Mystery by the Sea (15 page)

“Sweetheart, don’t start with me
now. We all agreed,” said Javier, annoyed.

At that moment, Irma entered the
office and shut the door. She immediately perceived, from Jessica’s depressed
demeanor and Javier’s discomfort, that something wasn’t right.

“What’s going on? Did Almeida’s
questions make you nervous?” Irma asked Jessica.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that,
I think we should confess.”

“No, no, no. What’s wrong with you?”
Javier asked vehemently, standing up and running his hand through his thick
hair. “There’s nothing to confess here, period!”

“Lorenzo’s going to figure
something out and then…”

“Nothing, like up until now,” Irma
cut in. “My sources informed me that Almeida was at Pedroza’s house yesterday
and that Aurora let him see anything he wanted. Even with all that, he still
left empty-handed,” she said matter-of-factly.

“See? He’s not going to stop. I
can’t take it any longer. We need to clear this up,” begged Jessica, clasping
her hands in the air.

“Don’t you understand what’s at
stake here?” asked Javier, pressing his finger to his temple. He had always
thought that Jessica was not mentally strong enough to handle the pressure put
forth in certain situations.

“Doris Almeida killed Pedroza.
Nothing’s going to change that. Lorenzo Almeida doesn’t have anything on us and
Doris can’t even talk to say anything to the contrary,” contended Irma in an
attempt to make Jessica see the bigger picture. She wanted to give Jessica a
swift kick in the pants to convince her that staying quiet was not only the
best move for all of them but the only move.

“And you’re okay with that? How
much more suffering can the poor woman take?” asked Jessica, lowering her head
to hide her red eyes.

“Don’t let that get to you.
Remember, she brought it upon herself. Besides, everyone will soon forget about
this and things will return to normal. That’s how it always is,” asserted
Javier, sitting down. He insisted on following Irma’s lead and remaining calm
and collected. From the beginning, he knew that, because she was so emotional,
the weak link in this whole thing would be Jessica. He could not afford to
frighten her any more by yelling or beating her over the head about it.

“No one can say anything. He who
speaks, speaks alone. Is that clear? Together is how we’ll best protect
ourselves,” Irma gently but firmly assured her.

Jessica wiped away the tears that
had silently escaped from her eyes. She nodded her head, affirming that she
would stay with the group. Irma and Javier exchanged glances. They would have
to watch over Jessica carefully, letting everything get back to normal, as the
whole affair was sorted out in court.

When she left Jessica’s office,
Irma was informed she had a phone call. Little did she know that that phone
call would throw an unexpected kink into her life.

 

 

 

Costa Linda’s downtown streets felt twice as hot during the
summer. The perpetual traffic jam of cars maneuvering the narrow streets did
not help. Irma Alfonso suffered through the stifling heat as she walked to
attorney Alexis Mojica’s office, which was located only a few blocks from
Pedroza’s offices. Irma picked up her pace to reach the office and step into
the air conditioning for some needed relief from the heat. She could not
imagine that what Lorenzo and Alexis had prepared for her would make her
temperature rise to the point that no air conditioning system would be able to
help.

After finding his house vandalized,
Lorenzo organized his findings and presented them to Alexis in such a way that
he considered that, although they were not exactly conclusive and they did not
necessarily exonerate Doris, they did introduce aggravating circumstances that
could prove beneficial for his case. He thought it prudent, therefore, to
interview Irma to confirm some of the details and listen to her side of the
story. Alexis scheduled an appointment over the phone and Lorenzo appeared in
person so he could witness the interview.

Irma entered the small foyer where
she was greeted by the receptionist Carmen, a woman in her fifties who
conferred a certain degree of formality to the office. Without making her wait,
Irma was instructed to proceed to Alexis’ office.

Alexis’ office was not anything out
of this world. It was decorated in good taste but without luxuries. It
emphasized a style that was more modern than traditional. Little wood and more
metal, plastic, and glass. Alexis preferred to think that this was his first
office, the transition to something bigger and better in the not-so-distant
future.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Alfonso.
We’ve been expecting you,” Alexis cordially greeted her, standing up.

Irma looked behind him and saw
Lorenzo sitting in a chair at the back of the office. She was clearly confused,
even uncomfortable, by his presence.

“Good afternoon,” she said, trying
to hide her annoyance. “Mr. Almeida, I suppose this has to do with Doris’ case.
I’ve already stated everything that I know, both to you and to the police,”
declared Irma, crossing her arms and shooting looks at both the attorney and
Lorenzo.

“Yes, we know,” intervened Alexis.
“But Mr. Almeida alleges that he has new information that could change the
course of the case and we want to confirm it with you, to see if you can help
us. Sit down, please,” Alexis insisted kindly.

