Fraudulent Fertilisation

“Hello, Rocío? How are you? This is Roberto, is everything OK?”

“Yes,” she answered, “it’s been a long time! How are you? Any news?”

“Yes, the summons arrived today. They’re bringing a lawsuit for acknowledgement of filiation, they request biological tests to determine paternity. They’ve arranged a hearing for Friday 16th, at 10 o’clock. Will you be able to come that day?”

“Let’s see, let me have a look at my diary, yes, no problem , don’t worry... How’s the court we’ve been given? What’s the judge like?”

“It’s a woman,” he said, “she’s a very good person, humanitarian, she wouldn’t hurt a fly. We’ve been lucky in that respect, but...”

“What’s bothering you? Is there a problem, Roberto?”

“No, it’s not that, the thing is, Doctor Marina Bisson loves children, she’s maternalist, she’ll support the mother. To deprive her of the child, just to get custody, we’ll need lots of proof. In that respect, it’s very complicated for us...”

“Don’t worry, Roberto, the main thing is that she’s sensitive, that’s decisive in our case. Lamentably, it’s not a common virtue on the market, at least it’s very hard to find here in the Federal Capital. It takes all sorts... Well, you know that as well as I do, justice is in a bad way. It’s been worn down, there’s no stability, the wages are meagre...”

“Yes, Rocío,, the election system ought to be reformed as well...”

“It ought to be like university,” she said, “the intake should be subject to a prior competition valuing precedents and demonstration of capability. Then a specialised organisation should supervise the performance of magistrates, analysing their sentences.”

“It’s all unbalanced, Rocío, public funds are spent very badly.”

“Well, Roberto, go on, how is the lawsuit put? Is it well presented?”

“Yes,” he answered, “it’s good, but not too complicated. It has a very simple approach, totally clear. They hide behind a classic formula: the poor woman, seduced by the bad man, gets pregnant. The little innocent one who is not acknowledged by his malignant father... In short, you know how it is, they omit nothing, they claim I had relations with Juanita until recently, even that during the pregnancy I acknowledged my fatherhood before the gynaecologist. Álvez, of course.”

“Just as we thought,” said the lawyer. “Well, send me a fax of the summons urgently, you’ve got our number. Within an hour I’ll study it with dad, to see whether we can find any defects or mistakes. We’ll stay in contact, I’ll phone you this afternoon and talk about our conclusions, OK?”

“OK,” he said, and added, “Rocío, I had a great time when we went out for dinner, I wanted to tell you...”

Silence on the line. Finally she answered.

“Thank you, so did I, it was a beautiful night, I’ll see you, kiss kiss...”

“I’ll see you,” answered Roberto.

At eight in the evening, the blond lawyer phoned. Roberto had been waiting to hear from her for a long time.

“Hello, Roberto. Sorry I didn’t phone before, I’ve just got a clear overview of the situation, I didn’t want to give you anything out of focus. Both dad and myself think the summons is well written, they didn’t make any mistakes. We can’t hope for anything there, the changes in the situation depend on us. Have you got any useful news? Did you find out anything that could be used in your defence?”

“Very little, a few days ago Julieta told me that Alicia went to see her...”

“Have you seen her again?”

“No, Rocío, but she offered to help me, her sister Mabel as well. We’d already discussed this possibility with you and your father, we know it won’t help us much.”

“Who knows,” she said, “we’d have to see. For now it’s good to know that we can count on them, we’ve got to think what they could say that would do us good. Does Mabel know about Álvez’s extortion of Alicia?”

“No, Alicia had hidden it from her, to save her anguish, you know? Do you think it could be useful?”

“Yes, you said the judge was sensitive, didn’t you? Well, we’ll give her the chance to prove it. I suppose anyone shrewd listening to Mabel and Alicia would know whether or not they’re lying: it’s fundamental that we convince Doctor Bisson that we’re telling the truth. She must realise that you’re being swindled. Only thus will we be able to get a result. The support we’ve got isn’t enough; Juana Artigas’s version is much more solid. What’s more, it’s not enough that Doctor Bisson believes us: we’ve got to contribute serious elements of proof. If we don’t, she’ll never be able to give a sentence in our favour and, if she did, the Chamber would revoke her sentence. This is the weak link, proof: we haven’t got any. Did you hire a detective? Someone to investigate? I think it’s important.”

“Yes,” answered Roberto, “I entrusted that task to a retired police officer. He’s a dynamic person I’ve known for years. He hasn’t managed to get anything yet. Although...”

“Yes? Did you find out something else?” she asked interestedly.

“I don’t know, a possible clue. Alicia told my daughter that a secretary of Álvez’s, Estela Cáceres, could be a good informer. I haven’t managed to contact her yet; I’m trying. I talked about it with my friends. Fernando Renti has agreed to approach her, he’ll go with Alicia. He’s the best negotiator I know, I hope he gets a result. If everything works out, they’ll be in a tight spot within a few days.”