeria followed with Mateo gripping her hand.
The mansion changed when they entered the north wing.
The warm lights disappeared.
Most of the doors were covered with white sheets.
Dust lay along the baseboards.
The air smelled faintly of cedar and something medicinal.
“Why is this part of the house closed?” Valeria asked.
Alejandro’s jaw tightened.
“My wife used these rooms.”
Mateo stopped walking.
At the end of the hall stood a dark wooden door.
Three locks had been installed across it.
Mateo began shaking again.
Valeria crouched beside him.
“Is that the door?”
He nodded.
Alejandro frowned.
“That room has been locked since Lucía died.”
Mateo shook his head violently.
“No?”
Mateo pointed at the door.
Then made a strange motion with his hand.
Two fingers clicking together.
Again.
Again.
Valeria watched closely.
“What does that mean?”
Alejandro’s face changed.
“What?”
“That thing he’s doing.”
Mateo repeated it.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Alejandro walked to the door.
He reached for the top lock.
Mateo screamed.
He threw himself backward.
“No! No! No!”
Valeria grabbed him before he hit the floor.
“All right. We’re not opening it yet.”
Alejandro turned.
“We absolutely are.”
“Not while he’s panicking.”
“This is my house.”
“And that’s your son.”
The hallway went silent.
Alejandro looked at her with the kind of stare that probably made grown men reconsider every decision they had ever made.
Valeria held it.
Finally, he lowered his hand.
“Take him downstairs.”
Mateo clung to her.
Alejandro called his security chief.
“Calderón.”
A broad-shouldered man stepped forward.
“Yes, sir?”
“Who has keys to this wing?”
“You. Me. Doña Socorro.”
“Anyone else?”
Calderón hesitated.
“Dr. Vega had access while Mateo was undergoing treatment.”
Valeria looked up.
“His psychiatrist?”
Alejandro nodded.
“Esteban Vega has known my family for fifteen years.”
Mateo made the clicking motion again.
Valeria suddenly remembered something.
Earlier that morning she had seen Dr. Vega leaving through the side entrance.
He had closed an expensive silver lighter.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Valeria’s stomach tightened.
“Mr. Ríos.”
Alejandro looked at her.
“Your doctor was here today.”
“Yes. He comes twice a week.”
“Does he smoke?”
Alejandro frowned.
“Sometimes.”
Mateo whimpered.
Valeria looked at the boy.
“Does he carry a silver lighter?”
Alejandro’s eyes slowly narrowed.
Before he could answer, the wooden door at the end of the hallway moved.
Not much.
May you like
Just enough.
Like someone had pulled it shut from the other side.
