His Identity

When she got to the Senator’s house, everywhere was quiet, too quiet for comfort. She smiled politely to Louis who opened the large double doors for her. When she still lived under their roof, she had made a lot of friends with the domestic staffs.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“Good morning ma’am, it’s really lovely to see you”, Louis said, bowing slightly.

“Hi Louis, it’s nice to see you too”, Rita smiled.

She was genuinely happy to see him. Louis had been a sort of companion even when she was still here.

“Thank you ma’am. You came to see Master Edmundo no?”, he said.

His Spanish accent was really obvious especially when he talked for a long period of time. Sometimes, Rita could hardly keep up with somethings he said due to his fast tongue.

“Urghh.. not quite but are the Brabra’s home?”, Rita said.

“Yes but I’m afraid things aren’t looking good ever since the report came out about Edmundo’s alleged murder”, he whispered.

His eyes darted about, fearing that he would be overheard. All was clear though but Rita knew the fear he had.

“I heard that too. But wait… Isn’t Edmundo supposed to be in the police custody?”, she asked.

“To be honest ma’am, I really don’t know if he’ll ever he arrested not with the Senator’s influence’, Louis said with a bitter look in his eyes.

If they didn’t plan on keeping him in jail, Rita vowed to do that especially since she had a lot of incriminating evidence against him.

“So where are the Brabra’s?”, she asked.

“In the living room, talking about issue but ma’am, I must say, this is the first time I’ve seen Edmundo so scared”, Louis chuckled.

“He has more coming for him. This is just the beginning”, Rita said with a determined look in her eyes.

“I’ll lead you to them”, Louis smiled.

“Oh, don’t bother Louis. I’ll go to them myself. Please, be careful in case anything happens here and if you need any help, come straight to my office”, Rita said.

Louis was really happy that he kissed her palm, an old tradition in Spain that never seemed to die. Rita smiled as she walked towards the living room. When she got there, she met only Edmundo’s parents sitting there. The look on their faces was priceless. Rita schooled her face not to grin but she was slowly loosing the battle.

“Greetings”, Rita said.

She clutched her bag tightly as she stared at them. Magdalene’s face was white while the Senator’s was indifferent.

“Hello Rita, nice of you to stop by,”, Magdalene mocked.

There was no doubt that she knew the reason why Rita was here. Rita didn’t care though because she wasn’t here for them but for Edmundo.

“I just thought to stop by to apologize over the news going around now”, she said.

She never liked Magdalene and the only person she could tolerate was her husband, Senator Brabra.

“I’m sure…”, she snapped.

“What has come over you” Senator Brabra said.

“What has come over is that our only child is accused of murder and his fiancee is here to gloat”, she seethed.

“Gloat? What do you think the whole world is doing now that the news is all over the place. I think you should be less worried about what Rita does and focus on what the whole world is saying”, he said.

At that moment, all the colour on Magdalene’s face were drained. Her expression was laughable and Rita had a hard time controlling her laughter which she covered with a light cough.

“You’re the Senator, I expect you to use your influence to save my son, our son”, she shouted.

“Magdalene, if you’re expecting me to do that well I’m sorry to burst your bubble because I won’t”, he said.

At that moment, Rita wished she could kiss him. He said exactly what was on her mind but his wife didn’t seem to agree with it.

“And you’ll leave your son to die like a worthless commoner?”, she said.

“Of course that is, if he’s found guilty”.

“Wilson, what has come over you? He’s your son for God’s sake. I’m really disappointed”, she said.

“When I became a Senator, I swore with everything I had to always stand by the truth and nothing but the truth. If our son is found guilty of murder, let him face the full wrath of the law”, he said.

Rita felt like this was a family conversation but she couldn’t quite leave knowing that she was getting more and more information.

“Is Edmundo here?”, she said, cutting into the conversation.

“Yes, he’s upstairs. You could go see him”, Senator Brabra said.

Rita nodded before making her way towards his room. As she left, she could still hear their bickering but she wasn’t really concerned about that now. All her whole mind was on Edmundo.

When she got to his room, she was about knocking when his loud voice stopped her from doing so. He was on the phone with somebody and from the way the conversation was going, it seemed like he was in an argument.

“What do you mean he’s gone?”, Edmundo screamed.

“I gave you a simple job to kidnap him and take him somewhere far and now, you’re telling me he’s gone”, he seethed.

A sick feeling twisted in Rita’s stomach. She didn’t know what to think about the conversation she was hearing but she forced herself to because she had a feeling that something important would be revealed soon.

“Track him down and get him at all cost, he must not come back here or I’ll be ruined. Well, I’m sure you’ve seen the news, I’m already ruined but this would only make it worse”, he said.

He paused for a while and Rita could tell that he was listening to whoever was on the phone. She checked her recorder and was happy that it was still working.

“Good, track him down, kill him. Whatever you must do, do it he must not come back”, he said.

There was a slight pause as Rita heard him pacing about. No doubt, Edmundo was in serious trouble.

“What do you mean he’s now rich?”, he stammered.

“I don’t care about that, even though he’s rich, you can still track him down. Rodrigo must not come back”, he said.

At the mention of his name, Rita suddenly felt weak. She leaned on the wall as her dizziness returned in full force. So it was him all these while? Edmundo was responsible for Rodrigo’s disappearance and now, he was planning on killing him. Rita knew that this would not be possible because the Rodrigo she knew would never allow it.