It is understood that any detail that helps the reader identify the culprit may be reckless and offensive. It is better to avoid frustration and the bitter gulps that this can cause. In any case, with the right amount of discretion, the incident can be reported.
One winter night in 1998, Inspector Dortmund and I were reviewing old files that referred to the first cases that my friend solved in the country, many of which were not published by express personal desire. Every time I looked up subtly to see it, I noticed my friend, distressed and disconsolate, while examining a file that had been in his possession for a while. I wanted to omit the question, but in the end I could not help but ask.
_ Are you okay, Dortmund? _ I said.
He fixed his look full of wonder on my unsettling face.
_ Why do you ask me, doctor? _ He said.
_ I seemed to notice that he felt affected by something. But, do not listen to me. I was wrong, clearly_ I replied without adding anything.
The silence completely took over the environment, until my friend got up from the chair and began to walk incessantly from side to side. Evidently, there was something that worried him.
_ Doctor_ exhaled slowly taking me from my left arm._ I feel my worst enemy. I relived a case that messed up my reputation and my dignity entirely.
I contemplated it .
_ I hear it_ I encouraged him to open up to me.
_ I will tell you a brief story about a case whose investigation I carried forward and failed miserably.
I looked at him, stupefied.
_ Did you fail to investigate a case?
I could not believe what I was hearing. Never had such a thing crossed his mind. However, Sean Dortmund spoke with absolute frankness.
_ Effectively, doctor. In the investigation of a murder, to be more precise. This happened in a house located a few kilometers from the Termas de Río Hondo, in the province of Santiago del Estero, at the end of May 1975. I traveled for pleasure, to know the most important tourist spots in the country. It was part of a travel plan that I put together strategically. I do not know how Mrs. Balast knew , I do not know if she remembers her ...
He paused to give me time to respond.
_ It was the mother of Mr. Alarcón, the financier who simulated his disappearance with the complicity of his brother_ I said.
_ Exact_ said my friend. And he continued with the story. I told him, doctor, that I do not know how she found out that I was for those payments. But he recommended me to the Freire family to investigate a case of apparent homicide. Until I saw the scene and did not know the details of the incident, I could not say anything. So, I went there. It was a small wooden house , isolated from the city and nestled in the middle of the field under a beautiful blue sky. Its facade was an architectural novelty of the twentieth century and had in the back an immense garden full of the most varied species of flowers that you can imagine. But inside, it did not have surprises or invite admiration. It was of a very austere but elegant and well-decorated vulgarity.
< Continuing with the story of the events, the case was about the strange death of Mr. Felipe Freire. They were all having dinner at their house on the day of the tragedy. Among those present, were Aurelio Freire, his older brother; Nicanor Freire, his younger brother; Liliana Ortiz, her mother; Barbara Stempone, your partner; Lucas Moreira, his nephew; and Virginia Cárdenas, her cousin. I would say that between them, the murderer. It was ten thirty in the evening when Mr. Felipe decided to go to his room. The next day, was found dead by his nephew, Mr. Luc as Moreira>.
<According emerged from the investigation, Mr. Felipe Freire was a humble man who would not hurt anyone, but it had the evil creature. When an idea got into his head, it was impossible to get it out. He liked to always have reason in everything and when they did not give it, he got irritated. He was going to marry Barbara Stempone, a well-known and prominent Civil lawyer. One of the best in my opinion.And I had the habit, after every dinner, to eat chocolates. According to the witnesses, he was the only one in the house who ate them. And I had the obsessive rigor of eating one in particular every day.That day he ate a chocolate from Bariloche, green wrap, stuffed with raisins and nuts. The previous day I had ingested one of brown wrap, filled or with liquor and mouse. I never saw a person so obsessed with chocolates in life. Outside of that, he had no problems with anyone and his good deal with others was out of the question. He had no debts to anyone and was loyal to his partner. Deceiving her would have been the last thing he would have done. I checked the statements one and a thousand times, but I did not find anything out of the ordinary. I needed more data to find out what had happened. I went up to Mr. Felipe Freire's room and everything was normal, nothing out of the ordinary. I looked where I kept the chocolates and everything fit perfectly, for the only detail that there was a chocolate red wrap that had been opened. Maybe the victim was going to eat that chocolate, he repented and ate the one that finally tied him up? At this point, doctor, the case had become more than interesting. Was this part of the personality of a man extremely obsessed with pleasure? Decidedly, from my personal point of view, no. So, I had obtained the answer I was looking for: Mr. Freire was killed by someone from his family environment. The question was why. The case, for me, started at this point. >
