She didn’t scream.
That silence was even worse.
She approached, hand trembling, barely daring to touch the empty space.
“It’s Melissa’s,” she whispered. “I did it with her…”
Gabriel closed his eyes. Fourteen years of absence, empty chairs, unanswered questions—all collapsed at once.
The search continued late into the night. The room looked ordinary—crucifix, old clock, heavy furniture—but nothing seemed normal anymore. Everything was steeped in mystery.
Around eleven o’clock, they discovered something else.
Not hidden behind the walls, but slipped into a pillowcase in the closet: an old notebook dated 1989.
Renata leafed through it in the kitchen while the others waited. Her expression changed, not to surprise, but to something darker.
“No one leaves the house,” she said. “And I’ll need a warrant to open the shed.”
“The shed?” asked Marco.
“It’s mentioned in the notebook. And… it involves Melissa.”
Lucía let out a moan. Gabriel felt his stomach twist.
At one in the morning, the police were in the yard. The shed—once ordinary, filled with tools—suddenly seemed different. The lock gave way quickly. Inside, everything looked normal… until they discovered a trapdoor hidden beneath stacked planks. Renata knelt down. “Open it.”
