‘Not that bad? We’ve just asked them to publish, across all national media outlets, the photograph of a poor innocent man saying that he’s a dangerous killer. We’ve just screwed up a guy’s life and, if he has a good lawyer, he’s going to see to screwing up ours.’
‘Maybe we’ll be in luck and he never sees it,’ suggested Gus.
‘How’s he not going to see it if it’s going to come out on the TV, in all the papers, on the Internet...?’
‘Perhaps that photo is of someone from another country. We don’t know where the killer took it from.’
‘Neither of you know that, and neither of you know anything. Just that nonsense about how he could be epileptic, which has only served the purpose of having me spend days fighting with the Health Service for them to send me a list of patient data that is completely confidential.’
‘Well, we might know something else...’ Gus cut in.
‘What might we know?’
‘Now that we’re certain that Azkar is the user that contacted both victims via that dating site, we could ask for a warrant for getting his IP,’ explained Gus. ‘With that piece of information, we would be able to find out his phone number and find him.’
‘Yes, that’s a great idea,’ intervened Carlos. ‘As soon as we know that, we’ll be able to arrest him.’
‘It’s not going to be that easy,’ said Gus, causing the smile to disappear from Carlos’s face. ‘The strong point about those types of sites is discretion. I don’t think they’re going to pass on that bit of information to us so happily.’
‘A warrant will help them to show more predisposition,’ said Aguirre, picking up the phone.
‘We’re going to have trouble even with the warrant. That page is from the States. I don’t know to what extent they’ll be frightened by the warrant of a Spanish judge.’ Gus shrugged his shoulders. ‘And I’m certain that their lawyers will try to avoid us getting that information by all means possible.’
‘Well if it’s going to take a while, the best thing will be for us to get started on it as soon as possible,’ Aguirre cut him off, whilst starting to dial a number on the telephone. ‘I’m going to call the judge right now. Get out of my office and try to stay out of my sight for the next couple of days, and we’ll see if you’re in luck and my fury subsides.’
CHAPTER FIVE
After opening the door to the establishment, Gus stood still in the threshold for a few seconds, wondering whether he could have been mistaken. Lorena had given him the address of a new café, a great place that he was going to love, but she can’t have been referring to this place. The bare brick walls, the enormous fluorescent lights, and the wooden boxes scattered about in the corners gave it the appearance of an industrial unit in mid-refurbishment. Every table and every chair were different from each other, as if they had been bought at a jumble sale. To round off the shabby impression, behind the bar was a guy with a beard that reached almost halfway down his chest, and a black woollen cap that had seen better days.
He spotted Lorena at the back, motioning for him to come over. He passed between the tables and sat down in front of her.
‘Hi. This place is so... original!’
‘It’s great, isn’t it? I knew you’d like it,’ she said with a wide smile. ‘Are you going to go to the bar and order?’
‘Yes, of course. Is that guy the waiter? He doesn’t exactly look clean.’
‘What funny ideas you think up!’ She laughed as if she’d just heard the best joke in the world. ‘Of course he’s clean; what it is, is he’s a hipster. And don’t say he’s a waiter. He’s a barista.’
Gus felt the urge to ask her whether that was what you now called people who had a bar, but he preferred to keep quiet and not risk coming across as ignorant. He got up out of the chair to go to the bar.
‘What do you want?’ Gus asked her.
‘A vanilla chai latte,’ she replied.
He headed off towards the bar, repeating those words over and over again in his mind so as not to forget them, whilst he wondered what the hell such a thing could be. The guy behind the bar stopped tidying up glasses and went over to him.
‘What can I get for you?’
‘A vanilla... chai... latte, and a white coffee,’ said Gus, feeling very proud of himself for having remembered the darn name.
‘Coming right up... What kind of coffee would you prefer? Jamaica Blue Mountain, Guatemala Finca La Bella, Colombia Santa Bárbara...?’