< Immediately, the next thing I did was meet the coroner who had done the autopsy . And the result was positive for hydrogen cyanide, ingested through the chocolate that ate the fatal night. And at this point another question arose: where was Mr. Felipe Freire when the chocolate was poisoned? And I made the following reason . Mr. Freire ate a different chocolate every day after dinner. Did he already have decided in advance what he was going to eat? Because if this point were affirmative, it implied that the murderer poisoned the chocolate on the day of his death. How to know it with certainty? There was no direct and subtle way to find out, since the only people we could ask were the suspects themselves. I allowed myself then that it was the investigation itself that would reveal this question to me.And I went back to the initial point , to the open red wrap chocolate ... By accident? Was it attempted to kill someone else and by mistake was Mr. Felipe Freire who died? It was unlikely, but human nature is full of secrets we do not know. And I could not take for granted anything that other people would tell me because one was the murderer and could provide spurious information in order to divert suspicion in another direction. I had to distrust everything and everyone. >
<Why was he killed? Felipe F reire had no enemies, he was faithful, he got along well with everyone and was not a millionaire. Nor was there any family inheritance in litigation, so there was only one possibility left: Mr. Freire was killed out of fear. Suppose, for example, that Felipe Freire, at a certain time, saw a certain person in a certain place. He does not see any impediment so that that person can not be there. But let us imagine that he had proved, with an alibi, that at that time he was more than a hundred kilometers away from that place. All right. Then, with the greatest innocence in the world, Felipe Freire could destroy it. For example, that a crime was committed in the town and Felipe Freire saw the murderer in the local train station, but that said person told the authorities that he was in Buenos Aires for work. Felipe Freire, therefore, could scuttle that alibi. Of course, doctor, that this was no more than a mere assumption. But very likely, by the way. Perhaps also on the night of his death hesaw someone he met in other circumstances with another identity and who knew a secret that, if revealed to the world, could ruin it. But who? I could not imagine it > .
< The use of poison in this kind of cases requires great delicacy , intelligence, and above all, patience. A hypodermic needle is needed to inoculate the cyanide. I rummaged the whole house up and down looking for one, but to no avail. Whoever has poisoned the chocolate, got rid of the evidence immediately . It was a murder that demanded courage, boldness, effectiveness, subtlety, ephemeral action ... And such qualities are opposed to a prudent and tenacious> determination.
< Felipe Freire took the chocolate, he repented, he took the other and swallowed it so surprised, he did not have time to spit it out. Also, when a liquid gets into the throat, it is impossible to expel it > .
< Now well. Supposing that Mr. Felipe regretted ingesting the chocolate assigned for that night and changed his mind at the last minute, does not it make us suppose that the murderer poisoned more than one chocolate to ensure the success of his plan? After all, the chocolate could be opened by the murderer himself in order to alter them. But why did Mr. Felipe Freire then eat a chocolate whose wrapper was broken ? And it occurred to me that the murderer reattached the container with some kind of glue. So, ultimately, Mr. Freire could after all change his mind at the last minute because he noticedstrange lgo>.
< The coroner had given me the list of suspects so he could organize me better. It was very interesting, doctor, the order in which the names were placed. The first suspect was her mother, Mrs. Liliana Ortiz, the last person she had ever suspected. She was so desperate and anguished ... That woman had no consolation. It was not for less. He had died a son. However, my judgment told me that something was not right. Who could have a reason that nobody would suspect ? A woman. And what woman? Your mother, your partner and your cousin. The latter was not moved. The only possible thing seemed to be a process by elimination. He had to take the people on the list one by one and consider her guilty until, without a doubt, the opposite was proven. He had to start as if he were absolutely convinced that there was some other link between that person and Mr. Felipe Freire. And I had to sharpen all my ingenuity to discover it. And if he did not find anything, he would pass to the next person. And so I did, systematically and with a lot of perseverance. But it did not work. Outside the family bond between them, it seemed to be nothing>.
< Out of curiosity, I asked the coroner to carry out a toxicology study on the red- coated chocolates that were open and the result was negative for all kinds of toxins. That's not what I expected. But there was something even more striking. The wrapper of that chocolate said that it was made of nuts and raisins, that is, of flavor coinciding with the chocolate that killed Mr. Freire. The chocolate that was in place was stuffed with almonds and mint. And he was sure that this chocolate belonged to the green envelope, the one opened by the victim the night of the murder. The conclusion was that the wrappersof both chocolates were intentionally inverted. The murderer left the red wrapper open to force Mr. Freire to take the other. But why take the arduous task of exchanging packages? Because perhaps the shape and structure of a particular chocolate makes it easier to poison it than another. The objective then was to find the green wrapper that remained lost > .
