I scoop Natalia into my arms and carry her over the threshold into her room as if we were a newlywed couple. The kind that now only exists in our imagination. But our imagination and her body work miracles, and lying next to her I feel new hope flowing through my veins.
The frustration!
Not being able to disembowel the third woman
I'll send a souvenir to the Chief
Ha ha ha ha ha
It's so easy
Ohhhhh
How I'd love to take one down
Outside my own house
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
16
A crowd has gathered around one of the market stalls in San Gines square. A police car is parked haphazardly nearby, all the doors open. We elbow our way through the throngs of people and see damaged merchandise scattered on the ground: broken shards of DVD, T-shirts that have been stepped on, baseball caps tossed willy-nilly, braided and leather wrist bands, bracelets, necklaces, piercings. Two goths are the ground too, writhing in agony.
A local police officer comes over.
- 'He went mad. Four officers couldn't pin him down.'
I imagine Lopez in a blazing rage and I'm amazed they've managed to subdue him at all with only four cops there. The officer points at a nearby cafe.
- 'An ambulance is on its way,' he adds.
Lopez in sitting in a chair there. Head down, surrounded by three officers from the local force. They all know him and the looks of worry on their faces are proof they're scared of what may happen to him.
- 'What's the score, Lopez?'
- 'I couldn't help it,' he says in a small voice after a very long pause.
The waiter comes over with a chamomile tea wafting herbal fumes. Lopez thanks him, calling him by name. An officer hands me a smartphone.
- 'It was because of this.'
One of the goths now moaning with pain on the ground appears onscreen. He's rapping.
In Baria town
Dark nights, deep sea
A man with a knife
Terrorizes the city
Hide your wife
No whores this week
Don't ask any questions
Let's play hide and seek
He lays down the law
Like our hero long ago
Nameless, faceless
Bravely bared his soul
Pigs terrified
No whores no more
Come to show them a good time
Dark nights, deep sea
A man with a knife
Terrorizes the city
The man will come
Speaking through his knife
Silenced blood will sing
I'm the Ripper come to life
I leave my mark
When the spirit comes to me
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
No one my face will see
Surprise in her eyes
Swift cut to the jaw
Body floating away
Life no more - My knife will speak for me
Say hello and you scream
Cheap fucking whore
Now you're working no more
Pride of the dark hero
Like the song said
Ain't no prayers
Worth more than a cent
Look for my face
In the crowds looking on
You'll find me in that place
The darkness
Dark nights, deep sea
A man with a knife
Terrorizes the city
Natalia was right. Out of a monster, they're created a hero.
- 'He looked like Jesus in the temple, boss.'
The officer is surprised to see me smile at his remark, but I imagine my giant of a brother giving the Devil worshippers a dressing-down.
- 'I've torn everything down,' says Lopez solemnly, looking around him like someone waking up from a nightmare.
Posters with knives dripping in blood, proclaiming 'The Ripper'. A life-size cutout identical to the one the murderer left at the scene of his latest crime. Lopez has kicked and ripped everything to pieces. Trodden baseball caps and black T0-shirts emblazoned with a top hat and knife and a 'The Ripper' applique.
- 'The video's already online,' says the officer.
- 'You know what to do. Get all the evidence. Let's show these guy's who's boss before they try any funny stuff with Lopez.'
While the ambulance workers speed off with the injured, the officer nods in silence, biting his lip.
He starts to make calls.
Lopez comes out of the cafe and looks around.
- 'What a fucking mess I've got us into, boss! Just what we needed!'
- 'Don't you worry. Let's hope no one is seriously hurt.'
- 'These guys just don't have what it takes to defend themselves, boss,' says Obelix innocently.
My smile seems to cheer him up. He hides a chuckle, but his eyes light up.
We take him to hospital and they draw up an emergency medical report. The diagnosis is anxiety and symptoms of depression.
I can already hear the Chief Commissioner screa,ing blue murder and blaming me for the whole incident, but I don't care. I'd take a punch to the face for Lopez. And much worse too.
After he's discharged we drive him home, were his wife, alarmed, raises her hands to her face, as if something really terrible had happened. We explain the situation and tell Lopez to take a few days off. She sits next to Lopez on the sofa, their living room so comfortingly ordinary that it feels like cocoon to hide away in, and puts her small hand on his giant's forearm with an easy intimacy that I immediately envy. I know my friend will be fine. Better than I could ever be, in fact, because I'll never find a partner as good as his..
I hug him tightly and set off.
- This is going to drive all of us round the bend, I think to myself.
Gomez replied immediately to my message last night, so he's got everything ready for the 'prime time slot', as he calls it, rather grandly.
I'm not sure, but I decide to go ahead with the plan. Whatever happens. I send him a list of questions he'll have to ask me. He can choose the rest himself. I know that if I set any more rules he might refuse to interview me, despite the scoop it means for him. An interview with the Commissioner for the city the new Jack the Ripper has picked to be his playground. Today I'll be in the spotlight for all to see.
