So I let her continue at her own pace.
She told me about meals she had been denied. About being ordered to stay awake until the kitchen was spotless. About spending evenings in the laundry room because Bianca had locked her out of the bedroom she used to share with her.
She told me that Patricia had started answering calls from her school.
Whenever a teacher asked to speak with Sofia, Patricia claimed her stepdaughter was busy, ill, or unavailable.
One teacher had apparently tried to contact me directly.
I never received the message.
Patricia had told me that the school was changing its communication system and that she was handling everything.
I had believed her.
Then Sofia mentioned her birthday.
It had happened two months earlier.
I remembered calling home that evening from a truck stop near San Luis Potosí. I had asked Patricia whether Sofia had enjoyed her birthday.
