Nobody listened to me.
Nobody took me seriously.
Until the day I returned accompanied…
and the account that “did not exist” changed everyone’s destiny.
Today, almost no one remembers when I started going there.
To them, I was just another woman, a recurring shadow in the lobby.
But I do remember.
I remember it because each visit carried a different weight.
Because every time I crossed that glass door, I felt I was walking not just toward a bank, but toward the memory of my son.
Every first Monday of the month, at nine o’clock in the morning, I would stand in front of the National Bank branch in the Center, in Toluca.
Not a minute earlier.
Not a minute later.
I didn’t carry a purse.
I never needed one.
I was only carrying my blue folder.
Old.
Worn out.
With corners bent by time and by my hands.
There was no money inside.
There were papers, copies, notes.
And there was a promise.
“Good morning,” he would always say, in this tired voice that I no longer try to hide. “I’ve come to ask about my son’s account.”
At first they served me out of politeness.
They smiled at me.
They nodded.
Then it became routine.
They no longer smiled, but they asked questions.
In the end… it was a nuisance.
Sighs.
Glances at the clock.
Impatiently pounding keys.
—Name of the owner? —they asked without looking at me, their eyes glued to the screen.
—Daniel Ortiz Ramírez —I would reply, always the same, always firm.
They typed.
They waited.
They frowned.
—There is no account with that name, ma’am.
I nodded.
As if I already knew.
As if it wasn’t the answer I’d heard for seven years .
“Could you check again?” he asked. “It was opened in March, seven years ago . Here in downtown Toluca. The partial number… ends in 48.”
Some chuckled quietly.
Others rolled their eyes shamelessly.
“Look, ma’am,” they told me, “there’s nothing here. Maybe your son had an account at another bank.”
I closed the folder.
Slowly.
Carefully, as if I were closing something alive.
—Thank you —he replied—. I’ll be back next month.
And he returned.
They started calling me the crazy woman from the bank.
I knew it because words are felt even if they aren’t said face to face.
The guards were already familiar with my slow pace, my simple clothes, my way of waiting silently.
A couple of times they tried to stop me.
“You can’t be bothering the staff,” one of them, a young man, told me, looking uncomfortable. “It’s already been explained to you.”
I looked him in the eyes.
Without anger.
Without pleading.
“I’m not bothering you,” I told him. “I’m asking about my son’s money.”
They never knew how to answer that.
And they always let me through.
I lived—and still live—in a tin-roofed house in San Mateo Oxtotitlán.
When it rains, the roof sings.
When it’s cold, the wind sneaks in uninvited.
I washed other people’s clothes three times a week.
My hands were cracked, but soap doesn’t forgive.
She cooked beans, rice, and, if she was lucky, a little chicken on Sundays.
Not because she was hungry.
Out of habit.
Daniel was my only son.
A systems engineer.
Quiet.
Observant.
The kind of people who listen more than they speak, and when they do speak, they say just enough.
Seven years ago he was killed in an alleged robbery.
A gunshot.
A file.
A “case closed” too quickly to be true.
Before he died he told me something that I didn’t fully understand at the time:
—If anything ever happens to me… go to the bank. Ask about the account. Don’t leave even if they tell you it doesn’t exist.
I didn’t understand banks.
Or systems.
Or money.
But she understood promises.
And mothers.
So I went.
Every month.
For seven years .
Even if it rained.
Even if it hurt.
Until one Tuesday something changed.
The new manager saw me from his office.
I knew it from the way his gaze lingered on me, as if he’d seen something unexpected.
“That lady again?” he asked. “Who let her in?”
He asked for my son’s name.
Daniel Ortiz Ramírez.
When he typed it into his system, his face paled.
I didn’t know it then, but I had triggered an alert that shouldn’t be touched.
Account blocked for internal audit.
Public disclosure prohibited.
That day he ordered that I would not be allowed to pass anymore.
But the next time…
I didn’t arrive alone.
Part 2 …
I arrived with a man in a dark suit.
With a woman with a steady gaze and a leather briefcase.
And with a sealed black folder.
“Good morning,” I said calmly. “I’ve come with someone today.”
—Ms. Verónica Salgado, anti-corruption prosecutor —she introduced herself.
—Ms. Raúl Mendoza, lawyer —he replied.
I opened my blue folder.
—Now then—I said—. Let’s ask properly.
In a closed room, the truth began to emerge, piece by piece.
My son wasn’t just an engineer.
He worked for a shell company.
Money laundering.
Embezzlement.
Phantom funds.
He discovered it.
And he didn’t run away.
He documented everything.
Dates.
Names.
Routes.
He opened an account with a special protocol.
It would only be activated if he died.
That’s why the account “didn’t exist”.
It existed too much.
“Why didn’t you report it sooner?” they asked.
I looked up.
—Because he wanted irrefutable proof.
And because he knew they wouldn’t believe him… until I showed up.
When they opened the account, the amount filled the screen.
Hundreds of millions of pesos.
They weren’t for me.
They were tests.
Each transfer had a name.
Each name, a guilt.
They secured the branch that same day.
The next day, the news broke.
I didn’t give interviews. I
never wanted to.
I only asked for one thing:
that my son’s name be cleared.
Weeks later they placed a discreet plaque on the bench:
Daniel Ortiz Ramirez,
a citizen who chose the truth.
I went one last time.
Not to ask.
Just to look.
I walked out slowly, with my blue folder under my arm.
He had done his duty.
And nobody…
nobody ever laughed at me again.
