Isabel stared at him.
-Exactly.
Gabriel felt that that word rearranged the story.
Mercedes didn't need to fake every step.
It was enough for him to monitor the messages exchanged between two people who were already separated by kilometers, grief, and fear.
He told Isabel that Gabriel had started another life.
Gabriel was told that Isabel had disappeared in the flood.
And while both accepted a different kind of loss, Mercedes could make sure that neither of them found the other.
But there was still a problem.
"I came back," Gabriel said. "I came after Mom called me. I was here for several days. I searched along the river. I talked to neighbors. Where were you?"
Isabel took a while to reply.
—First I was hospitalized. Then I stayed with a cousin for a few weeks because the house had become uninhabitable.
—And nobody said anything to me?
—I asked about you.
-Whom?
Isabel looked at him.
Gabriel understood before he even heard the name.
