“Hello, this is Carlos.”
“You caught him last night without me? How can you be such a bastard?” Natalia shouted at him, unable to contain herself. “I thought we were together in this; that you were happy with the way we were collaborating, and even that you weren’t quite the ogre you appeared to be at first, but now I see that I was wrong, yes, I was clearly wrong. You’re the same as all the rest, you’re afraid of someone taking the glory away from you, and even more so if it’s a woman, right?”
“Natalia, stop,” he cut her off. “I’m not in any mood to listen to nonsense right now, so listen to me. I’ve had nothing to do with the arrest. I don’t even know who the guy is, or how they arrested him, or whether he’s our man or not. I have as much of an idea about this as you do.”
“But, how do you not even have any idea?” Natalia was confused. “Carlos, it’s your case...”
“Tell that to the killer who hasn’t had the courtesy to come and talk to me... Maybe they hadn’t told him who it was in charge of the case, or it could also be that killers just don’t have any manners.”
“I don’t understand...”
“Well, perhaps he’s handed himself in,” hazarded Carlos. “You said so yourself that they sometimes do it; that they can’t bear the guilt...”
“Yes, it’s true... It’s just that it seems too easy to me. I’m sorry about everything I said before,” she apologised.
“It doesn’t matter, I wasn’t listening. I’m arriving now, we’ll talk at the station, okay?”
“Perfect, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Natalia turned off her mobile and went back to paying attention to the traffic. It felt as though she was never going to get there. The queues of cars seemed endless, and they were only advancing a few centimetres every minute. The inactivity was killing her. She needed to get to the station, and convince herself that the nightmare was over. That would be a Godsend; no more murdered girls, no more sleepless nights. Minutes later, she reached the road that bordered the estuary. From there, the traffic became more fluid. It took her quarter of an hour to arrive and find a parking space. Carlos was already in the door. He greeted her with a nod, and without a word they made their way to Sergeant Aguirre’s office. Natalia moved along quickly, containing herself so as not to break into a run. They would be able to see the ghost’s face, look him in the eyes, and ask him why... She thought about how she did not envy Carlos the task of having to interrogate him, because what could one say to a person like that, to someone who believed themselves to be above good and evil as the rest of the human race knew it? She was feeling nervous, uncertain, but above all she was feeling relieved. The whole thing was going to stop being her problem in a matter of hours and, in spite of the fact that they had not caught him themselves, knowing that it was all over was the best prize for her efforts.
***
Carlos knocked on the door of the office and opened it. Roberto was in there, sitting in front of Aguirre.
“We were waiting for you... Come in and sit down. You must be the new medical examiner, Miss Egaña,” she nodded whilst she took a seat beside Carlos. “All right, then we’re all here. I see that the rumours regarding the two of you working together are confirmed.”
Natalia nodded, feeling proud. Aguirre’s brow furrowed a little more before continuing to speak.
“And can I know with what authorisation you are interfering in an official investigation?”
The smile disappeared from Natalia’s face. She sat for a few seconds in silence, shifting her gaze from the sergeant on to Carlos.
“Well..., one can’t say that I have been interfering. I have been cooperating with Inspector Vega, helping him with the psychological implications of the case.”
“We already have people in this station who can take charge of that, and Carlos knows it. And, even if you had been necessary for that matter, you were not authorised to go through the victims’ houses.”
“I asked her to accompany me; I thought that it would be better to bring another person. You know, in case something escaped my attention,” intervened Carlos.
“You’re right, four eyes are better than two,” Aguirre nodded in silence, as if he were rethinking his words. “What’s still not becoming clear to me then is why the hell I have assigned you an investigation partner.”
Carlos diverted his gaze towards Roberto, who had been sitting in silence ever since they had entered. He was smiling triumphantly.
“I suppose that you will have realised that Roberto and I don’t get along very well. It has been impossible for us to work together.”
“Damn it, Carlos... You don’t come here to make friends. This is a job, and a very serious one at that. I thought that after so many years you were aware of it,” the volume of Aguirre’s voice was steadily increasing.
“I know that. But it is not just that I don’t like him. It’s impossible to work with him; he doesn’t follow any of my instructions...”
“That’s because he’s not your subordinate. He is your colleague. I put you both together because you have experience and he has received training in areas of the investigation that you don’t know. You should have cooperated, and you haven’t wanted to make any effort to do that since day one.”
“Nor him,” Carlos defending himself, feeling like a little boy no sooner than saying those words.
“That’s not what Roberto says. This is the report on the investigation that he has passed on to me, in which are reflected the complaints that he has about your conduct,” he handed Carlos some papers so that he could look at them. “As you can see there, Roberto is accusing you of having left him out of the investigation and of not having kept him informed of its development.”
Carlos raised his eyes from the papers to hammer a venomous look into Roberto.
“Carlos, you know that what I say in there is true,” he said, defending himself. “You haven’t informed me at any time about what you were doing. I have presented myself at the victims’ houses after you and your girlfriend have already questioned them. You have made me a laughing stock throughout Biscay.”
