Chapter 13 - THE MEMORY LUCÍA BURIED
Lucía had been four when Mariana died.
Alejandro had always assumed she remembered almost nothing.
Apparently he was wrong.
Police traced Guillermo’s call.
It bounced through several towers.
No exact location.
Detective Sofía organized roadblocks.
Alejandro paced the living room.
“What could Lucía remember?”
Elena sat nearby, shaken.
Then she slowly looked up.
“There was something.”
Alejandro turned.
“What?”
“After Mariana died, Lucía had nightmares.”
“I remember.”
“She kept saying ‘red lady.’”
Alejandro froze.
“What?”
“You thought she meant blood.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“But maybe she didn’t.”
Alejandro remembered now.
Lucía waking at night.
Crying.
Red lady.
Red lady.
He had assumed it was a child’s confused memory of emergency lights.
“What else did she say?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“She said the red lady yelled at Mommy.”
Alejandro felt sick.
Lucía had seen Renata.
Maybe before Mariana left.
Maybe on the road.
Maybe both.
The kidnapping suddenly made sense.
Guillermo wasn’t just bargaining.
He was protecting Renata from a witness.
An eight-year-old witness who had only recently begun remembering what happened when she was four.
Paola helped police identify several Salazar properties.
One was an abandoned vineyard outside Celaya.
Police moved.
Alejandro waited.
Again.
Waiting was torture.
At 11:36 p.m., Sofía called.
“We found Guillermo’s vehicle.”
“Lucía?”
“Not yet.”
“Where?”
“Near the vineyard.”
Alejandro couldn’t stay home.
He drove toward the area despite instructions.
He stopped at the police perimeter.
Sofía was furious.
“I told you not to come.”
“I’m not crossing the line.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“My daughter is here.”
Sofía stared at him.
Then her radio crackled.
A child had been located.
Alejandro’s knees almost gave out.
“Is she okay?”
Sofía listened.
Then nodded.
“She’s alive.”
Alejandro closed his eyes.
Minutes later, Lucía emerged wrapped in a blanket.
Alejandro ran to her.
She ran faster.
“Daddy!”
He dropped to his knees.
Lucía threw herself into his arms.
He held her so tightly she laughed through her tears.
“You’re squeezing me.”
“I know.”
“Daddy.”
“I know.”
Police arrested Guillermo at the property.
But Renata wasn’t there.
Neither was Teresa.
Lucía told investigators Guillermo had kept her in a bedroom.
He hadn’t physically harmed her.
But he had repeatedly asked what she remembered about the day Mariana died.
Lucía remembered more than anyone expected.
She remembered Mariana arguing with a woman wearing a red coat.
She remembered the woman had come to their house.
She remembered Mariana telling her to go upstairs.
Then she remembered looking through the window.
A red car was parked outside.
Most importantly, she remembered the woman’s face.
Renata.
Alejandro listened from the other side of the interview room.
His hands shook.
Lucía had carried the memory for four years.
Buried beneath grief and childhood confusion.
When she finished, Alejandro hugged her.
“You did great.”
Lucía looked worried.
“Is Renata going to come back?”
Alejandro wanted to promise no.
He couldn’t.
“We’re going to keep you safe.”
She nodded.
Then she reached into her pocket.
“I took this.”
Alejandro looked down.
A small key.
“From where?”
“Mr. Guillermo’s desk.”
“Why?”
Lucía shrugged.
“He kept checking if it was there.”
Alejandro almost smiled.
His daughter had been kidnapped and still noticed everything.
Police searched Guillermo’s desk.
The key opened a safe-deposit box.
Inside was a flash drive.
On that drive was a video.
Recorded by a dashboard camera four years earlier.
The date matched Mariana’s death.
The footage showed a red car following Mariana’s vehicle onto the mountain road.
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Then accelerating.
Then striking Mariana’s car from behind.
