Chapter 29:
They met all back at the conference table and Vivian informed them about Sara Peréz' testimony. She told them that Sara knew about Joaquin's sister and that he probably had left to visit her.
Right then the phone on Vivian's desk rang and she hurried to take the call. She listened carefully, a short smile crossing her face before she hung up again.
"The translation is finished, we can go through the letters now."
"What about Anna Mantego's current address. Any luck?"
Martin answered the question with a sigh of frustration.
"I have been trying to talk to the authorities down in Baja, but we had a slight problem of communication. Her skills with the english language weren't the best. But she finally understood what I wanted her to look up for me – just that it doesn't help us in any way: Anna Mantego no longer has a current address in Baja, Mexico. Her flat was sold four days ago and she didn't leave a new address for the authorities of Baja. They have no idea where she has gone to."
"The letters don't state her full address either – they only say her name and the city she lived at. Post signatures all came from Baja."
"But the only connection between Joaquin and his sister were the letters. And if she left Baja she must've told him. Her current residence must be written down somewhere inside these letters – otherwise he wouldn't have known where to go to."
One of the bureau's agents headed to the desk, the box with the letters in his hands. He put them down on the table and received a nod from Jack before he left once again. He didn't even need to state orders. Everyone grabbed a bunch of the translated pages and started to read.
Complete silence fell onto the room they were sitting in, while they were all quietly reading, searching for any kind of useful information that would help them to find Joaquin. It took some time – especially the older letters didn't state anything interesting, but about 20 minutes into flipping through the letters, Sam was the first to find something interesting.
"Hey guys – listen to this:
Jo, there is something I need to tell you and please don't be afraid or anything. But I had to see the doctor two days ago and he told me he believes I may be really sick. I think that's all bullshit and he only wants me to pay a lot of money for his diagnosis, that finally states that everything is okay. But he did a blood testing none the less (that I will have to pay for of course) and he asked me to come back in next week. It's probably nothing, but I wanted you to know..."
Sam searched for the following letter, Anna had send to Joaquin and scanned through it to find the passage about the results from the blood testing. Reading it by herself caused a reaction of disbelief and anxiety from her.
"Good lord,..., listen:
Remember that I told you about my miserable doctor and the blood testing? I got back my results yesterday. He must be totally crazy and he's definitely wrong! You don't need to worry after all – the goddamn charlatan – I'm fine. He told me the blood results show I'm HIV positive! Isn't that a mess – have you ever heard about anything more stupid. HIV positive – ha! He's definitely wrong. He has done a second testing and results will be back in two days."
It was the last letter in line that Sam was holding in hands. Martin was going on reading out the results of Anna's second testing.
"Jo, I'm so sorry. Please don't panic – I'll take care of myself. But it seems the doc has been right. The second blood testing came back positive, too. He told me that would explain why I've been sick so often in the past few months. My immune system is shutting down. But I won't give up and I don't want you to worry."
The next letter Anna had sent to her brother sounded much more sad and desperate – there lay a distance of time of more than two weeks between the last letter and this one. Considering the normal timeframe, she had taken pretty much time to write him again. This letter must've arrived at Joaquin about the time his behavior started to change that dramatically. Martin read out loud.
"Hey boy – sorry for not writing you for such a long time. But – to admit it to you – I don't feel so good right at the moment. I needed some time to rest and recover from a bad cold. The doc – a current visitor of mine right now – told me my immune system is getting weaker and weaker and that I can't stay at home much longer. He wants me to go to a hospital. I'm still sorting out what to do right now. I feel so weak and tired – I just don't know what to do. But – hey – don't you worry about your big sister. I'm just a little depressed right now. I'll be okay. I'll write back to you as soon as I feel a bit stronger again."
Martin was done with the useful information of his letters now and Vivian flipped through hers to find something else that would help them. She finally found what they needed to know.
"Here it is – and I told them to inform me if they find anything of importance – the address we were searching for:
I decided to listen to the goddamn doctor for once and get to a hospital. I really don't feel so good again and I barely get out of bed. I decided to give up the flat, for I don't know when I'll be back and I will get to Cancun. The doctor advised me to do so – he said that at the places most tourist go to, they have the best doctors. He got a bed in a clinic for me. I will be leaving in a few days. Just so you know where to send your letters then – hope you'll still be writing to your poor sister(!) – this is the address:
Clinica medical
Ave. Suyaxchen # 59
Cancun
Please don't be mad at me that I finally gave up although I promised not to, but it's really hard to resist the tiredness... Hope to hear from you soon."
Jack picked the one last letter, with the latest date and read it out loud – it was pretty short, but it was written in the most desperate tone of all of them.
"Hey bro – sorry, I know it (once again) took me some time to answer you. I really wished to send a letter, but I'm lying in bed almost all day being tired. They give me all kind of drugs to keep my immune system up, but I never believed it's much of a use. I feel so useless right now – I'm only getting on the nurses' nerves. That's all I'm able to do. But I have been talking to the doctor yesterday and he told me that I may have a timeframe left of about two weeks, maybe a month. I'm dying – Jo. God, I'm so scared. I didn't even know if I should tell you. But I didn't want you to get an anonymous letter from the goddamn hospital. I wanted to tell you myself. I just hope my courage won't leave me on my last days. Please don't be sad Jo, please don't cry – this is meant to be. Don't fight against it.
With all the love one person can have for another (and I really mean that Jo! I deeply love you!)
Your sister Anna…"
"She's dying. That's why he ran away. He wanted to be by her side, didn't want her to be all alone. That's where he went to."
Martin resumed the results of their investigation – the content of the letters were speaking in a clear voice. They had found Joaquin, had found out where he had disappeared to.