“If it’s to help Doris, that’s
fine, but make it brief please. I have a really busy afternoon ahead of me,”
she answered as she sat down in front of the desk and made herself comfortable,
ensuring that she could make eye contact with both men.

“It should only take a few
minutes,” assured the attorney.

“What is it about?” inquired Irma.

“Right, it’s about the reason for
Doris Almeida’s dismissal,” reported Alexis, clasping his hands together and
tapping with his fingertips.

“The report that Doris submitted
with serious mistakes? I’ve already talked about that.”

“Correct. But we have additional
questions. Just to clarify the situation.”

“All right. What would you like to
know?”

 “Did she submit the report
directly to Pedroza? In person?” questioned Alexis.

“No, all reports for Pedroza were
submitted through me,” clarified Irma.

“You had the report in your hand
and then you passed it along. In other words, you submitted it to Pedroza?”
scrutinized Alexis, looking for more details.

“You could say so,” answered Irma,
her tone of voice changing slightly. She could see where the attorney’s line of
questioning was headed.

“Yes, but, did you physically have
it in your hand, on paper?” Lorenzo added to the interrogation. Alexis put up
his right hand to signal to Lorenzo not to interrupt him but to let him ask the
questions.

“No, she submitted it to me
electronically,” stated Irma.

“Why? Is that how you always did
it?” asked Alexis.

“No, but it was late and in order
to move forward I asked her to do it that way, to speed up the review process.
Besides, we’re trying to reduce our paper use, be greener, you know.”

“You mean,
your
review process?”
questioned Alexis.

“That’s right,” answered Irma.

“That is to say that you reviewed
and signed a report with
serious errors
,” added Lorenzo, standing up to stress
his point.

“I called them
serious errors
so that it wouldn’t cause a panic, but we’re talking about something very
severe that was discovered by Quality Control. My responsibility, as always, is
simply to report those types of inconsistencies. Pedroza was notified and he
decided to fire Doris rather than press formal criminal charges or anything
like that,” explained Irma calmly, although she did not like Lorenzo’s tone.

Lorenzo held up some papers that
were resting on the desk. He glanced at Alexis briefly, but Alexis did not stop
him.

“Do you recognize this?” asked
Lorenzo as he handed the papers over to Irma.

Irma easily identified them as
official company documents. The sheer fact that Lorenzo had gotten his hands on
that type of document made her blood boil. Someone had given him information
and that was not good.

“Where did you get those from?
Those documents contain confidential company information.” said Irma,
infuriated but still keeping herself in check.

“Do you know what it is?” Lorenzo
asked her.

“It’s the report that Doris
submitted,” she answered without wavering.

“And
this
one?” asked
Lorenzo as he handed her a similar document. She barely glanced at it, feigning
little interest.

“A copy of the same report. Why are
you wasting my time with these games?” said Irma, abruptly lowering the papers
to rest on her skirt.

“Because it’s not a copy of the
same report. They’re very similar, almost identical,” clarified Lorenzo. “One
was created by Doris, the other was what
you
submitted to Pedroza.”

Irma had never been slapped in the
face, but that moment was as close as she had ever come to it. All she could do
was throw her hands up in the air.

“Mr. Mojica, what is all this
nonsense about?” she asked, irate.

Lorenzo could smell blood and would
not let Alexis get a word in edgewise.

“Look at it carefully,” Lorenzo
pressed on, referring to the document, “and explain to us how it’s possible
that both versions were on your computer. The correct version originating from
Doris’ computer and the second, incorrect version with
serious errors
,
from yours—at a later date.”

“
My
computer?” asked Irma, her
voice cracking as her cheeks blushed from the blood rushing to her head. “Who
gave you permission to look through my things? That’s a crime,” she added
threateningly, yet maintaining her composure to be able to defend herself.

“I’m sure it is. But that doesn’t
excuse your even larger crime,” said Lorenzo in an accusing tone.

Irma remained silent. She was
clearly cornered, trembling, and sweating. She was trapped.

“Okay. You caught me,” bewailed
Irma to Alexis and Lorenzo’s astonishment. Irma lowered her head and hid it
between her hands while sucking in large lungs-full of air. Lorenzo saw his
opportunity to get what he was looking for but that he had thought, up until
now, was impossible to obtain: a confession.

“Irma…why?” asked Lorenzo, lowering
his voice to an understanding, almost affectionate, tone. At that fragile
moment he thought it better to tone down his strength and use empathy. Irma
raised her head out of her hands, revealing a facial expression that neither
one of them, or maybe anyone, had ever seen on her. It was as if she had been
stripped naked. She wore her heart on her sleeve; her face could not hide
anything. Strangely, she also appeared calmer, as if a huge weight had been
lifted off her shoulders and her conscience.

