To summarize, all three kids said that the house had light inside, that it was enormous, that it had shelves with human remains arranged like decorations: teeth, bones, and fingernails. Adela went into a room, closed the door behind her, and they couldn’t get it open again. Victoria was convinced, the official record said, that someone in the house had locked that door. It was over five hours before the police went into the house, already the next morning. And starting then, it’s one misstep after another. In the following days, Judge Carmen Molina ordered a series of raids on the neighboring houses, including Adela Álvarez’s. It’s conspicuous that she did not order an inspection of Gaspar Peterson’s house. To this day, there are no suspects or clues about who took Adela Álvarez, if in fact someone did take her. Between the time the incident was reported and the arrival of the police on the scene, the kidnapper or kidnappers had time to erase all signs. The children’s statements are incredible and they’re included, cited directly, in my colleague’s investigation for Panorama: I recommend my readers look at his work. Unfortunately, Guillermo Triuso left Argentina in early 1988 because of the economic situation, and currently works as a journalist in Mexico. I called to consult him about certain details and he was polite, but the matter is closed for him. What he did mention, when we spoke on the phone, was how perplexed he’d been at the kids’ statements regarding the size of the house. That house at 525 Villarreal is about forty square meters, forty-four to be exact, plus ten extra meters distributed between the small front yard and a backyard that includes a small shed, according to the original blueprints, which are accessible in the city hall archives. Its layout, moreover, is very simple: a multipurpose room at the entrance, a kitchen with space for an everyday dining area, a single bedroom, and a bathroom. But the kids described very spacious rooms, hallways, and several bedrooms. There is no doubt that they entered this house and no other. That is: they testified that the house was much larger inside than out, a physical impossibility. Plus, when the police went in, they found that the wall separating the dining area and the bedroom had been knocked down, as well as the walls of the bathroom, which was open to view. There was still rubble piled inside, and only some of it had been moved to the small backyard. It had no electricity, though the kids were sure there was light, and it didn’t have any doors: the bathroom and bedroom doors had been removed. The house was for sale, though it didn’t have a sign in front: it belonged to a family named Ordóñez, and a realtor was offering it privately. It was being sold as land: the house was in ruins. The owners’ son also gave a statement, but what he said is irrelevant: he hadn’t even been to Buenos Aires in years. He and his sister had moved to Córdoba for business. They’d put the house up for sale after their mother died. There was no reason to suspect them; their alibi was airtight.