by P J Brooke
‘Thank you, Emilia. We need to keep the two families well apart. Ask Señora Maya and Angelita to wait in Verónica’s office, please.’
Gerardo was ushered through to the Fiscal’s office. He was wearing jeans and a jumper, but still managed to look vaguely clerical.
‘Angelita’s told me everything she knows.’
‘That’s great. Do you think she’ll tell us the full story?’
‘I’m not sure. She’s crying all the time, terrified of what the boys will do to her if they think she’s a sneak. But maybe if one of the boys confesses … that will make it easier for her.’
The Fiscal smiled. ‘That’s okay. The boys won’t need to know that she’s made a statement.’
‘And once I have more information, I’m sure I can get Nico to speak out. He’s on the verge of tears‚’ said Max.
Gerardo had made some notes. ‘Well, poor Angelita really believed all that abuela stuff about how evil Paco was, and how he deserved to be punished.’
‘Poor kid.’
‘Anyway, la abuela told everyone in the family that there was a reward for anyone who got that bastard Paco to sign and sell his land. And Tomasito wanted one of those little motorbike things.’
‘Bloody hell. So what happened?’
‘Angelita doesn’t know everything. But the boys met Angelita coming up the path to Paco’s cave as they came running down it, shouting “Paco’s dead. Get the hell out of here!”’
‘So she doesn’t know what actually happened at the cave?’
‘That’s correct. And later on the kids swore their famous oath to never tell anyone where they had really been that day.’
The Fiscal turned to Max. ‘That’s not enough to take this to the judge, you know.’
‘But there’s more‚’ said Gerardo. ‘Nico said something to Angelita later. Paco was going to get them a drink. So Paco was alive when the three boys got to his cave.’
‘Díos mío.’
‘I know.’
‘I shall get Nico to tell the truth now‚’ said Max.
Catalina, Angelita and the child welfare officer went quietly to the Fiscal’s office. Angelita made her statement.
‘Thanks, Gerardo. We might have cracked it.’
‘I’m used to confessions. Not that much difference between a priest and a cop, is there?’
Max smiled.
‘Catalina, querida‚’ said Gerardo, ‘you take Angelita home. I’ll wait here until Max has finished.’
The Fiscal agreed to give Max another half-hour with Nico. It would have to be a case of tough love.
‘Nico‚’ Max began, ‘Rafa has told us quite a lot. He’s admitted you all cycled over to Paco’s cave that day.’
Nico looked frightened. His mother glared at Max and the Fiscal, but kept quiet.
‘We have photos of bicycle tyre marks taken on the day your uncle Paco died. We can easily prove they came from your bikes.’
Nico turned pale.
‘Rafa said you three boys went up to Paco’s cave. He was alive when you arrived, wasn’t he?
‘No. No‚’ screamed Nico.
‘He was going to get you a glass of water‚’ said Max.
‘He wasn’t. He was dead when we got there. He was dead.’
‘Nico, we saw the glasses. Just tell me the truth. You’ll feel a lot better‚’ said Max.
‘It wasn’t me. It was Tomasito’s idea.’
‘So what happened?’
‘We’d seen this film on TV. The bad guys put a plastic bag over this guy’s head to frighten him. And he told the baddies where the money was.’
‘And then?’
‘Tomasito said we could do that. Get Paco to sign a piece of paper to sell his land to give the money to Angelita. Tomasito said we’d all get rewards from la abuela.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘We all went off into Sacromonte on the bikes.’
‘With Angelita?’
‘Sí, we’d promised to look after her. But she’s dead slow on her bike. I wanted to stay behind to help her. But Tomasito … he said no, she’d catch us up later.’
‘So, Angelita never got to Paco’s cave.’
‘No.’
‘And then?’
‘Paco knew who we were. He was all friendly. Said he’d get us a drink. And then we jumped him, tied his hands and arms behind the chair, and Tomasito put this plastic bag over his head.’
‘And then?’
‘He kicked around a lot. Then sort of fell. We got the bag off quick. Rafa started screaming, “He’s dead. He’s dead.” Tomasito said we had to put him back inside the cave. So we untied the rope and put Paco, the chair and the guitar inside the cave. Tomasito said we had to wipe everything clean, and take the plastic bag and string with us. We shut the door and ran.’
‘And Negrito, the dog?’
‘He wouldn’t stop barking. So Tomasito kicked him.’
‘Do you still have the string and plastic bag?’
‘No. Tomasito got rid of them.’
Nico put his head on the table and cried. His mother put her arms around him.
Max got up and left the room. Gerardo was waiting in the corridor.
‘He’s confessed‚’ said Max. ‘There was no need to mention Angelita. La abuela – she got her revenge, didn’t she, Gerardo?’
‘Yes. She planned it.’
Max looked out of the window on to the busy street below. Something Margarita had once said was floating below the surface of his memory. Yes. Lady Macbeth’s speech. ‘My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white …’
‘Max, what’s likely to happen to the boys?’
‘Hard to say. They’re all under age. So probably not much these days.’
‘Funny, isn’t it? Paco died because a boy wanted one of those awful kids’ motorbikes. And that opened up a whole can of worms.’
‘It did, Gerardo, it did.’
And in the office of the Fiscalia de Menores, two mothers wept.
Also by P.J. Brooke
Blood Wedding
Copyright
Constable & Robinson Ltd
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First published in the UK by Constable, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2010
Copyright © Jane Brooke and Philip O’Brien, 2010
The right of Danny Dorling to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978–1–84901–627–8