“Nor have I received any message from you telling me what you were going to do, so we’re even. Perhaps you ought to be quicker next time,” retorted Carlos.
“God damn it, this is not a race,” Aguirre exploded, striking the desk with his fist. “What impression do you think this is giving of the Ertzaintza, thanks to you two? What confidence can the victims have that we’re going to resolve this investigation if we’re not capable of coordinating the two officers in charge of the case?”
Carlos remained in silence, looking at the floor. He did not know how he had got to this situation, how he had come to be the bad guy in the film. Roberto had refused to cooperate with him right from the start, at no point had he approached him to ask him how the investigation was going, or how they would be able to coordinate, and now he had got it to look as if the whole thing was his fault.
“And besides, we have the fact that you and Miss Egaña have not managed to discover anything, whilst Roberto, in spite of all the difficulties he has encountered in the investigation, has now provided us with the name of a suspect,” he waited a few seconds to see if Carlos or Natalia wanted to refute anything before proceeding. “That is why I suggest to the two of you that, from now on, you leave your personal relationship for your free time.”
“Carlos and I do not maintain any kind of relationship. We were working,” protested Natalia, indignant.
“I’m pleased; that way it’ll be less painful for you having to separate. From this point onwards, each one of you will dedicate yourselves to the roles assigned to you. I do not want to find out that you’re still strolling around here together. Just this one time, I’m not going to undertake disciplinary action against you two, but I won’t be so magnanimous if anything like this happens again. I imagine that you wouldn’t want a dismissal from the Force staining your beautiful CV, right?” he paused, leaving Na
talia time to answer. “All right, if you don’t have anything else to say, I suggest you go back to your post.”
Natalia stood up without saying a word, and left the office without even looking at them, her head held very high. When the door had closed, Aguirre turned back towards Carlos, and handed him another wad of papers.
“This is the information on the person arrested this morning. I want you to go and question him.”
“But if the arrest was my thing,” protested Roberto, “it ought to be me who questions him.”
“I’m sorry, but Carlos has much more experience than you, so he will be the one to do it. I don’t think you are ready to face something like this, and I cannot allow you to get your practice on a killer who has the entire province on tenterhooks,” he turned to Carlos, who was eyeing through the report on the detainee. “What do you think?”
“Let’s see, Agustín Guevara, twenty-one years old... Fourth year computer science student at the University of Deusto... Resident in Sestao. Arrested on alleged corruption of minors in March of 2004, released without charge, no previous record...” Carlos lifted his eyes up from the papers and looked at Aguirre with cynicism. “Well I don’t know if I should congratulate you... Is this all we have against him? We’ve arrested a guy because a year and a half ago he was accused of corrupting a minor, which could not be proven? Aguirre, please, if a person can be accused of murder with proof like this, we’d have to arrest half the population of Biscay.”
“It wasn’t one minor, there were two... and, if you look carefully at the papers, you’ll see that the means used to contact those girls was the Internet, which coincides with the hypothesis that Roberto has presented,” Carlos turned to Roberto, who averted his gaze. He decided not to say anything. Aguirre was not going to believe him if he told him now that that idea had been his, and that the way in which Roberto cooperated was to use the only fact from the investigation that he had given to him so far in order to show him up and take the honour off him. “Look, I don’t know if this guy is the one we’re looking for; you need to take charge of that yourself. And I expect your rivalry not to impede you in distinguishing whether he is guilty or not. We need results. The press harasses me all day long, the population is afraid, and the politicians are poking their noses in this, which is beginning to make me very nervous, and I assure you that if I start to get truly nervous, the two of you are not going to be comfortable either, understood?”
“Okay, okay... I’ll go and question him, and hope you’re both right.”
“Me too but, if we’re not, you’re going to have to keep working on the case, and I want you to do it as a team and to behave like professionals.”
Carlos looked at Roberto, who nodded obediently, loyal to his role of the good boy. He decided to try again; he could not bear the idea of having to put up with him a single day longer.
“Aguirre, please. I’ve already told you that we don’t work as a team. Couldn’t you give me a different partner?”
“Are you interested in carrying on with this investigation?” Carlos nodded. “Good, then Roberto is assigned to it, so either you work with him, or you don’t work. Have I made myself clear?”
Carlos nodded again, stood up, and left the office. Roberto went out behind him, but Carlos picked up his pace. He had no desire to speak to him at that moment. The last thing he needed was to take the leading role in a fistfight right in front of the sergeant’s door. He headed towards the area where the interview rooms were, thinking that nothing good could come of all that. He prayed with all his strength for the detainee to be guilty so as to be able to free himself forever from that uphill climb, in spite of the fact that, if this young man did turn out to be the killer, he would be left looking like an incompetent fool who could be easily surpassed by a novice.
