“Not so far... In a few days I hope to receive the complete report of Bianca’s post mortem. I suppose that the final results of Vanessa’s post mortem will not be ready for ten days to a fortnight... A complete study takes time. In spite of the fact that some organs like the thoracic ones only need one or two days of securing in formaldehyde to be able to be studied; others, such as the brain, need about ten days before being able to be adequately handled...”
“Okay, okay... You don’t need to give me any more details; I’d like to be able to eat dinner tonight. I’m sorry, but I have a very delicate stomach,” said Gus, to excuse himself.
“I forgot, Natalia,” intervened Carlos. “I brought you the report on Alex’s post mortem to see if there was anything you could tell me.”
Carlos rummaged around through the file he had brought, and passed her a pad of paper. She began avidly reading whilst the other two watched her in silence.
“I think I can say, with almost total certainty, that Alex’s murder was committed by the same person. The signature signs are very similar; the victim died of a stab wound to the heart, and the hands were amputated... But it seems that this murder was much bloodier. The eyes were not removed, but rather destroyed, and once he was dead, he was dealt twenty-seven more stab wounds to the thoracic region. Furthermore, there were no blows to the head, which could tell us that he did not think it necessary to render him unconscious because the victim trusted him.”
“Yes, that hypothesis is reinforced by the fact that Alex was killed in his own home, in the kitchen, and that the door had not been forced. He knew the killer, and he let him in,” added Carlos.
“Well the killer didn’t like him at all; he really took out all his rage on the poor guy,” intervened Gus, who was looking over Natalia’s shoulder at the photographs from the report. “God, that’s disgusting. I feel sick.”
“You shouldn’t look at these things if you’re so sensitive,” Natalia suggested to him, worried by the greenish tint his face had taken on. He nodded, and went back to looking at the screen so that she could continue. “It appears to be that this murder is the source of the whole thing. The subsequent crimes were only recreations of this. We could say that, when he killed Alex, he had a real motive, whilst with his current victims he is only trying to reproduce the liberation he felt on carrying out the first murder,” Natalia continued looking through the report whilst she spoke, but the expression on her face made it clear that she was not all that convinced about what she was saying. “I don’t know why this hypothesis just isn’t tallying for me.”
“Well it seems fairly reasonable to me,” said Carlos, encouragingly.
“I already told you both that serial killers tend to focus on one type of victim. That’s why it isn’t logical that first he would kill Alex, and now goes searching for little girls,” Natalia sighed, frustrated at not being able to understand. “Perhaps, when we know some more about him, I’ll be able to give you some kind of explanation.”
“And what are we going to do now with all of this?” asked Gus.
“For one thing, we’re going to investigate the real Alex, his family, his friendships...” suggested Carlos. “Tomorrow, I’m going to San Sebastián to speak with his parents. Would you like to come with me, Natalia?”
She thought about it. She knew that it was risky, that Aguirre could find out that they were still investigating together despite their orders to the contrary. But this was Carlos’s way of asking her forgiveness for what had happened before, and she should not give him another snub, so she agreed.
“You finish your shift at midday, right? We’ll meet at three outside the station,” Carlos got up out of the seat and collected his jacket. It had become very late. “I’ll bring Gus here tomorrow so he can carry on reading. If we have time, we’ll meet back here again around eight to discuss any possible advancement. Are we all in agreement?”
Carlos riveted his gaze on Natalia, searching for the definitive confirmation that everything was forgotten and that she would continue working in the team. She nodded, smiling at him, and accompanied them to the door.
***
Carlos entered the lift with Gus and pushed the button for the ground floor:
“Well, it seems that things have been sorted out, doesn’t it?” Gus gave him a friendly nudge with his elbow. “For a moment there, I was thinking I was going to be out of a job.”
“Listen, you could have carried on working with me, though.”
“Please, Carlos. If I have any faith in being paid, it’s because of Natalia...”
“And where do you infer that I don’t have the money to pay you and she does?”
They walked out of the foyer whilst Gus thought about how to give him an explanation without offending him:
“Don’t get annoyed, but look, you have an example right there. That’s Natalia’s car,” he pointed at it. “Right next to it, yours is an old banger. But don’t get angry, eh?”
Carlos smiled reassuringly at him as he got into the car:
“Don’t worry. I don’t get angry over those trivialities.”
Gus made his way towards the passenger seat and, in that moment, Carlos pulled away. By the time Gus reacted, the car had already disappeared behind the first bend. Awesome. Now he would have to walk to Luchana Street to catch the bus because, after the ruction there had been with Natalia, he did not dare to ask her for a lift. And all from being a bigmouth, he needed to learn to control what he said. He lit a cigarette, looked at his watch, and began walking quickly because the last bus would be leaving in about forty-five minutes, and the stop was on the other side of Bilbao. When he had been walking for around five minutes or so, he heard a car approaching at full speed. Carlos stopped beside him:
“Come on, get in, I’ll take you back.”
