by Sam Hawken
‘Two girls in a white car. It was late and they were driving around like they were lost. Too slow, you know? They were stopped.’
Bernardo was slow to ask the next question, afraid that it would scare the caller away and he would learn no more. ‘Who stopped them?’
‘I don’t know if I should say. If someone found out what I told you… it would go badly for me.’
‘Please,’ Bernardo said, ‘I only want to know. My daughter has been missing for weeks. Her mother wants to know. Her brother and sister. Anything you can tell me. Anything at all.’
‘Maybe I should wait until you can give me a reward.’
‘Whatever you want,’ Bernardo said.
Bernardo thought he heard a car honk its horn in the background of the call. He imagined the man on the street, huddled in a doorway where no one could see. Maybe he was there, where it happened. Maybe he could see the spot right now.
‘Are you still there?’ Bernardo asked.
‘I’m still here,’ the caller said.
‘Will you tell me what you know?’
‘You have to understand,’ the caller said, ‘I had nothing to do with it. I was on the street when it happened. I was drunk, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see it.’
‘What did you see?’ Bernardo asked again.
‘There were two of them. Two cops. They stopped the girls with their lights.’
Bernardo realized he was holding his breath. He let go. ‘Policemen,’ he said.
‘Yes. They didn’t see me, but I saw them. I know them. They come through this neighborhood all the time. When they stopped the girls, I hid and watched.’
‘What are their names?’ Bernardo asked. ‘Do you know their names?’
‘No, I don’t. I know their faces. And I know they belong to Los Zetas. Lots of police do, but these two for certain.’
At the mention of the Zetas, Bernardo felt a pang of fear and his grip on the phone loosened. A faintness passed through him. He had to force himself to breathe again. ‘What did they do?’
‘They stopped the car. They made the girls get out. They searched them.’
‘And then?’
‘They took them.’
‘What do you mean, they took them?’ Bernardo asked.
‘They put handcuffs on them and put them in the back of their car. The girls were shouting at them, but they didn’t listen. They put them in the car and took them away.’
‘To where?’
‘I don’t know where!’ the caller suddenly erupted. ‘Isn’t it enough that I told you the rest? They left me behind! I didn’t see anything else!’
Bernardo licked his lips and found them dry. ‘This information is good. I will pay for it. As much as I can afford. You can tell us what the policemen looked like.’
‘I’m not telling you anything else.’
‘Don’t you want money? I said I’ll give you money.’
‘I’ve changed my mind. I told you, these men belong to the Zetas. I was stupid to even call you.’
‘No, no!’ Bernardo said. ‘It’s good that you called! Please, is there anything more? Did you get the number of the police car? Which way were they headed when they drove away?’
The caller made an angry noise. ‘There is no more! And if you were smart, you would forget about finding those girls! No good can come of this. They’re gone.’
‘Please—’ Bernardo said, but the line clicked and he was speaking to a dead phone. The trembling overtook him again and he held the phone between both hands to keep from dropping it. His mind was awhirl.
He heard the jangle of the bells at the front gate.
EIGHTEEN
GONZALO LISTENED TO BERNARDO’S STORY with an expression of concentration on his face, as if every word counted. Jack supposed it did. He saw that Bernardo was visibly shaken and he wondered whether he looked the same way. His stomach was a knot.
When Bernardo was finished, Gonzalo asked him questions about the caller. What he sounded like, where he might have been calling from, anything that might lead them to the man, but there was nothing to be had. There was only the phone number he had called from, and when Bernardo tried the line it simply rang and rang.
‘I can run the number through the system tomorrow,’ Gonzalo said. ‘If it belongs to someone we can track down, then we will have a witness.’
‘Those cops,’ Jack said, ‘they were Guadalupe and his partner. You have evidence. It had to be them.’
Gonzalo nodded slowly. ‘I believe so, yes.’
‘How can we find out for sure?’
