Chapter 14 - THE LAST MAN FROM SANTA ISABEL
Dr. Esteban Montalvo was eighty-four.
He lived in a private care home outside Segovia.
When Alejandro entered his room, Montalvo recognized him immediately.
“You have Ricardo’s posture.”
Alejandro remained standing.
“Not his blood.”
Montalvo closed his eyes.
“So you know.”
“We know enough.”
Valeria placed copies of the DNA reports on the table.
Montalvo did not touch them.
“Then why come here?”
“Because you helped bury a baby under the wrong name.”
Montalvo stared toward the window.
“I spent thirty-two years waiting for that sentence.”
Alejandro wanted to hate him.
It was easy.
“What happened during the blackout?”
“You already heard the recording.”
“I want it from you.”
Montalvo took a long breath.
The backup electrical system had failed in part of the neonatal corridor.
During the confusion, a junior doctor connected one infant to an oxygen outlet that had been improperly restored.
The child’s oxygen supply was dangerously low for several minutes.
“That child was Beatriz Navarro’s baby?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know immediately?”
“No.”
The bassinets had been moved.
Identification cards were separated.
For several hours, nobody knew.
Then Lucía reported the missing bracelet.
Rosa remembered the birthmark.
Staff reconstructed room numbers.
Montalvo realized the critically injured child belonged to Beatriz.
The healthy child beside her belonged to Lucía.
“Why didn’t you correct it?”
Montalvo laughed bitterly.
“Because I was a coward.”
Ricardo arrived.
He ordered blood testing.
When the result confirmed the identities, Montalvo expected him to demand his biological son be restored.
Instead Ricardo sat alone for nearly an hour.
Then asked a single question.
“What happens if we leave things as they are?”
Alejandro felt chilled.
Montalvo continued.
“I told him it would be criminal.”
“What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Only if somebody proves it.’”
The hospital faced destruction.
Ricardo offered money.
Legal protection.
Silence.
Montalvo accepted.
“What about Lucía?”
“She ruined the plan by knowing her own child.”
“So you declared her mentally ill.”
“I signed the papers.”
“Why San Jerónimo?”
“Ricardo arranged it.”
“And the baby?”
Montalvo’s voice weakened.
“Your—Beatriz’s son died at 6:14 the following morning.”
Alejandro swallowed.
“Was he conscious?”
“No.”
“Did anyone hold him?”
Montalvo looked at him.
“A nurse.”
“Who?”
“Carmen Vidal.”
The name from Valeria’s payments.
“Where is she?”
Montalvo looked afraid.
“That is the problem.”
“What problem?”
“Carmen kept the original neonatal notes.”
Alejandro leaned closer.
May you like
“Where?”
“She disappeared two weeks after Ricardo died.”
