Mystery by the Sea (16 page)

“That’s the same thing,” replied Lorenzo,
uncomfortable with the sudden return of butterflies in his stomach.

“Responsible in the sense that if I
hadn’t invited Doris that night…Pedroza would still be alive. I never imaged
that she would lose it and lash out like that. My goal was not for it to end
like that,” explained Irma with renewed energy.

Alexis and Lorenzo looked at each other,
confused. Lorenzo struggled to find his footing, fighting physical and
emotional feelings that he could not put into words.

“Back up just a minute. Doris is
completely innocent. You’re the guilty one,” Lorenzo conclusively claimed. He
could not see any other angle, not at that moment. Tensing up after having
relaxed from Irma’s supposed confession was causing an overwhelming strain on
him.

“But that’s impossible! I didn’t
even go near the room. There are three witnesses who’ve sworn to it,” Irma
stated firmly.

“We know that you paid a man to do
it. You can’t deny it,” added Lorenzo, shooting from the hip.

“What?” asked Irma and Alexis in
unison. Alexis had asked Lorenzo to leave that detail out during the interview
because he deemed it a weak angle at best. But Lorenzo shot it off without
thinking twice when he saw that the long-awaited end of the matter was slipping
from his grasp.

“A foreigner known to you. I
watched you pay him good money,” Lorenzo shot back in a very unconvincing tone.

“What nonsense is this? Mr. Mojica,
are you going to allow this?” Irma demanded of Alexis, who opened his mouth to
step in.

“You can’t deny it. We know it!”
exclaimed Lorenzo, interrupting his attorney.

“Um, ‘
we
’ is a lot of
people,” clarified Alexis, distancing himself from Lorenzo’s declarations. “I
assure you that I see your point about that detail,” said Alexis to Irma.

“I never gave money to any man,
much less for a contract of that nature. Just the insinuation offends me,”
declared Irma, clearly annoyed. She had made the transition from anguished to
appalled in record time.

“You’re offended? So, you deny
knowing this person?” asked Lorenzo, showing her the photos that he’d sent to
his cellphone in the hotel. “It seems to me that you do. Let’s just take a look
at how close you two are here.”

Irma wiped her eyes and took a few
seconds to react. She could not believe what she was seeing.

“Where’d you get that picture?”
asked Irma, trying to keep herself from yelling.

“Answer the questions. Do you know
him?” insisted Lorenzo.

“Do I know my own brother? Yes, of
course I do.”

Alexis buried his head in his hands
on the desk. Lorenzo froze. Irma could see that she now had the upper hand and
she was going to take advantage of it.

“Oh, you didn’t know that? That’s
as far as your
detectiv
e work brought you?” she asked with a generous
sprinkling of sarcasm.

Lorenzo looked off into space,
wanting to escape through the window. All of his reasoning had made perfect
sense. But his pigheaded need for Doris to be innocent had not allowed him to
see other likelihoods or possible angles in an extremely complex situation made
up of many varied pieces. Letting everything spill out of his mouth and
ricochet off real and intelligent human beings, who were defending themselves
and fighting for their survival, was not the same as hearing it all in his
head, where everything fit together perfectly so that he could arrive at the
one and only conclusion that Doris was innocent—case in point. He decided to
empty his last cartridge in a desperate attempt to save face.

“Okay, but if he’s your brother,
why is he staying at a hotel and not with family?” he challenged.

Irma, aware that she now had
control of the situation, settled into her chair and took a deep breath. Alexis
was glued to the edge of his seat.

“The last thing I should do right
now is give you any explanations about my private life, but to rule out the
harebrained ideas that you have about me, I will. Giuseppe is my brother on my
mom’s side and has lived in Italy for twenty years. This week we have a family
reunion planned and he’s going to show up. No one knows, except for me. That’s
why he’s been in a hotel this whole time. It’s a surprise.”

Lorenzo raised his eyes and,
looking at Alexis, opened his arms wide at his sides.

“Okay, that’s all fine and dandy.
But that doesn’t change anything. You paid your brother to do it!” exclaimed
Lorenzo. Alexis dropped his head in shame, both for himself and for Lorenzo.

“That’s impossible,” assured Irma
calmly.

“Why?” grilled Lorenzo.

“Because he arrived on the island
on Saturday, the day after Pedroza was murdered,” asserted Irma with a
victorious smile. 