Gomez's studio is located in a Valle del Este building, far out from the city. I drive through yellow, desert-like fields until I reach the valley, blanketed with lush green gardens and a golf course next to a luxury hotel. The swaying palm trees and ponds seem worlds away from the fields I sped through minutes ago. Baria Communications, a local broadcasting company, is located nearby, outside the hotel and golf course, along with a number of other businesses looking for cheap rent or a place people wouldn't come looking for them. I park next to some palm trees and enter the building. They aren't the most luxurious premises in the world, but everyone fawns over me.
Gomez welcomes me with a firm handshake.
- 'Everything's ready. We'll start at nine on the dot.'
I hesitate, thinking, my jaw clenched. I curse my fate. But then I tell myself there's no going back - what will be, will be.
A young makeup artist invites me to follow her down a corridor and sits me down in front of a mirror to do my make-up. I tell her not to worry about it, but she ignores me and carries on powdering my face like I'm the next big thing.
At three to nine I smoke one last cigarette and then slip into the studio, sitting at a glass table opposite Gomez. He's leafing through a few sheets of paper, reading over the questions he hasn't let me have a look at, no doubt.
A desperate chess move.
I take a deep breath.
Gomez rattles off an introduction, describing the brutal copycat crimes committed by a Jack the Ripper imitator, the Whitech
apel murderer from1888, whose identity is still unknown and who's become a legend. Then he introduces me and the camera's impertinent eye pans in on my face. I feel panic, hesitation, vertigo.
- 'Joining me in the studio today for an exclusive interview is Commissioner Carrillo, from the Baria police force. He's a well-known figure in the city, having spent a few years working here now. Before being assigned to Baria, he worked in several different locations in Spain where conflict and violence were rife, and despite his low profile, over the past few years he's very clearly proved that he is winning the fight against crime here in Baria. Good evening, Commissionner.'
- 'Good evening.' My mouth is dry, my heart hammering in my chest.
- ''Let's jump straight in with our first question, Commissioner. Why?'
- 'That's not an easy question to answer. Most of us can understand the motives behind certain crimes, what pushes criminals to act as they do. We can understand, say, a robber who breaks into a local business to steal their takings, though we don't condone theft. We can understand a mafia, fighting to defend their business, illicit and immoral as it may be. Though their behaviour is hateful, we can make sense of it. We understand that it's part of human nature. But when we are faced with gratuitous crime, where there is no link between the killer and their victim, we naturally feel panic, because ultimately what that means is that killers do not need a motive to kill.
- So there is simply no answer to the issue of 'why'.
- No definitive, concrete answer, at least. To these killers, there is no motive, no why. The causes that lead to these types of situations have been studied, but as I say, there is no specific reasons, beyond the killer's impulse, their desire to strike.'
- 'Could you tell us a little bit about some of those causes?'
- 'It's been shown that serial killers are more prevalent in societies that are less structured, less interconnected. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly uniform, and the values and principles that used to dictate European and particularly Catholic ways of life included strong social and family ties. These ties, this connection, are not conducive to serial killers. It wasn't the right breeding ground. But, unfortunately, our society is moving away from this model, becoming more like other societies where these crimes have occurred in higher numbers.'
- 'Are we importing these types of criminals?'
- 'Truthfully, there have always been serial killers, throughout history and in every society and culture, but the phenomenon is on the rise. As far as we are aware, in the past thirty years there have been more serial killers in Spain than in the previous two centuries.'
- 'So does it all boil down to a failure in society?'
- 'I wouldn't focus so much on society. The decision to kill is a personal one, a decision the killer has made. There are in fact no social conditions that determine whether someone will definitely become a killer, unlike what many people believe.'
- 'So what is it that does turn someone into a serial killer, Commissioner?'
- 'There can be as many reasons as there are killers. If you look at the most recent studies, the work of Dr Jonathan Pincus, for example, it seems several factors are often present: child abuse, brain damage and psychiatric disorders of some sort. However, not even these factors, which were determined as present in a significant number of serial killers studied after the fact, can determine the reasons why someone becomes a serial killer. In fact, the vast majority of people who have suffered from child abuse do not become killers. Nor do the majority of people who have brain damage or a psychiatric disorder. Environmental factors, such as poverty, are not relevant either. Most people experiencing poverty as just like anyone else. As such, we must keep the focus on the killer as an individual, who makes an individual decision to become a serial killer and is personally responsible for that decision and their failure as a member of society.'
- 'A failure?'
- 'Of course.'
I settle in my chair and look seriously at Gomez.