‘If we can locate this witness and persuade him to talk to Alvares and his men, then we will have something,’ Gonzalo said.
‘There’s got to be some way we can use this now.’
‘There is. Guadalupe does not know that the witness is anonymous. I can confront him with the information that he was seen on the night in the company of the girls. I can prove he was there from his fingerprints. I can use his disciplinary record against him. He is corrupt, and if he is the type to run scared, then he may tell me the whole story.’
‘What about Los Zetas?’ Jack asked.
Bernardo held shaky fingers to his lips. He took them away and said, ‘The caller said the policemen belonged to the Zetas.’
Gonzalo’s face darkened. ‘That is another matter altogether.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that it is one thing to get a crooked policeman to confess to taking bribes but something else entirely to accuse him of cooperation with the cartels.’
‘But you think it’s true,’ Jack said. ‘You told me—’
‘I have learned some things that can’t yet be proved, but they concern me. That is why I’ve asked you to leave, Jack. Perhaps you didn’t understand before, but now you realize what we’re up against in this city. The cartels offer two options to the policemen they wish to buy: plata o plomo.’
‘Silver or lead?’
‘Police who do not take the money are given the gun,’ Gonzalo said. ‘Even good cops can break under that kind of pressure.’
‘Guadalupe is not a good cop,’ Jack said.
‘No. He’s an opportunist. And we must hope he’s also a coward, because he must fear Alvares and his men more than he fears the Zetas. That part is not so easy. The Zetas can reach anywhere.’
‘I don’t understand why he would take them,’ Bernardo suddenly burst out. His fingers twitched erratically, but he was still holding onto his phone so tightly that his knuckles shone white. ‘Why would he take them in his car in the middle of the night?’
Gonzalo spoke in soothing tones. ‘That is not something that should worry you now, Sr Sigala. The important thing is that he did not harm them. They were under arrest, but they were alive when the witness saw them. Concentrate on that.’
‘They weren’t hurting anyone!’
Jack reached out and put his hand on Bernardo’s shoulder. He felt the muscles knotted underneath the skin, the invisible tremors that coursed through Bernardo’s body and showed in his face and hands. If he could have, he would have put his arms around Bernardo, but he sensed that Bernardo would only pull away. ‘It’s going to be all right,’ Jack said, and it sounded lame even to him.
‘Promise me you will get the truth from him, Inspector Soler,’ Bernardo said. ‘Make him admit where he took our girls. It’s not too late. They could still be unharmed.’
‘I promise you I will do everything I can to find out what happened that night,’ Gonzalo said.
Bernardo nodded shakily. ‘All right.’
‘Jack, may I speak to you alone?’ Gonzalo asked.
‘Sure. Let’s go outside.’
Gonzalo left by the front door and Jack met him in the little courtyard by the cold, ashy grill. His mouth was a flat line and his eyes were dark.
‘What is it?’ Jack asked.
‘I’ve deliberately kept things from your brother-in-law because I don’t want him to fall apart,’ G
onzalo said. ‘You can see already what a mess he is just hearing the name of Los Zetas.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Try to help him through this and let me be the one to tell him anything new that we learn. I know he is your brother-inlaw, but it would be better for me to withhold information as needed.’
‘I don’t like keeping him in the dark.’
‘It’s in his best interest, Jack. Bernardo has a family and he must be strong for them. He can’t do that if he’s in a blind panic.’
Jack considered. ‘I’ll do it, but no more trying to freeze me out. I have more invested in this than you do and I want to be involved. Don’t try to send me back over the bridge.’
‘It may not be my choice to make. If Alvares decides you are interfering with an ongoing investigation, he may have you expelled. He has the power to do that.’
‘I’d go to my government and file a complaint,’ Jack said.
‘And in the meantime things will go on just as Alvares wants them. It could be weeks or months before you gathered enough cover to come back. The army owns this city now. Between them and the Federal Police, you wouldn’t be able to make a move without being picked up.’
