PART 4 — The Fingerprints
The next morning was the quietest the Santillán mansion had been in months.
Not because people were sleeping.
No one had slept.
The silence came from something far more dangerous.
Everyone was waiting.
Waiting for Elena Vargas to call.
Waiting for the fingerprint results.
Waiting to learn whether the strange device beside Santiago's crib had been placed there by accident...
—or by someone inside the house.
Mariana sat in the nursery before sunrise.
The curtains remained open, allowing pale morning light to spill across the wooden floor.
For the first time in weeks, Santiago had slept for almost four consecutive hours.
His breathing wasn't normal.
Not yet.
But it was steadier.
His tiny chest no longer struggled with every breath.
When she gently touched his forehead, the fever had dropped.
Only slightly.
But enough for a mother's heart to notice.
She smiled for the first time since the nightmare had begun.
Nicolás sat quietly in the rocking chair near the window.
He hadn't asked for breakfast.
He hadn't asked for clean clothes.
He simply watched Santiago sleeping.
"You've been awake all night," Mariana whispered.
The boy nodded.
"I wanted to make sure."
"Make sure of what?"
"That removing the machine helped."
Mariana looked at him.
"Why do you care so much?"
Nicolás shrugged.
"My grandmother always said..."
"If you decide to save someone..."
"...you stay until they're safe."
Something tightened inside Mariana's chest.
For months, expensive specialists had come and gone in less than an hour.
This homeless boy...
Who owned almost nothing...
Had stayed beside her son through the entire night.
Downstairs, the atmosphere was very different.
Rodrigo stood in his office surrounded by lawyers, security personnel, and private investigators.
Every employee who had entered Santiago's nursery during the previous six months was now under review.
Housekeepers.
Electricians.
Furniture installers.
Decorators.
Cleaning staff.
Nannies.
Even gardeners.
Arturo placed a thick folder on Rodrigo's desk.
"We've identified everyone who had physical access to the nursery."
Rodrigo flipped through the pages.
Twenty-three names.
Every one of them had undergone background checks before employment.
Nothing unusual.
No criminal records.
No obvious motive.
Rodrigo rubbed his forehead.
"Someone is missing."
Arturo frowned.
"Sir?"
"The person who put that device there."
He closed the folder.
"They're not on this list."
At exactly 9:17 a.m., Elena called.
Rodrigo immediately placed the call on speaker.
"What did you find?"
Her voice sounded unusually serious.
"The fingerprints are usable."
Everyone in the office became perfectly still.
"Were they in the database?"
"Two sets."
"The first belongs to one of your furniture installers."
Rodrigo nodded.
"Expected."
"He assembled the toy chest."
"The second..."
She paused.
"...wasn't supposed to be there."
Rodrigo's jaw tightened.
"Who?"
"I can't tell you over the phone."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm driving to your house."
"What I found..."
"...is something you need to see yourself."
Forty minutes later, Elena entered the mansion carrying a sealed evidence case.
Everyone gathered in Rodrigo's office.
Mariana arrived with Santiago sleeping peacefully in her arms.
Nicolás quietly stood near the doorway.
Even Doña Mercedes joined them.
Though she appeared unusually tense.
Elena placed several enlarged fingerprint photographs on the table.
"The first print belongs to Carlos Mendoza."
"The furniture technician."
"As expected."
She placed it aside.
Then revealed another image.
"The second fingerprint belongs to..."
She stopped.
"...a man named Esteban Ruiz."
Rodrigo frowned.
"I don't know anyone by that name."
Arturo suddenly looked up.
His face changed.
"I do."
Everyone turned toward him.
Arturo swallowed.
"He worked here."
"When?"
"About eight months ago."
"What did he do?"
"He installed security cameras."
Rodrigo stared.
"I don't remember him."
"You wouldn't."
"He only worked here for one afternoon."
Arturo quickly searched through digital employment records.
"There."
He enlarged a personnel file.
Esteban Ruiz.
Temporary subcontractor.
Hired through an outside security company.
Employment duration:
One day.
Reason for dismissal:
Contract completed.
Mariana frowned.
"He had access to the nursery?"
Arturo nodded slowly.
"He installed the baby monitor camera."
Silence filled the office.
Rodrigo looked at Elena.
"So the fingerprints match?"
She nodded.
"Perfectly."
"The same man who installed your nursery security system..."
"...handled the hidden device."
Rodrigo immediately ordered another investigation.
"Find him."
Arturo typed rapidly.
Five minutes later...
He looked confused.
"Sir..."
"What?"
"The company that employed him..."
"...doesn't exist anymore."
"What?"
"It closed four months ago."
"Owner?"
"Missing."
"Business records?"
"Almost completely erased."
Elena slowly folded her arms.
"That's not normal."
"No."
"It isn't."
Nicolás quietly stepped closer to the evidence photographs.
He stared at Esteban Ruiz's employee picture.
Then frowned.
"I've seen him."
Every head turned.
Rodrigo walked over.
"Where?"
The boy pointed to the photograph.
"This man."
"I've seen him before."
"When?"
Nicolás closed his eyes, trying to remember.
"Near the bridge."
"What bridge?"
"The one where I sleep sometimes."
"The Viaduct."
Mariana's heart skipped.
"What was he doing there?"
"He wasn't alone."
Nicolás looked uncertain.
"There was another woman."
"Elegant."
"Older."
"I remember because..."
He hesitated.
"...she gave him an envelope."
The room became deathly quiet.
Rodrigo slowly asked,
"Can you describe her?"
Nicolás looked toward the floor.
Then...
Very slowly...
His eyes lifted.
They settled on Doña Mercedes.
The elderly woman's face instantly lost its color.
Nicolás frowned.
"I..."
He looked from the photograph...
...to Mercedes...
...then back again.
"I think..."
His voice became almost a whisper.
"...she was wearing the same pearl necklace."
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Mercedes forced a laugh.
"That's ridiculous."
"There are thousands of pearl necklaces."
Nicolás didn't answer.
He continued studying her.
"I remember because one pearl was missing."
Mercedes instinctively touched her necklace.
Third pearl from the clasp.
Missing.
Exactly as Nicolás had described.
Mariana stared at her mother-in-law in disbelief.
"Mercedes..."
The older woman quickly lowered her hand.
"This child is confused."
"He lives on the streets."
"He probably imagines things."
But Nicolás shook his head.
"I don't forget faces."
"My grandmother taught me to remember people."
Rodrigo slowly looked at his mother.
She couldn't meet his eyes.
Not this time.
Before anyone could speak again...
Arturo's radio crackled.
His voice turned urgent.
"Sir."
"What?"
"We've got a problem."
"What happened?"
"The security archive."
"What about it?"
"The surveillance footage from the day Esteban installed the nursery cameras..."
"...has been deleted."
Rodrigo frowned.
"Deleted?"
"Completely."
"By who?"
Arturo looked at the computer screen.
His expression hardened.
"It wasn't erased recently."
"It was deleted..."
"...the same night Santiago became sick."
The room fell silent once again.
Someone had planned this.
Someone had hidden the device.
Someone had erased the evidence.
And now...
For the first time...
Rodrigo slowly turned toward his own mother.
Not as a son.
May you like
But as a man beginning to wonder whether the greatest danger to his child...
Had been living under the same roof all along.
