Sebastián had a bad feeling. Pablo Ferreira had agreed to have lunch at La Rosa with the Pérez Esnaola family, but he hadn't shown up. Perhaps he was overreacting, and his friend had simply run into some delay or was with a young woman. With some luck, he might have finally caught Julia Duarte's attention, the priest's sister. However, Pablo was a man of his word, and Sebastián couldn't shake the feeling that something bad might have happened to him. He'd had run-ins with the indigenous people before, and perhaps the young man was in trouble.
"Leónidas!" Sebastián called.The servant appeared in just a few seconds, with traces of lunch on his chin. He wiped his face with his shirt sleeve and smiled."I'm going to check on Pablo Ferreira. Please prepare my horse. Would you like to come?" Sebastián added."Of course, let's go!" exclaimed the young man, following his friend and master to the stable.Leónidas prepared two mares, and they set off at a gallop. The day was mild, though the overcast sky threatened rain. The breeze carried a hint of damp earth.Pablo Ferreira's estate, Esperanza, was smaller than La Rosa but significant enough to make him a respected figure in town. When they reached the main entrance of Esperanza, they dismounted and tied the mares. Sebastián approached the door and rang a bell to announce their arrival. He waited a few moments, but no one answered."I think no one's home. Although it looks like they left a candle burning," Leónidas suggested, peering through one of the windows.Sebastián rang the bell again and then knocked on the door with growing concern."Pablo, it's me! Are you alright?" he shouted, hoping his friend would hear.He was starting to get nervous. Why would Pablo leave a candle burning if he wasn't home?He was about to knock again when he heard footsteps. A few seconds later, Pablo opened the door. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was holding a bottle of wine."Sebastián, I'm glad it's you. Come in, come in... and you too, Leónidas," he said, his breath and unsteady movements revealing his drunkenness."What's going on, my friend?" Sebastián asked, taking the bottle from Pablo and placing it on a sideboard."I'll show you..." Pablo said very seriously.The young man crossed the room and headed down a hallway, with his friends following. The three stopped in front of a closed door. Pablo was about to open it but hesitated for a moment and let Sebastián do it. They exchanged a look, and Pablo nodded slightly, frowning.Sebastián turned the doorknob, holding his breath and feeling his heart race. The door creaked open, revealing Pablo's grandmother, Doña Rosa Ferreira, lying with open, sightless eyes in a large canopy bed. A trail of dried blood ran from the corner of her mouth to her chin."Is she dead?" Leónidas managed to ask, even though he knew the answer.Pablo nodded, and a solitary tear ran down his cheek. Sebastián put a hand on his shoulder, his jaw clenched. It was the first time he had seen the woman, and he hadn't expected it to be under such circumstances."I'm lost," Pablo confessed in a hoarse voice."Don't say that. I'm sure she's watching over you from Heaven," Leónidas said, not daring to enter the room."I don't think so. She was never a good person. She's more likely waiting for me in Hell," Pablo added, shaking his head."Let's call Father Facundo. He'll know what to do," Sebastián suggested."No! No one can know she's dead! She's my legal guardian until I come of age or get married. If word of her death reaches the wrong ears, everything will go to one of my uncles in Spain... they'll take the lands, the estate... they'll take everything," Pablo explained, his words tumbling out quickly, but Sebastián understood what he meant."You can't just shut the door and pretend this didn't happen. She'll start to decompose," Leónidas said, paler than Pablo's grandmother and with a trembling voice."No, but we could bury her and pretend nothing happened. I mean, we've known each other for a long time, and I've never seen your grandmother. She always had her back problems," Sebastián suggested, a bit nervously."I don't know. It's true she almost never went out, and no one visited her. With her temper, she had driven away almost all the servants. I think I can buy the silence of the few who remain. Do you think it could work?" Pablo asked, looking at Sebastián with a small spark of hope in his brown eyes.The darkness and rain had driven the field workers back to their humble homes. The three friends dug a pit under a lemon tree and struggled to carry the robust woman there. When they finished covering her with dirt, the young men were soaked, dirty, and trembling."How did it happen?" Leónidas asked, leaning on the shovel."A few weeks ago, some slaves got sick and refused to work. My grandmother wanted them to account for themselves, and a black woman coughed on her. Soon after, she started coughing and having trouble breathing. I didn't think it was serious, but yesterday her fever spiked, and she didn't make it through the night," Pablo recounted bitterly.The cold water and the weight of reality had sobered the young man."Did you call the doctor?" Sebastián asked.Pablo shook his head and looked down."I didn't expect this to happen, but I didn't want to take the risk if it did. You must think I'm a monster," he replied."Of course not. You're not a monster. Listen, we're your friends, and we'll support you no matter what. Alright? Now we'd better go inside, or we'll freeze out here," Sebastián said, trying to sound calm even though he was terrified inside.Sebastián couldn't believe they had just hidden a body. It felt like he was living in a nightmare. The three had become accomplices in a death that perhaps could have been avoided. They had denied a woman a proper burial and would now have to pretend she was still alive. There was no turning back. They had all participated in the macabre plan and couldn't regret it without putting themselves in danger. It was clear that each of them would take this secret to the grave. Unless someone discovered it first.