So Mayra had been interested in knowing when Cristóbal and I were arriving in Guayaquil. As I recalled, Cristóbal gave Aquilino all the details of our trip: the dates, the names of our ships, the ports.

Could she be the mysterious woman who’d hired Franco? My first thought was that Mayra might be Elisa, but she’d claimed to have a relationship with Alberto, to be carrying his child, and my brother didn’t deny it. Elisa knew Alberto was her brother. I found it hard to believe she would’ve been intimate with him. It made more sense to think that she’d been gathering information for Alberto, who may have found out about Mayra’s pregnancy after he’d renounced his share. Perhaps when my father first died, my brother hadn’t foreseen he would be needing any money, but this baby changed everything. Now he had to hide what he’d done or maybe start a new life with Mayra.

Either way, he needed capital.

As soon as we arrived in Guayaquil, I thanked Aquilino for his help and got lost among the dozens of pedestrians heading toward downtown without giving him a chance to make further plans with me, or to find out anything about my mysterious visit to Guayaquil.

I removed the pocket watch and turned the case over. Engraved on the back was the watchmakers’ name, Bolivar e Hijos.

I asked at least ten people if they knew where the jewelry store was. After much confusion, I finally found a man who, without hesitation, pointed in the right direction.

A sign in cursive letters told me this was the right place.

As I pulled the door open, three austere men turned toward me. Bolivar and sons? They were standing behind a massive counter, working on some pieces. The older one, closer to the door, sported a curly mustache over his upper lip and a blue smock. The other two men looked like the younger and older version of the same person: the same angular nose, the large forehead, but one had a fuller face and a thicker frame.

“Can I help you?” the old man said.

“Yes,” I said, “I have gotten a hold of a pocket watch manufactured here nine years ago. I need to know if you have any record of whom you sold this watch to. I need to track down its rightful owner.”

He stared at me over his spectacles.

“It’s an issue of life and death,” I added, in an attempt to move him. At moments like this, I wished I could be myself. A woman could always use her charms to recruit the help of a man for any endeavor.

“Let me see,” he said.

I placed the pocket watch on the counter. He picked it up and examined it. “Lizardo, come.”