Chapter 4 - THE FIRST SIGN
Santiago found Sophia in the conservatory.
She was sitting beside the glass doors, a sketchbook balanced on her knees. Afternoon sunlight fell across her dark hair.
He approached slowly.
“Sophia.”
She did not look up.
He sat in the chair opposite her.
“I spoke with Ruby.”
Sophia's pencil stopped.
“She told me about St. Agnes.”
Sophia closed the sketchbook.
“I want to understand what happened. I want to know why you stopped speaking.”
Her eyes lifted to his.
For years, Santiago had mistaken her silence for distance. Now he saw something else: caution.
He reached for the small communication tablet on the side table.
“Do you want to use this?”
Sophia pushed it away.
Santiago swallowed.
“Then show me another way.”
Her hands remained still.
A full minute passed.
Then Sophia raised her right hand and made three deliberate signs.
Santiago recognized none of them.
He looked toward the doorway.
Ruby stood there.
“I can translate,” she said. “If Sophia wants me to.”
Sophia nodded.
Ruby approached but did not sit. She waited until Sophia repeated the signs.
“She says you always ask what happened, but never ask what she needs now.”
Santiago lowered his gaze.
“What do you need?”
Sophia signed again.
Ruby translated carefully.
“She wants the blue notebook.”
Santiago frowned.
“What blue notebook?”
Sophia repeated the sign, more urgently.
“Mother's notebook,” Ruby said.
Santiago stood.
“I don't know where it is.”
Sophia's face tightened. She signed again.
Ruby hesitated.
“She says you gave it to Uncle Matteo after the funeral.”
The words struck him like a physical blow.
He remembered the notebook.
His mother had kept it in the bedside drawer. It contained recipes, family appointments, little notes about the children, and pages of signs she had created with Sophia. Santiago had given it to Matteo because he was handling the estate.
He had never asked for it back.
“Why is it important?”
Sophia's hands moved quickly.
Ruby watched with growing concern.
“She says there are names inside. Dates. And a drawing.”
“What drawing?”
Sophia took the sketchbook and flipped to a blank page. She drew a cup, a small bottle, and a hand wearing a large ring.
Santiago stared.
“Is that Matteo?”
Sophia nodded.
Then she pointed to the cup.
Ruby translated the next signs slowly.
“She says Matteo put something in their mother's tea. She saw him do it. She tried to tell you, but he said she was confused and that nobody would believe a child who couldn't speak.”
Santiago felt the room tilt.
“No.”
Sophia's eyes filled.
She signed again.
Ruby's voice became softer.
“She says she tried to tell you after the funeral. You told her not to invent terrible stories about family.”
Santiago remembered the day.
He remembered Sophia crying in the kitchen. He remembered Matteo saying grief had confused her. He remembered ordering Sophia to go upstairs because he could not bear another argument.
He had not listened.
He turned away.
“Why didn't you tell me through the tablet?”
Sophia signed.
Ruby translated.
“She says she did. The tablet was taken away after she typed Matteo's name.”
Santiago closed his eyes.
“Who took it?”
Sophia looked toward the hallway.
May you like
Then she signed one word.
“Matteo.”
