Chapter 5 - SOMEONE FOLLOWED HIM HOME
Police arrived twenty minutes later.
By then, Arturo had disappeared.
So had Patricia.
Eulalia sat in the living room telling officers that Julian had returned “aggressive and confused.”
Julian nearly lost control when he heard that.
Mariana squeezed his hand.
“Don’t give them what they want.”
He looked at her.
She was right.
So Julian sat.
Answered questions.
Showed the forged transfer.
The insurance policy.
The death certificate application.
Then he showed the photograph from Saudi Arabia.
Officer Gabriel Torres stared at it.
“This was in the man’s pocket?”
“Yes.”
“You know him?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“I’ve never seen him.”
Torres looked toward Eulalia.
“Anyone in the family have enemies?”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“I think I just met mine.”
Torres didn’t smile.
“Mr. Mendoza, I need you to understand something.”
“This isn’t a simple family dispute anymore.”
Julian looked at him.
“What are you saying?”
“Possible fraud.”
“Forgery.”
“Coercion.”
“Attempted kidnapping.”
“And maybe surveillance outside the country.”
He lowered his voice.
“Take your wife and son somewhere else tonight.”
Julian glanced at the mansion.
“I paid for this house.”
Torres said, “Then come back for it after you know who might be willing to kill you for it.”
The word hung there.
Kill.
Mariana gripped Julian’s arm.
That night, they checked into a small hotel under Julian’s coworker’s name.
Dieguito ate until he fell asleep at the table.
Chicken soup.
Bread.
Fruit.
Then he asked if he was allowed to have more milk.
Julian walked into the bathroom and cried where his son couldn’t see him.
Five years.
He had missed five birthdays.
First day of school.
First lost tooth.
Nightmares.
Fevers.
Everything.
And his boy asked permission to drink milk.
When Julian returned, Mariana was sitting beside the bed.
“I’m sorry.”
Julian stared at her.
“For what?”
“For not protecting him better.”
“No.”
“Julian—”
“No.”
He crouched in front of her.
“You survived.”
She looked away.
“I believed them at first.”
“Believed what?”
“That you stopped loving me.”
Julian’s chest hurt.
Mariana continued.
“Your calls got shorter.”
“They told me you were busy.”
“Then calls stopped.”
“They told me you had another woman.”
Julian shook his head.
“Never.”
“I know that now.”
She looked at him.
“But after a year?”
“Two years?”
“When every message disappeared?”
“When your mother showed me screenshots?”
“What screenshots?”
Mariana reached into her bag.
She showed him printed messages.
They appeared to come from Julian.
I’m building a new life.
Stop calling.
Take care of the kid.
Julian stared.
“I never wrote these.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because one said you hated coffee.”
She almost smiled.
“You love coffee.”
He stared at her.
A tiny detail had saved a piece of her faith.
Then Julian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Silence.
Then a man’s voice.
“You came home early.”
Julian stood.
“Who is this?”
“You should’ve stayed in Riyadh.”
“Where’s Arturo?”
The man laughed.
“You think Arturo is in charge?”
Julian looked at Mariana.
She saw his face.
“What?”
The voice continued.
“Ask your mother about San Marcos.”
The call ended.
Julian frowned.
Mariana whispered, “What’s San Marcos?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“My father died there.”
