Mala Vida

by Marc Fernandez

  “Of course!” says Ana. “Listen, I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going to accompany Isabel to your meeting. I just want to be sure she gets there safe and sound.”

  “You think she could be the target of another attack?”

  “She’s been roughed up once already, and she’s received death threats like David. And then, the other day when I was with her, I had the impression we were being followed. I didn’t say anything so as not to frighten her, but tomorrow I want to make sure. If we can prevent the intelligence services or whoever this is from showing up at our favorite bar, that would be a good thing, don’t you think?”

  “Agreed. I’m going to see how David is doing. Oh, since you mention him, he’s boiling mad and pretty sure he’s going to be fired.”

  In his office at the courthouse, Judge Ponce is packing his belongings into boxes. A final decision has yet to be handed down, but he has been summoned to appear in two days before the governing board of magistrates. Undoubtedly, to receive his dismissal. His altercation with the minister of justice was the last straw. His immediate superior has already removed him from several cases, and the few journalists with whom he has developed a purely professional relationship—Diego is different—have heard rumors that he will indeed be removed from the bench. The question in David’s mind is how this will happen exactly. Judges aren’t just fired; there has to be a damn good reason. It wouldn’t be impossible for them to try to stick him with something that would force him to quit. But he would never quit. Never. There aren’t a lot of avenues for pressuring him either: he’s single, has no wife or kids, and has no other family members except a brother he hasn’t spoken to for years. Their only recourse, in his opinion, is a disciplinary hearing. After that, he can say adios to the Audiencia Nacional. So he has decided to await the final verdict patiently, even with a certain serenity. He already has a plan for what he’ll do after they show him the door.

  Ana has been reading so many names on so many different kinds of documents, she can hardly see straight anymore. But ever since Diego mentioned the murdered nun, she can’t stop thinking about it and has put aside the fastidious work of checking the NASB files to take a look through her own. She’s been at it for an hour already, turning her office inside out, firing up her hard drive and going through every file related to any investigation she has ever done. Nothing. No Sister Marie-Carmen anywhere. Discouraged, she throws herself onto the dark brown leather recliner that sits like a throne in front of the window and looks one last time around the tiny room that serves as the headquarters of her detective agency, Ana & Associates. Still nothing. It’s possible she was mistaken. She tells herself that her memory is starting to fail her, which won’t be good for business.

  She decides to take a walk to see her former colleagues still hustling on Rue del Pez and have a drink with them. It’s seven o’clock, a little early in the evening, but not unreasonably so. In any case, she has a long night ahead of her if she’s going to get through all of the NASB files. Two hours later, after a few beers and a round of tapas with the girls, she gets back to her office, turns on the lights, wakes up her computer, and sits in front of it. Ana is just about to pick up her work where she left off when she accidentally pushes a pile of investigation reports off the edge of her desk. She picks one up and pages through it excitedly and then gives an elated shout:

  “Holy shit, here it is! I knew it!” Ana says out loud as if someone was in the office to share the news with.

  She grabs her phone to tell Diego. She wasn’t mistaken; she did come across the name of Sister Marie-Carmen somewhere, in a case from a few months ago. Over the course of her investigation, she found several official documents mentioning the nun.

  The day of her meeting with Diego Martin is finally here. Isabel is more nervous than she imagined she would be. Since he was the journalist who announced the opening of an official investigation under pressure from the NASB, she has decided he also gets to be the one to interview her. Her only interview. Her one and only media appearance, and she hopes it will be her last. Of course, there will still be occasional press releases and press conferences—where Isabel won’t take any questions, just as when the NASB launched. There will be others, too, timed to respond to the Ministry of Justice’s decisions, but she will always conduct them the same way: after reading an official statement, she will say thank you and goodbye to the ladies and gentleman of the press. The threats haven’t let up, and the lawyer is struggling to manage the stress of it all. Since her attack in the street, Isabel has been plagued by nightmares and is only sleeping in fits and starts.

  She was relieved when Ana offered to come with her to the meeting. The idea of being out alone late at night in Malasaña again, the same neighborhood where Isabel was assaulted, wasn’t at all appealing to her. The detective should be here any minute. The meeting is to take place in the same bar where Isabel met Judge Ponce, which surprises her, but Ana explained that the judge and the journalist have made it their unofficial second office.

  Isabel is ready. She has waited a long time for this moment, which she knows will lay the foundations for what is to come. She practiced what she wants to say, the message she wants to send out. She scribbled some bits of phrases on scrap paper, but she threw them out. Isabel would prefer to just answer the journalist’s questions. She thinks it will look better if she appears natural and doesn’t read from any prepared statements. After all, she knows this inside and out. She just needs to give an impression of strength, as she used to do when making her closing arguments to a jury. Above all, Isabel has to keep her emotions out of it. Her mantra is: just the facts, nothing but the facts, and only the facts. Repeating that to herself, she gets her things together.