“You want me to tell you why? Where
do I start?” said Irma before taking in a large gulp of air. Then she let it
all off her chest. “Because of the way she talked, the way she walked, her
stupid ideas, her ridiculous smile. From the moment she started at the office,
her guile, she was always trying to impress Pedroza and the idiot completely
fell for it. In less than a year she had earned privileges that even
I
hadn’t.
And I was the one who held the position. It was always Doris this and Doris
that. I was fed up with it and wanted to teach her a lesson so she would know
her place,” unloaded Irma, spitting flames with each word that spewed from her
mouth.

Lorenzo saw tears in Irma’s eyes.
But they were not tears of sadness or guilt. They were something else. They
were tears that stayed welled-up in her eyes, refusing to spill over and roll
down her cheeks. They were tears of hatred. A very deep and basic hatred.
Lorenzo had lived, in his own flesh and blood, a range of feelings throughout
his life, especially love. He had lived it with passion and had seen it in
others. But he had never been so close to the other side of the spectrum.

He knew that hatred, like love,
could awaken very strong emotions and passions, and the proof was sitting right
in front of him, inhaling scorn and exhaling contempt. To think that Doris, the
person he loved and valued most, could evoke that type of extreme feeling in
another person made Lorenzo feel very uncomfortable. He felt fear, even a lack
of safety, when faced with the reality that such a powerful force could push
someone to commit such despicable acts against another human being. Someone
who, in fact, had a family that loved her and needed her. That was a contrast
for which Lorenzo could not find any reasonable explanation. It was abnormal and
Lorenzo resolved to see it that way forever.

“You wanted to teach her a lesson
by getting her fired? Putting the livelihood of others at stake?” asked Lorenzo
with the purpose of making her see what her revenge had achieved. He wanted her
to be very aware that her vengeance affected others as well.

“No, I only wanted to humiliate
her,” clarified Irma, a little more calm.

“
Only
humiliate her?” asked
Lorenzo with disgust.

“Yes, I swear. I never thought
Pedroza would fire her. I just wanted to watch Doris struggle through one of
Pedroza’s attacks, to embarrass her or something. I wanted to get her out of
her comfort zone,” explained Irma.

“No, you were counting on the fact
that Pedroza would fire her,” exclaimed Lorenzo, raising his tone of voice, “so
that you could then give her the final blow and make her think that Pedroza
invited her to his house, giving her false hope and making her go through an embarrassing
scene in front of her ex-colleagues.”

“What are you talking about? I
don’t understand. Invited?” asked Irma, confused and ignorant.

“Irma, I think it’s time to stop
pretending. We know everything,” said an over-confident Lorenzo as he handed
her a copy of the invitation. She looked at it carefully. Then she raised her
eyes without looking at anyone in particular. “The invitation was sealed with
the rubber seal that you and only you use for documents that require Pedroza’s
signature and which he authorized you to stamp. But he never delegated the
preparation or signing of these invitations to you. That was a personal matter,
separate from official company matters. Therefore, Pedroza was thrown off when
he saw Doris arrive at his house that night.”

Irma’s eyes filled with tears,
tears that did spill over and run down her cheeks this time. Her heart started
to beat too quickly from the sobs that she tried unsuccessfully to repress.

“Your objective was no longer to
just
humiliate
her,” Lorenzo continued his attack, perceiving that his
victim was wounded and defenseless. “You wanted to destroy her, eliminate her
from the map. That’s why you invited her on the night that Pedroza would be
murdered.”

“Oh my God,” exclaimed Irma,
opening her eyes wide and grabbing her head with both hands. “I’m responsible. He’s
dead, dead,” said Irma before bursting into a bitter sob.

Lorenzo locked eyes with Alexis, shocked
by the clear confession. He let out a sigh of relief realizing that, finally,
it was all over. Doris would come home and they could rebuild their family.
Well, start building it, actually. Alexis scribbled something down in his
notepad, which Lorenzo saw as some sort of “validation.”
It’s all done
,
he thought. Seeing Irma shattered and exposed, he felt compelled to console
her. It was time to make amends.

“It’s best to admit to everything.
Let it all out,” whispered Lorenzo. He drew nearer to her and put his hand on
her shoulder. “What I don’t understand is…why Pedroza? It wasn’t enough to
embarrass Doris by getting her fired? You hated her that much? Enough to
sacrifice the life of an innocent man to see her go to jail?”

Lorenzo’s words made Irma raise her
swollen make-up stained face to make eye contact with Lorenzo.

“Innocent? What do you mean?” she
asked in a weak, barely audible voice.

“Pedroza. You’re guilty. You
arranged everything to trap Doris,” reviewed Lorenzo.

“Oh no, just a minute…”

“You just confessed. You can’t take
it back now. The attorney heard it. It’s all over,” indicated Lorenzo, pointing
to Alexis.

“I never once said I was
guilty
,”
Irma firmly denied, emphatically wagging her index finger. “I said I’m
responsible
.”