Chapter 3 - MATEO’S ILLNESSES
Mateo’s medical history became evidence.
Eight months.
Nine significant episodes.
Nausea.
Vomiting.
Abdominal pain.
Dizziness.
Sweating.
Occasional muscle twitching.
Doctors originally treated each episode according to symptoms.
Nobody had reason to assume deliberate exposure.
The pattern became visible only retrospectively.
Investigators built a timeline.
Seven episodes occurred after Mateo spent extended time alone with Leonor.
One occurred after a family dinner she attended.
One could not be clearly connected.
Correlation was not enough.
Then toxicology specialists reviewed stored blood samples from two previous hospital visits.
Hospitals do not preserve every specimen indefinitely.
Fortunately, samples from recent testing remained available.
One contained a metabolite consistent with the same pesticide family.
That changed everything.
Mateo had likely been exposed before the night I discovered the bottle.
Still:
Who administered it?
How?
May you like
Why?
Those questions remained.