“Okay, we’re done,” said Alexis,
jumping up from his chair like a spring. “Thank you for your time, Mrs.
Alfonso. I’m sorry for what has transpired,” he said to Irma as she got up out
of her chair and headed for the door. “I assure you that we won’t bother you
any more about this case.”

“Liar! Let the evidence speak for
itself. Where’s the plane ticket? I saw when you paid him,” Lorenzo continued
screaming, out of control.

“Lorenzo, that’s enough!” shouted
Alexis, worn out. “This isn’t a trial. You had your opportunity. Now let me do
my job. I’m begging you,” pleaded Alexis earnestly.

Irma stopped at the door and turned
around to look at Lorenzo, face-to-face.

“You told me that your only desire
was to know the truth. What you didn’t tell me was that the only truth you
would accept was the one that was most convenient for you. You could spend the
rest of your life looking for that and not find it—because it doesn’t exist.
I’ve accepted that I’m partly to blame and I’m prepared to face the
consequences. You should do the same,” concluded Irma, spinning around on her
heels and swiftly leaving the office for the stifling heat of the street.

Shame, humiliation, disgrace,
embarrassment, ignominy, mortification, indignity. It did not matter what word
you used to describe it; Lorenzo was feeling it at that moment. Exhausted,
Alexis threw himself into his chair. He considered himself partly responsible
for the spectacle they had just witnessed. He had lost control of the
interview, something that, as an attorney, he could not afford. The only thing
he could do now was walk away with the lesson learned.

“Look, Lorenzo, what we have to do
now is…”

Lorenzo left the room, closing the
door behind him with a bang and leaving Alexis’ words to hang in the air.

“Clean up the mess you made,”
concluded Alexis to himself.

 

 

The rest of the day was a blur for Lorenzo. When he got
home, he changed the sheets that were covered in dirt and threw himself down onto
the bed. He instantly fell asleep, losing all consciousness and sense of time. He
did not dream or wake up at all. He was not hot or cold or hungry. In essence,
he ceased to exist for 14 consecutive hours. When he finally opened his eyes,
he gradually became aware of the sounds surrounding him, as if the world were
turning up the volume little by little. His favorite sound, the sea’s waves,
stood out above everything else, resulting in an uncontrollable impulse to
reunite himself with them.

He got up and stripped off his
clothes from the day before, which he was still wearing. He pulled on a
swimsuit and grabbed a beach towel from his wardrobe. He headed down the stairs
and crossed the patio, noting how messy it was. It had been a while since he
had cleaned the patio, as was his habit years earlier. He preferred to pay
someone else to do it. But given Doris’ situation, he had also forgotten to
call the boy who cleaned for them. Promising himself that he would not forget,
he continued to the back of the patio, where there was a small gate that
allowed access to a narrow path leading directly to the beach.

When the path ended, the beach’s
hot sand pressed down under his feet as he walked straight for the water. He
dropped the towel under a palm tree without stopping. He proceeded until his
feet felt the caress of the smooth wet sand along the shore. He immediately
waded in to his knees, then his waist, and finally dunked his head in. Then he
let his body float, faceup. He spent a few minutes floating with his arms and
legs stretched out, feeling the contrast of temperatures in his body. The sun
warmed his face and chest while the water cooled off his back. It reminded him
that there are two sides to every coin. Even an absolute truth can be seen
differently by different people. For as much as he wanted and believed that
Doris was innocent of the crime with which she was charged, that did not change
the facts. It was just a matter of looking at it in a different light, through
another lens.

Lorenzo tried to concentrate on the
sensory stimuli that his brain was receiving rather than continuing to run
through the case again in his mind. He floated placidly without noticing
anything, not even time. He simply disconnected from everything that was not
the sea. Then he submerged his body and stayed there until he could not hold
his breath any longer, and with a push he popped to the surface, taking in a
huge mouthful of air. He emerged feeling like a new person, like he had a new north.

Lorenzo walked to the shore and sat
down on his towel in the sand. He noticed that some more people had arrived and
had settled down in different areas of the beach. One of the groups had set up
a charcoal grill and the grill’s unique smell flooded the area. The aroma
transported him to another period of his life: his childhood. Going to the beach
required only putting on a swimsuit and following his parents’ instructions.
They would take care of the rest, while he, along with his brothers and
friends, enjoyed the aquatic activities. When they were called to get out of
the water, the food was already prepared and ready to be eaten by the hungry
boys, who then had to wait thirty minutes before returning to the water.

