PART 2:
I went straight to my mother’s house in Coyoacán.dhoom
The facade was the same: blue gate, bugambilias on the balcony, white walls, all so perfect that it seemed to hide something rotten underneath. My mom opened with her pearls on, as if even to be home I needed to remember that she was a respectable lady.
“I saw Roberto,” I said without saying.
His smile disappeared just half a second.dhoom
Enough.
“Where?” he asked.
“On the street. Picking up cans.
My mother closed the door too calmly.
How regrettable.,
Unfortunate.
Not “what a horror.” Not “poor man.” Unfortunate, like those who say that a cup broke.
“He’s living in a hostel, Mom.
He made his decisions.
He told me to ask my family.
His fingers tightened over the frame of a photo. It was a picture of my wedding to Alejandro. All smiling. All clean. All guilty, though I still didn’t know what.
“Roberto always knew how to become the victim,” she said.
At that moment Daniel, my brother, appeared with a glass of mineral water in his hand and his expensive watch shining like a mockery.
“What’s going on?”
I found Roberto.
Daniel paled.
“Do I live?
The room has frozen.
My mother looked at him furious.
Daniel.
But it was already late.
“Why did you say that?” I asked.
He tried to laugh.
“Well, after so many years…
I didn’t believe him.
I went back to my apartment with my hands shaking and looked for the divorce box. There were the papers that I never read again because I thought that closing them was to heal: statements, legal agreements, the resignation of Roberto to school.
Then I found a clause I didn’t remember.
Roberto Velasco agrees to assume all financial responsibility related to the San Gabriel Scholarship Fund and frees Mariana Ibarra from any institutional or legal investigation.
My name.
Why did my name appear in a background that I never administered?
I called Patricia Mendez, the old accountant at the school. He never liked my family. He answered the fourth pitch.
“I was wondering when you were going to call,” he said.
“Patricia… what happened to Roberto?”
There was silence.
Don’t ask if you’re not ready to hate people you love.
“I’m ready.
Then he said what broke my life:
Robert didn’t steal that money.
