Women in Black – Alma

By: Gladys Luna

The phone rings and Gerardo (Horacio García Rojas) is informed that another female body has been found in a sewer so he rushes out of bed and into the location where Díaz (Ricardo Esquerra) and Vaca (Brian Espitia) are already waiting for him. Based on the scene and the injuries caused to the body, it appears that a copycat of The Undresser is on the loose. When Gerardo approaches the body, the woman opens her eyes and coughs making him realize that she is still alive.

María (Bárbara Mori) wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to see Alejandro (Leonardo Sbaraglia) who is still sleeping on the couch; the woman tries to convince him to go back to their bedroom but he refuses to talk. She tells him how Natalia’s (María José Mariscal) memory has been hunting her for a while now but unfortunately for her, the man falls back asleep before she could say anything else. In the morning, María pays a visit to Jessica (Montserrat Ángeles) to ask for her help identifying the car that was parked outside the restaurant the day her sister died. The woman is reluctant to talk any further about what happened to her sister but changes her mind when María tells her she suspects that the police caught the wrong guy and The Undresser might be still out there. Meanwhile, Gerardo and Díaz are at the hospital where the victim has been admitted and identified as Alma Álvarez (Ivana de María); Lucas (Sebastián Buitrón) shows up trying to gather some information for the newspaper he is working at but the detectives refuse to tell him anything at all. Later on, Gerardo and Díaz meet with Alma’s friend Bertha (Elena Garibay) to question her about her friend and it is there where she tells them about the man that used to visit her friend often attempting to convince her to go out with him but, she couldn’t provide any more details that could be useful for the investigation.

At the station, María meets with Octavio (Miguel Rodarte) to tell him that the car she saw at the cemetery and the one that Jessica saw might be the same one but as always, the detective does not believe her and instead, he asks her to go help Chela (Azalia Ortíz) with some paperwork and as a punishment for getting late to work he adds three extra hours to her shift. Alejandro is at the office where he is forced to witness how his promotion is handed on a silver plate to Miguel (Jerónimo Best); he pretends to be happy for his co-worker and congratulates him then go back to his office looking completely disappointed. He calls María to tell him what he already knew that would happen and asks her to join him for the celebration dinner that Cabos (Alfredo Alonso) will throw for his new partner but María is not so sure she will be able to attend given the extra hours she has to work at the station. Sometime after, Alejandro receives the visit of Francesca (María de la Fuente), his ex-lover who shows up with a new proposal to meet later that night with her and although he refuses to it, there’s something about the way he looks at her that implies he might change his mind after all.

Lucas meets with Valentina (Natalia Téllez) and puts her up to speed about the woman the police has found and lets her know that maybe The Undresser has a copycat. He also takes the chance to confirm her that he has a new girlfriend and would like for her to leave him alone for once. As it is expected, Valentina asks Gabina (Amorita Rasgado) to steal the file out of her brother’s office and when he is out visiting Alma who has finally woken up, Gabina takes the file and gives it to the squad to make a copy of it. Ángeles (Ximena Sariñana) thinks to ask her ex- coworker Sofía (Iliana Donatlán) to let her know about the results on the rope that the killer used so that way they’ll be able to confirm if it’s the same one that The Undresser has used or not. The squad also realizes about Alma’s friend, Bertha and decide to visit her to gather some more information about the victim. Once they do, Bertha lets them know about the man that had been harassing her friend and recalls that he gave her a business card for her to pass it onto Alma and that is how they identify the man as Juan Callos (Pablo Perroni). Valentina also uses the white pages to get his address and since it is very likely that the detectives won’t listen to anything they say, they suggest Bertha to call the station and give them the information about Juan and when she does, Gerardo and his team realize that the man has been charged before for assault and attempted rape but got away with it and to make matters worse, Sofía confirms that the rope that was used to harm Alma was the same one The Undresser uses so, they go straight to Juan’s home to apprehend him but before they get there, María shows up and patiently waits outside until he leaves the house in his car so she follows him. When the man notices that she has been after him, he leads her to an empty street where he can confront her but before he does, he makes sure to scare her by breaking her windshield making the woman to drive away as fast as possible. Later on, Valentina meets with her sister at the garage where she has left her car and makes her promise her that she will not put herself at risk ever again.  The police break into Juan’s house and take him to the station where Gerardo plans to interrogate him about the victims.

On the other hand, Valentina encourages María to join Alejandro at his office dinner and informs her that Ángeles has offered to cover for her while she is gone. She even helps her find a new dress to wear that night. When she arrives to the party, is surprised to find out that Alejandro is nowhere to be found so she calls her mother Luz (Rosa María Bianchi) who is at her house babysitting her grandchildren to ask if her husband is there but she confirms he is not. Back at the station, Jessica talks to Lozano about her sister’s murder now that she knows the killer might still be on the loose when Gerardo arrives with Juan and the woman cannot help but to jump on him and beat him until she is stopped by the other cops. Gerardo is now face to face with Juan and uses every skill he has to make him confess but to no avail. Juan’s cocky attitude breaks when he is told that his last victim is still alive but then, he switches back to his typical face assuring Gerardo that he was somewhere else when Alma was attacked. Gerardo is losing his patience when he is interrupted by Lozano who takes him out of the interrogation room and tells him that Juan’s alibi has been confirmed and to top that off, he is the son of the prestigious Judge Callos so they have to let him go immediately.

Gabriel (Juan Carlos Medellín) sees Ángeles working on the files and offers to help her but she refuses; the man asks her if he can keep her some company to what the woman agrees to. Lucas calls Gerardo and tells him that he knows that The Undresser might be still out there and he is willing to publish a story about it but Gerardo advises him that if he does, he might be obstructing an investigation that is still in progress.

Valentina and Gabina go out for the night to have some fun; the first one goes to order some drinks while an unknown man approaches Gabina recognizing her as the one that appeared on a famous magazine along with her father (Mario Zaragoza). He asks her for a dance but Valentina interrupts them saying that her friend is not available for the moment. Sometime later, the two women are dancing with a couple of guys; Valentina goes to the bathroom while Darío (Octavio Anza), the man with whom Gabina has been dancing with asks her to go outside. Once they leave the club he tries to kiss her without her contentment and the unknown man that had asked her to dance early on sees her, he tries to stop Darío which earns him a punch straight on the face sending him to the ground then, Valentina finds her and takes her back home.

At the station, María thanks Ángeles for her assistance and the woman leaves with Gabriel who has been keeping her company all along. The phone rings and when María asks who is in the other side of the line, a male voice introduces himself as The Undresser.