Lorenzo aspired to carry out the
role of father and make his child feel the carefreeness and protection that his
parents had made him feel during those unforgettable years. In the meantime, he
was content to watch others enjoy that stage. He paid particular attention to a
little girl, no more than four years old, playing with a beach ball with her
mother. He watched the happiness and joy that emanated from them both because
of the moment they were enjoying. He saw a sense of pride in the mother’s eyes
with every movement and leap that her little one made. Each one was an
achievement worthy of celebrating and savoring.

On one of those leaps, the ball
escaped and rolled toward Lorenzo, stopping at his feet. The little girl ran
over to look for it without thinking twice. Lorenzo picked it up and held it
out, smiling at the little girl, who instinctively returned the smile. They
looked at each other for a few seconds and he asked what her name was. Before
she could answer, her mother, who jumped up from where she was seated and ran
over to catch up with her daughter, grabbed her by both arms and carried her
off, shooting Lorenzo a nasty look and getting away from him as quickly as
possible.

While Lorenzo did not take it the
wrong way, it still hurt. He knew that, unfortunately, unscrupulous people were
on the prowl everywhere. But just then there was no reason not to at least
disguise the fear a little. After all, he was only giving her back her ball. He
understood that her action of motherly instinct was not much different from his
actions over the past few days. His paternal instinct brought him to do and say
the unspeakable to save his family, without worrying about the effect it would
have on others. He needed to redirect those efforts through a channel that
would produce better results.

He decided to leave everything that
had to do with the case in the hands of his attorney. He hoped that his slip-up
with Irma would not bring him additional problems, like a defamation lawsuit or
anything of that nature. He already had enough on his plate as it was. Now he
would concentrate all his energy on supporting Doris as best as possible. He
wanted to be with her throughout the entire process, to the end. And he wanted
her to know it and feel it, too.

It was also time to prepare himself
to be a father. It would not be easy to care for the little baby on his own. It
was time to leave his past behind him; what’s done is done. He would not get
anywhere by complaining or feeling ashamed. It was time to accept help and put
his hands to work. It was time to make a real effort to find employment
wherever he could and not be picky. He promised himself that, from now on, he
would only look straight ahead.

 

•••••

 

Lorenzo was driving his car to the hospital when he saw
something that attracted his attention. There was a huge billboard announcing
the development of a residential construction project that read: “
Vistamar
Courts, live with the prominence that you deserve, in front of the sea.
” He
had passed by here hundreds of times, but this time was different.

Mainly, his eyes were focused on
the photograph of a smiling family, enjoying the good life promised by the advertisement.
Lorenzo stopped his car and studied the part of the project that had already
been constructed. It seemed that all of the buildings in the complex were
started, but none were finished. The red clay soil coated everything inside the
construction project’s plot. Lorenzo put his car in reverse and entered through
the entrance’s open gate. It seemed odd to him that there was not anyone
working. It was not a holiday or the weekend.

He got out of the car and walked to
the main office, where the security guard was sitting down reading a newspaper.
Lorenzo could not imagine what this man, who was clearly over 65 years old,
would be able to do in the case of a robbery or any other emergency, aside from
calling for help. Next to the chair was a little table with three additional
newspapers and a small radio tuned in to a news broadcast. The guard greeted
him without getting up.

“Hello, good morning,” greeted
Lorenzo. “Where can I find a job application?”

The man folded his newspaper in
half and set it on the table. He looked Lorenzo up and down before answering
his question.

“What type of work are you looking
for?”

“Whatever, I’ll do anything. If I
don’t know how to do it, I’ll learn. But I have experience operating heavy
machinery,” Lorenzo informed him.

“All right, well, right now, as you
can see, there isn’t any work. The project is at a standstill and I don’t know
when it’ll start up again. There’s a ruckus over someone who seems to have been
scheming and robbing a bunch of money. And now that the owner was killed, no
one knows what’s going to happen,” the guard gossiped.

“The owner was killed?” asked
Lorenzo out of curiosity.

“Yes, Mr. Pedroza. It’s been all
over the news. He was a millionaire. Haven’t you seen his mansion on the beach?
He was practically dripping money.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” commented
Lorenzo. Up until now he was unaware that Pedroza was involved in construction
projects. He guessed that to amass that type of fortune, though, one business
was not enough.

