Chapter 9 Summary

Their promise to return the television and radio as yet unfulfilled, Maruja's supplication turns into fervent, angry demands until finally, gambling on the fact that her captors are under strict orders not to mistreat her, she threatens to stop eating. Then, in the early morning three days after Beatriz's release, the majordomo returns the appliances, while also announcing to Maruja that Marina Montoya is dead.

Later that same day, she sees Beatriz alive and well in an apartment she recognizes as her own, though, almost humorously so, she is dismayed at the manner in which it has been re-decorated. Suffused with a maelstrom of emotions her days and nights in captivity become intolerable. She suffers from hallucinations and imagines she can hear Marina whispering to her. On one occasion she is convinced that Marina grasped her arm and in her natural voice called...