Chapter 3 - Teresa’s Secret
The knocking stopped.
No one moved.
Teresa pressed one finger against her lips.
Valeria stood behind me.
I moved toward the window.
A black SUV was parked across the street.
Its headlights were off.
“Do you recognize it?” I whispered.
Teresa shook her head.
But her eyes told me she did.
She had seen it before.
I pulled the curtain closed.
“Tell me what happened.”
Teresa sat down.
For a long moment, she stared at her hands.
“Mariana came to me six months before she died.”
“Why?”
“She was afraid.”
“Of Mauricio?”
Teresa nodded.
“She discovered that he was moving money through your company.”
My stomach tightened.
“What money?”
“Payments from contracts. False invoices. Accounts that didn't belong to your company.”
I remembered the financial reports.
The unexplained losses.
The arguments Mariana had wanted me to have with my accountant.
I had dismissed them.
I had been busy.
Teresa continued.
“She found proof.”
“Where?”
“She said she hid it somewhere you would never look.”
I looked at Valeria.
“She never told me.”
“She wanted to,” Teresa said. “But Mauricio found out she knew.”
“What happened next?”
Teresa looked toward the door.
“He threatened her.”
My jaw tightened.
“Did he cause the accident?”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“I don't know.”
That answer enraged me.
“You don't know?”
“I know he was there that night.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He came to my apartment that night. He was bleeding.”
Valeria gasped.
Teresa continued.
“He said Mariana had taken something from him.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
My mind raced.
“What ledger?”
“The one containing every payment he had stolen.”
I looked at the photograph again.
“Why didn't you tell the police?”
“Because he threatened Valeria.”
My head snapped toward her.
“He told me he would make sure my granddaughter disappeared if I spoke.”
Valeria looked down.
“I didn't know.”
Teresa reached for her hand.
“I wanted you safe.”
I stood.
“I need proof.”
Teresa nodded toward the bedroom.
“Under the bed.”
Valeria and I followed.
Teresa opened an old wooden chest.
Inside were documents.
A bank statement.
A photograph.
A flash drive.
And another key.
Not silver.
Brass.
“This belonged to Mariana.”
I took it.
“What does it open?”
Teresa shook her head.
“She never told me.”
Then Valeria noticed the photograph.
It showed Mariana standing outside my company.
Beside her was Mauricio.
But there was another man.
A man I didn't recognize.
On the back was written:
THE THIRD SIGNATURE.
I stared at it.
“What does that mean?”
Teresa looked at me.
“Mariana said if you ever saw those words, you were supposed to find the person whose signature was missing.”
I took the flash drive.
“Where is the evidence?”
Teresa swallowed.
“In your house.”
I thought of Sofía’s bedroom.
Then I remembered the piano.
Mariana’s piano.
I had sold it after her death.
Or so I thought.
I called Beatriz.
“Where is Mariana’s piano?”
She hesitated.
“Your brother-in-law bought it.”
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Two months after the funeral.”
I hung up.
Valeria looked at me.
“Why would Mauricio buy your wife’s piano?”
“I don't know.”
The black SUV outside started its engine.
Teresa grabbed my arm.
“You need to leave.”
We rushed downstairs.
The SUV drove away.
But before I entered my car, I noticed something on my windshield.
A folded piece of paper.
I opened it.
One sentence was written in black ink.
Stop opening doors that were closed for a reason.
Valeria read it over my shoulder.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
“Who was that?”
She stared at me.
“My grandmother.”
“What did she say?”
Valeria’s voice trembled.
“She said the man who threatened her knows we're here.”
I looked back at the apartment.
The lights in Teresa’s bedroom suddenly went out.
May you like
Then the lights in the entire building went dark.
And from somewhere behind us, a man's voice whispered my name.