< We search for it incessantly until we can find it. It was hidden in one of the two internal pockets that had a sack, owned by Mr. Aurelio Freire, one of the brothers of the deceased. And in addition, a smallhypodermic needle, which tested positive for hydrogen cyanide, was hidden inside it . Mr. Aurelio Freire was subsequently arrested on charges of triple-qualified homicide for premeditation, treachery and connection. He denied all the time that he did not know where he had left that and proclaimed his innocence tirelessly until he appealed to his right to be represented legally by a lawyer. And the unthinkable happened. It appeared Mr. Nicanor Freire, his other brother, separating it from any responsibility for what happened and what and assuming guilt>.
< We went to a room to be calmer and to feel free to speak without pressure. I wanted him to see me as a friend who understood him and tried to help him. And it worked > .
_ I did not kill Felipe_ said Mr. Nic anor Freire stressed but sure of his words._ We knew that same night he was going to eat the chocolate from the green package because Felipe loved to show off his personal tastes. By chance, I heard that same afternoon talk to someone about tying Felipe. He gave all the details of how he was going to do it. He alleged that an old friend who was a pharmacist gave him cyanide because he owed him a favor.
I tried to talk to Felipe about it and put him on notice about this fact, but he refused to listen . And I had no choice but to act. I entered my brother's room with great care not to be discovered, I opened the poisoned chocolate and intentionally put it in another wrapper ...
_ He put it in the red wrapper and the chocolate that he would put in the package, he placed it in the green. And he made sure to close them well so that his brother did not notice any anomaly when he took it, I deduced.
_ Exactly, inspector. That way he would save it. I do not know what happened, I do not explain it.
_ His story is very interesting. Now, tell me Mr. Freire, so that I can believe you one hundred percent, who is the murderer?
< Nicanor Freire bowed his head in guilt. He picked it up again a few seconds later, and looking at me with a pleading look in his eyes, he told me he could not tell me. I did not believe your story. I thought it was a desperate attempt to save and protect Mr. Aurelio Freire, which did not happen, because he was put at the disposal of Justice. Finding the motive for the murder was no longer our business. We had finished > .
But surprises did not stop coming, doctor. The night of Mr. Aurelio's arrest, his mother, Mrs. Liliana Ortiz, came to see me personally. And he confessed something that perplexed me.
_ Felipe was colorblind_ he told me, afflicted ._ He confused the colors easily, especially in red and green. Nicanor always supported Felipe, defended him from everyone and everything, and would do anything for him. And I, like his mother, knew it very well. I knew that if Nicanor heard me planning the crime he would intercede. I simply poisoned the wrong chocolate intentionally so that Nicanor would change them, because due to his color blindness, Felipe was going to take the one I wanted. His illness had been with him for a little over a month and he was not used to it. He used to get confused often.But the doctor said it was a matter of time before he adapted. That's why, in principle, he opened the chocolate that was not. After he died, I took the wrapper, the needle and hid it all together in one of my other son's bags , without ever having the intention of involving him in something like that.
Only I knew about his illness. He did not want anyone else to know for the moment. I wanted to wait for the right moment to announce it. I was afraid of the reaction of others.
Believe me, doctor, I was amazed by the coldness with which Mrs. Ortiz had narrated all this last part of the story. And that same coldness he used to commit the murder.
_ Nicanor did not give her away_ I said.
_ He would never do. It's not like that, he answered without flinching.
_ Why did you kill your son, Mrs. Ortiz?
_ Because he was going to marry Barbara Stempone, his childhood love. Before reuniting with her, Felipe was happily paired with a woman named Eleonor Bastiani . They left a little more than two years.Felipe was happy with her and was going to propose to her, but Barbara had to appear right at that moment after twenty years since they last saw Felipe. And he left Eleanor for her without thinking, without remorse, because he never stopped loving her. Eleonor tried to dissuade Felipe in vain. He had been waiting for Barbara all his life and she, for him. And they were going to get married. My moral does not support this kind of betrayal, honor is respected. Dignity is a value that we should never lose, not even for love. I had to do it, I had to take Barbara away from my son, just as she took Eleanor from him .
< That same night, Mrs. Ortiz was arrested and Mr. Aurelio Freire released and dismissed. That's the story in question, doctor > .
_ Decidedly, you did not fail, Dortmund_ I said to my friend with vehemence and admiration.
Of course he did, he rebuked me disillusioned. Was Mr. Aurelio Freire going to keep such a compromising test in his possession ? In addition, there was the fact of red and green wrappers, coincidentally two of the three colors that does not distinguish someone with color blindness. Add to that the open chocolate ... And I did not know it at the time! Therefore, I failed. And if Mrs. Liliana Ortiz did not confess, the truth would never have been known and Aurelio Freire would have paid unjustly for a crime he did not commit. Do you think that makes me happy, doctor? It can not be constituted in any way as a triumph. This story is only known to you and I hope that it will stay that way.
I was completely silent. I did not dare to tell Dortmund that after dinner, I had bought a box of chocolates to share.
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