Chapter 2 - SHADOWS IN THE FOYER
The silence in the kitchen was deafening. The digital clock on the screen ticked forward to 2:18 AM, but neither Daniel nor I could move. On the video screen, after forcing the contaminated oatmeal down my mother-in-law’s throat, Arturo didn’t just leave. He did something that chilled me to the very bone.
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a heavy black velvet pouch. From it, he drew a thick metal cylinder fitted with a manual pump and a flexible tube. My eyes widened in horror as I watched him slide the tube beneath Elena’s top blanket near her waist. He began operating the pump manually. Within seconds, Elena’s body convulsed softly, her eyes rolling back in distress as her abdomen expanded slightly with every slow, deliberate stroke of the mechanical apparatus.
He wasn't just poisoning her; he was actively and artificially inflating her abdominal cavity using an industrial pressure pump, creating a horrific facade of extreme internal swelling to mask whatever damage his chemical powder was inflicting on her organs.
"What is he doing to her?!" Daniel cried out, his voice cracking into a sob. He smashed his fist against the kitchen counter, rattling the dishes. "That monster! He's killing my mother!"
"Shh! Quiet!" I grabbed his arms, holding him back. "If he hears you, he'll know we watched the tape. Look at the door, Daniel!"
Through the camera's wide-angle lens, the bedroom door crept open a second time around 2:45 AM. A woman stepped into the frame. She was dressed in sharp dark attire, wearing gold jewelry that caught the low light of the nightstand lamp. She looked to be in her mid-fifties, with dyed crimson hair and a posture that radiated cold arrogance.
It was Carolina.
I recognized her instantly from an old photograph in Arturo’s study—she was the sister of Elena’s late business partner, a woman who had vanished from our lives over a decade ago after a bitter dispute over a commercial land title in downtown Guadalajara.
In the video, Carolina walked up to Elena’s bedside. She didn't look at my mother-in-law with pity; she looked at her with pure disdain. She leaned down close to Elena’s ear and whispered something that made Elena shudder violently. Then, Carolina reached into her designer handbag, pulled out a stack of crisp legal documents, and handed them to Arturo.
"The notary is set for Friday," Carolina’s voice drifted through the phone speaker, sharp and clear. "Once her signature or thumbprint is on the deed transfer, the prime real estate along Avenida Vallarta belongs entirely to our offshore LLC. But you need to make sure she doesn't survive until the public registry review next month. If an investigator looks at her, the whole fraud crumbles."
"Don't tell me how to handle my business," Arturo growled back in a low hiss. "The compound I'm mixing into her food mimics end-stage renal failure and abdominal ascites. No local doctor will perform an autopsy on a sixty-two-year-old stroke victim with a history of hypertension. By the time anyone asks questions, she'll be buried in the family plot, and we’ll be living in San Antonio."
Daniel’s knees buckled. He sank onto a kitchen chair, clutching his head in his hands. "My father... my own father is murdering her for a piece of real estate? They’ve been married for almost forty years!"
"Greed destroys everything, Daniel," I whispered, tears of anger stinging my eyes. "We can't just call the regular police right now without proof that holds up legally, or he'll claim the video is fabricated and use his legal power as her primary guardian to move her out of this house before help arrives."
"I'm going in there right now and tearing his throat out!" Daniel roared, starting to rise.
"No!" I blocked his path, grabbing his shoulders with all my strength. "If you attack him now, he calls the cops on you. He plays the victim, gets a restraining order, and we lose access to Elena completely. Then he finishes her off in secret. We have to be smarter than him."
Just then, we heard heavy footsteps coming down the hallway toward the kitchen. The brass doorknob began to turn.
Daniel quickly shoved his phone into his back pocket and wiped his eyes. I grabbed a kitchen towel and began furiously wiping down the counter, pretending to clean.
The kitchen door swung open, and Arturo stood in the doorway. His sharp eyes scanned the room, lingering on Daniel’s flushed face and my trembling hands.
"What are you two whispering about in the dark?" Arturo demanded, his voice thick with suspicion.
"We were just talking about Mom's diet," I lied smoothly, forcing my voice to stay steady despite the terror beating in my throat. "I was telling Daniel that maybe we should prepare a lighter broth for her tonight instead of heavy oatmeal."
Arturo stepped into the kitchen, closing the distance between us until he was standing inches from my face. The scent of stale tobacco and cheap cologne clung to him.
"I told you before, Lucía," he said in a dangerous whisper, pointing a thick finger at my chest. "Her diet is my concern. You are a guest in this house by my goodwill. If I see either of you meddling in her room again tonight, I will have the locks changed by morning, and you will be on the street without a cent. Do you understand me?"
Daniel stepped forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with me. "She's my mother, Dad."
"And she is my wife!" Arturo barked back, his chest expanding. "Now go to your room. Both of you."
We had no choice. We backed away and retreated to our bedroom at the end of the hall. Daniel locked the door behind us, his entire body shaking with rage.
"We need a plan," I whispered, sitting him down on the edge of the bed. "We have the video, but we need to know what that powder is, and we need to get Elena out of that bed without Arturo stopping us."
"How?" Daniel asked hopelessly. "He guards that room like a hawk. And Carolina has legal connections. If they realize we know, they might accelerate the poison tonight."
I looked out the window at the dark street below. "Then we don't wait for morning. We act tonight. But first, I need to get a sample of those white packets sitting on her nightstand."
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Daniel looked at me with fear in his eyes. "He sleeps with his door open so he can hear every sound in the hallway. If he catches you in her room at night, he'll kill you too."
"He won't catch me," I said firmly. "Because you're going to create a distraction he can't ignore."
