Chapter 7 - THE RECORDING
The recording was real.
The meaning was not simple.
Eighteen months earlier, Mariana had been discussing a newspaper inquiry about zoning violations at the Puebla hotel.
When she said “bury it,” she meant bury the inaccurate story with documentation.
Not hide a death she did not know about.
Arturo had clipped the conversation.
Varela knew that.
“Then why show me?”
“Because someone else may release it without context.”
Mariana stared at the waveform.
“How many copies?”
“I don’t know.”
Arturo called twenty minutes later.
“Now you understand.”
She put him on speaker.
“Understand what?”
“You need me.”
“No.”
“You think context matters once people hear your voice?”
“It matters to me.”
“That’s adorable.”
Camila, sitting at the far end of the room with her attorney, looked sick.
Arturo continued.
“Withdraw the divorce complaint. Stop cooperating with the police. I make the recording disappear.”
Mariana looked at Octavio.
He shook his head.
She already knew.
“No.”
Arturo laughed.
“Think about your employees.”
“Don’t use them.”
“Your father’s reputation?”
“No.”
“Your stock value?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Your mother?”
Mariana froze.
Her mother, Sofía Alvarado, lived quietly in Puebla and had avoided hotel business since Efraín died.
“What about her?”
Arturo’s voice softened.
“She knew Gabriel Torres.”
The call ended.
Mariana immediately drove to Puebla.
Sofía opened the door wearing gardening gloves.
One look at Mariana’s face and she said:
“So it finally came back.”
Mariana stopped on the porch.
“You knew?”
Sofía removed the gloves.
“I knew Gabriel.”
“Did Dad kill him?”
“No.”
“Did Dad hide his death?”
Sofía looked toward the garden.
“Come inside.”
Mariana did not move.
“Answer me.”
Sofía’s eyes filled.
“Your father found out three days later.”
“What did he do?”
“He wanted to report everything.”
“Wanted?”
“I stopped him.”
Mariana stared at her mother.
Sofía whispered:
May you like
“I was the one who told him to keep quiet.”
