Lex talionis
Chapter 04. Inquiries

The first thing Isobel wanted to find out was whether Vargas' wife and son had finally died at the hands of Colonel Molina.

"[The colonel hates Vargas viscerally for what happened to his wife, but I know him,]" Darío informed her as he drove through the straight, flat streets of Acuña. He spoke to Isobel in Spanish and she had no trouble understanding. "[Molina is a ruthless man, but he has his limits. He would never hurt an innocent child, let alone hang him from a bridge, believe me.]" His friend, Darío Montero, was an agent of the Guardia Nacional de México, the former Policía Federal, and had access to certain resources. In fact, he was the one who had provided the information about Molina to Isobel to begin with, a year ago. "I really think we can rule him out]".

That made Isobel sigh with relief but also with frustration.

"[That's good. If it had been Molina, it would have been a very complicated problem]," said Isobel, also fluent in Spanish.

"[You can be sure. Molina has a lot of power right now.]"

"[But making the endless list of all Vargas' possible enemies is not going to get us anywhere either,]" said Isobel, discouraged. "[We have to investigate the case ourselves.]"

Her initial, and firm, determination was to find out who had committed this crime.

"[I agree,]" Darío opined. "[But, as I told you on the phone, the case is stuck.]"

Isobel had had to tell Darío her intentions in advance, so that he would at least know where to go and where to start, but she had not told him the more morally questionable details of her plan. She alone should bear that responsibility. Isobel appreciated Darío; she didn't want to screw up his life.

They met years ago, when Isobel was still a field agent and Darío was a rookie subagent, during a case in which the FBI worked closely with the Policía Federal. A rebellious and rather unorthodox guy that got results, he was a very suitable person to help her with that investigation on the sidelines. Plus, he owed Isobel big time and, most importantly, he was trustworthy.

Darío had changed little in the years since then. His dark blond curls had not grayed and he was still in good shape. His features had hardened slightly, but as before, what he said still had a certain air of humor about it.

"[Unfortunately,]" he continued, "[in the investigation led by the GN, I'm sorry to tell you that there were really almost no resources devoted to it. It's not usually done, you know, in cases like these of internal drug cartel issues. They chalked it up to a settling of scores and put it at the bottom of the pile. In the end, it ended up in the hands of the local police.]"

"[How about talking to the officer who's running it now?]"

"[I tried but Acuña has a low crime rate, it must not have sat well with them that the GN has dumped the mess on them, so he sent me politely, or not really, to go jump in Amistad Dam. At least he didn't ask me why I was pursuing the matter]," said Dario with a relieved grimace.

*So, no help from that side*, thought Isobel, annoyed. "[Any rumors? Any chatter in the streets?]"

"[Nothing. The death of Sofía Fresneda, Mrs. Vargas, and of little Carlos is almost a silent mystery. No one seems to have claimed it, which is strange in a show of force like this].

"[Could we get a copy of the file?]" asked Isobel.

"[I'm working on it. Yes, I could process a request but, without a compelling reason, going through the official channel would put me in too much of a spotlight. I'd rather try a different approach. With your help to distract them," his green eyes looked her up and down sidelong, waggling his eyebrows, his trademark lopsided smile, "[we'll get it done in no time tomorrow].

Isobel looked at him with amused suspicion. "[Always with the same song. I'm not going to wear a miniskirt or cleavage, Darío.]"

"[You don't need any of that to attract attention, beautiful.]"

Isobel's eyes turned to the roof of the car at the compliment, while her lips could not suppress a smile.

"[But that will have to be tomorrow," said Darío. "Now let me buy you dinner. Acuña is not big, but I'm sure we can find a good place.]"

·~·~·

The next morning they went to visit the bridge where, a little over a year ago, the bodies of Sofia and Carlos were found.

There was nothing special about the place. Just an anonymous overpass on the outskirts of Ciudad Acuña. Isobel contemplated it with tears in her eyes. Her reason knew she had not killed them, but she could not get rid of the slab in her chest that was the horrible death of those two people… Of that little boy who was not to blame for having been the son of whom he was the son of.

She needed to focus. Isobel's first impulse had been to ask her JOC analysts to find whatever surveillance footage was available of the area that day. But she couldn't do that, obviously. They didn't even have jurisdiction in that country. And she couldn't implicate them in that matter. It could completely destroy their careers. But to think about the possibility and not be able to make use of it, as she was used to, was like suddenly going blind, deaf and mute.

After that, Darío put his plan into action. He spent the rest of the day walking Isobel around the offices of the Public Security forces of Ciudad Acuña, the local police, under the pretext of a -fake- official visit that the FBI was making for further collaboration, while he found an administrative assistant to cajole to get a copy of the file. Darío was a kinda good-looking man with a lot of self-confidence. It was not beyond his capabilities.

The Ciudad Acuña police officers greeted Isobel with professional seriousness, but seemed to be wondering what the hell the FBI was doing there. She expressed interest in their relation with the FBI field office in Del Rio, the U.S. city just across the border, praying that no one would call there and ask about her. To keep them distracted, she went about asking the questions she actually would have asked if her job really was to improve those relations. Seeing her willingness, the Acuña policemen kindly invited her to have a coffee and relaxed quite a bit.

But there came a moment when Isobel was running out of things to say.

