Lex talionis
Chapter 13. The missing piece
"Isobel," said Jubal, knocking three times again on her door with an urgent tone and rhythm this time. "Open, please. It's Jubal."
The next day, after getting out of the shower, Jubal had checked his cell phone and saw right away that Kristen had already gotten him the last piece of information they were missing. They had been working together, with help from Kelly, Hobbs and Elise, losing hours of sleep to get it. Kristen had even put together a brief summary and a conclusion. It was great to work with these people.
Upon reading it, Jubal replied by thanking them profusely, although he knew he owed them a good meal and a more serious appreciation to all of them.
He dressed as quickly as his shoulder would allow, and after doing a quick review of the rest of the data, he had rushed to Isobel's room.
Jubal knocked and called again, really loud this time. He was eager to tell her this information, but now he was beginning to worry. Why wasn't she answering? Was she all right?
Right after, a room further on, the door to Darío's opened. Jubal turned his head.
An insidious idea crept into his mind: Isobel had heard him and was now coming out Darío's room. The idea slipped even further, like a poisoned dagger between his ribs. She spent the night with him.... There was nothing he could do to stop it from stabbing into his heart, with a lacerating pain, cutting off his breath.
But then, the one who came out of the room was Darío. Finding Jubal in the hallway, he waved to him by way of greeting. The air still refused to be exhaled, clutching at Jubal's throat, as he waited for the final blow of seeing Isobel walk out after him.
All that happened in just a few seconds. Before Jubal could react in any way, Isobel burst open the door in front of him; the door to her room.
Seeing her and Jubal go into shock were one and the same. Her dark hair, wet, brushed her shoulders lovingly as she boldly held a pistol in one hand; with the other she clutched a towel wrapped badly and hastily around her body. It was not a very large towel. It covered her, to say the least, from just below her hips to barely covering her bust. Her beautiful skin was coated with fortunate and joyful droplets of water.
Obviously, she had just run out of the shower.
"What!? What happen!?" exclaimed Isobel.
Paralyzed, Jubal stared at her with his mouth slightly open. Darío, who had joined him, discovered her as well.
"Wow…" he sighed, gawking at her up and down shamelessly.
The towel was slipping off her; Isobel had to do a strange maneuver to reposition it. For an instant, it seemed as if it was going to fall off. Both men inhaled sharply through their mouths.
Seeing the stunned faces of the two of them, Isobel realized that nothing was wrong. She lowered her gun.
"May I know what was so urgent?" she asked, frankly annoyed.
With a start, Jubal snapped out of his stupor and, blinking, jerked his eyes away. He cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the burning sensation that had risen in his throat.
"It was… um… about the case. I… hmm... I found out something" he tried to explain, embarrassed. He could feel in his ears that he was blushing. Damn it. What am I, fourteen years old?"
"And you had to knock on my door like that?" Isobel stepped aside to let them come in.
"It's... it's important."
"Jubal, seriously, stop scaring me, please," she complained as she closed the door behind them. He mumbled an apology. "And that's enough, Darío. Your eyes are going to pop out."
"If you welcome me like that, I won't take responsibility for myself, sweetie," Darío retorted cheekily, not bothering to avert his stare.
Meanwhile, Jubal was making an art of looking everywhere but at her. An obvious blush was visible on his neck. Isobel didn't miss it; a flattered smile escaped her and she began to flush in turn. She hided it by leaving the gun on the bed and grabbing her clothes in several handfuls.
"I'm going to get dressed. I'll be right out," she said hurrying into the bathroom.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jubal exhaled, trying to catch his breath.
It was evident that Isobel had showered in her own room and, on the other hand, Darío's reaction had been too greedy for someone who would had just spent the night with her. Jubal knew it wasn't his place to feel so bad about that possibility, nor so happy to have been wrong, but that huge relief had the effect of fanning the flames inside him like downslope winds to a wildfire. His pulse was racing, and he couldn't tell which of the two did that to him. Probably both, when neither of them should. It was a little disconcerting to be embarrassed by so many different things and yet... so glad.
Taking surreptitiously another deep breath, Jubal, tried to control himself, although he was aware that, to the chagrin of his inner Rina, the image of Isobel fresh out of the shower and wearing only a towel was going to be burned into his mind. And it would haunt him during his lonely nights...
Meanwhile, Darío had been staring at the door through which Isobel had disappeared.
"Ohmy" said Darío biting his lip. "Nice legs..."
Jubal scowled at him. He had enough on his plate without him adding fuel to the fire. But Darío simply ignored him. "Mmm! And nice-"
"Enough," Jubal said dryly.
Darío fell silent and chuckled.
·~·~·
"Okay, listen."
Jubal stood up and impatiently called their attention as soon as Isobel emerged from the bathroom, already fully dressed and eliciting a disappointed, exaggerated "oooh" from Darío.
Anyway, when Jubal began to speak, they both sat down to listen to him.
"Let's see. Purple Castle Inc. The company that paid Yáñez," he said to put them in context and immediately started walking around the room. He felt very alert, despite the lack of sleep. "As of today it is in the name of American citizens apparently unrelated to the case," he explained. "The interesting thing is that the person who processed that recent purchase was Gonzalo Pu-ig... Puh-ig…" he got stuck. Isobel and Darío held back laughter. "I'm sorry. I have no idea how to pronounce this," he said with an apologetic smile, and running his hand over the back of his neck in a way that Isobel found simply endearing.
He showed them the text.
"[Puig]. It's pronounced 'pootch'," Darío clarified. "It is a surname of Catalan origin."
"Ah, OK. I didn't know [Puig], then," Jubal tried to reproduce the phoneme as best he could. "So, although Gonzalo [Puig] did the paperwork in his personal capacity, he has been an employee of Gestiones De La Garza for a long time, a management company based, curiously enough, here in Monterrey."
He kept walking and gesturing with his hands; he was missing having a pencil between his fingers. A soft warmth flooded Isobel inside. It had been a long time since she saw Jubal thrilled like that, after those last few hard months he had been through. It brought Isobel a special kind of happiness.
"Well, that's not the only thing that's curious," he continued, raising an index finger in the air. "It turns out that Gestiones De La Garza is the same agency that handles the paperwork for BaluarTec, Adriana Fresneda's company."
Isobel pursed her lips slightly and exchanged a suspicious glance with Darío.
Jubal caught it on the fly. "That's right. What a coincidence, huh? Besides, the previous owner of Purple Castle Inc. do you know who it was? Well, CincelVirtual, a tiny 3D printing startup that went out of business 5 years ago but was never deregistered," he continued excitedly, completely capturing Isobel's attention. "CincelVirtual acquired Purple Castle Inc. just a few months before selling it, and used it solely to inject capital into it. I suppose at this point you won't be surprised at that this capital ended up in Yáñez's account. OK, and now, guess…" he paused for a moment, and smiled slightly with a penetrating look, nodding his head. Isobel could not have taken her eyes off him even if she wanted to, captivated by that characteristic expression of his as much as by his words. "…who originally launched the CincelVirtual startup, eleven years ago."
Jubal showed them the documentary proof on his cell phone. Isobel didn't need to look at it. She already knew the answer.
"Adriana Fresneda," she gasped.
~.~.~.~
Fun fact: the surname De la Garza has been and is very influential in the city of Monterrey since its foundation. In fact, one of its founders was Marcos Alonso de la Garza Falcón. I chose this city as the setting for this part of the story long before I knew this.