Charon's Net

by Gemma Herrero Virto

  Carlos and Natalia went back to the car, feeling dejected. They had now finished with their questioning of all the suspects on the list, and the result was disheartening.

  “This hasn’t been of any use at all. None of the people we’ve questioned possess the necessary abilities to have committed the crimes,” commented Natalia. “This whole thing is a waste of time.”

  “Well, don’t despair. Maybe you could go back to looking at the list of attempted suicides and find more suspects,” said Carlos, trying to console her.

  “I don’t think it’s going to work. I had good reasons for ruling them out when I was going through them. We’re taking a big risk with every interview we carry out, and I don’t think it’s going to yield any result. I think we ought to abandon this line of investigation.”

  Carlos shrugged and started up the car.

  “So then, what do you suggest we do now?” he asked her. “Sit down and watch as Gus talks with him, praying that he falls into the trap?”

  “I don’t know... I’m sorry this idea hasn’t worked... Perhaps I did the screening incorrectly from the start; maybe he’s from Álava, or he’s over twenty-five...” she suggested.

  “Well we can’t do anything about that now. Aguirre is not going to provide me with a single file more now that I’m not on the case. We need to think about something else.”

  Natalia remained silent, looking through the window whilst she concentrated. It was getting dark, and the weak rays of the sun were carving silvery sparkles of light along the walls of the Guggenheim, bringing back to mind memories that she tried to erase every day.

  “What about that girl who was going out with Alex?” she asked, after a few seconds had gone by. “The one who was the subject of his fight with Eneko.”

  “No, she couldn’t have killed him. We already questioned her after the murder, and her alibi is spectacular. She was in a swimming championship in front of over two hundred people. She came third.”

  “I’m not referring to whether she could have killed him. She went out with him right up until two weeks before the murder,” she explained. “She could have information about Alex’s enemies, about his contacts on the Internet...”

  Carlos took his eyes off the road for a moment, and shot her a tired smile.

  “Couldn’t you have thought of that a month ago? How am I going to explain it now to Aguirre that I’m going to go back to San Sebastián to question a person related to a case they’ve taken off me? It’s one thing for us to go strolling through Bilbao asking people who don’t have anything to do with it, and an entirely different one to go and question the girlfriend of the first victim.”

  Natalia fell quiet again. Carlos was right. If Aguirre caught them doing anything wrong again, he would not hesitate to dismiss them. Nevertheless, now that it had occurred to her, she could not manage to get the idea out of her head. Surely this girl was the person who would have the most information about the final weeks of Alex’s life. Perhaps it was worth it to risk everything for the investigation, for the team, for him... She looked at Carlos, and no longer had any doubt about it.

  ***

  Gus tore his eyes away from the screen. It had been a while since he had heard the dog make any noise, and that could only mean bad news. He got up and began searching throughout the house. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of paws running through the hall. The puppy came up to him, with his head low:

  “Where were you, Art?” Gus asked him, crouching down to stroke him. “You haven’t peed on one of the rugs again, have you?”

  The dog did not even look at him; it was as if he had no idea what he was talking about.

  “You have,” Gus sighed. “You’re looking for our downfall, boy. You don’t know how precious Natalia is about her things. For you it’s not so much of a problem, even if the blame is all yours, because you’re small and likeable, but as for me, they’re going to have my guts for garters... Listen, I’m talking to you...”

  Art headed towards the living room wagging his tail, as if nothing had happened. Gus puffed hard and went off in search of the place of the ‘accident’ whilst he told himself that it was obvious the dog belonged to Carlos, because they were both as loutish as each other. Fortunately, he only had to scrub the kitchen floor. Afterwards, he returned to the living room. The puppy was lying down on the rug, and looked up on hearing him enter.

  “Well, it’s all tidied up. Now you stay still there and, if you want anything, you ask, understand? Let’s see if you can behave yourself, ‘cause I have other things to do than spend the whole day walking behind you to make sure you don’t do anything silly.”

  The dog yawned and rested his head down on his front paws, making it fully clear that he did not care about what Gus had to do.

  “Ingrate. You’ll still come crying to me when it’s time for dinner.”

  He went back to looking at the computer. Charon was still logged in, and had sent him a chat request. He sat down and accepted it.

  −Hello, Silvia. I was already beginning to miss you.

  −I’m sorry. I’m only five minutes late, right?

  −Yes, but you’re always punctual. And I wouldn’t like to go without talking to you.

  −I’m sorry, the dog peed in the kitchen, and I had to clean it up.

  −You have a dog? You hadn’t told me anything about that.

  Gus cursed himself at having let slip a piece of real information. Well, it was not like it was all that important though. Besides, his character would be more believable if he could tell stories that were true.

  −Well, it’s not mine. It’s my brother’s dog but, when he’s not here, I’m the one in charge of looking after him.

  −Poor thing, busy all day.

  −I don’t mind it. He’s really nice. His name is Art, and he’s a German shepherd pup.

  −That’s a very nice name. What does it mean?

  −It’s short for d’Artagnan. Some nonsense to do with my brother, I don’t know why he chose it.

  −I also really like dogs.

  −Do you have one?

