The She-Devil in the Mirror Read Online Free PDF Page A

her, even though he stopped calling her and
almost stopped visiting her (he went to their house only a few more times—mostly
for business dinners—and only after Marito insisted that his best friend and
star employee show up). He had a chip on his shoulder, as if Olga María had
cheated him, emotionally, and whenever he saw her he put on this pathetic
expression, like he was the victim, the innocent babe she’d taken advantage of.
That’s when he started saying he was going back to Boston, he was bored in this
country, he had contributed everything he could to Marito’s agency. I told Olga
María that José Carlos’s little song and dance about returning to Boston was
nothing more than a subtle form of blackmail, his way of complaining that she’d
forsaken him, she never paid any attention to him anymore. Olga María agreed
with me, and she was so naughty she even got it into her head to throw José
Carlos a goodbye party, a surprise party, this was about three weeks ago, but I
think he smelled a rat, and when Marito invited him for dinner on that
Saturday—just to chat about his work at the agency—José Carlos made up some
excuse, said he was working on a project of his own that he wanted to finish
before leaving for Boston, lunch the following week would be better, because he
was busy every night, trying to be disciplined and work on his art. No, my dear,
Olga María’s plan didn’t pan out, but that would have been something, don’t you
think? Now he looks very upset, poor guy, just look at his face, he really was
in love with her, he’ll be better off going back to Boston and taking all his
strange notions with him. I’m sure he was involved with the subversives, even
though he does come from a good family, just goes to show what those Jesuit
priests did to some of those boys, a lot of Marito and José Carlos’s classmates
ended up being terrorists—those priests brainwashed them, indoctrinated them.
They say José Carlos went to the States so he wouldn’t get killed, his parents
sent him away when they realized he was mixed up in shady goings-on, that’s why
he didn’t come back until the war was over—he was scared. Olga María told me
José Carlos never talked about politics, he spent all his time in the States
working and studying, but as you know, my dear, in this place, everybody knows
everything about everybody, and I heard he was involved with one of those
solidarity committees, taking photographs and working with them. I wouldn’t be
at all surprised. Now it’s really getting crowded, so many people I don’t know.
Any minute now Doña Olga will arrive with the girls, those poor dears, so young
and they’ve already lost their mother. It’s going to be very difficult for
Marito, he was such a good husband, but Olga María deserved him, she was also
totally devoted to him, it was a two-way street, she never complained much, not
even when she heard the rumors about him and one of his secretaries, Olga María
was always so discreet, so modest, so reserved, never had those fits of
hysteria, she defended her home and was totally devoted to her husband and
children, that’s why her death makes me so angry, my dear, what’s the point, so
many bastards they don’t bother killing and a woman like that—a paragon, so
hard-working, look how she started that boutique from scratch, all with her own
hard work. Those two coming in now, they’re the two policemen who came to Doña
Olga’s to harass us, the one with the dark jacket is the one who says his name
is Deputy Chief Handal: riffraff, my dear, they’ve got no respect for other
people’s pain, what’s wrong with these people, how dare they come to a decent
person’s wake, their heads must be full of rot—imagine: they wanted me to reveal
all of Olga María’s secrets, as if any of her friends or