‘Don’t they understand that I’m just trying to help?’ Jack asked.
‘You’re a civilian. Not a policeman. Not a soldier. In their eyes, you are at best an impediment to a clean investigation, at worst an outright liability. And if they knew you brought a gun into the country you would have crossed the line to criminal, suitable only to be squashed. So far you’ve been treated with kid gloves. Don’t give them any excuse to take them off.’
NINETEEN
ON THE MORNING OF THE NEXT DAY, Gonzalo took special care to present himself properly. He brought out an iron and pressed his shirt and pants. A new tie came out for the occasion and he wore his best jacket. He made sure to be freshly shaved and his only regret was that he had not taken the opportunity to get a haircut. When he looked in the mirror, he was the image of a police inspector. He still missed his gun.
Alvares had given him a timetable and he drove to the station house early to prepare. Gonzalo was pleased to note that the soldier, Gervasio Chaidez, had followed his instructions about organizing the case files and he did not have to search for the right folders for long. After that he ensconced himself in the interrogation room alone, poring over the scanty information he had, adding notes in the margins and a whole page of additional observations gathered since.
The sound-absorbing foam kept him from hearing the approaching footsteps of Guadalupe and his escort, but somehow Gonzalo sensed they were on their way. He glanced up at the eye of the video camera and half-waved to whomever was watching. Keys rattled in the lock and the door swung wide.
Guadalupe was in civilian clothes. His shirt was rumpled and looked as though it had been rescued from a laundry pile. He wore no tie and had on battered sneakers. When he saw Gonzalo there was an instant of surprise that hardened into visible distaste.
The soldiers with Guadalupe had not cuffed him. They crowded him through the door and shut it firmly behind him. Gonzalo did not rise to shake Guadalupe’s hand, nor did he greet him. They simply looked at each other for a long minute marked by total silence.
Gonzalo spoke first. ‘Sit down,’ he said.
‘What are you doing here?’ Guadalupe asked.
‘Sit down. Please.’
Guadalupe was slow to comply, but eventually he did sit opposite Gonzalo at the undersized table. His gaze roamed over the notes and papers laid out in front of Gonzalo. Gonzalo hoped for some sign of nerves, but there was none.
‘Am I under arrest?’ asked Guadalupe.
‘Not as far as I’m aware,’ Gonzalo said. ‘What did they tell you when you were brought in?’
‘That I had to answer questions related to reinstatement. I expected an interview for a background check, not this. Aren’t you sidelined like all the rest of us?’
‘I’ve been given special permission to speak with you,’ Gonzalo replied.
‘Did you cut some kind of deal?’
‘No deals. I’m assisting with an investigation.’
‘What investigation?’
Gonzalo brought out the pictures of Marina Cobos and Patricia Sigala. He laid them side by side on the table facing Guadalupe and let the man look over them before answering. ‘These girls are missing,’ Gonzalo said. ‘I asked you about them before.’
‘And I told you I’ve never seen them.’
‘Is that the answer you want to stick with?’ Gonzalo asked.
‘It’s the truth.’
He left the pictures where they were and paged through the file until he reached the fingerprint results. A black-and-white printout showed Guadalupe’s prints from his file and the prints taken from the car, the points of similarity marked with circles so they could not be missed. ‘Before we continue,’ Gonzalo said, ‘I should warn you that what you say today could affect your position in the police force.’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’
‘It means you could be terminated permanently.’
‘I’ve got nothing to hide.’
‘Then you won’t mind explaining how your thumb and forefinger prints managed to make their way onto the vehicle those girls were driving on the night of their disappearance.’
Gonzalo thought he caught the flicker of something then, but it was gone in an eye-blink, supplanted by the same smoldering dislike. Guadalupe pushed back from the table, but the back of his chair hit the wall and he was forced to scoot forward again. The interrogation room was meant to be intimate. There was no avoiding it.
‘Can you explain your prints being there?’ Gonzalo asked.
