“You’re making a catastrophic mistake, Daniel. When that woman divorces you, don’t come to my door looking for shelter.”

He ended the call and stood over the screen for a full minute.

“My whole childhood I thought she said things like that because she was angry,” he said quietly.

I waited.

He looked up, hollowed out. “Now I know she says them because they work.”

The next morning Alvarez called back. The footage confirmed the five-hour timeline — and one detail that stopped my breath. At the two-hour mark, Patricia had come out to put bags in her trunk.