Chapter 30 - The Trial of Teresa
Two months later, the coastal house had been fully repaired. The violence of that rainy night felt like a distant nightmare. Ricardo had officially been declared a "missing person" by the authorities, though everyone in the criminal underworld knew exactly what had happened to him.
The final chapter of their ordeal, however, was playing out in a heavily guarded courtroom in the capital.
The trial of Teresa Valdés had become a national spectacle. The media devoured the story of the aristocratic matriarch who had attempted to drown her pregnant daughter-in-law in an Olympic swimming pool.
Daniel and Valeria sat in the front row of the gallery, their hands tightly intertwined.
Teresa was led into the courtroom wearing a sterile, orange prison jumpsuit. Her silver hair, once perfectly coiffed, hung in limp, unkempt strands. The elegant, terrifying queen of high society had been reduced to a fragile, bitter old woman.
When she saw Daniel and Valeria sitting together, a flash of pure, unadulterated hatred crossed her face, but she was quickly forced into her seat by the bailiffs.
The prosecution presented an airtight case. They had the testimony of Aunt Elena, the frantic 911 calls from the party guests, and the damning metallurgical report proving the pool cover had been manually triggered from the control panel where Teresa was standing.
Teresa’s high-priced defense attorney attempted to paint Valeria as a hysterical, suicidal woman who had accidentally fallen and tangled herself in the chains, but the jury saw right through the ridiculous facade.
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When Valeria took the stand to testify, she did not cry. She did not break down. She looked directly into Teresa’s eyes and calmly, meticulously recounted every terrifying second of the attempted murder.
"She believed my child’s blood was tainted," Valeria told the silent courtroom. "She tried to drown my daughter before she was even born. She is not a mother. She is a monster."
