Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO NEVER DIED
Rafael Moreira was not a Moreira by blood.
He had been Isabel's fiancé, a mechanic who worked at a small garage near the harbor. He had no family fortune, no influential friends, and no interest in the family's business.
Alejandro remembered him as a quiet man who fixed old cars and brought Isabel wildflowers.
His father had called him unsuitable.
Then Rafael disappeared.
The family was told he had been killed in an accident overseas.
No body was recovered.
No funeral was held.
Beatrice had kept a newspaper clipping in her Bible for eleven years. It reported that an unidentified man had been found near a shipping warehouse after a fire.
The date was two days before Isabel's supposed car accident.
Alejandro called the police.
The records had been sealed after a request from his father's attorney. The official file listed the man as unidentified, but the medical examiner's notes mentioned a distinctive surgical scar.
Rafael had one.
The next morning, Detective Sofia Alvarez arrived at the mansion.
She had reopened the old case after seeing Mateo's photograph.
"There's a chance Rafael survived," she said. "We found a hospital admission under a different name three weeks after the warehouse fire."
"Where?"
"A private clinic in northern Spain."
Alejandro looked at Mateo.
"Was your father Rafael?"
The boy nodded.
"He told me stories about a man named Alejandro. He said he was my uncle. But Mom said I shouldn't look for him until I was old enough."
"Why?"
"Because bad people might follow me."
Alejandro felt the words like a blow.
"Where is Rafael now?"
Mateo looked down.
"I don't know. He left last winter. He said he had to find Mom."
The boy reached into his pocket and produced another folded note.
"He told me to give this to you if I found the house."
Alejandro opened it.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
If Mateo has reached you, then Isabel has been taken again. Do not trust Celeste. She knows the name of the man who arranged the first disappearance. I am going to find her. If I fail, protect our son.
Alejandro read the note again.
"Taken again?"
Mateo began to cry.
"Mom went to meet someone three weeks ago. She didn't come back."
The room fell silent.
Alejandro turned to Detective Alvarez.
"We need to find her."
May you like
The detective nodded.
"Then we start with the last place she was seen."