‘I don’t know, whichever one you see first...’
‘Espresso, filter coffee, French press?’
‘Whatever you like, honestly.’
‘Whole, skimmed, or soy milk?’
‘Look, dude... I trust your judgement. Make me a damn white coffee.’
The smile disappeared from the waiter’s face, who turned without saying another word and set to work. After over five minutes, he placed the two cups on the bar. Gus noticed the image the guy had created on his coffee with the milk froth. It could appear to be some kind of flower, but he suspected it was rather more a hand with the middle finger extended.
‘What do I owe you?’
‘Six euros.’
Gus went pale, but took out his wallet, and paid without saying a word. He did not want to make a wild scene in front of Lorena, but that guy was swindling them. It seemed impossible to him that, what with charging those astronomical prices, they wouldn’t have money there to finish painting the walls or buy all chairs in the same colour. He returned to his table and sat down opposite Lorena.
‘I’m sorry to have taken so long,’ he apologised. ‘It’s amazing how long they take here to make a coffee.’
‘It’s because it isn’t a normal coffee. It’s art,’ she replied.
‘Okay, that’ll be what it is... My whole life drinking coffee and thinking it was a normal drink, and now it turns out you can do art with it.’
‘You’re so funny.’ Lorena started laughing again whilst she twirled a lock of hair with her fingers.
Gus remained silent for a few seconds, wondering whether he ought to get up and leave. He had nothing in common with this girl. If only she weren’t so darn hot...
‘Have you brought me the notes?’ he asked, to change the subject.
‘Ah, the notes... I’m sorry, I forgot them at home.’
‘But that’s the whole reason for us meeting up.’
‘Ah, how silly...’ She went back to laughing. ‘That was only an excuse for meeting up with you.’
‘And what would you be wanting to meet up with me for?’
‘Don’t be modest. Haven’t you realised that I like you?’
She leant towards him, allowing him a better view of her cleavage, whilst blinking her enormous, sparkling blue eyes. Gus moved sharply backwards in his seat, trying to escape the enchantment of those eyes, and coughed a couple of times before speaking:
‘Me? You like me? You?’
‘Of course, silly. And I know you also like me.’
‘Well, yeah... I’m not going to deny that.’
‘So then, we could try going out a few times. Don’t you think? Look, on Wednesday I’ve arranged to meet up with my friends at the marina in Algorta to have a few sips of wine. Why don’t you come, and I’ll introduce you? It’ll be super fun!’
‘Yeah, of course...’
Gus went back to being silent, not knowing what to say. He, Gus Guevara, the geek, the loser, was going out with the hottest girl in the whole university. He was going to need several days to take all of that in. The following words from Lorena served to reduce his enthusiasm somewhat:
‘I’d like to ask you a favour. Would you be able to dress a little better for when you’re with my friends?’ Faced with Gus’s silence, she continued to explain herself. ‘Don’t get me wrong, as for me I love how you are, that whole tough guy going around in black thing, but you’re not going to fit in at all in at all with the group. Would you do it for me?’
Gus limited himself to
nodding in silence, whilst trying to remember whether he had any article of clothing in his wardrobe that was not black. He decided to forget about that and focus solely on Lorena. In that moment he felt as if he were in a dream. So many years yearning for her to look at him, doing favours for her to get a smile, dreaming about her taking notice of him... He would worry later about what to wear further in the future.
*****
After finishing her shift, Natalia left the building and stood in the doorway, smoking a cigarette. In spite of the fact that they each travelled back home in their own cars, she liked to wait for Carlos and discuss the news of the day whilst they walked together through the car park.
Night was already beginning to fall, and the temperature seemed to be going down by the minute. On top of that, it was starting to rain and, judging by how grey the sky was, it was possible it would not stop for the entire weekend. It was not such a bad prospect, though: the two of them lying on the sofa, covered up with a blanket whilst they watched a random film and ate chips, with Art lying at their feet. Upon thinking about the dog, her smile diminished. He needed to be taken out four or five times a day, even if it was raining or cold. She was just wondering whether it would be very difficult for her to convince Carlos to do it, when he appeared through the door.
