Son at least three brands —informó.
Three days. A month late.
The media pressure increased and the police expanded the search radio. For the first time, a theory emerged that then seemed unthinkable: that another person was involved.
And this theory was reinforced when, at the end of the day, a rescuer found a modern and relatively new team, which belonged neither to Julián, nor to Clara, nor to the teams that worked in the area.
—Someone is here —said Morel, looking at the mountain as if I could answer him.
But the mountain continued in silence.
What they found the next day, however, I would speak for her.
The third day of the search was decisive. Exploration was expanded to the upper area of the cliff, where the rock formed a kind of vertical corridor filled with protrusions and small platforms. According to experts, a person could be displaced everywhere with difficulty… but not a girl of new years alone.
Twenty meters from the cavity they found signs of recent human activity: light huellas, as if someone supported themselves with the foot of the foot to ascend. The strange thing was that they seemed too recent to correspond to the time of her disappearance.
The clave came when one of the rescuers halló, between soft stones, a metallic necklace in the shape of a star. The family immediately confirmed that it belonged to Clara. It was his favorite amulet, which he had carried since five years ago.
But the big surprise appeared three hours later.
On a natural protrusion, semi-hidden among dry bushes, there was a metal box of first aids, oxidized at the edges but clearly placed there with intention. Inside there were sales, leftover medicines... and a note folded carefully inside a plastic bag.
Morel opened the note. The temblorous scripture in the dejaba doubts:
"If someone found this, help. It wasn't your fault. It came back, but it wasn't the same. We couldn't get down. We tried to ask for help. If Clara is alive... please take care of her."
Signed: JH
The message was always disconcerting. ¿“Él volvió”? What was that “él”?
The family revealed a shocking detail: weeks before disappearing, Julián had conflicts with a man called Aitor, an old expedition companion who had publicly accused him of taking ownership of a joint photographic project. The fall of their friendship was abrupt and bitter.
The gendarmerie reopened a parallel investigation into Aitor. It turned out that he had been in the Pyrenees just during the days of his disappearance… but he had never confessed it.
Meanwhile, the equipment will find a natural exit in the upper part of the cliff, a narrow corridor that leads to a wooded area very far from the main path. There, under the covers of hojas, they found traces of a rudimentary camp, apparently used years ago: remains of a stove, an oxidized knife and several food wrappers.
And among the objects, something devastating: a small shoe, identified as Clara's, along with scraps of clothing. There were no bones, which meant that the girl could have left this point in life.
—Everything changes —says Morel. Here it was, but it moved. Y in solos.
The final investigation revealed that Aitor had been seen in the area by local shepherds. One of the most solid hypotheses was that he found Julián and Clara after the accident. Instead of helping immediately, he tried to resolve his personal conflict with Julián, demanding explanations at a critical moment. The discussion could have intensified, causing a forced separation between adults and leaving Clara with absolute vulnerability.
Aitor was provisionally detained, even though he insisted on his innocence. I say that I only saw Julián, but when I returned with help, I wasn't there.
The question that follows without an answer is the most painful: what happened with Clara?
The teams expanded the search for weeks. Isolated tracks will be found, but never a body. The authorities now believe that Clara could have been sheltered — or held back — by someone in one of the remote villages, or tried to walk alone in search of help.
The case, reopened five years later, remains active. Yet the mountain revealed a large part of its secret, but concealed its most important truth.