  It will take two people to carry the huge bag of incriminating documents that she plans to give to Diego. The witnesses have kept coming forward ever since Daniel and Josefa, two of the founding members of the NASB and whose stories were the impetus for creating the association, contacted her. They told her about the deathbed confession by a father to his son revealing that the son had been adopted, or rather bought, at the time of his birth, and about a mother who, like Emilia, is convinced that her child was taken from her just after she delivered. At first, there were about thirty stories in all. Today, the association has gathered several hundred, and the numbers are growing by the day. It won’t be long before they reach a thousand. Isabel won’t be able to continue on her own; she’ll need reinforcements, and she plans to use the interview to advertise for help. What she didn’t let herself believe is proving true: the number of abductions is staggering, and they took place over a stupefyingly long period of time. Isabel is still shocked by the realization. But the evidence is there. There are official documents that should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind. This country allowed a veritable mafia to buy and sell children to the tune of millions.

  Ana rings the bell.

  “Are you ready?” she asks after giving Isabel a hug, her very Latin way of saying hello.

  “Yes. Listen, can you help me with this? It’s heavy.”

  “What is all that? Are you moving?” Ana asks.

  “I made copies of all of my files for Diego. He has to understand the amplitude of this system.”

  “You know, I think he doesn’t doubt that.”

  “Really, I believe you, but I think that he needs to immerse himself in it. It went on for so long that sometimes I wonder if it isn’t still happening today.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I wonder sometimes, that’s all. I have one case, a well-documented one too, from 2005.”

  “Jesus! That’s crazy! Well, come on, let’s go. Señor Diego is going to get impatient if we don’t get a move on.”

  The two women fill the trunk of Isabel’s car with the big bag full of papers, photos, and press clippings, and then they get in. On their way out of the parking garage, Ana notices a gray delivery van parked nearby but says nothing. It starts up as they pass, then follows from
a safe distance, the length of one or two cars. It’s a tail. Just as she suspected. The lawyer is under surveillance. No doubt about that anymore. Ana is going to have to squeeze some contacts to tell her who is behind it.

  The women spend ten minutes trying to find a parking spot before Isabel loses patience and decides to leave the car at a crosswalk. It’s after ten o’clock; there’s not much risk of getting towed at this hour. From the looks of the sidewalks, which are covered haphazardly with parked cars, no one else cares much about getting a ticket either. As soon as she turns off the engine, the van comes alongside, brakes just when it is even with them, then starts up again, turns right, then right again, and takes up a position about fifty feet behind them, parking in front of the entrance to a garage and turning off its lights. Isabel didn’t notice anything, but Ana caught every detail. The van has a tinted windshield and a tinted rear window. It’s a surveillance vehicle for sure, either the police or the intelligence services.

  Luckily for the two women, given the weight of the bag, the bar is close by. Casa Pepe’s roll-down gate is locked. Isabel knocks, and Diego opens up the gate. Lawyer and journalist, face-to-face for the first time: awkward. Neither moves nor knows how to greet the other. Ana puts them out of their misery with a comical grimace.

  “Oh my god! Look at the two of you! A couple of teenagers! Now, come on, say hello. It won’t hurt you.”

  Isabel and Diego laugh, still rather too uncomfortable, but finally exchange a kiss on the cheek in greeting. Diego is the first to speak.

  “Well, I think we have plenty to talk about,” is all he can manage. He can’t stop looking at Isabel, with her deep, dark eyes, her delicate features, and her elegance.

  David Ponce had warned him: “She is a beautiful woman. Not so tall, but she exudes a rare blend of sensuality and class. Be careful you don’t fall for her!”

  “Yes, I’m sure you’re right. I brought some things that might interest you,” she answers, indicating the bag of papers at her feet.

  With the introductions out of the way and the meeting beginning, Ana decides to leave them alone.

  “I’m going to take off. You don’t need me here while you talk and record the interview. Isabel, if you want, call me when you’re ready to leave, and I’ll come back to get you. I’ll be in the neighborhood. I have a couple of things to take care of.”

  As soon as the detective is outside, she makes some phone calls, then goes to wait in another one of Malasaña’s bars, where she knows the owner as well. It takes only a few minutes for Ana’s phone to ring. The conversation is brief. When she hangs up, she leaves the bar and walks calmly toward the gray delivery van.

  12

  DOZENS OF PAPERS are spread across the length of the bar. Two nearby tables are similarly encumbered. Diego and Isabel didn’t notice the time pass. The sun is coming up, and Carlos, Casa Pepe’s owner, will be in soon to open. They are going to have to pack up before he can raise the roll-down gate and welcome the first clients of the day, the early risers, the ones whose jobs start at the crack of dawn, and also the insomniacs, clubbers, and partiers who need a strong coffee and something in their stomachs before going home to sleep off the night.