“What was all that about?” Gus got in quickly so as not to give him the opportunity to change his mind. Once Carlos pulled away, Gus turned to face him. “Do you know that sometimes you behave just like a child?”
“I only wanted you to learn three things. Firstly, this old banger is what takes you home every night, so treat it with a little affection. Secondly, I had promised to take you home, and I came back for you, because when I promise to do something, I do it, so don’t go back to worrying about your money, okay?” Carlos took his eyes off the road, taking advantage of the fact they had stopped at a red light, in order to check whether he had been understood. Gus nodded.
“And the third thing?”
“The third thing is I heard the music you had playing at Natalia’s house, and you’ve got terrible taste, so you’re going to be riding in my car until your ear is refined.”
“I’m starting to think that going on the bus wasn’t such a bad idea after all. If you keep forcing me to listen to the blues, I’ll shoot myself before we make it to Baracaldo.”
Carlos ignored him, and floored it as soon as the light turned green. Gus leaned back in the seat and smiled. The truth was that the music, as much as Carlos’s character, was beginning to grow on him, but he also felt that driving him mad added a touch of excitement to his life.
***
Natalia tried to leave her living room in the state it had been before Gus ever turned it into a rubbish dump. After ten minutes, she gave up in defeat. The room needed a deep clean. In spite of the enormous ashtray that Gus had been using, there was more ash surrounding it than there was in it. Perhaps nobody had explained to him that the true function of an ashtray was to be invaded by the ash, not just to be laid siege to around it. As if that was not enough to drive her out of her mind, there were papers scattered all over the table and on the floor. Natalia was not able to determine whether they were of use, or in what order she should put them, so she grouped them up into piles and decided not to pick up anything else. After all, no matter how tidy she left it, he would be coming back the following day.
She puffed in resignation and made her way to the bathroom in order to take a shower. It seem
ed that the devastating consequences of Hurricane ‘Gus’ had not made it to there but, even so, the toilet seat was up. As she took off her clothes, she began thinking that she ought to lay down a series of ground rules to that beast for their coexistence if she did not want the place to be written off within the space of a week. Once the hot water began to fall over her body and make her feel more relaxed, she changed her mind. After all, she had made quite the little scene tonight. She ought to be more flexible with people. She told herself the same thing time and time again, and still she always ended up ruining everything with her attacks of pride and her intolerance.
The faces of the people she had gone along losing throughout her life because of her stupid way of being then paraded in that moment through her mind. She went back to wondering why she was incapable of trusting anyone, why she could never bare her soul to others, and behave just as she truly was. A cynical smile appeared on her lips. Just as she truly was... Not even she knew how she truly was after so much time trying to prove to the world that she was perfect. She got out of the shower and got dressed into an enormous white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She cleaned the mirror and looked at herself. The image the mirror was returning to her was a far cry from the elegant and professional medical examiner that walked out of her front door every morning. She seemed so much younger, so defenceless, so alone, so sad...
The curious thing about it was that she could remember a time in her life when she had been happy with the way she was. The fact was that ever since she was a child she had never had close friends, she had had neither the time nor the inclination to play with girls her age, but that had never mattered to her. She was proud of being number one in her class, the responsible one, the mature one... She smiled again. She must have been the most repellent girl in the world but, in those moments, she had not given it any consideration. The problems did not come until secondary school, when people began to think of her as standoffish, an outcast. ‘The weirdo’. And she had not cared about that either. She knew very well what her goal was: to become the best world specialist in anatomic pathology, to give conferences, to make great discoveries. She had continued to fight for it without caring that the rest of her life was being lost forever... until the day in which she realised that she had never been the protagonist in her own life; until the day in which she finally rebelled.
She tried to erase from her head the memory of that day. Every time she thought about it, she was overwhelmed by the urge to cry. She thought it was very curious that, in spite of having freed herself from him, the seed would still remain deeply ingrained within her. She continued to consider her life as a constant obstacle course. In spite of the fact that she had realised some time ago that her way of behaving would only lead her to living under pressure, and alone, she did not know how to act any other way. This very same night tonight, she had been on the verge of once again driving out of her life the only people she cared about right now.
She returned to the living room, and connected up Bianca's computer whilst she lit a cigarette. It was highly ironic to think that the only people she cared about were a work colleague who couldn't stand her and a young man whom she had met just two days ago, and who was only with them because they were paying him. This was what she had gained from being number one. Well done, Natalia.
She fought to banish the sorrow from her mind. At least she wasn't completely alone. She enjoyed their company, and that was more than anything she had had in a long time, so she thought that she would try not to be so hard on them in the future. Although she knew that controlling herself was going to be very difficult, the reward would be worth it. The smiles, the conversations, having someone there when she came home, the sparkling look in Carlos's eyes when he laughed with her... and the satisfaction of doing something because she believed in it, and not just to demonstrate to the world how fantastic Natalia Egaña was.
