On the way to the mayor's house, Adam commented on what had happened in his apartment.
"Do you think it might have been a threat?" Jack asked, though not very worried.
"No, to be honest, there was blood at the base of the window—maybe the cat just jumped and died there," Adam replied.
"And did it also break the window? How did it force it open?" Jack asked.
Adam felt like an idiot, but he really didn't care about what had happened.
"Do you think Mrs. Janet took her daughter's body?" Adam asked.
Jack drove with a grave expression on his face.
"I think a mother in her condition is capable of anything, but a body weighing forty kilos? Janet must weigh that much. But if it was her, Carl will have to talk," Jack replied.
"Okay, but how is it that no one saw her leaving with the body? Understand? Someone would have seen," Adam protested.
"Calm down, we don't even know if she's with the body," Jack said.
"You did well to kick the journalists out; just imagine if they knew that the First Lady is suspected of stealing her own daughter's body," Adam remarked.
Penélope was lying on the bed, the mayor was drinking whiskey that his own wife had served, sitting in an armchair, staring at his daughter in disbelief.
"It's a miracle, don't you think? We have been blessed, Carl, it's a miracle!" Janet said in her sweet, gentle voice.
The mayor gave a slight smile, still not believing that all of this was real.
Minutes before, he had run into Steven, who was coming up the stairs, claiming that there were bloody footprints in the kitchen, food outside the refrigerator, and meat and frozen items thrown everywhere. The mayor had asked him to stand guard at the door and not to come up; the young officer even insisted, but it didn't help— the mayor was firm.
"We need to tell someone, dear; the guys will be here soon," Carl said.
His voice was choked—not that he wasn't happy to see his daughter there, perfectly well, but something didn't make sense anymore.
"No! They tried to kill her—who's to say they won't do it again!? No one can know about this; let's move, I've thought of everything. We have some money, we can get new identities, let's go to another state, maybe another country. Do you still have that aunt in Italy? No one needs to know about this, no one," Janet began to cry—the cry of a desperate mother.
"Dear, we have to tell someone! She needs a doctor, and if we don't tell, they'll keep investigating, and—" The mayor paused for a few seconds and then said, "Jack and Abrax are coming here, the other officer, Steven, is down there; there's no point hiding it if you at least hadn't taken her from the clinic, Carl."
"But I didn't take her! I found her here—it was magical, you should have seen it," Janet insisted.
"You found her here? What do you mean?" Carl asked.
"I had gone to the diner to buy some food when I remembered that… that the funeral was soon, so I drove here. I wanted to choose a nice outfit for her—I even thought of asking Doris to do it, but it was the middle of the night, Doris wouldn't have arrived yet, and I had to do it. When I got home, I heard a strange noise—I even thought it was Doris preparing breakfast, but then I began to suspect it might be a burglar, because it sounded like things falling and crashing. I grabbed that horrible statue we have in the living room—the one you got as the city's protector—and I slowly went to the kitchen. Carl, dear, there she was, Penélope, crouched down, eating the things that were in the refrigerator," Janet explained.
The mayor still didn't understand how the girl ended up there without anyone seeing her.
"She was wearing that ugly clinic outfit, so I saw that she was hungry; I put a pie in the oven—her favorite—and when I saw she was dirty, I put her in the bathtub with her favorite music. I thought maybe she was traumatized because she wasn't talking to me, but it must be something like that," Janet said.
"You said she was dirty? Dirty with what exactly?" Carl asked.
"Yes, but that doesn't matter now. I've already cleaned her; she's clean," Janet replied.
"Dear, why don't you go downstairs and serve pie and coffee to Steven? He must be hungry; ask him to come back later," Carl suggested.
Janet smiled and left. Carl got up and kissed his daughter's forehead.
The mayor's house was in the style of an old colonial building, white in color, with high, also white, walls. The gate was graceful, made of iron, with elegant details. There was a considerable distance from the gate to the entrance.
The mayor kept the walls high because animals often invaded the area.
When Jack and Adam arrived, they ran into Steven coming out holding a piece of pie and a cup of disposable coffee.
"Where are you going?" Adam asked.
"I insisted on staying, at least until you arrived, but the First Lady asked me to leave," Steven said.
"And why would she ask that?" Adam questioned.
At that moment, Janet opened the door and Jack stepped forward:
"Good morning, ma'am," he said, removing his hat.
