He wasn’t wearing his dress uniform or his usual stony expression this time. He just looked old. Very old. When Ramira stood up with Salomé still clutching her waist, he approached.
I didn’t know how to start.
That was already strange in a man like him.
“Mrs. Fuentes…” he finally said.
Ramira looked at him.
For years she dreamed of hating him.
And a part of her still did.
Because it wasn’t enough that he had finally corrected something. He had also been part of the machine that almost killed her.
Méndez barely lowered his head.
—I don’t expect forgiveness. I just wanted to tell you that I should have hesitated sooner.
Ramira held his gaze.
-Yeah.
It wasn’t cruel.
It was true.
He nodded, like someone receiving a just sentence.
-I know.
He then took out a small paper bag. Inside was something wrapped in cloth.
—This was among his confiscated belongings. It wasn’t on the final inventory because someone misplaced it. I found it last night.
Ramira opened the package with slow hands.
It was a child’s bracelet, made of colored threads and twisted beads.
He recognized her instantly.
Salome had it done when she was five years old, two weeks before she was arrested.
“So you don’t forget me when you go to the market,” she had told him.
Ramira put the bracelet to her chest.
For the first time, Colonel Méndez saw in his eyes neither fury, nor pain, nor exhaustion.
He saw something more dangerous and more worthy.
Life returning.
Months later, Becerra was convicted.
Clara too.
The prosecution issued a public apology.
Newspapers dubbed her “the innocent woman of the corridor.”
The cameras sought tears, heroic declarations, and catchy phrases to close the case.
Ramira didn’t give them any of that.
It was not his obligation to turn his destruction into edifying content.
He got a job at a bakery.
He started therapy with Salomé.
He relearned school schedules, food preferences, the fear of the dark the girl had developed, and the exact way she now wrinkled her nose when she was uncomfortable.
There were good days.
There were unbearable days.
There were days when Salomé wouldn’t let go of her, not even to go to the bathroom.
And others when she would lock herself in her room to cry because she didn’t know if she could keep calling her mom without someone taking her away again.
Ramira also had nights of trembling.
