Memory flickered.
Dust.
A broken lock.
Stacks of cartons.
“I thought they were school supplies.”
“They were.”
Sofía looked at him carefully.
“Supplies that had officially been reported missing.”
Chema felt cold.
Suddenly, he remembered Robles arriving unexpectedly.
The principal asking why he was still there.
The way Robles had locked the storage room himself.
And the next morning, Robles had been strangely friendly.
He had even brought Chema coffee.
“My God.”
Sofía nodded.
“You saw evidence that the missing materials had never been stolen.”
“They were hidden.”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
Lucía answered.
“Because the school was paying for the same materials more than once.”
Don Chema closed his eyes.
He understood.
They purchased supplies.
Reported them missing.
Purchased replacements through companies connected to Robles.
Then blamed the disappearing inventory on someone who no longer worked there.
Him.
The poor retired janitor.
The man nobody important would defend.
Except they had made one enormous mistake.
They knew Chema was poor.
They knew he lived modestly.
They knew his pension barely covered his medicine.
But they hadn’t bothered learning what happened to the three orphan girls he raised.
Sofía became a lawyer.
Lucía became a forensic accountant.
And Valeria—
Judge Vargas looked toward her.
“You said someone contacted you.”
Valeria went still.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Who?”
She glanced toward Chema.
Tears suddenly filled her eyes.
“Someone from the school.”
Sofía whispered, “Valeria…”
“No.”
Valeria shook her head.
“He deserves to know.”
She reached into her bag.
Then removed a small flash drive.
“I received this six weeks ago.”
Robles’s face changed.
Not fear this time.
Terror.
His chair scraped backward.
“No.”
Everyone heard him.
Sofía slowly turned.
“What did you say?”
Robles looked at his attorney.
“I said nothing.”
But Valeria was already crying.
“The person who sent this said there were cameras in the old storage hallway.”
The prosecutor stood.
“Security footage?”
Valeria nodded.
“From the night before Papá retired.”
Don Chema’s breathing became shallow.
“What does it show?”
Valeria looked at him.
For several seconds, she couldn’t speak.
Finally she whispered:
“It shows Mr. Robles moving the missing supplies.”
The courtroom exploded.
But then she added:
“And he wasn’t alone.”
Robles closed his eyes.
Sofía looked at her sister.
“Who else was there?”
Valeria plugged the flash drive into the laptop.
A grainy video appeared.
The timestamp showed 11:48 p.m.
Don Chema recognized the school hallway immediately.
Then Robles appeared on screen.
He was pushing a cart stacked with boxes.
A second figure followed him.
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