“He had a ton of businesses and properties.
Now his wife is left with everything, like always,” grumbled the guard,
crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

Lorenzo meditated, motionless, for
a moment. He thought about all the unresolved matters that Aurora Pedroza now
had to contend with. She would have to make important decisions, like choosing
the appropriate people to head several businesses and companies. She would also
have to fight against the wolves that could certainly already smell the
opportunity to make out amidst her tragedy. All of that on her back, in
addition to the weight of having tragically lost the most important person in
her life: her partner, friend, and husband. He felt bad for her and sincerely
hoped that she could successfully bear what awaited her.

Lorenzo realized that he was not
going to find work with this project at the moment, but he was happy that he
had taken the first step. He broke the ice. He was officially looking for a
job, and now it was just a question of landing one.

“Well, I’ll keep looking,” Lorenzo
said to the guard, putting his hands in his pockets and shrugging his
shoulders.

“If you’re interested, you can wait
and see how the problem is resolved. When you see activity, stop by and see
what they offer you,” recommended the man with a smile.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,”
said Lorenzo, waving goodbye and setting out on the return trip to his car.

When he got to his car, he wanted
to call Alexis and make arrangements to meet with him before heading to the
hospital. Part of his plan of personal reorganization included formally
apologizing to Alexis for his behavior over the past few days. The attorney had
worked hard to help them, while he, on the other hand, had unraveled all of his
efforts.

Alexis’ secretary informed him that
he had taken the day off. Lorenzo was sure that he had done so because of the
incident with Irma. He felt even worse and called Alexis at home, but no one
answered. He thought he remembered Doris' commenting at one point that Alexis
kept a boat along the shore and that he spent much of his free time there. He decided
to head over there, but first he needed to make another call. It did not
surprise him to see that he had exactly 43 missed calls from Edgar registered
on his phone.

 

•••••

 

Edgar wrung his hands nervously. Seated in front of his
blank computer screen, his leg would not stop shaking, producing a rhythmic squeaking
of the chair. He was not up to date on what had happened at the meeting between
Irma and Alexis, but he had a feeling that something was not right. The
atmosphere in the office was heavy that morning. The guards did not say hello
when he entered, as was their custom, and he had not received any assignments
from his boss, as was her custom. But what most worried him at that moment was…

Edgar jumped out of his seat when
he felt his cellphone vibrating in his pocket. When he saw that it was Lorenzo,
he took the call immediately.

“
Hello
. Finally! I’ve been
trying to get ahold of you forever. What happened yesterday? Did she confess?”
Edgar asked anxiously.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to
disconnect for a while. I’m on my way to the coast to see Alexis. I need to
speak with him personally to patch things up.”

“Patch what up? Did something
happen?” asked Edgar, more worried than intrigued.

“Irma confessed to the report and
the invitation but then went on to explain who the man was that I saw her with.
It turns out it was her brother, visiting the island. And, well, needless to
say, I messed everything up. She hasn’t said anything to you?”

“No, but I know she suspects
something. This morning she looked at me, I don’t know, differently,” said
Edgar, watching Irma’s office.

“It’s all in your head. Don’t make
things up. She would never know that you helped me,” said Lorenzo, downplaying
his concerns.

“On top of that, she’s been holed
up in her office all morning. Something weird is going on. I’m sure of it,”
assured Edgar, sinking down in his seat.

“Stop worrying and concentrate on
your job,” recommended Lorenzo, trying to calm him down.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m doing,” said
Edgar, looking at his still turned-off monitor. His colleague Karen appeared in
front of Edgar, unmoving, with a look of death plastered on her face.

“They want to see you in Irma’s
office.”

“Oh, no! It’s happening! I gotta
let you go. They’re calling me,” Edgar said to Lorenzo before ending the call.
When he put his phone away he paused and then turned toward Karen.

“What do you mean by
they
want
to see me?” Edgar asked with wide eyes.

“Go on, get a move on,” said Karen,
giving him a light shove before disappearing into the labyrinth of cubicles, as
if in search of protection.

Edgar felt as if everyone’s eyes
were following him on his journey from the cubicle to Irma’s office. A quick
glance out of the corner of his eye confirmed it. What most worried him was
that no one was trying to hide it. It was something that everyone was in on
except for him. When he opened the office door he found Irma seated at her desk
and Detective Zayas seated in front of her. Zayas got up and moved toward him
with an unfriendly face.