Marianne.
The woman who possesses the accreditation badge.
The wife.
I read the text almost without blinking.
She had left a clinic at nightfall.
He never went home.
Her family suspected her romantic partner, but there wasn't enough evidence.
The police continued their investigation.
I felt the ground give way beneath my feet.
Alejandro was not cheating on me with a living woman who was waiting for him to leave his wife.
No.
Alejandro had hidden from me, literally under my body, the sordid remains of a story that reeked of crime.
And then I understood where that sour smell was coming from.
It wasn't just a matter of humidity.
It wasn't dirt.
These were clothes that had been stored damp for weeks.
Clothes stained with old blood.
Clothes that inspire fear.
Clothing of a missing woman.
I got up as best I could.
I had to leave that room.
I had to call the police.
I picked up the phone from the small table, but at that moment, the screen lit up.
**Alejandro is calling you.**
I froze.
The phone vibrated in my hand like a trapped animal.
I didn't reply.
Communication was cut off.
A second later, a message arrived.
**"The meeting has been cancelled. I'm going home. I'll be back in two hours."**
Two hours.
I looked at the open mattress.
The packages.
The photos.
The letter.
Everything was scattered on the floor, as if the truth had exploded in my house.
I panicked.
I dialed 911 with my clumsy fingers.
When an operator finally answered, my words all got jumbled up.
I gave it my name.
The address.
I said I had found evidence concerning a missing woman.
I pronounced the name Alejandro.
I said Monterrey.
I said blood.
The woman on the other end of the line asked me not to touch anything else.
She should leave the room.
That a patrol car was on its way.
"Don't stay alone with him if he arrives early," she repeated. "Do you understand? Don't go near your husband."
Yeah.
Got it.
Too late.
I put away my phone and felt like running down the street, but I stopped dead in my tracks.
My handbag was on the dresser.
And inside the bag were the car keys.
I took them.
That's when I heard something that emptied my soul.
The sound of an engine entering the street.
I approached the window, barely opening the curtain.
Alejandro's truck turned around and stopped in front of the house.
Not two hours later.
NOW.
NOW.
I didn't even have time to breathe.
