Chapter 12
Chapter 12: The Ghost in the Mail
Two weeks into the Vargas investigation, the past reached out with a cold, desperate hand.
Renata was at her kitchen island, sipping her morning tea, when she sorted through the mail. Amidst the bills and magazines was a plain, manila envelope bearing the official stamp of the Reclusorio Norte—the maximum-security federal prison where Alonso was currently awaiting his sentencing hearing.
Her heart didn't race. Her hands didn't shake. She simply stared at the envelope with a clinical, detached curiosity.
She sliced it open with a butter knife. Inside was a single piece of lined paper. The handwriting was erratic, a sharp contrast to the elegant, confident strokes Alonso used to sign his forged documents.
Renata,
I know I have no right to ask anything of you. But the trial begins in three days. The prosecution is offering me a reduced sentence of fifteen years if I fully testify against my mother. If I don't, I could face thirty. The prosecutor wants a victim impact statement. If you could just write a letter... just one letter saying I was manipulated by her, that I wasn't the mastermind, it could save my life.
I am begging you. I am so sorry. I am broken in here.
Please come see me. Just for ten minutes.
Alonso.
Renata read the letter twice. She traced the tear stains on the cheap paper.
Her phone buzzed. It was Valeria.
"I assume you got the pathetic letter from inmate number 8402?" the lawyer asked dryly. "The warden's office notified me he mailed it."
"I got it," Renata said, taking a sip of her tea.
"Throw it in the trash, Renata. He's trying to manipulate you one last time. He wants you to feel pity so he can shave five years off his sentence. You owe him absolutely nothing."
"I know I don't owe him anything," Renata said softly, looking out the window at the vibrant streets of Roma. "But I'm going to go."
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"Renata, why? Don't give him the satisfaction of seeing you."
"He isn't going to get satisfaction, Valeria," Renata replied, her voice cooling to the temperature of ice. "He is going to get a mirror. I need to see the ghost one last time, so I can finally bury it."
