PART 1 — THE HIDDEN MESSAGE IN THE SOFA
—Daniel, if you find this… don’t trust your brother.
The recording ended with a dry noise.
Daniel remained kneeling beside the wrecked sofa, holding the small red device between his fingers.
Rex stopped staring at the gap in the armrest.
His ears perked up.
Someone had just inserted a key into the front door.
The German Shepherd positioned itself in front of Daniel and began to growl.
The doorknob descended slowly.
Daniel put the recorder in his waistband and stood up just as the door opened.
Álvaro appeared in the hallway.
He was her older brother.
The man in whom Daniel had trusted since the death of his parents.
“What’s going on here?” Álvaro asked.
Her gaze shifted from Rex to the open sofa and then to the white stuffing scattered on the floor.
For a fraction of a second, her face changed.
It was no surprise.
It was fear.
“Rex has gone crazy,” Daniel replied, trying to keep his voice steady. “He’s wrecked the sofa.”
Álvaro didn’t look at the dog.
He went straight to the armrest.
—Was there anything inside?
Daniel felt his back go cold.
He had not mentioned any object.
—What was going to happen?
Álvaro took too long to respond.
—I don’t know. Money. A toy. Anything that might attract the animal.
Rex bared his teeth when he tried to approach.
Álvaro stepped back.
—You should take him to a shelter. After four months on the street, he could be dangerous.
—Rex was never dangerous.
—He didn’t destroy furniture either.
Daniel looked at his brother.
Four months earlier, Álvaro had been the one who showed the police Elena’s alleged farewell message. He had also insisted that they stop looking for her.
“Maybe he just got tired of you,” he had told her.
Daniel was hurt by that phrase.
Now she seemed ready.
“Why have you come?” he asked.
—I wanted to see the dog. You told me they had found him.
Álvaro looked at the sofa again.
—Are you sure he didn’t take anything?
Daniel shook his head.
—Just foam.
Rex growled again.
Álvaro left a few minutes later, but before closing the door he cast one last glance at the destroyed armrest.
Daniel waited until he heard the elevator.
Then he locked the door and took out the recorder.
The device contained six files.
The first was the message I had already heard.
In the second one, Elena spoke in a rapid voice:
“Álvaro has been siphoning money from the company for years. He’s using your signature. I found the transfers and copied them. If I tell you this without proof, he’ll make you think I’m trying to drive a wedge between two brothers.”
Daniel sat down slowly.
Álvaro had been managing the accounts of the family business for eleven years.
Daniel signed the balance sheets that he prepared.
I had never personally reviewed them.
The third file contained a discussion.
Álvaro’s voice was clear:
—Give me back my memory and we’ll forget you saw those documents.
—I already made copies —Elena replied.
“If you give them to Daniel, he’ll fall too. All the operations bear his signature.”
—Signatures that you forged.
Then a bang was heard and the recording ended.
Daniel closed his eyes.
The fourth file had been recorded in the living room.
“I’ve hidden a copy where Rex can find it,” Elena said. “If I don’t return tonight, look in warehouse seventeen of the Valverde industrial park.”
The fifth file was empty.
In the sixth room, only Elena’s breathing and a whispered phrase could be heard:
—He’s here.
Daniel did not go to the shooting range.
He didn’t want to make the mistake of facing his brother alone.
He called Inspector Paula Mendoza, the agent who had initially investigated the disappearance.
Paula listened to the entire recordings.
“This changes the case,” he said. “But we can’t enter a private vessel based solely on a recorded reference. We need to link it to Álvaro.”
Daniel looked at Rex.
The dog remained by the sofa, its snout resting on the hole.
Then Daniel checked the plastic bag that contained the recorder.
In one corner there was a messaging label.
The sofa had been repaired four days before Elena disappeared.
The company that collected and returned the furniture belonged to a company managed by Álvaro.
Paula requested a court order.
The following morning, several agents headed to warehouse seventeen.
Daniel insisted on accompanying them.
Rex too.
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