Charon's Net

by Gemma Herrero Virto

  "Did he get very angry?” asked Natalia, concerned.

  "Well, you could say that... He's told me that we need results, otherwise this is all going to hell.” Carlos rubbed his eyes with a tired expression. He suddenly seemed so much older. “And all of those warrants for psychiatric reports that I've made him ask for have not improved his mood much. By the way, I’ve got the warrants in the car. Would you be able to come with me to hand them over? You’ll get along with those shrinks better than I will."

  "Yes, I'll go with you. I'll be ready in a minute," Natalia said to him, as she got up to grab a coat.

  "Well, before you leave, I would like to mention something to you both,” said Gus, in a timid hint of a voice. "I had another idea for catching him, but I'm not certain that it's going to work."

  Carlos and Natalia sat back down again and listened to him with interest, expressing that any hope, however small it may be, would be well received.

  “Well, there are these programs called 'Password Sniffers’ which serve for finding a user’s ICQ password once you know their IP. I've been thinking about using them to steal Charon’s ICQ account.”

  "And what's stealing his account off him going to do for us?” asked Natalia. “He could make another one, and we would find ourselves right back where we are now."

  "I'm referring to stealing the account in such a way that we can enter into it and receive some of the messages that he sends to the girls, hoping that he doesn't realise, and thinks it’s been some error on the part of ICQ. It happens a lot. Then we could try and contact those girls. If we could convince them, we could then use their accounts and set a trap for him.”

  "Or at least avoid another victim. I like it. What's the problem?" Carlos smiled, feeling buoyed up.

  "The Proxy again. Those programs don't work if the user is connected via a server."

  "So why are you telling us all this?" Carlos went back to sinking into the sofa as he rummaged around for his packet of cigarettes in his pocket.

  "Because we could try something else. I can go back to ask help from my friends on the Internet. They're really good hackers. It'll be complicated, but I think it can be done. I'll tell them to try and program something which generates all of the possible passwords, and go along testing them out one after the other without him knowing, but I imagine it will take about four or five days."

  "Would you be able to ask them to hurry up a bit? The weekend is getting close, and I have a bad feeling."

  "You think he could attack again this Saturday?" Gus finally took his eyes off the screen, concerned.

  "Well, like I said, it's a feeling. It could just be that I'm nervous," said Carlos, excusing in himself.

  "All right, we'll try it. Don't worry; if he comes back to attack again, we'll be prepared.

  "Well, come on then, to the Internet with you," Carlos got up from the sofa, gave him a pat on the back, and headed for the front door. “Shall we go, Natalia?"

  She nodded, put on her coat, and followed him on his way to the car. As they were going down in the lift, she felt the nerves taking over her stomach. It was her first time being alone with him since their conversation. She had been avoiding him ever since that afternoon, and now she did not know whether she would be able to behave naturally around him. She looked up and observed him. He avoided her gaze, looking at the ceiling of the lift with as much interest as if the frescos of the Sistine Chapel were painted on it. It seemed that he was also feeling uncomfortable. Without knowing why, realising that made her feel less insecure.

  ***

  Carlos pulled up in the car park to the psychiatric hospital. Natalia got out and looked around, feeling tired. She consoled herself with the thought that this was the last centre they needed to visit. With a firm stride, they made their way to the reception. There, a smiling nurse asked them to wait a few seconds in the waiting room. Carlos obediently sat down. Natalia considered whether she ought to sit next to him, but she preferred to entertain herself with looking out of the window. Night had fallen by now, and a few faint streetlights were illuminating an enormous garden, creating shadows behind every tree. A mild sensation of discomfort made her turn around, to find the figure of a man in a white lab coat, who was watching her from the door.

  “Doctor Martínez?” asked Carlos, getting up. The man nodded, smiling at him, and offered him his hand. "I'm Inspector Carlos Vega. I spoke with you to let you know I was coming. And this is Miss Egaña, an expert in forensic psychology."

  "It's a pleasure,” the doctor walked forward a couple of steps, offered her his hand, and stood in front of the window, pointing outside. "What you think of our garden? We're very proud of it. Did you know that it's the patients themselves who take care of it? It forms part of their recuperation process."

  "Yes, it's very pretty...” She replied. "Although it can't be said that I'm an expert in gardening.”

  "Come with me to my office, please" the doctor smiled. Natalia felt more comfortable. He had a frank smile, which inspired confidence. “We'll be more comfortable there. Besides, I already have the reports you asked me for prepared.”

  They followed him along through the white corridors. Carlos was walking quickly, jumping at the sound of every door opening, or the echo of some distant shouts.

  “Are you feeling unwell?” the doctor asked him.

  "No, it's just that these places make me nervous," Carlos apologised.

  “Don't worry about your reaction, it's normal. The majority of people feel uncomfortable in the presence of mental illnesses. I think it makes them feel all too aware of their own burden of madness. That’s always scary, isn't it?" Carlos nodded. "They fascinate me, however. I feel there is no better reward than getting one of them to smile, or getting someone who has decided to completely disconnect from this world, to speak again.”

