Chapter 6: Patricia Fights Back
Detective Reyes came to the hospital the following morning.
She was younger than I expected — early forties, short hair, a gray jacket, and the particular stillness of someone who spent her days listening for the thing people weren't saying.
She shook my hand, nodded to Victor, and pulled a chair to the foot of Marianne's bed.
"Mrs.
Cardenas," she said.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like someone tried to bury me," Marianne said.
"But better."
Reyes almost smiled.
"I'll be direct.
We've been building a financial fraud case against Cardenas Holdings for six months.
The anonymous tip we received four months ago accelerated that significantly.
Yesterday, based on the recording your daughter made and the medical toxicology report, we expanded the investigation to include attempted hom*cide."
The word landed in the room like something dropped from a height.
Sophia's hand found my arm.
"Patricia Cardenas has retained an attorney," Reyes continued.
"She turned herself in this morning.
She is currently cooperating — selectively.
She is claiming that the financial scheme was entirely your mother-in-law's design, and that she was acting under duress."
"That's a lie," I said.
"It may be.
Or it may be partially true.
That's what we're here to determine." Reyes looked at me steadily.
"Mr.
Cardenas, your mother has not yet been formally questioned.
I'd like to do that today.
I'd also like to retrieve the contents of the safety deposit box."
"We can go this morning," I said.
"There's something else." Reyes set a photograph on the bed tray — a printed surveillance still, grainy but clear enough.
It showed Patricia in a pharmacy, speaking to a man in a white coat.
The timestamp read three weeks ago.
"Do you recognize the man she's speaking to?"
I looked at the photo for a long time.
"That's Dr.
Hector Lozano," I said.
"The physician who signed Marianne's death certificate."
"Yes," Reyes said.
"He signed it fourteen hours after your wife's collapse.
We've since spoken to three other physicians who reviewed the toxicology report.
All three agree that a thorough examination would have detected the sedative.
Dr.
Lozano's examination was not thorough."
"He was paid," Marianne said quietly.
"We believe so.
He has not yet been cooperative." Reyes gathered the photograph.
"Mrs.
Cardenas, I need to ask you something directly.
In the eight months you were building your case, did you share any of what you found with anyone inside the company?
Anyone at all?"
Marianne hesitated.
"Marianne," I said.
"There was one person," she said.
"A woman in the accounting department.
Her name is Clara Vega.
She helped me pull the transaction records without triggering the system flags.
I trusted her." She paused.
"I haven't been able to reach her for two weeks."
Reyes wrote the name down.
Her expression didn't change, but she wrote it quickly.
That evening, Victor and I went to Río Claro Savings with Reyes and two officers.
Box 114 opened on the first try.
Inside: a sealed envelope containing a handwritten will, eleven pages of incorporation documents, and a USB drive labeled in Marianne's handwriting: *DO NOT OPEN WITHOUT VICTOR SALINAS PRESENT.*
Victor took the USB drive and looked at it for a moment.
"She trusted you," he said to me.
"She trusted you," I corrected him.
That night, Patricia's attorney called Victor directly.
The offer was straightforward: Patricia would provide full testimony against Eleanor and Dr.
Lozano in exchange for a reduced charge and no prison time.
Victor relayed the offer to me in the hospital corridor.
"What do you want to do?" he asked.
Before I could answer, my phone lit up with a text from an unknown number.
*Alexander.
This isn't over.
You have no idea what your mother is capable of.
Drop the case or I will make sure Sophia pays for it.
— P*
I showed the screen to Victor.
He looked at it for a long moment.
May you like
Then he looked at me.
"That," he said quietly, "was a very serious mistake on her part."