He asked which room the suspect was in, and entered. By the yellowish light of a single bulb he found a rather unkempt and tired-looking young man. When Carlos closed the door, the lad went back to looking at the table at which he was seated, as if he had never seen anything so interesting in all his life, therefore Carlos was able to take a good look at him. His hair was dark brown and very long. The clothing he was wearing, all in black, corresponded more to somebody much larger than him, but even so, one could tell that he was very slight. The young man looked up from the table and adjusted his glasses. But he was good looking; the lad was not ugly. Slender features, thick lips, and enormous eyes: the face of a child. The more he looked at him, the less he thought he could be facing the killer, in spite of the fact that everything seemed to match up. He was small, with little physical strength, and appeared younger than he was, which could serve him well for cajoling little girls of fourteen or fifteen.
“So...” said the lad. “Are you planning on standing there looking at me until I get so bored I confess everything I’m supposed to have to confess? It’s a highly innovative technique, but I don’t know whether it’s going to work for you guys...”
“Wow, so you still have the urge to make jokes, eh?” Carlos sat down in the chair opposite and unfolded the report. “Agustín Guevara?”
“Of course, all I need is for you people to have got me confused with someone else. And you are?”
“Carlos Vega,” he cleared his throat and looked at him. “Let’s see if we can clarify a couple of things so that this whole matter can be done nice and quickly, as I don’t have all day...”
“Well on that one I agree with you because, don’t be offended, but this place is a dive...” he looked at Carlos and, faced with the latter’s stern expression, he went back to being quiet.
“Okay, then since we both think the same thing, I’m now going to ask you a few things, and you are going to answer me honestly and as clearly and briefly as possible,” he waited until the boy nodded, and continued talking. “Let’s begin; do you remember what you were doing on Sunday the 4th of September between 9pm and 1am?”
“Hey, you’re just like a real-live cop out of the films, you know...”
“I am a real-live cop,” Carlos’s face made it clear that the lad’s words were not in the least bit amusing to him.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry... Let me think...” the boy closed his eyes for a few seconds, concentrating. “That was four weekends ago... Ah, now I remember... I had to do an assignment for a chick in my class, Lorena. You should see her, the girl’s hot, she really is, but she’s as stupid as she is pretty, so she tends to ask me to do the assignments on the computer for her, and she pays me some sixty Euros for each one. The girl is loaded, you know, a real daddy’s girl, and I could really do with the money... If she only had half a chance though, she would have them done for free, but as I’m no fool...”
“Can you tell me what is the point of all this?” Carlos was beginning to wonder whether the term ‘briefly’ had any meaning to the lad.
“Well it’s what I was just telling you, damn it,” answered the boy, annoyed by the interruption. "The other day, Lorena comes to my house, and she asks me, four days before the deadline, if I can do her Theoretical Computation assignment for her. I, of course, told her no; that I also had my own to do, and that she should have told me before, and she goes and crosses her legs and gives me an incredible smile, and so I say okay, like an idiot, but I tell her that it’s going to cost her one hundred Euros and that it's the last time she tells me on such short notice..."
Carlos supported leaned on the table and lit a cigarette. It seemed he was in for the long haul.
“Could I have one? It's just that I'm all out of them, and the guys on the door haven't let me out to buy more," joked the boy. Carlos held out a cigarette to him and lit it. "Well, as I was telling you, I offered to do the assignment, but I told her that it wasn’t going to be ready until that particular Sunday you're talking to me about..."
"The 4th of September."
“Yes, that, the day before the exam," agreed the boy. "So anyway, I spent the entire afternoon doing the assignment, and Lorena was calling
me every hour or so to see when it was going to be finished. In the end I had to put my foot down with her and tell her that I would let her know myself when it was ready, and the chick asks me whether I think she doesn’t have anything better to do on a Sunday than wait for me to call her... That damn well hurt me, you know? Because after all, I was the one who was spending the whole afternoon toiling away like a moron instead of studying for my own stuff, and on top of that there’s the girl who’s getting snobby with me because she had go to the golf club or some annoying posh thing like that, so I told her where she could shove it and I hung up. Then she got scared because if she didn’t hand in the assignment, she would be automatically failed, so she called back asking my forgiveness in a very sweet voice, and explaining to me that she had only treated me that way because she was very nervous about the exams. Typical, as she’s done nothing for any of them, the big idiot... Anyway, I had her begging for a while, and in the end I told her that it was all right because, after all, by that point the assignment was almost finished, and I needed the money for a new burner for the computer, but I told her that she would have to come to my place and fetch it herself. I phoned her around eleven thirty to come over, and the girl calls me on the intercom half an hour later for me to bring it down to her, and when I get there, thinking that perhaps we could go for a drink or something, I find her sitting in this amazing car next to some snobby shit who’s driving, and she lowers the window, takes the assignment, pays me for it, and just sods off, without saying thank you or anything... Shit, it’s the fact she didn’t even deign to get out of the car, or ask me whether it had been a lot of effort... But anyway, screw her, because in the end I’ve got the money, and she, in spite of having a good grade on the assignment, (because that’s a given; the assignment I did for her was amazing), she failed the theory exam, and now we’ll see who does it for her next year, because I’m out...”
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