  "In the end, I don't think it's so crazy to want to disconnect from this world," intervened Natalia. "Maybe it’s the rest of us who are the crazy ones.”

  "Yes, of course. Who would be able to say?" The doctor smiled again. “Anyway, we’ve arrived. It’s through here, come in. And don’t worry about the shouting. Nothing’s going to happen to them.”

  “Yes, well... It’s just I’m not used to it,” said Carlos, trying to justify himself. “Why do they shout like that?”

  "Don't worry; we’re not doing anything bad to them. The image of the dark mental hospital and the sadistic psychiatrist who electrocutes his patients is history. They're screaming because of the monsters in their interior world. We try to take them out of that world, sometimes with success. We try to make it so that the patients spend as little time here as possible, and we reintegrate them into their lives. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because of an old patient.”

  “Exactly. I imagine you’ll understand that everything we discuss here is confidential, isn’t it?”

  “Of course, tell me,” agreed the doctor.

  “Okay, have you heard anything regarding the serial murders committed in Biscay over the last month and a half?” began Carlos.

  “Of course, who hasn’t heard talk of that? Everyone’s discussing it.”

  “We’re the ones in charge of the investigation, and we have reasons to suspect that this person could have been admitted to a psychiatric centre for an attempted suicide. That is why we need the files for those patients.”

  Doctor Martínez held out a folder to them. Natalia checked that the files within it coincided with the names on her list. The doctor watched them in silence until she looked up from the papers:

  “Yes, this is what we need,” she said, smiling. “Thank you very much.”

  “If I can do anything for you, you only have to say.”

  “Well, in fact there is something,” answered Natalia, leaving the folder to one side. “I’m going to tell you certain details about the case, on the off chance you remember anything about any patient that could fit with the killer’s profile, even if he is not on the list. We think that the ki
ller is a white male, of short stature, around 5’3”, and weak build. He could have some obvious physical defect, or even a deformity of a sexual nature, although this is only a hypothesis.”

  Doctor Martínez was nodding along in silence whilst he took notes in his diary. Natalia continued:

  “The killer amputates their victims’ hands and removes their eyes, after having stabbed them in the heart. Does any of this ring a bell so far?”

  “No, thank God. You can imagine that if any patient of mine had exhibited those tendencies, I would not have easily discharged him.”

  “Yes, of course. I’m telling you this just in case it brings anything to mind.”

  “Please, don’t apologise. Continue.”

  “We also think that the killer could be suffering from an ego dystonic sexual orientation disorder, and that this experience of blaming his homosexuality could be the source of all of his aggressive and suicidal tendencies.”

  “You know more about this man without ever having met him than I do about many patients I have been treating for months,” the doctor cut her off, with an ironic smile.

  “Yes, well... They’re just hypotheses, but we have to start somewhere,” said Natalia, feeling insecure. He encouraged her with a head gesture to keep talking. “Okay, last but not least, I can tell you, although I suppose you will have already heard it on the television that he searches for his victims via the Internet. Is this information still not ringing any bells for you?”

  “I’m sorry to say that it isn’t,” he shook his head as he continued concentrating. “I’m sorry I can’t help you further.”

  “Don’t worry. You have already helped us enough by providing us with the files. Thank you very much again for your time,” said Carlos, standing up.

  “Don’t mention it. I hope you find him soon.”

  “We’re doing everything we can,” Carlos took a card out from his jacket and handed it to him. “Here is my mobile number. If you remember anything, however insignificant it may seem to you, call me, no matter what time it is.”

  “Don’t worry about it, I will,” the doctor headed towards the door. “I’ll accompany you out.”

  “That won’t be necessary. We’ll find our way,” said Natalia by way of goodbye.

  They made their way together towards the exit, without crossing paths with anybody aside from a few nurses who were on their way to carry out their tasks. When they arrived at the car, Natalia felt relieved. It had taken them hours but, at last, they had finished the whole thing. They rested all of the files they had asked for on the back seat. She smiled, satisfied. If this could help them, even if only just a little, to catch Charon, all of that tiredness will have been worth the pain.

  ***

  Doctor Martínez watched as the car moved away down the gravel path. Once it had disappeared behind the first curve, he sat back down again and began reading the report on one of his more recent patients. A few minutes later, he realised that he had not understood a single word of what he was reading. He was unable to concentrate. The meeting of a few minutes earlier was still going around in his head. Why was he so worried by all of that? He had already told them that he could not help them with the serial murders case, but something inside him was insisting that he could; that he needed to try to remember.

  No matter how much he thought about it, he could not recall a single case of a man especially obsessed with eyes or hands, but those details had an air of familiarity that was preventing him from forgetting it. He tried to jog his memory of the patient records from the last few months, but it was useless. There were too many. Every day, new patients were coming in, and he had carried out the preliminary report for the majority of them. To find that information, he would have to review, one after the other, every single case from the last year, which had not even been put onto the computer. It was an incredible amount of work to check the files by hand, one by one. He could not afford to do it, given how busy he was.

