He had lost his job that week.
Twenty years at the carpentry shop — gone overnight.
Sara’s voice echoed from the kitchen, tense and furious.
“I told you not to contact me again. What you did is unforgivable. If you don’t fix this, I’m going to talk.”
Ramiro stepped into the doorway.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Nobody. Go to sleep. You’ve had enough.”
He wanted to argue.
But alcohol won.
He collapsed onto the couch.
And slept.
What happened next, he would not remember.
But someone would.
Salomé woke to the sound of a door.
She stepped into the hallway.
From the shadows, she saw a figure enter the house.
A man she knew.
A man who wore blue shirts.
A man who brought her sweets.
Sara screamed.
Then silence.
Salomé hid in the closet as the man in blue walked toward her sleeping father.
THE CRACKS IN THE CASE
Dolores spent the night reviewing hundreds of pages.