  −No, not right now. When I have my own house.

  −Will your parents not let you?

  −I don’t think they like the idea. I’ve stopped asking them.

  −Don’t you get on well with them?

  −Not much. Listen, did you know today is a fiesta day?

  There was no way of getting anything out of him regarding his family, nothing about his private life. Every time that the conversation steered towards those topics, he gave monosyllabic answers, or he changed the subject. Gus did not dare push it further. Although Charon may not ever suspect that it was a trap, he could still decide that Silvia asked too many questions for his liking; that she was going to be a difficult prey... Gus could not risk him changing his target. He decided to go with the flow; in time, he would return to the subject when there was more trust there.

  −Well it must just be in San Sebastián, because here it’s a normal day.

  −It’s a very important fiesta, at least for me. Today marks one week since we met.

  :−Do you celebrate every time you meet someone on ICQ?

  −No, only when I meet somebody very special.

  −And are there many of them?

  −So far, only one person, and I don’t think I’m ever going to meet anybody else who is so nice.

  Gus smiled. The guy was going quickly; he was already making a move. Natalia had made him aware that Charon would be desperate because of the amount of time he had spent inactive, and that he would be less cautious than on other occasions. Gus needed to make it easy for him, but not so much so that he would become suspicious. And how the hell did one do that? Perhaps women were born masters of that matter, but he did not have even the slightest idea how to behave. The best thing would be to play the fool a little.

  −Wow, thanks then. I don’t know what to say.

  −You don’t have to say anything. Just carry on being as you
are.

  −You’re going to make me go bright red.

  −Haha... Don’t be embarrassed, woman. I said that so you would know that, although only one week has gone by, talking to you is very important to me. You make me feel really good. And I hope that you feel the same way.

  −Of course, I love that you’re my friend.

  −Okay, and as I don’t want you to feel any more uncomfortable, I’ll change the subject. Tell me, how’s your day been?

  ***

  The shrill sound of the school bell broke the silence. A second later, a surge of teenagers began to flood out into the schoolyard. Natalia approached a group of girls who appeared to be around the age of the one she was searching for, and she asked for her. They pointed her in the direction of a corner basketball court. She walked over to it, watched by hundreds of eyes, looking at her like she was an intruder. She considered how different those children seemed to her; the feeling of rejection that they let show towards somebody ‘so grown up’. They made her feel strange, old.

  “Excuse me. Is one of you girls Esther Urrutia?”

  “I am,” replied one of them, turning around defiantly. “Is something wrong?”

  Natalia gestured for her to follow her, and they moved away from her friends. She observed the girl. She was a real beauty: blonde, tall, athletic... Nevertheless, Alex had cheated on her dozens of times. She would never understand men.

  “I’m Inspector Egaña,” she introduced herself, praying that nobody would think to check the details. “I wanted to talk to you about Alex.”

  “Again?” she asked, in a tired voice. “Is this thing never going to end?”

  Natalia caught a spark of sadness in her eyes. She may not have been going out with him at the time when he was killed, but he seemed to still matter to her, even after all this time.

  “I’m sorry; it’ll only take a few minutes. I’d like to find know a few things about the time when you were both going out with each other.”

  “Why? Our relationship had nothing to do with his death.”

  “I know, but I imagine you would have spent a lot of time together; that he would trust you...”

  “That’s exactly what I thought too, but in the end it wasn’t true,” the girl shrugged her shoulders, and looked at her with sadness. “Fine, I’ll try to help you. Ask whatever you want.”

  “Okay, we know that Alex was signed up to a chat program. Did he ever mention to you about who he would speak with?”

  “Of course, he would spend the day talking to me about it... It was his favourite thing to do on the Internet. He liked pulling peoples’ leg,” she replied.

  “What are you alluding to when you say ‘pulling peoples’ leg’?”

  “Pretending that he was in love with other girls. He would tell them how wonderful they were, how much he loved them, how happy they would be when they were together... Just like that, until he got tired of them and would go looking for others. I told him loads of times about how it bothered me, but he’d laugh and say that it wasn’t at all important, that it was only a joke.”

  “Do you know if he ever played the same game with any guy? You know, pretend he was gay and that he was in love with him.”

  “No, I don’t think he did. Or at least, he never told me about it,” said the girl, shocked. “And if he had done, it would have been embarrassing for him to tell his friends about it, in case they thought anything strange, you know...”

  “Yes, I understand... Do you know where the girls he spoke with were from?”

  Esther thought for a few seconds, and shrugged her shoulders again. She took a cigarette out of her pocket, and offered another to Natalia. The latter shook her head and waited.

  “I don’t know, there were so many of them... From all over the world...”

  “Try to remember,” insisted Natalia. “Did he used to talk with anybody from around here?”

  “No, not with anyone from San Sebastián. He didn’t want to have any problems... Although, in the end, he did...” the sadness came back to mist up her eyes.

  Natalia was thoughtful for a few seconds. She was not making any progress, and was not prepared to have run this risk for nothing. For some reason, she knew that this girl had the answers; she just needed to find the right questions. If Carlos had been there, everything would have been easier.

  “Did he ever tell you whether he had a fight with anyone over the Internet, whether anybody threatened him?”

