Chapter 4
Chapter 4: The Search for Evidence
Andrés spent the entire afternoon meticulously gathering evidence, operating as silently and efficiently as a ghost within his own home.
He contacted an old friend currently working as an investigator at the Prosecutor's Office. Using professional resources, the friend secretly ran a check on the bank loan application Renata had submitted in Doña Teresa's name. The handwriting analysis was conclusive: the signature on the application was a crude forgery, clumsily traced from an older document.
Next, he called a trusted locksmith to examine the door to his mother's bedroom. The locksmith quickly concluded that the lock had been intentionally replaced; it was a one-way deadbolt that could only be locked and unlocked from the outside, rendering anyone inside completely helpless.
He also brought in a trusted military physician to secretly examine Doña Teresa. The doctor photographed all the bruises, especially those on her wrists. The medical report explicitly stated: "The morphology, location, and discoloration of the contusions are entirely consistent with the victim being physically restrained and forcefully gripped over an extended period. This rules out accidental falls or standard blunt force trauma."
But the greatest breakthrough came from Doña Teresa herself. She provided him with an invaluable clue that Renata, despite tearing the house apart, had never discovered: the bottom drawer of his late father's old desk.
Opening that secret compartment, Andrés found a small control panel connected to a micro-camera hidden inside a smoke detector mounted on the living room ceiling. His father, a naturally suspicious man, had installed the offline system years ago after a string of petty thefts in the neighborhood.
Renata had been clever enough to disable and wipe the modern, internet-connected security cameras. But she never imagined that the archaic, standalone system recording directly to a hidden SD card was quietly capturing every corner of the room.
Andrés pulled the memory card and plugged it into his laptop. The high-definition footage laid bare Renata’s true, monstrous nature.
In the videos, Renata was a demon. She violently snatched the only mobile phone out of Doña Teresa’s hands, dragged her forcefully down the hallway despite the old woman's weak resistance, shoved her into the bedroom, and locked the door from the outside. More sickeningly, she was caught standing in front of the mirror, contorting her face and practicing tearful, dramatic speeches to feign exhaustion and illness for the benefit of the neighbors and Andrés.
And then, the most bitter truth hit the screen: footage recorded three nights ago. While Andrés was deep in the remote mountains risking his life on a mission, Renata was in their very own living room, passionately kissing Mauricio Salcedo.
Mauricio was a known hustler, a shady local real estate developer. The audio recording from the device under the dining table clearly captured the conversation between the adulterous accomplices. They had already drafted a sales contract for Doña Teresa's downtown property at a ridiculously low price, designed to launder the asset into their own hands.
"Don't worry, my love. Once that old hag is officially declared legally incapacitated by the court, and you hold the guardianship papers, not a single agency will question us liquidating that house," Mauricio's voice echoed with arrogant triumph.
Andrés felt his rage transcend the boundaries of marital betrayal. This was now a severe criminal conspiracy, a meticulously calculated plot to strip a human being of their rights and steal their life savings.
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He decided to go all in.
He made three identical, comprehensive copies of all gathered evidence: one file for Dr. Aranda, one sent via certified courier to the specialized police unit for elder abuse, and the final set specially prepared for Renata's sly attorney, who was scheduled to be present at the clinic the moment the psychological evaluation began to legalize the paperwork.
