Show Me Chapter 30

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Hope you're doing well and staying safe! Your support always means so much to me! As always, enjoy the chapter and feel free to comment!

"Hola, you've reached Rivera Familia de Zapateros in the Land of the Dead. We're not available right now but leave your name and number at the beep."

"Imeldita, it's your madre, please call me."

"Hola, me llamo Alma Diaz. I'm calling from DNN, Death News Network, in hopes of setting up an interview with Imelda Rivera."

"I like tacos!"

Rosita sighed, quietly writing down all the messages from the family's personal voicemail. As it was a Monday, the shop was closed, and the matriarch of the Rivera family was out on a date with her husband. It had been a rough week for everyone and with the case drawing to a close in the Land of the Living, all that was left was to draw it to a close in the Land of the Dead.

Unfortunately, tracking down someone who didn't want to be found was hard work in the Land of the Dead. Other than Héctor sending the letter to the living relatives that Victoria found that day at the jail, there wasn't much the ancestors could do. Locating Torres' daughter had been a challenge and, if Coco was right, the woman probably didn't want to be found.

The only official information they had was what they were told. Similar to a doctors' office in the Land of the Living, the Department of Family Connections could not release information to non-family members. Most of what the Rivera family knew was learned from their friends in the Arts District.

When news of how the Rivera family was trying to attempt to track down Torres or her daughter became public, the phone calls, messages and even threats did not stop. But it didn't deter anyone from their mission or disrupt daily life. Even Josefina was helping out. It had taken much convincing from Héctor, but Imelda was slowly warming up to her mamá again.

"Anything from the Arts District, Tía?" Victoria asked as she walked back in from another date with Gustavo. "Anything from Miguel?"

"No, mija, nothing yet from the Arts District," Rosita said as she leafed through the mail. "But I did get something from Miguel. And I think the whole family should hear it"

"Apparently, there was another attempted break-in a few days ago but Rosa managed to intercept the would-be attacker," Victoria said as she read Miguel's letter out loud to the rest of the family later that night. "He was arrested and gave the names of the people involved in the previous break-in."

Everyone gasped in horror. "Is mi nieta okay?" Héctor asked, concerned.

Nodding, Rosita continued to read the letter. "A bit shaken, but she's going to be fine. The man who tried to break in also knows the name of Torres' daughter. Miguel and Elena were wondering if we could find out whether or not she is here in the Land of the Dead."

Knowing that going back to the Department of Family Connections would be a dead end, Imelda simply studied the name—Triana Sofia Rodriguez. It felt like deja vu to her: Imelda swore that name was familiar.

"Melda?" Héctor asked. "Qué pasò?"

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Imelda said, "Ese nombre, Héctor. It seems so familiar to me. I feel like we've met her. We need to find out more about her. And if she has any living descendants."

After much discussion, Héctor, Victoria and Imelda headed back to the Arts District while the rest of the family went to the Boomer District (people who had lived or appreciated the lifestyle of the 1950s and 1960s), bringing along a picture of a sketch of what Torres' daughter might look like in the living world as well as the ancestor world.

"I feel like we've seen her before, Héctor," Imelda said as she headed into Ceci's studio space. "We know her somehow."

Patting his wife's hand, Héctor simply said, "If she or her mamá had anything to do with music, mi amor, Ceci would know. She knows almost every single celebrity in the Land of the Dead."

As Victoria ran ahead to say hello to Gustavo (she had officially given him the title "novio" the previous week), the older couple watched wearily. Héctor still didn't trust Gustavo, but for Victoria's sake, was willing to let bygones be bygones. While it had taken some time for Imelda to fully trust Gustavo, she also knew that Victoria was more than capable of making her own choices.

"True, Héctor, but hopefully she can trust us."

Ceci had been used to shocks before since the truth about de la Cruz's true personality came to light, but this was new. She remembered every single client that she made dresses for and even wrote down all the names of every client (even Héctor's) in several notebooks.

"I don't think you'll find anything there, Imelda," Ceci warned as she helped the shoemaker search the notebooks. "Frida and I looked through the books last week and had no success. Ella no quiere que la encuentren.*"

As Frida's assistant came in with hot cups of tea for everyone, Héctor continued to thumb through the pages. Page after page showed actress after actress, artist after artist and singer after singer with no success. He was about to give up when a sudden burst of enlightenment had him jump to his feet, nearly spilling hot tea on Imelda and Frida.

"Ay!"

"HÉCTOR! PAY ATTENTION!"

As Riya came over with napkins, Héctor took a good long look at her. She was tall and slender, a bit younger than Victoria, wearing a red dress and Rivera boots. And if Héctor could place her, it was possible that—no, it couldn't be.

"Is everything alright, señor?" Riya asked in a voice that sounded like a wind-chime drifting on the breeze. "Hice algo mal?*"

Quickly reassuring the woman, Ceci could also see what Héctor was looking at. Taking the young woman gently by the arm, the seamstress sat Riya down on the sofa.

"Riya," Frida said gently. "I think we found you."

"I d-don't understand, Señora Frida," Riya said, confusion on her face. "Found what?"

After giving Riya a moment to catch her breath, Frida dove in and started asking Riya rapid fire questions about her background, only pausing when Héctor told her to calm down a bit. Slowly Riya began to tell her story.

"I never met mí mamá," Riya said as she addressed the family. "My mamá died giving birth to me and I was adopted at birth, so I had no idea who mí padre biológico* was until I was 18."

"Why didn't you come forward when you were alive?" Victoria asked. "Or come forward when de la Cruz was exposed last year?"

"No pude*," Riya said sadly. "de la Cruz's estate threatened to ruin me if I did. And I never saw him as my papá, so I didn't see the point. I still don't. Jorge Rodriguez's family, they took me in and raised me as their own with no questions asked. I married the love of my life and had children. He's still alive as are both my daughters and my son."

Asking how someone died in the Land of the Dead was considered rude, so Victoria decided to hold off on posing that particular question.

"Have you tried to get in touch with your mamá?" Rosita asked gently.

"No, señorita," Riya replied. "I figured that after everything she'd been through, that it wouldn't be good if she saw me. I was worried that if she did, she might blame me for her death. Así que mantuve mi distancia.*"

Tears filled their eyes as Rosita and Coco gasped, as the two women took in Riya's statement. Victoria looked stunned and Imelda both looked stunned. But Riya had one more request.

"Por favor, please don't release my name to the public," she pleaded. "I want to stay anónima. I don't want de la Cruz to threaten me or mi familia."

With that, Riya made her exit, retreating back into the darkness of the studio, leaving everyone in shock.

Translation

*Is something wrong?

*My biological parents

*Is something wrong?

*I couldn't

*So I kept my distance