CHAPTER FOUR
Natalia followed Carlos in her car to the roadside bar that he had told her about. Once they were parked up, they hurried inside, trying to avoid the strong wind that was causing the rain to fall virtually horizontally. They ordered some sandwiches at the bar and sat down at a nearby table. In that moment, the news started on the television.
"Look, they're going to make the announcement about the killer," said Carlos. He turned to address the man at the bar. "Excuse me, would you mind turning up the volume of the TV? Thanks."
The waiter did as he'd been asked, and they both fell completely silent, listening carefully:
‘We will now give you the latest information received regarding the brutal murders of teenagers Bianca Rodríguez and Vanessa Lozano. According to the information provided by the Ertzaintza Press Cabinet, from the latest investigations carried out it has been thought that both murders could have been committed by the same person. This hypothesis is based on the fact that both victims contacted their attacker via an Internet web chat program, and also on the fact that, according to the forensic analysis of both teenagers’ bodies, it can be deduced that both the killer’s weapons and modus operandi were similar in both cases,’ on the screen, an elegant announcer was reading a statement as she smiled at the camera. Carlos thought that the smile was out of place. It seemed to take the importance out of the whole thing, making it seem even to him somewhat surreal and distant. ‘The Ertzaintza also report that they are making all possible efforts to solve these crimes as quickly as possible. To that end, a strong police contingent has been deployed, dedicated to ensuring that these kinds of events do not happen again. Likewise, they would appreciate the co-operation of anybody able to provide information that may aid a swift resolution of these crimes. The Ertzaintza Press Cabinet also explains, in the face of the public unease that led to the arrest of one person supposedly connected with this case three days ago, that this person was only required by police as an informer, and not as a suspect; therefore, so far, no arrest has been made. Our correspondent in the area will bring you more on this story next...’
Natalia looked at Carlos. She was thinking that her reaction the previous night had been out of proportion, and she wanted to apologise, but she had never known how to do it properly.
“It wasn’t all that bad really,” she told him, with a timid smile. “I think you were right about it being best for the public to be alerted... Whether we lose him with this or not, is something we’ll find out in the days to come.”
“Well, I think that, at the very least, this will have alarmed him... He has to figure out the fact that if we know he found them on the Internet, we will also know his information, his username...” Carlos smiled. “I’ve remembered the funny word.”
“Yes, Gus will be very proud of you. Have you told Alex’s mother that we’re going to be stopping by?”
“Of course, she’ll be waiting for us at her home in about forty minutes, so hurry up with finishing that.”
Natalia looked at her sandwich. She had no appetite. She was still thinking that it was a mistake going with Carlos to this interview. Sooner or later, Aguirre would find them out, and that could entail very grave consequences for both of them. She knew that Carlos had only suggested it to her in order to ingratiate himself with her after their fight the previous night, but what was on the line was too important just to risk it over a temper tantrum by a spoiled little girl.
“Carlos...” she said, trying to catch his attention. “I don’t think I should go with you... If they discover us...”
“Don't worry," he told her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “They can't discover us. They haven't had access to the girls’ computers, because I'm supposed to be taking charge of that myself, so they can't imagine that Alex's death has anything to do with what we’re investigating. As far as we're concerned, we are just going to be making a courtesy call to this lady. And they can't stop us from doing that. Now come on, eat up, it's getting late."
Natalia didn't know what to say back to him. She knew that Aguirre wasn't going to buy that but, if Carlo
s was prepared to risk it, why couldn't she do the same? Trying to overpower the unease gripping her stomach, she forced herself to begin eating.
***
Hello my darling,
I've just seen the news on the TV and, although I imagine you’ll have seen it too, I'm so afraid by what they said that I'm writing to you to warn you. Did you hear about the murders of those two girls, one in Bilbao and another in Neguri? I heard on the TV today that the police think the killer searches for his victims on the Internet, and contacts them via a web chat program.
The very second I heard this, I thought about you. I already know that perhaps I'm worrying too much, and that nothing is going to happen to you, but, just imagining that this guy could come and talk to you, it makes me sick. You’re probably thinking that you already know how to look after yourself, but, how can I not worry about the possibility of losing the one person who matters the most to me in this world?
I'm not trying to frighten you. I just want you to be alert, but if you suspect anybody, don't talk with that person any more, or you tell me about it. I want to be certain that nothing is going to happen that might prevent us one day from meeting, so that we can fulfil our dreams.
I'm sorry this email isn’t romantic and that it doesn't express to you everything that I feel about you, but it's because I'm so worried. We'll talk more tomorrow, my love.
Alex
I re-read the email, and went along sending it to all of the girls on my list of contacts with whom I had a special trust. That way, it would be all sorted out. They said that the best defence was a good offence, and that was what I was doing. It would always be more convincing to get the topic out in the open than to wait for one of them to ask me, otherwise they might begin to get strange ideas. Nobody would expect a killer to alert their victims to them.
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