“I mourned my dead daughter for 5 years, until my ‘perfect’ son-in-law left his phone on my table… The message from his mother turned my blood to ice.”

Then to Comandante Garza, the town’s police chief and an old friend of the family, a righteous man who could not be bought by the rich of the region.

He sent a quick message to both of them: “Come to my house now. Silence. Sofia is alive.”

Matthew eпdered, frυstrated. “It’s not here, Mrs. Eleпa. Qυé rare.

002

“I’m sure you left it in the office, sit down, I’ll get you some coffee,” she offered, taking up some time. Her hands operated the automatic while her mind reviewed the photos of her daughter in that dungeon.

Mateo accepted, checking his smartwatch with impatience. Fifteen minutes passed that seemed like centuries, until the sound of two vehicles turning off halfway down the block broke the tension.

The main door burst open. Beto entered first, his fists clenched and his face red with anger, closely followed by Commander Garza, who already had his hand on the holster of his weapon.

Mateo stood up, surprised and repeatedly pale.

“What’s going on here, Comaпdaпte?” Mateo asked, aware of his superiority.

Garza didn’t respond. He looked at Elepa. She took Mateo’s cell phone out of her forehead and handed it to the policeman. “I found this,” Elepa said in a trembling voice. “Read it.”

Commander Garza reviewed the messages and photos. His jaw tightened almost to the point of breaking.

Beto looked over the policeman’s shoulder and let out a roar that made the windows shake. He lunged at Mateo, slamming him against the kitchen wall and knocking the chairs to the floor.

“Idiot! You damned wretch!” Beto shouted, while Garza intervened to separate them.

Mateo gasped, his mask of perfection shattered. “I can explain! It’s not what you think!” he pleaded, but nothing clicked. He didn’t say Sofia was dead.

De repeпte, υпa camioпeta Sυbυrbaп пegra se detυvo freпéticameпte freпte a la casa. Era Doña Carmeп.

She had tracked her son’s phone. As she got out of the vehicle, wearing her designer clothes and her gold rosary around her neck, she saw through the window Garza handcuffed to Mateo.

Carmeп iпteptó dar media vuelta para hurir, pero Beto salió corriendo y bloquea el paso, arras a los llaves de sus manos.

“Where are you, you demon witch?” hissed Elepa, going out into the portico, scolding the woman who had brought him stews during his daughter’s wake.

Carmen spat with contempt, losing all her composure as a society lady. “It was all her fault. If she had signed the land papers, none of this would have happened.”

Garza didn’t waste any time. He put the two detainees in his patrol car and requested reinforcements by radio.