Doctor Engel [A Spanish bestseller now in English!]

CHAPTER 17

'I see that you have been called too. How was your week?' he asks with interest.

'Fine...' I tell him without further explanation as I analyze his injuries. I'm concerned. 'What happened you?'

'Oh, nothing important. A small accident,' he tells me as he scratches his head and tries to force a smile.

'It must not have been very small if you look like this,' I insist. A thousand ideas come racing through my mind, but I try to discard them as fast as they arrive. I'm really worried.

'It seems bigger than it is, believe me. In a couple of days everything will be healed.'

'Good morning. Are you Natalia Montero and Cesar Engel?' a hoarse, mature voice interrupts us from the front door.

'Yes,' we both say at the same time.

'Please, come with me.'

We follow the man to a smaller room. He closes the door and offers us a seat as soon as we get in.

'I'm Agent Fernandez. I'm the one that called you yesterday,' he says. 'I will be brief, I don't want to take too much of your time,' he looks at the two of us, and since we don't answer, he continues. 'There are several reasons why I have summoned you here today. We have information and, at the same time, we need information. Where do you want me to start?' he looks back at us.

'First give us the information,' Cesar says first.

'Well,' says the agent, and opens a folder that contains a record that has a long number and several data that I can't read. He takes out several sheets and gives one to each of us. 'These are copies of the judicial report,' I don't know what he is talking about. 'As you can read in this box,' he points to it with his pen, 'and after considering several possibilities, the main hypothesis is that everything has been an act of sabotage,' the agent talks to Cesar. 'To cut a long story short, your brakes were cut deliberately, which is the reason why you have suffered the accident.' I look up at Cesar with my eyes wide open and a stifling heat comes to my face, I can't believe what I just heard. Now everything fits. 'We also know that Mario is behind all this. He left several traces on the body and in the internal parts of the car.' I feel a strong sting of guilt in my chest, and my head spins, trying to process it all. Mario attempted to kill Cesar.

'Miss Natalia...' I hear the agent call me. 'Natalia?'

'Yes,' I answer shaking my head.

'Are you okay?' Cesar asks concerned. I nod.

'I was asking if we could move on to the round of questions.'

'Excuse me, I was so focused on what you just told me that I didn't hear the last thing you said.'

'Don't worry. Do you need a few minutes?' he asked.

'No, no, I'm fine. Let's move on to that part.'

The agent asks several questions about Mario. His favorite places, habits, friends addresses, places he frequently goes to, reasons why I believe that he is behaving this way... Ultimately everything that can tell them to help them track him down, or at least, to be able to figure out his next step. Besides that, I tell him that it has been a couple of days without getting any messages or threats, and that makes me feel uneasy. We sign some papers, and when we are about to finish the agent talks again.

'I suggest you be careful until we catch him. My experience tells me that he is going to play hardball and won't stop until he gets what he wants. In my opinion, you are in danger, and my advice is to hire some type of external security, if you can. We can only send a patrol to your area while we investigate.'

'We will do as you say,' says Cesar with assurance.

We thank him for his advice and we say goodbye. We walk out together in silence. Once we are out of the building I'm still so shocked that I can barely think.

'Well, I have to go already,' I tell him, uncomfortably.

'Natalia, I would like to talk to you. There is something about Erika you should know,' he says with some regret.

'Don't worry, you don't have to give me explanations. It's your life and you can do whatever you want with it,' I give him a fake smile.

'Yes, it's my life. But I need to clarify it.'

'Actually, I'm not interested. Have a good day,' I walk to my new car, wishing to get in it as soon as possible. This time for a very different reason: I want to avoid the confrontation, just to hear her name make me nervous.

'Natalia,' he puts his hand on my shoulder holding me. I turn around to protest and his intense, hypnotic gaze paralyzes me. 'Erika confessed what happened,' he said with sadness, clenching his teeth. 'In fact, she is out of my life since that damn day. I'm very sorry that she would make you believe that. I would never ask you to leave.'

'There is a very common saying in my town that says: where there's smoke there's fire,' I tell him. I'm sure that if she told me that, it's because he must have made a comment about it. 'But it's ok, one of these days we can meet and clarify everything,' if I don't tell him that I believe him he will insist, and the only thing that I want at this moment is to leave as soon as possible.

'I can't wait, this me is killing me, Natalia. I miss you,' his tone of voice reflects agony, and he lowers his gaze to say his last sentence, but I just want to escape.

'Let's talk later,' I just cut him off and almost run out of there. I urgently need a refuge where I can put my emotions in order, since I can't think clearly in this condition.

When I'm finally inside the car with the door closed I take a deep breath, letting go of the air that I have been holding in my lungs for so long. My hands are wet because of the sweat. I need to learn how to control these panic attacks or I will end up making a scene or saying things in the wrong way.

Knowing that Cesar is in danger for helping me will be my ruin. I don't know how I will be able to appease my anxiety with that idea in mind. And, on top of that, a feeling of guilt is killing me, I didn't even have the decency to listen to what he wanted to say. As always, when I feel like this, my first instinct is to walk away.

When I'm calmer I start the engine and drive to town again. During the journey I can't get the scene with Cesar out of my head. My conscience is uneasy. I try to put music on to see if I can distract myself, but no, my thoughts are stronger. I'm quite disappointed with my reaction. At least I should've paid attention to him, he looked really tormented. When I'm around one hour away, I decide that I can't take it anymore and take the first detour to go back. I'm going to see him.