‘Wow, Miss Perfect has made an early escape,’ he said by way of greeting.
‘No, you’re the one coming out late.’ She went up to him, put her arms around his neck, and gave him a kiss. ‘What do you fancy doing today?’
‘I don’t know, it’s a horrible day. How about we go home, have dinner, and watch a film?’
‘Perfect,’ she replied. ‘Are you cooking?’
‘If you feel like dining on potato omelette again...’
‘No, I’ll do it myself now, but in exchange you take out Art.’
‘That’s something we’ll have to discuss.’ Carlos’s mobile began to ring. ‘One moment.’
Carlos answered it and listened in silence for a few seconds. Natalia waited, hugging herself again so as to try to avoid the frozen wind that had just started up from leaving her frozen.
‘Yes, perfect... Do you think it could be him? Good, we’ll be there in ten minutes.’
When Carlos hung up, he turned towards her and shrugged his shoulders.
‘I’m sorry. Dinner and the film are going to have to wait. That was Sebas. He says they have a room reserved in the hotel under a woman’s name, and that a few minutes ago, a man entered alone and, walking through the car park, has gone up to that room and used the code to go in. We’ve got him.’
CHAPTER SIX
Estefanía took one step into the room, without letting go of the doorknob. She was still not sure she wanted to do this. All she had expected to do was talk with a few men, hear nice things, feel like she was still beautiful, young, and desirable... But to go from that to sleeping with a stranger was a very long road that she was not sure she wanted to travel. She felt Sergio’s betrayal like a river of lava that compelled her to take revenge, but she doubted that doing something she was not prepared to do would make her feel better.
She took a look at the room. At least it was not the filthy, rough hovel that she had imagined when Azkar told her that they could meet in a motel. Everything was clean and tidy. In the centre of the bedroom, there stood out an enormous bed with white sheets. The light was dim, with a faint touch of violet. Through the piped music could be heard a smooth jazz song, and the air had the exotic and heady aroma of sandalwood. It could have passed for any hotel room, were it not for the Jacuzzi taking up one of the corners and the mirror positioned on the ceiling above the bed.
She took a couple of deep breaths and closed the door behind her. She had already made it this far. She could not be a coward and back out at this point. Azkar had seemed like a good guy to her: sweet, affectionate, fun... And, although it was difficult for her to acknowledge it, he had managed to awaken something inside her, to make her feel things that were long forgotten to her. Besides, having betrayed Sergio would help her to confront him when she told him she knew that he had cheated on her and that their marriage was over; it would provide her with ammunition for returning the pain that he had caused her.
On top of the table she found an ice bucket in which a bottle of champagne was being chilled. To the side was a small envelope on which “To Fanny” could be read. She took out the small card inside it and read:
I am extremely sorry, but an unforeseen circumstance has arisen and I will be arriving half an hour late. Please, don’t leave. Accept this bottle of champagne as an apology and wait for me. I am burning with the desire to meet you.
Azkar
Estefanía sat down on the bed with the card in her hands, not knowing what to do. This was not the best way to start a date. If she had to add on half an hour of anxious waiting to her state of nerves, she did not think she was capable of holding up until Azkar arrived.
She looked back at the bottle of champagne. Tiny droplets of chilled water were sliding down the greenish glass. To tell the truth, she could do with a drink... or two. Maybe that way she would manage to relax and be able to behave in a more natural and uninhibited way when Azkar appeared. Without thinking about it a second longer, she served herself a drink and leant back on the soft bed to wait for his arrival.
*****
As soon as the lift opened, they saw Sebas waiting for them beside the door. Without saying a word, he took each of them by the arm and dragged them to the reception counter.
