Chương 6
“Distance and cost are both real,” he said. “Your mother’s safety is also real. None of these disappears because you dislike the others.”
They settled on a ten-day admission to a rehabilitation center in the city while evaluations continued. Elena paid the deposit with nearly half her savings. Sofía did not thank her.
That evening, Lucía brought Elena’s duffel from the hacienda. The bag had split at one seam where the buckle struck the stone.
“You always throw things when angry,” Lucía said.
“Not always.”
“When you were thirteen, you threw a watermelon.”
“It was rotten.”
“It hit the wall.”
“It was a weak watermelon.”
Lucía sat beside the hospital bed and began combing Teresa’s hair. Teresa complained that the comb pulled. Lucía told her beauty required suffering. Teresa said she had suffered enough to become a queen.
For ten minutes, the room felt almost normal.
Then Teresa saw the red mark on Lucía’s wrist.
“What happened?”
Lucía pulled down her sleeve.
“Nothing.”
Teresa caught her hand. “Sofía did that?”
Lucía glanced at Elena.
“No, señora.”
“The men?”
“What men?” Elena asked.
Teresa’s eyes moved between them.
“The men in the blue room.”
Lucía stopped combing.
Elena leaned closer. “What men?”
“The one with the soft hands. And Mateo.”
“When?”
Teresa rubbed her forehead.
“They wanted me to sign.”
“What did they want you to sign?”
“Something about the trees.”
“Did you?”
“They were shouting.”
“Who was shouting?”
“You.”
“I wasn’t there.”
Teresa looked frightened.
Lucía touched her shoulder. “Enough questions.”
“No,” Elena said. “Mama, did Sofía make you sign something?”
Teresa pulled away from both of them.
“I said enough.”
Her voice was suddenly clear and furious.
Elena froze.
Teresa pointed toward the door.
“Go stand outside until you remember how to speak to your mother.”
It was a sentence from Elena’s childhood. Teresa had used it whenever Elena became disrespectful at the dinner table. The familiarity of it hurt more than confusion.
Elena left the room.
Lucía joined her several minutes later.
“You pushed too hard.”
“I need to know what happened.”
“She needs to know where she is.”
“Did you see the men?”
Lucía looked down the corridor.
“In February, two men came with Licenciado Ríos.”
“Investors?”
“One was called Mr. Keller.”
“Foreign?”
“He spoke Spanish.”
“What happened?”
“They stayed in the blue room with Señora Teresa and Señora Sofía. I brought coffee. Your mother asked why there were so many pages. Licenciado Ríos said they were copies. Later I heard shouting.”
“Who?”
“Your mother. She said the land was not Sofía’s.”
“Then?”
“Señora Sofía came out. She had been crying. She told me to take her mother upstairs.”
“Did Mama sign?”
“I saw ink on her thumb.”
“A fingerprint?”
Lucía nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I am telling you.”
“Five months later.”
Lucía’s mouth became a thin line.
“I have worked in your house for thirty-one years. Your father borrowed from my husband and did not repay him before he died. Your mother kept my son employed when no one else would. Your sister paid for my cataract surgery. You send money at Christmas and call me family. All of you say family when you need silence.”
Elena stared at her.
Lucía adjusted the strap of her purse.
“I was afraid.”
“Of losing your job?”
“Yes.”
“Of Sofía?”
“Yes.”
“Of me?”
Lucía considered it.
“Yes.”
The next morning, Salgado obtained a copy of the power of attorney from Mateo Ríos’s office. The document had been signed in February before Ríos and two witnesses. A physician’s note attached to it stated that Teresa was mentally competent on the day of signing.
The physician was Dr. Cárdenas.
Salgado explained that suspicious circumstances did not automatically invalidate the document. Teresa had not yet been declared legally incapacitated. A person could have memory problems and still understand a specific transaction. Challenging the power of attorney would require medical review, testimony, and perhaps a civil proceeding.
“What about the sale?” Elena asked.
“Not completed.”
“Can we stop it?”
“We can notify the notary and buyer that capacity and coercion are disputed. That may delay registration.”
“May?”
“Yes.”
“Why would anyone proceed?”
“Because eighty hectares are valuable and people often become courageous when a contract favors them.”
Sofía sat across the room, expressionless.
Salgado turned to her. “Did your mother understand that the document gave you authority to sell land?”
“Yes.”
“Did she understand which land?”
“Yes.”
“Did she agree?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ask for independent counsel?”
“She trusted Mateo.”
Elena said, “She said not Mateo.”
Salgado ignored her.
“Why was Mr. Keller present?”
“He represented the buyer.”
“During the signing of the power of attorney?”
“He was already at the house.”
“Why?”
“To inspect the groves.”
“Did he offer you money personally?”
“No.”
“Employment?”
“No.”
“A management position after the sale?”
Sofía’s eyes flickered.
Salgado noticed.
“What position?”
“It was not formal.”
“What position?”
“They discussed retaining me as regional director.”
Elena turned toward her sister.
Sofía remained focused on Salgado.
“It made sense. I know the land, the workers, the supply chain.”
“And you would receive a salary?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You remember.”
Sofía named a figure nearly three times Elena’s military salary.
Silence settled over the room.
Elena said, “You were selling Mama’s land to employ yourself.”
“I was preserving what could be preserved.”
“You were preserving yourself.”
“Yes,” Sofía snapped. “Someone had to.”
Salgado raised her voice only slightly. “Sit down.”
Neither sister had realized they were standing.
They sat.
May you like
Sofía smoothed her jacket.
“You want greed because greed is easy,” she said. “Try this instead. I am fifty-four years old. I have spent three decades running a property everyone romanticizes and no one helps maintain. The wells are drying. The trees are diseased. The workers expect wages even when the harvest fails, which they should, because their children eat in bad years too. Mama refuses to sell anything because she still believes Papa will fix it. Elena sends money and photographs of herself receiving medals. I have no pension. I have no home that is not tied to this place. So yes, when someone offered to buy dying land, pay the debts, keep me employed, and fund professional care, I listened.”
