There were sobs, but his anger did not abate: You cry now that my mother’s dead and they took away my life’s work and almost killed me, and all because of you, so go on, cry until the blood comes out of your eyes. There was another silence, then she said: I’m already weeping blood, Ramón, you can say whatever you like to me, you can even tell me I’m a whore, you haven’t said it yet but you’re thinking it, so say it, filthy whore, lowdown whore, don’t hesitate to say it because it’s true, it’s what everyone is saying here in La Cascada since you came out with those photographs. . The whole town has seen me naked with a guy they don’t even know is my husband, and with you, but as nobody remembers you they think it’s somebody new, and so I’ve become the whore of the community, the whore of the club and the tearooms, the whore of La Cascada, and now they’ve put Jacinto in jail and things are really difficult. I already threw him out of the house because of the photographs on Facebook with other whores who aren’t his whore of a wife, oh God.
Ramón was getting impatient and said: tell me why you slept with Jacinto, what were you missing with me? I missed the risk, Ramón, I missed that great sensation of hanging from a thread. . I missed feeling more of a woman or more of a person or maybe even more of a whore, I don’t know, I liked him and I wanted him and you see, I even gave him a daughter who maybe he didn’t deserve, but what can we do, that’s how it was, we can’t change it.
No, but we can make sure the bad people appear bad and the murderers appear murderers, and that’s what I came to do, Soraya; the worst that could have happened to you, to all of you, was that I escaped from the paras and stayed alive, because now you’re fucked. Soraya had stopped crying, her voice was neutral and relatively steady. She said: and what more are you going to do, they’re already going to take everything away from us, they’re going to extradite Dagoberto, and they’re going to give my brother Hernán the maximum sentence because the bastard didn’t get involved with the demobilization, so you see, Ramón, you’ve ruined our lives, you’ve already avenged yourself, you’ve already avenged your mother, what more do you want? Ramón thought it over for a second and said, I want to see you, Soraya, that’s all, I want to see you for a second and maybe my anger will pass.
The proposal surprised her. And why do you want to see me, Ramón? A lot of time’s gone by and I’m fat, when I was pregnant I gained nearly sixty pounds and I still have twenty I can’t get rid of, I don’t look like the girl you used to go out with anymore, don’t think I do. But he said, that doesn’t matter, Soraya, I only want to see you for a second and look you in the face and ask you if you really wanted them to kill me. . You don’t need to look at me to ask that, I already told you, they told me you were in the FARC and were going to kill Hernán. You can believe me or not. To believe you I need to see you, Soraya, that’s why I’m saying this. She thought about it for a while: if we see each other, will you leave us alone? Well, Soraya, that’s not up to me anymore, it’s up to the law. Yes, but the law can be handled, what matters is that you stop stirring things.
Come to Bogotá on Saturday, Soraya. Bring your cell phone. At three in the afternoon I’ll call you and tell you where, O.K.? O.K., but call me straight away, don’t make me wait. Don’t worry, I’ll call you straight away, make sure you have a signal and swear to me you’ll come alone. She said: after all this trouble who do you think I’m going to come with? The Virgin Mary?
Ramón traveled to Bogotá on the Friday, to get ready. He had made enquiries about private security and hired four bodyguards for the weekend, and he met them at the Hotel Charleston. He went for a walk with them, got to know them, and invited them out for a nice meal to get them on his side. Then he visited a fashionable brothel called La Piscina, and went into a private room with two women. The bodyguards protected him well and he got back to the hotel at three in the morning safe and sound.
The next day, he called Soraya about eleven in the morning and said, are you already in Bogotá? Yes, she said, tell me where you want to see me. He told her to wait at the entrance to the Carulla on Calle 85 and Carrera 15, and he would send for her. Then he changed hotels, moving to the Radisson in Santa Bárbara, and waited until two of his bodyguards informed him that they were already with her. Señor? The lady’s with us. Good, put her on. Hello, Soraya, the security measures are for me, but nothing’s going to happen to you, O.K.? Do what the men tell you, you can trust them.
The bodyguards brought her to the Radisson and he waited for her in a suite with a very nice view of Bogotá. When they came in he made them take her into one of the rooms in the suite and, before seeing her, he told his men to check the whole floor and take up positions, two inside and two outside the door. He dressed slowly and well, and at last made up his mind to enter the room.
Oh, thank God, she said when she saw him, I was starting to think this was a wasted journey. Ramón was silent, his eyes started to water and he had to bite his tongue in order not to sob. It was true that she had changed, but she was still pretty. She had put on a few pounds and her hair was dyed, which made her look older, but he recognized her, she was just the same. He saw her smile and remembered that last night, on the eve of his departure from La Cascada. He hadn’t gone with her to the Rey de la Pachanga because he had wanted to get up early in order to go to Villavicencio to talk to the police. She had stayed in La Cascada, with Jacinto and her brother Hernán.
Ramón asked her about that night, saying, tell me what happened exactly, I want the details, did you go straight to Jacinto or what? No, she said, I wasn’t with Jacinto, but with my brother Hernán. We were in the disco and Jacinto arrived there with Dagoberto. They talked for a while, and then Hernán said to me, Sorayita, there’s something important we need to ask you, is it true Ramón is going to Villavicencio tomorrow to inform on Dagoberto to the police about the business with the car? I went red and didn’t say anything, I didn’t want anything to happen to you, but Dagoberto looked at me and said, I already know what he’s going to do in Villavicencio, I only want you to confirm it, that’s all, you’re the man’s girlfriend and I respect you, but it’s only right you should know that Ramón is working for the FARC in La Cascada and Villavicencio and that’s why he’s against us, and what he wants is for them to capture me and then fuck things up for Hernán, that’s why it’s important that you confirm it for us, Sorayita, because things could get nasty. I asked them what they were going to do to you, and they said, just question him, tell him to let us do our work and not interfere. That’s what they told me. So I said, yes, Ramón is going to talk to the police, he’s a good man because he covered for you when you were trying to extort money from him for the car, but they said, what do you mean, extort, the truth is the man is working for the FARC, we ought to go and kill him right now, tonight, said my brother Hernán, who was already drunk, and then Jacinto said, don’t worry, Sorayita, you know Ramón and I have been friends since we were children and I wouldn’t let any harm come to him, but we do have to stop him because otherwise this town is going to become a hell for us. I believed them.