Chapter 15 - The Man Who Bought the Watch
The buyer was a retired jeweler named Tomas Villasenor.
He agreed to meet after Elena explained the watch might be evidence in a fraud case.
Tomas placed it on a velvet cloth between us.
I recognized the scratch beside the crown immediately.
My father had made it while repairing a fence when I was twelve.
"I want to buy it back," I said.
Tomas shook his head. "You don't need to. Police already told me it may have been unlawfully sold. If ownership is confirmed, it goes back to you."
Then he opened a drawer.
"But this is what your mother-in-law gave me with it."
He handed me a folded document.
It was a photocopy of my father's old will.
One paragraph was highlighted.
If Laura dies before me without children, certain property passes to a family trust.
Ofelia had written a note in the margin.
WHAT CHANGES AFTER MARRIAGE?
My skin crawled.
"Why did she give you this?"
"She asked whether the watch could be sold privately without estate questions. The will was wrapped around it."
Elena studied the copy.
"This doesn't prove they planned to harm you," she said carefully. "But it proves Ofelia was studying your inheritance years ago."
I knew better than to leap to conclusions.
But I also knew something else.
Ofelia's obsession had never been about one dirty apartment.
She had been studying my father's property for years.
That evening, police called.
They had questioned the notary's former clerk.
The clerk admitted someone paid her to use Eduardo Salas's seal while he was hospitalized.
She gave them a name.
May you like
Not Mauricio.
Ofelia.
