Chapter 9 - THE BOY WHO WOULDN'T STOP ASKING
Mateo told Rodrigo about the second vehicle.
“What kind?”
“I don't know.”
“Truck?”
“No.”
“SUV?”
“Maybe.”
“What color?”
“Dark.”
It wasn't much.
Police believed Esteban had acted alone.
A gas station camera showed him purchasing fuel two days before the fire.
His fingerprints were on the container.
He had threatened Valentina.
Case closed.
Except Mateo didn't believe it.
Neither did Valentina.
She visited Esteban in jail.
He looked exhausted.
“I didn't burn that barn.”
“Your fingerprints were there.”
“I bought fuel because Sebastián paid me to.”
Valentina froze.
“What?”
Esteban leaned toward the glass.
“He found me after I came to see you.”
“What did he want?”
“Information.”
“About me?”
“About Rodrigo.”
Esteban looked ashamed.
“He paid me.”
Valentina's stomach turned.
“I told him things.”
“What things?”
“That you had nowhere else to go.”
“That Sofía's father wasn't around.”
“That you were scared Rodrigo might ask you to leave.”
Valentina closed her eyes.
“You sold my life to him.”
“I needed money.”
“You always need money.”
“I didn't start that fire.”
“Then why was your fuel container there?”
“Because someone stole it.”
Valentina almost laughed.
Then Esteban said something that stopped her.
“Sebastián asked me if Rodrigo still kept Carmen's documents in the north barn.”
Valentina stared at him.
“What documents?”
“I don't know.”
She returned to El Nogal before sunset.
Rodrigo listened.
Then went completely still.
“There were documents.”
“What kind?”
“Carmen's trust papers.”
The originals had been stored in a fireproof cabinet.
Rodrigo went to the remains of the barn.
The cabinet was there.
Open.
Empty.
The fire hadn't been meant to destroy the documents.
May you like
It had been meant to hide their theft.
And suddenly Sebastián's plan became terrifyingly clear.