- 'Something very unfortunate happened in Baria today. An officer was forced to use his authority as a member of the security forces to confiscate paraphernalia celebrating the murderer as a hero. The people responsible for selling this paraphernalia as nothing more than a funny souvenir are clearly legitimizing his crimes, or, at least, passing them off as less serious than they are.'
- 'We are aware of the incident,' interrupts Gomez. 'That was my next question, in fact. The officer you mentioned is being accused of police brutality.'
- 'Nothing could be further from the truth. These people were ready and willing to run a business and turn a profit from these crimes. They refused to respect the authority of our officer, who was rightly aware that their business activities represented a clear disturbance of public order and wanted to avoid any further disturbances. I don't know if you are aware that the people we're discussing were playing a rap song praising the murderer, in public.' 'It's unacceptable.'
- 'Of course. And in terrible taste.
- Not just from a legal viewpoint, but a moral one too.' 'We cannot accept the worst of society, this trash, this serial killer, being turned into a legend when he's nothing more than a failure.'
- 'Can you elaborate on this idea of failure?'
- 'A serial killer is someone who seeks only personal validation. Someone who is confused at some event or circumstance they see as unfair in their personal life, who's not getting the validation they feel entitled to. Someone who has failed in areas of their life they deem especially important and who hasn't found their place in society. In short, they are on the lowest rung of the human ladder.'
- 'Do you mean the person we're dealing with is from a poor background?'
- 'Not at all. What I mean by personal failure bears no relation to social class or status. Rather, it's linked to an expectation, a need for personal validation that is not being fulfilled, simply because they don't deserve it, though they feel entitled to it. Their ego prevents them from admitting to their failure and that resentment leads to them taking out their rage and frustration on other people. Innocent victims.'
- 'Commissioner. What exactly is behind these crimes?'
- 'There's only one thing behind these crimes, Gomez. One thing: a total lack of originality.'
- 'Lack of originality?'
- 'All crimes, no matter how serious, are committed for petty reasons. Reasons that tell us a lot about the killer. When a husband kills his wife, it's because of his misery and insecurity. When a thief commits robbery, it's because he's greedy. When a gangster commits a crime, it's because of his lust for power. The RIpper kills because of how insignificant he feels, how ordinary, with his ordinary rancour and ordinary thoughts. I wish I could show you how mediocre, how bland these criminals are once we've got them in custody. Then everyone would understand that they are just your average Joe Bloggs with no special qualities or anything out of the ordinary.'
- 'Commissioner, the press has published excerpts from the killer's psychological profile. Has the police put together its own profile?'
- 'Of course. But it's difficult to put one together when the criminal is merely comitting copycat crimes rather than coming up with their own modus operandi. So the value of these profiles has to be taken with a grain of salt. Although there are some things we do know about the killer.'
- 'Such as what?'
- 'We know he's impotent.'
- 'Are you certain of that?'
- 'Absolutely. He's incapable of raping his victims. There is a clear sexual motive, but expressed only in the violence of the crimes.'
- 'The knife as substitute for his manhood?'
- 'Well, that's one way of putting it. You see now why I said he's just an ordinary, frustrated man angry at the world. He's managed to avoid us up until now out of sheer luck. It doesn't make him some kind of criminal mastermind.'
- 'You can't deny that he has a certain intelligence, a gutsiness, Commissioner.'
Gomez tries to steer the conversation, though he's visibly put off at some of my answers. 'I know enough about him to know.
- It's not guts. Just recklessness. May I remind you that while the first crime was committed near a busy thoroughfare, the scene was hidden well out of sight and would not have been seen by passers-by. Just like the second crime, in fact. Yes, it was committed near the police station, but that area is quiet, with lots of options to make a quick escape. And the most recent crimes were committed very far away from the city centre out of fear of being caught. He might as well have been in a different province.
- The victims were in fact kidnapped in Murcia Province.'
- 'That is correct.' 'And I don't think gutsiness or bravery is the right word for a man who kidnaps defenceless women and sneaks up on them. He's a coward. He only attacks when he knows the victim won't be able to defend herself.'
I gesture to emphasize my point, as if doubting Gomez believes me.
- 'For your information, he slit those women's throats when they were bound and gagged. Is there anything more cowardly? He's repulsive.'
- 'Commissioner, the killer himself may be watching us tonight.'
- 'There is no doubt in my mind that that is the case.'
- 'He may take your remarks tonight as provocation. Aren't you afraid of what his reaction might be?'
- 'As regards me personally, absolutely not. He's incapable of attacking a man with the strength to fight back. In any case he would be doing so despite himself. And I can assure you he'd be using a gun, not a knife, to make sure I couldn't defend myself. It's not men he's after. He'd never pick on someone his own size.'
- 'A coward. A failure. Impotent. Trash. These are just some of the words you've used to describe the killer tonight, if I'm not mistaken.'
- 'You aren't.'
- 'Doesn't that seem unorthodox as a description, coming from a policeman?'
The Ripper Page 30