‘How do I know that’s even true?’
‘I have the report here if you want to see it. Would you like to?’
‘No, I don’t need to see it.’
‘Then you admit to having contact with these two girls.’
‘I’m not admitting anything!’ Guadalupe shot back. ‘If you say my fingerprints are there, then I can’t argue with you. Maybe sometime I pulled the car over. Maybe it was that night, maybe it was some other night.’
‘You told me before that you hadn’t seen the vehicle I described. A white Galant. Texas plates.’
‘I pull over a lot of cars with Texas plates,’ Guadalupe said. ‘Those people come over here and drive like they own the road. They don’t have diplomatic immunity. We pull them over, they get tickets the same as anyone else.’
‘And sometimes they pay to avoid the tickets altogether,’ Gonzalo said.
‘Are you accusing me of something?’
‘I only note that in your personnel report you were accused on three separate occasions of taking bribes.’
‘And none of them stuck,’ Guadalupe returned. ‘How about you? Have you ever been accused of taking the mordida?’
Gonzalo looked down before Guadalupe could see something he did not want to reveal. Instead he riffled the pages of the case file as if looking for something in particular, though his next question was already prepared. ‘Is it possible that on the night in question you stopped the girls for some infraction and tried to get money from them?’
‘How stupid would I be to answer that?’ Guadalupe asked.
‘Then let me put it another way. Is it possible you pulled the car over and it simply slipped your mind when asked about it later? For whatever reason.’
Guadalupe was slow to speak. ‘I guess it’s possible,’ he said carefully.
‘Then the fingerprints on the car can be explained. You made a routine traffic stop in the middle of the night. Maybe you put your hand on the door when you talked to the driver.’
‘Maybe,’ Guadalupe said.
‘So it would stand to reason that if you did pull the girls over, you would have written them a ticket?’
Guadalupe said nothing.
‘You would have a copy of any citation you wrote that night, wouldn�
�t you?’ Gonzalo asked. ‘Something you could show me?’
‘What are you playing at?’ Guadalupe asked.
‘I’m simply asking the question.’
‘All right, let’s say I pulled them over,’ Guadalupe said. ‘Let’s say I gave the driver a talking to. That doesn’t mean I wrote her a ticket. I could have let them off with a warning.’
‘Did you?’
‘I’m not admitting I stopped them at all.’
Gonzalo slammed his open palm down on the table hard enough to make Guadalupe flinch. ‘Let’s cut the bullshit! If you pulled that car over, I want to know that you did it. Now.’
They matched gazes and for a long moment Gonzalo thought Guadalupe would not speak at all, then the man glanced away. ‘Okay, I pulled them over,’ he said. ‘What about it? I didn’t do anything to them.’
Gonzalo let his breath go. He’d been holding it and his heart beat heavily. With a finger he nudged the pictures of the girls closer to Guadalupe. ‘I knew you stopped their car all along,’ he said. ‘Do you want to know how?’
‘How?’ Guadalupe asked.
‘I have a witness who saw it happen.’
‘What witness? There was nobody around.’
‘A witness identified you and your partner,’ Gonzalo said. It was half a lie, but Guadalupe would not know. ‘They said you pulled them over and had them step out of the vehicle.’
‘That didn’t happen.’
‘And then you put the cuffs on them.’
‘That’s a lie!’ Guadalupe shouted.
‘And then you made them get in the back of your patrol unit,’ Gonzalo said with a raised voice. ‘They saw the entire thing from start to finish, so if you’re going to keep denying it you’re doing yourself no good.’
‘I made no arrests that night,’ Guadalupe said.
‘My witness says otherwise.’
‘Your witness is full of shit! Check the records! Have you checked them? I didn’t arrest anyone.’
‘What would your partner say if I asked him?’
‘The same! I admit to pulling them over, but it was only to give them a talking to. They were driving too slowly and they were weaving. I could smell the alcohol on the driver’s breath as soon as she put down the window.’