  The two spent the night reading and rereading all the documents, checking and comparing their relevant facts. They started, however, by recording Isabel’s interview, during which the lawyer demonstrated flawless composure and conviction. A little over two hours of sound that the journalist is going to have to cut and edit for his show. He still doesn’t know when he’ll be able to go live with it. If all goes well, he should be back on the air in a few days. That is unless Radio Uno’s directors decide they like being the government’s lap dog. Still, it would be hard to keep him off the air for another week. That means Diego could run it as early as Friday, the next regularly scheduled Radio Confidential. That would leave him less than forty-eight hours to finish his edit. Barring something unexpected, he could have a new scoop for the station directors. This time, though, he’ll give them a heads-up. With a story like this, they wouldn’t dare stop him, no matter how much it could hurt the ruling party. Even public radio cares about ratings, and they would rather get hauled over the coals than pass this one up. Moreover, the station directors know that Diego won’t hesitate to break his exclusivity clause to take his story to a competitor. Plus, Diego would relish the opportunity to accuse the station of disregarding his protections under labor law. For once, the only thing they can do is pretend to offer their support. In any case, they aren’t fooling anyone.

  What the NASB is about to go public with, according to its spokesperson, could have grave consequences for the government, the monarchy, and even democracy itself. People are fed up. The economic crisis has been fanning tensions, and several anti-government demonstrations have degenerated into riots. For the moment, the first public marches in support of the NASB have taken place peacefully, with only a few hundred people in attendance. However, if the size of the protests grows, which Isabel anticipates, given the number of cases arriving daily at the NASB, there could be clashes with the police. Already, the country’s security forces are on edge. Moreover, some military generals are warning about the chaos reigning in the country, a chilling reminder of the 1981 coup d’état. Also, legislators have voted in a law authorizing police officers to fire on citizens “in case of imminent danger to order and security.” Such a statement permits a wide margin for interpretation.

  Isabel made her statement, too. While speaking at length. And eloquently, at that. Without ever raising her voice but leaving no doubt with her tone that she will pursue this to the end, Isabel demanded justice for these mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and entire families who are looking for answers, and who need to know the truth and want to see those who are responsible for their pain arrested and tried. Her argument is unequivocal and resonates without the slightest hesitation into Diego’s headphones.

  “When the NASB’s two founders, Josefa and Daniel, came to me with their stories, I thought at first that they were fairly typical: a paternity suit and a kidnapping. Typical, let me be clear, in terms of cases I had defended in France. The job for me was to defend two different victims in two different cases. But when we met again, they showed me documents, and I began to investigate. I started to pull on a thread that, as it unraveled, brought me here today. […] We realized that these were not isolated cases and that other people had had the same experiences as they did. The more we investigated, the more horrified we were by what we found. I can tell you now, because we have evidence, that an entire criminal organization was put in place, supported by the Franco regime, whose sole objective was to separate families in the opposition from their own children. I am weighing my words, but I am talking about an actual, ideological mafia with an undercurrent not of ethnic cleansing but of political cleansing; I would even say their goal was to eliminate an entire social class. When you look at the hundreds of cases we have received, no other conclusion is possible. In each case, the victims were known to be anti-Franco militants or were families identified as having leftist politics. […] But worst of all is that this trafficking of children continued after the demise of the Franco regime. We have cases that date from well after his death. I’m not at liberty to say more, because, as we heard live right here on your show, an inquiry has been opened, and I do not want to hinder the course of justice. But you have my word, we have proof. […] So many people are implicated in this: public figures, the elite, the country’s most influential families, as they say. People knew right up to the highest echelons of power, and no one said a thing. It has to end. It’s time to speak out. Don’t be afraid. Above all, what’s most important is that the people who created this system or who profited from it pay for what they did.”

  Deeply troubled by Isabel’s statement, Diego wanted to see for himself what she brought him. He was not disappointed. What he saw was absolutely staggering. A criminal, mafia-style organization as sophisticated as it was corrupt. She
has struck upon something enormous. From the very first, he had sensed that this was going to be out of the ordinary, but he never imagined to what extent. The statements and, above all, the official documents that Isabel has located, cover a period beginning in 1945 and ending in 2006. More than sixty years … He almost can’t believe it.

  He is also impressed by the lawyer and the job she pulled off. Timid and reserved at first, she slowly relaxed as the hours passed. They sat across the table from each other to record the interview but moved gradually closer over the course of the evening. Face-to-face at first, they were sitting side by side hours later, on two high stools at the bar. Under the combined effect of fatigue and alcohol (after a couple of coffees, they moved on to vodka and almost finished an entire bottle), they shared stories about themselves, or rather about their lives. Isabel told him about some of her most famous cases in Paris; Diego talked about some of his reporting in Latin America. Communicating in this way helped create a relationship of trust that they both needed. In a scandal of the sort they’re facing, it’s good to know you can rely on someone. Diego is not unmoved by their close physical proximity. He has not so much as brushed up against a female body for a long time. He didn’t tell Isabel about Carolina, but he suspects she knows. Since Carolina’s death, he has had neither the desire nor the occasion to sleep with a woman. However, there is something about Isabel that he can’t put his finger on. She is very beautiful; that’s clear. But it isn’t just her beauty. She radiates both a strength and a sensuality that attracts him. Yet whenever they get too close to each other, he can see Carolina. And he immediately shies away.

  It is daylight when they finally leave Casa Pepe. Isabel phoned Ana to let her know there was nothing to worry about and that she could get home on her own. Diego walks her to her car. The gray van is still parked a few yards away, waiting to follow. The two men seated inside look to be sleeping. And annoyed. With good reason: not long after the two women left the car last night, they got a call from their chief.