Fortunately then Darío, who had been on his own for a while, slyly waved his eyebrows at her and Isobel knew she could say 'thank you', and the two of them got the hell out of there.

·~·~·

Jubal stared at the JOC screens with a grim expression. Seeing Isobel's face on them as they tried to locate her was surreal. She was not a fugitive, of course. They were trying to find her because her life was threatened; they weren't going to call in Remy Scott's team. Nevertheless, it was still a very strange feeling.

"Keep me informed of any changes, Valentine," said Reynolds.

"Yes, sir," Jubal replied formally before his superior left the room.

He kept his cool, but inside he felt like screaming. Even to break something, if his body, and especially his shoulder, were not giving him the day despite the painkillers.

It was all dead ends. Isobel had taken the flight to Miami, but after that the hotel check-in had been bogus and it was not possible to trace where she had gone then. Isobel had covered her tracks too well.

Only Jubal *did know* where she went and it made him frantic that he couldn't act on it. He went so far as to toy with the idea of conducting the investigation. But his damned honesty wouldn't let him. He had given his word.

He couldn't get Isobel's plan that Roberto had told him about out of his head.

To avoid Vargas' rancor by finding the real culprit of his family's death, and bringing whomever to justice... It was such a leap of faith. How could Isobel be so naive? It couldn't be...

Before Isobel left, Roberto had begged his daughter to leave him a burner cell phone so he could hear from her while she was away.

Kindly, Roberto had given it to Jubal. Unfortunately, they had no number to call. Jubal could only wait for her call; he was itching to talk to her. He carried this cell phone with him everywhere; he had even slept with it in his hand. Well, what little sleep he had been able to get. But it hadn't helped: Isobel hadn't used it yet.

Maggie, misreading his gesture, approached to him, dismayed. She put a hand on his healthy shoulder.

"We'll find her," she said in a quiet voice, trying to cheer him up.

He turned and looked at her. For a moment, it was impossible for him to hide the enormous dimension of frustration that gnawed at his insides. And he looked angry. Maggie frowned slightly, perhaps a little surprised. Jubal looked straight ahead again. "Of course. We will find her."

*I can find her*. He clenched his jaws, coming to grips with reality. Getting the team to locate Isobel, so that they could be involved in the situation but without compromising his word, was simply an impossible task. He would have to try other things. Maybe he could even help her...

·~·~·

Upon arriving at the room of the modest hotel where they were staying, Darío turned on the laptop, connecting the USB key in which he had copied the case file.

"[Let's see what we have. To be honest, I didn't really like the fact that there were two other recent access and copy dates recorded]" he commented. Neither did Isobel. That meant there was someone else looking into it.

Between the two of them, they read the file.

To say it was succinct would be an understatement. The account of the events came to say that someone had called 911 and reported seeing two bodies hanging from the bridge. The police had responded, the coroner had authorized removing the bodies, and they had been taken away. That was it.

The last time Sofia and Carlos were seen alive was when the service saw them driving away on their way to a nearby shopping mall. They were going to buy ice cream. No one saw them again. The chauffeur-bodyguard was still missing.

For its part, the coroner's report would have provided the same if it had said 'they are dead'. It simply mentioned that the bodies were burned post mortem and that the cause of death could not be determined.

Together, Darío and Isobel flipped through the autopsy photos of the two charred bodies, their hearts heavy. There was nothing very recognizable left.

But the report offered no hypothesis. Neither if there were fractures or other perimortem injuries, nor the type of possible murder weapon, nor any other physiological or toxicological information…

"[Don't take this the wrong way, Darío, but this report is...]" Isobel refrained from saying a bad word "[very incomplete. Do your forensic experts always work like this?]"

Darío looked at her with a sarcastic expression and laughed through his nose. "[You are so polite. No, this is a real mess. Obviously. Gerardo Núñez,]" Darío read the name of the person who had signed it. "[What a genius 'Gerardito'...]"

"[Do you think we could reach him? Maybe we can talk to him.]"

"[We can try. I'll call the forensic institute tomorrow.]"

·~·~·

On a second occasion in a very short time, Jubal went to visit a federal prison. He wanted to have a conversation with José Martínez, formerly known as Miguel Rojas… the convicted murderer of Félix Serrano, the eldest son of Antonio Vargas.

Jubal had gone to see him at the facility where Rojas was serving his sentence under another name to ask him a question. A simple question that could be key. A question that could perhaps go a long way in helping Isobel's investigation. Jubal hoped he could help her from a distance, have something to offer when she finally called, other than reproaches. To contribute something to what she was trying to accomplish, even if Isobel had not counted on him to begin with. That mistrust still stung.

The guards sat Rojas in front of Jubal in a private room, and removed his handcuffs. The prisoner did not seem to be in bad shape. He did not look too badly fed, and there were no bumps or bruises to be seen. His eyes showed the boredom of confinement, but not the dread of one who fears for his life. At least that was working...

Jubal introduced himself as a courtesy. "Mr. 'Martinez', I just came to ask you a question. I hope you are willing to answer.

Rojas studied him for a long time, as if trying to guess what it was all about. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "I can't promise anything, but shoot."

*So far so good*. Jubal took a deep breath. "Who was really behind the death of Félix Serrano?"

He was convinced that it could not be a coincidence. Whoever wanted Vargas' son dead had probably also gone after the rest of his family.

The answer he got chilled Jubal's blood in his veins.

~.~.~.~