The White Corpses

by Gemma Herrero Virto

  ‘You’re one euro short, sir,’ said the waiter.

  Gus felt a shiver run down his spine, but did not protest. If he wanted to continue going out with Lorena, he was going to have to look for two or three other jobs. He took out the euro he needed, picked up the drinks, and went over to the corner where Lorena and her friends were.

  ‘Guys, this is Gus, my boyfriend.’

  He had to make an effort not to drop the glasses. This girl certainly took things quickly... He put the drinks on the bar and held out his hand to the closest guy, who was a dark-haired young man with ringlets, dressed in a blazer and a pair of trousers that stopped short of the ankle. As Gus greeted them, he took a look around. They were all wearing blazers. He should have listened to Natalia. In spite of the fact that he was wearing what for him was a fortune’s worth of clothing, he felt like a housefly among butterflies.

  ‘It’s a pleasure, Gus. Lorena has told us so many things about you.’

  ‘I hope they’re good things,’ he said, taking a first sip of his beer in order to remove the taste of fear that was permeating his mouth.

  ‘Of course they’re good things, silly,’ replied a small brunette as she caressed his arm as if she had known him all her life. ‘She’s told us that you collaborate with the police in very important investigations, and that right now you’re trying to catch a dangerous killer.’

  ‘Yes, tell us,’ intervened another blond guy who looked like the typical representation of the captain of the football team in an American film. ‘How’s the investigation going? Are you close to catching him?’

  ‘Well, as you will all understand, I can’t tell you anything about that case...’

  They all looked at him with the same thwarted expression. Gus turned towards Lorena and saw that she had her arms folded in front of her chest and a furrowed brow. He felt uncomfortable. Is that what he meant to her? A show monkey for keeping her mates entertained? He sighed, feeling overwhelmed, moved backwards, and leant against the bar with an air of intrigue. He took another sip of his beer, allowing the expectation to build. If what Lorena wanted was for him to talk, she was about to have discourse until the cows came home.

  ‘Don’t all get like that. This case is under secrecy in summary proceedings, and I can’t tell you anything, but I give you my word that, as soon as we solve it, you will know the details even before the media does.’ The faces of everybody present lit up, as if they were a group of children being told their favourite story. ‘In the meantime, I can tell you things about my previous investigations. Do you remember the murders of those teenagers a couple of years ago?’

  ‘Are you referring to Charon?’ asked the brunette, excited.

  ‘Exactly. Charon. I was part of the investigation team responsible for her arrest.’

  Everyone took a couple of steps closer, hungry for his words. Lorena adhered herself to him, and took him by the waist, as if wanting to make it clear in front of her female friends that he was her property. He smiled, and deposited a gentle kiss on her neck before taking another sip of his beer and continuing speaking in order to impress his audience.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Natalia waited until Aguirre invited her to step into his office. She opened the door and walked resolutely in, to hide the nerves that were gripping her stomach. She did not know why, but, whenever the sergeant asked her to go and see him, she would feel nervous and intimidated. The police were supposed to have that power: that of making you feel guilty even if you had not done anything wrong. However, she had thought that, with working all day surrounded by police officers, such a feeling would start wearing off. She even lived with one, and she never felt as bad as Aguirre made her feel.

  The sergeant greeted her by raising the right corner of his mouth in an attempted cool smile. She sat down in front of him and interlaced her fingers on her lap so that he would not notice that they were trembling.

  ‘Good afternoon, sergeant. Do you need anything from me?’

  ‘Yes, Miss Egaña.’ He began to search through the papers on his desk until he found a green file, which he placed in front of her. ‘Here you have what you asked me for.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Wow, I thought you’d have known what it was. What with how much trouble it’s been for us to obtain it, it pains me that you don’t even remember what you asked me for.’

  ‘Is it the list of patients who’ve requested more Luminal than appropriate?’

  ‘Exactly. I’ve had to battle with half of the Department of Health, and with several judges for them to provide me with that list. I hope for your own good and for that of your team that it is of some use.’

  ‘It will be of use, sir. We’re getting closer all the time to solving this case.’

