Chapter 8 - THE SECOND CHILD
Teresa had moved two infants that night.
One was a premature baby from a poor family, used as a decoy. The other was Julián's son.
Marisol remembered Teresa taking the real child into a private car driven by Esteban Cruz, the Armenta family's longtime attorney.
Julián confronted Esteban at his office.
The old lawyer locked the door and poured two glasses of water with trembling hands.
“I spent thirty years cleaning up your mother's decisions,” he said. “This was the first time I refused.”
“Where is my son?”
“With someone Teresa cannot easily reach.”
“Who?”
Esteban opened a drawer.
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Julián tackled him as the window exploded. They crawled behind the desk while another shot struck the wall.
Esteban shoved a key card into Julián's hand. “Saint Gabriel Children's Home. Room seven.”
The office door burst open.
A masked gunman entered.
Julián hit him with a fire extinguisher, but the attacker escaped down the stairwell. Esteban had been wounded.
“Your father discovered Teresa and Rodrigo laundering money through the vineyards,” he gasped. “She changed his heart medication.”
Julián felt the room turn cold.
“Camila found the same pharmacy receipts.”
Esteban gripped his wrist. “That's why they killed her.”
At Saint Gabriel's, Room Seven was empty.
The crib was warm. A bottle sat unfinished on the table.
On the wall, written in black marker, were six words:
May you like
YOU ARE ALWAYS ONE STEP BEHIND.
Then Julián heard a baby crying inside the ventilation shaft.