  He decided to forget about it. He was certain that it was only in his imagination. The feeling of familiarity would be due to the information that they had broadcast on the television in recent weeks. His desires to be able to help in the investigation and become some sort of national hero were doing the rest. But he was too old now to be playing at living in a film. He would let it go, and in a few days the feeling would have disappeared.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Susana opened her eyes and smiled. Saturday had finally come. That very night she would be going to meet Alex. She got up and looked out of the window. In spite of the fact that it had been raining endlessly the last few days, the sky was blue and radiant. It seemed to be a good sign, as if everything were going to go perfectly. She tried to focus on the thought that nothing could go wrong, in order to dispel the nerves. She turned on the computer to see if Alex had written anything to her, in spite of the fact he had told her that that day, he was going to be very busy, and that she would not hear from him until they met on the beach. When she saw that there was a message from him, she thought that her worst fears had come true. For certain he had written to her to apologise for not being able to come. With her eyes welled up with precarious tears, she opened the message to read it, and a smile lit up her face.

  I almost can't wait for the moment to have you in my arms, my love. I don't know how I am going to bear the twelve hours remaining until we are together. But don't worry; I'll endure it. For the recompense of your smile, I would be capable of waiting twelve centuries. I love you.

  ***

  Natalia opened the door to find Carlos standing there, with two pizza boxes in his hands. He smiled at her, and held them out to her:

  "I thought it would be a good idea to invite you both to eat something, since you’re both working overtime on a Saturday just because I had a stupid bad feeling,” apologised Carlos as he entered the living room. "How is the program going, Gus?"

  "We’re on it. I think they almost have it; it'll be finished in a few hours.”

  “Can you allow yourself a break to eat?” Natalia asked him.

  “Of course, after all I’m not the one programming, I’m just the coordinator. I think I can leave them working unmonitored for a little while,” he looked back at the screen and typed hurriedly. “Wait a second for me to tell them I’m going.”

  “We’re going to have to invite your friends to eat as well,” said Carlos, as he opened the boxes.

  “Well it’s going to be fairly expensive for you to invite two Finns and a Russian,” pointed out Gus as he sat down.

  “Bloody hell, that’s far...It’s just I feel bad having them working for nothing.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Gus, to put his mind at ease as he attacked the first slice of pizza. “They only need the same reward as us: for it to work.”

  ***

  The echo of my footsteps resounded along the cemetery path. I walked slowly, unhurriedly making my way to the only place in the world that I considered sacred, in order to offer tonight’s sacrifice and receive the strength to carry it out.

  At last I arrived at the grave. I remained standing for a few minutes, looking at it, without saying a word, without a tear. I no longer needed to contain myself so as not to cry; my eyes had dried up long ago. I brought my face to the bouquet of red roses that I had brought, breathing in the gentle and sweet aroma. I kissed them and left them on the grave. I stayed there for a few more minutes, breathing in the scent of the flowers mixed in with the mellow smell of the dried leaves and dead plants. I relaxed with the peace and silence that inundated the place, disturbed only by the sound of a car, so distant that it seemed to be coming from another world. When I finally felt stronger, I turned towards the exit. I had a date tonight, and I could not arrive late.

  ***

  "We’ve got it. I think we've got it."

  "Got what? Have you stolen his account?” asked Carlos, sitting down beside him.

  “No, not that... They’ve finished with their programming, and they think i
t's going to work. Now all we have to do is try it."

  Natalia got up from the sofa and ran towards the computer, situating herself on the other side of Gus. She did not want to get her hopes up too much about it. She had already done so on previous occasions, and Charon had proven to be too clever. She begged for this time to be different.

  "Okay, then let's go," she said as she placed a hand on Gus's shoulder to show her support. "It has to turn out well for us this time."

  ***

  Susana looked at herself in the mirror that took up one of the wardrobe doors, wondering if the whole thing was going to work. What was going to happen if they discovered that the magic they had shared in front of the computer did not exist in the real world? What would happen if they discovered that they had nothing to talk about without the shield that the Internet represented?

  She sat down on the bed, thinking. She did not want to let herself be swept away by nerves, but her whole mind was being filled with doubts. Maybe she ought to write him some message apologising, and telling him to leave the date for another day. Maybe it was better to settle for living in a dream than coming face to face with a reality that was different from the one she was expecting. She made her way to the computer to write the message, and then remembered that Alex was not going to be at home all day, so she would not be able to speak with him. She had to go, she couldn't stand him up. She got up again and began to get dressed.

  ***

  Gus finished writing a few messages to his friends, giving the latest instructions, and then looked at Carlos and Natalia. They had been in an absolute silence that was broken only by Gus’s typing.

  "Well, there we go. Everything is ready. They've each prepared a program, with different variations, and they're going to test them out now. Let's hope that one of them works," said Gus, nervous.