  “Yes, that rings a bell...” Esther went quiet for a few seconds, concentrating. “He told me that he had been talking with a girl who had a boyfriend, and that he’d had a couple of telling-off from the guy over the Internet.”

  “And did he not stop talking with her? Didn’t he feel guilty for meddling in a relationship?”

  “Alex didn’t care about anything when it came to having fun. I think that, as he was taking it as a joke, he couldn’t conceive that it might be important to the others.”

  “Can you remember anything else about this girl? Or her boyfriend?”

  “I think they were from Bilbao. He jokingly said to me that he was worried in case the guy went crazy and came to beat him up, and that he wouldn’t go finding himself another girlfriend who was less than a thousand kilometres away,” she fell quiet again for a few seconds, concentrating. “And I do remember the girl’s name. She was called Mónica.”

  Natalia felt as if she had just been delivered a blow to the stomach. At last she was on the right track. She did not know how she was going to fit this new piece of information in with the hypothetical personality profile of Charon that they had so far, but she would have time enough to worry about that later on, when she was with Carlos.

  “Do you think he could have been killed over that?” asked Esther.

  “I don’t know; we’ll have to investigate it. What’s your opinion on it?”

  The girl took one final drag from her cigarette and stubbed it out on the ground, whilst she thought. When she lifted her head, a tear slipped down her cheek.

  “I don’t know who killed him or why, but Alex was asking for it,” she answered in a broken voice. “Don’t get me wrong... I’m not saying he deserved it; nobody deserves something like that to happen to them, but he liked playing with peoples’ feelings too much... It seems in the end he found someone who didn’t like to play.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The cigarette smoke was slowly floating upwards, loading up even more the asphyxiating atmosphere of the room. I put it out in the overflowing ashtray. It seemed that Silvia was never going to come online. I had been waiting since the morning for her to appear, for her to show that she needed us to be together, even though we had not arranged to talk until five. All of the other girls had sat waiting there at one point, even if they were not sure whether I was going to appear. All of them had sent messages or emails because they could not bear the hours of our being apart. But with Silvia this did not happen. It was as if she had a separate life about which I knew nothing. I had always suspected that there was something in her that I did not know, something hidden.

  I did not know why I had that sense of discomfort on talking with her, why it was taking me longer than necessary to move on from the friendship. She was kind, sweet, innocent... She would certainly be open to having something more than a friendship. So then, what was the problem? Why was she trying to hold off that moment?

  I needed to stop worrying. Those thoughts were only the product of the anxiety; my unsettled nerves were making me see ghosts in every corner. I could not allow fear to take over my life, and prevent me from carrying out my duty. I needed to hurry up in carrying out a new sacrifice, and this time I could not allow a single mistake. I could not take this tension any longer. It was my life, or the life of one of the girls. And the only one whom I had been talking with for long enough to get a date with soon was Silvia.

  A sound coming from the computer caught my attention. I smiled at seeing her name on the screen. It was time to shelve th
e fears and to spring into action.

  −Hello Silvia, it’s been so long since I saw you last! It’s felt like an eternity to me. I couldn’t stand not talking to you any longer.

  −And why’s that? Did something important happen to you yesterday?

  −Well, yes and no... I don’t know how I’m going to tell you, or how you’re going to take it.

  −Tell me, it can’t be that bad. Did you meet the girl of your dreams?

  −Again, yes and no...

  −Well, as you’re not explaining it any further... Predictions never have been my thing.

  −All right... Here I go... I didn’t meet the girl of my dreams, but I did realise my feelings for somebody I already knew.

  Gus spun around in the chair and looked at Carlos and Natalia with a questioning expression.

  “He’s decided to go for it. Do I carry on playing the fool?” he asked.

  “Yes, let him do the talking. It seems he has it well planned out. You just go along with it,” Natalia advised him, getting up from the sofa to come closer to the screen.

  “Are you both certain he’s going to make his move?” asked Carlos, sceptically, sitting down on the other side of Gus. “Maybe he’s just decided that this relationship isn’t doing it for him, and he’s about to tell us he’s going to go out with an old friend of his.”

  “Coming from someone who obviously hasn’t read a single line of the chat threads. This is his style of declaring his love,” replied Gus, whilst Natalia nodded. “I’m telling you that it’s imminent, you’ll see.”

  Gus turned around and looked at the screen, and continued typing:

  −Come on, tell me already. I don’t have a clue what you’re trying to say to me.

  −All right but, whatever I tell you, I hope you don’t stop talking with me. This is very important to me... Last night, I went out with a few friends who I’d always got on really well with and, nevertheless, I had one of the worst nights of my life.

  −Did you have an argument with them?

  −No, not at all... but I didn’t enjoy myself for even a single second; my head was somewhere else. I spent the night thinking about how much I missed you. I don’t know what’s happening to me with you. I knew I liked you a lot, and that I loved talking with you, but I never thought I’d end up needing you so much. And yesterday, on going so long without you, I spent the whole night thinking about telling you every single thing that was happening to me, imagining what you’d say, and having conversations with you in my head. I ended up realising that I’d fallen in love with you.