‘What’s going on, Sebas?’ asked Carlos
‘Someone else has used the security code in the room where our suspect is.’ Sebas turned the computer screen so that they could see it, and began playing a recording. ‘I think it’s this woman. She arrived in her car a few minutes ago.’
‘Don’t make us nervous. Do you have the recording where you see our suspect come in?’
‘Yes, here it is.’ Sebas rewound the recording to the point they were searching for. ‘It’s this man. Do you think it could be him?’
Carlos and Natalia leant towards the screen and watched in silence. In the semi-darkness of the car park, they could see a tall and hefty man crossing the space on foot until he arrived at the lift.
‘It could be,’ said Natalia, dubiously. ‘The physique fits, but I don’t understand why he’s stopped using the hood.’
‘Perhaps he has it at the dry cleaner’s,’ joked Carlos. ‘Have you observed any other difference in his behaviour, Sebas?’
‘Yes, it seems he’s lowered his level of glamour. He’s exchanged the Moët & Chandon for Freixenet.’
‘That certainly is a step down. Maybe so much killing is leaving him a bit strapped for cash,’ suggested Carlos.
‘Given that he charges the bottles to his victims’ accounts, I don’t think that that’s his problem,’ Natalia shook her head. ‘I don’t know what to think. It might be it’s not him, but we can’t take the risk and let him kill that woman. We need to go in.’
‘Not so fast,’ Carlos cut her off. ‘We know he never kills them in the room, so, at least for nor, that woman isn’t in danger.’
‘So what are we going to do then?’ asked Natalia. ‘Wait here twiddling our thumbs?’
‘Exactly. If we go in now and he still hasn’t drugged her, the only thing we’ll find is a man with a bottle of champagne and a woman who’s shown up for a date of her own free will.’
‘So we’re going to wait for him to drug her?’ Natalia looked outraged. ‘Do you not plan on arresting him until he’s putting her into the boot of the car? And what if he gets away from us and kills her?’
‘Don’t worry, we won’t wait that long. Give me just five minutes, enough time for her to have a drink or two and for the drug to begin taking effect. Then we’ll go in and put an end to this.’
*****
Estefanía sat up on the bed in order to serve herself another drink. She had never really liked drinking, but she had to acknowledge that
the champagne was very good. Besides, with every sip she took, she felt as though her conscience was going to sleep; that she was feeling more daring, braver, less insecure...
Upon trying to get up, she noticed that the floor swayed beneath her feet, and that her vision was blurry. It could not be. She had only had two drinks. Even though she was not accustomed to drinking, it was impossible for it to be having such an effect on her.
She fell back down onto the mattress and remained recumbent for a few seconds, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass. Surely it must have been down to her having sat up too quickly, along with the state of anxiety that she had been immersed in over the recent days. Nevertheless, no matter how much she waited, the dizziness, instead of disappearing, was getting worse. She noticed that her eyelids were feeling heavy to her, that her breathing was becoming slow and deep... Even her thoughts seemed to be going at a slower speed, as if adjusting to keep in step with the gentle music that was flooding the room. She could not believe it. She was supposed to have gone to that hotel to have an exciting experience, and she was on the verge of falling asleep. What would Azkar think if he arrived and found her out like a log? That thought caused her to let out a silly giggle. With every second that passed, her eyelids seemed to weigh more and more. Before they inevitably closed, she thought she heard a sound coming from the bathroom. She fought to move her head, which felt as though it had become filled with lead, and look in that direction, and, just before falling asleep, she saw as the door started gradually opening.
*****
‘The five minutes are already up,’ Natalia looked away from the clock on her mobile. ‘Let’s go.’
‘My dear child, what a worrywart you are...’ Carlos begrudgingly came out from behind the counter. ‘Don’t you realise that if he were to leave, we’d see him on the security cameras?’
‘And what if he changes his modus operandi and kills her in the room?’
The White Corpses Page 10