"We entered like this because the gate was open; I apologize, but is the mayor here with you?" Jack asked.
"Guys, I'm sorry if I'm being rude, but please come back another time. The mayor and I have much to discuss, and I believe you have more pressing matters to attend to at the station," Janet replied.
Adam was about to say something, but Jack stopped him with a nod, and the three of them walked away. Steven whispered to Jack:
"Sir, there are signs of forced entry on the back doors, and the kitchen is a mess—there's also blood."
Jack looked back again and saw the First Lady at the door. When they were almost in the cars, Mayor Carl shouted for them to get in.
Once in the living room, Jack and the mayor sat drinking and stared at each other. The silence between the two men was the premise that something very bad had happened.
But Jack had to ask:
"What happened, Carl? Tell us the truth," Jack said.
The mayor took another drink and offered a drink to Adam and Steven, who initially refused.
"I think Kowalski should be here as well," Carl finally said.
"You think he should be here because your wife did something she shouldn't have? Is that it?" Jack asked.
"We have to stop the search for a murderer," Carl stated.
"Carl, if you're saying that your wife took her own daughter's body, don't worry—we won't arrest her. It's normal, given everything that's happened, for the First Lady to be out of her mind," Jack responded.
The mayor suddenly stood up and began pacing around the room, as if searching for words to describe what had happened.
"Janet didn't want you to know," Carl admitted.
"Okay, and where is she?" Jack asked.
"She's upstairs with…" Carl started.
"Upstairs with her daughter's body—is that it?" Adam interjected.
The mayor fell silent once more, still searching for words to define everything that was happening.
"Carl, you need to tell the truth—only then can I help you. I won't arrest Janet," Jack insisted.
"Arrest my wife? And why would I arrest her? She didn't do anything. The problem we have, gentlemen, is far more complex than you can imagine," Carl replied.
The mayor finally recounted the facts, and the three men listened carefully to every word. After he finished, all three exchanged glances. Adam and Jack concluded that both Carl and his wife were either crazy or suffering from a shared temporary insanity—yes, that's what Kowalski would call it. Only Steven partially believed the story, because he had seen the kitchen.
The mayor showed them the state of the kitchen, but even then, it didn't add up.
"Carl, I'm not saying this isn't true, but perhaps you and Janet have imagined too much. Please, let's call Kowalski and ask him to come here to retrieve the body," Jack suggested.
"Jack, I let you in because I trust you, because you know what kind of man I am. You've known me for a long time, so believe what I'm saying," Carl said.
"Calm down, let's call Kowalski. He'll come here and, maybe, he can examine Penélope—everything will be clarified," Adam added.
And so they did, although Jack didn't like the way Adam handled it.
But the method worked—the men called the medical examiner and waited. Adam had learned during his studies that one way to deal with insanity was to show the insane person, through their own conclusions, that they were mistaken or delusional.
Kowalski took a while to arrive, as he had to fill out a gigantic amount of paperwork regarding the disappearance of the body.
When he arrived, Carl explained the whole situation, and Kowalski simply nodded in confirmation.
Now, the five men climbed the stairs, with Adam bitterly regretting being there.
Janet stayed by the bed the whole time. Kowalski greeted her, excused himself, and began examining Penélope's body, which, according to Janet, "had fallen asleep."
He used his stethoscope, opened her eyelids (her eyes were completely white), which he assumed was just another anomaly of the body. He had already determined that there were no vital signs.
And, as if that weren't enough, he let the mayor and the First Lady use the stethoscope before calmly explaining that Penélope was indeed dead.
"But she was alive!! Just a little while ago, she came here walking!! Tell them, Carl," Janet cried.
The mayor said nothing; he began to wonder if he was really going crazy. Had he really seen his daughter with her eyes open? Did she speak to him? Or was it just his imagination?
If he hadn't lifted her from the bathtub in his arms, maybe he would know whether she was there or not—he didn't see her walking; he only put her on the bed and left the room so that Janet could dress her.
Was he losing his mind? Was his love for his daughter so strong that it was tricking his brain?
While Jack was calming the First Lady, Adam pulled Kowalski aside and whispered:
"Is there any chance that she might have arrived here alive? I mean, like those cases where the person isn't really dead, then wakes up, and dies shortly after?"
"No, no chance—even though the color and texture of the corpse are incredibly good, considering it spent a long time outside proper refrigeration," Kowalski replied.