“He told me he would be back. He said he was going to do something for her and that he would return in a few days. But it’s been three weeks already.” She reached out for my hands. “Will you help me?”

I would’ve wanted to despise her like I did her son, but this woman seemed so fragile, so desperate. She clearly didn’t know the evil in her son’s heart. How could I not pity her? She’d lost everything, her husband, her house, and now her son. A part of me wanted to tell her the truth, but another part—the practical one—told me that this woman could be helpful in my investigation if I played along.

“I can try, but you have to be honest with me. What was he going to do for that woman and why?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“We need to find her. It’s the only way to find him.”

Doña Soledad removed a saffron handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped her tears with it. “I don’t know how. I’ve already looked through his things and there’s nothing.” She blew her nose. “I know he was a good boy. He was always so obedient.”

A good boy, all right.

“There are no letters?”

“Nothing.”

“Could he have confided in a friend? Told someone about his girl?”

“He didn’t have any friends.”

She sniffed.

If Franco loved this mysterious woman and would do anything to please her, would he also take her money to kill me? Or was there someone else involved in this plan?

I spoke again. “You said your house burned in a fire, right?”

She watched me warily. “Yes.”

“How did that happen?”

“What does the fire have to do with my son’s disappearance?”

“Maybe there’s a connection there. Tell me about it.”

She sat down again. This was so surreal, me talking to the mother of the man who had killed my Cristóbal.

“It was a windy afternoon. And so dry. It hadn’t rained in weeks. I’d gone to town to get rice and flour for my bread. Normally, my son would help me when I went to get provisions, but he’d said he had something important to do that afternoon. I assumed it had to do with work. When I saw the house in the distance, it was already in flames.