  ‘Well so far I have three victims and not even a single suspect. I hope that changes in the days to come.’

  ‘It will, sir. You have my word.’

  ‘All right, Miss Egaña. You may go.’

  Natalia stood up, gave him a grateful smile, and headed for the door with the folder in her hands. As she moved progressively further away from Aguirre, she felt that the knot in her stomach was starting to relax, and that she could even breathe better.

  ‘One more thing, Miss Egaña...’

  The tension in her stomach returned with greater force, and her lungs stopped mid breath.

  ‘Yes?’ she said, in a faint voice.

  ‘I imagine you will have heard talk around headquarters about Daniel’s death...’

  ‘No, I’m sorry... I’ve been in one of the post-mortem rooms all morning, and I haven’t spoken with anyone. Who is Daniel?’

  ‘One of our computer specialists. It seems that on Saturday night he overdid it with the drinks, and had a car accident. It’s a shame. He was such a young and promising man.’ Aguirre paused for a few seconds.

  ‘I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know him too well, but I’m so sorry.’

  ‘I hope you can all come to the funeral this afternoon. All of the officers who aren’t on duty are going to attend. Can I count on your group?’

  ‘Of course, sir. We’ll be there.’

  Natalia left the office and headed for the room where they were carrying out their investigation. Carlos and Gus were there, looking very interestedly at the screen of one of the laptops.

  ‘Hello. Have you found anything important?’

  ‘No... I mean, yes... We were going over evidence and things like that.’ replied Gus, startled.

  ‘Gus, that’s not going to wash. We were watching one of those falling over videos,’ said Carlos, bursting out laughing. ‘Bloody hell, they really hit the deck. My sides are splitting.’

  ‘Very professional, Carlos,’ she said, feeling offended. ‘You could at least try to pretend, like Gus does.’

  ‘I know that you’re too smart and that you’re going to catch me.’ Carlos winked at her. ‘This way, we save time.’

  ‘Well, since you’re not busy, I’ve brought you more work here.’ Natalia put the folder on the table. ‘It’s the list of all the patients who’ve requested more Luminal than they should in the last year. Investigate it.’

  ‘But that’s a massive amount,’ said Gus, after taking a glimpse at the list. ‘There are over five hundred names on this list.’

  ‘Bloody hell, seriously? And only one of them has requested it for killing people?’ Carlos went over to Gus to ascertain that what he was saying was true. ‘The rest are people who’ve lost their pills? People are hopeless. I’m not surprised this country’s going to hell.’

  ‘And how do you expect us to know who he is out of the whole of this list?’ asked Gus.

  ‘It’s a case of going along cross-checking it with the details that we have, in order to start making a selection, and eliminating all of the ones that can’t be our man. You can eliminate women, males who are too young or too old, those who fit with the physical shape of our suspect...’

  ‘And how are we going to do all of tha
t?’ Gus shook his head to show that he was feeling lost.

  ‘Searching online, comparing the photos on their social media... The Internet is not just good for finding funny videos: it can also be used for getting information.’

  ‘You’re a spoilsport. You know that?’ said Carlos, feeling annoyed.

  ‘Yes. You tell me that a lot.’ Natalia returned the wink, jokingly. ‘And I’m about to be even more of a spoilsport. This afternoon I want both of you in a suit and tie. We have a funeral to go to.’

  *****

  After lowering the coffin, the council workers began to toss earth over it. Carlos signalled with his head to Natalia and Gus, to indicate to them that it was time to leave. The other colleagues from headquarters were also beginning to go, in order to allow the closest family members to be left alone and to be able to say goodbye.

  Gus tried to hurry up his pace so that Carlos could not see that his eyes were shining with tears. He tried surreptitiously to wipe them away with his sleeve, but Carlos caught up with him and put an arm around his shoulders.

  ‘What’s up? Did you know the man?’

  ‘Not much,’ replied Gus, as he took out the packet of cigarettes from his jacket. ‘It’s just I can’t stand funerals. It just doesn’t seem fair to me, that whole thing about people having to die.’

  ‘But you’re working in a murder investigation, with victims and all of that.’

  ‘Yeah, but I try to see them just as names. I don’t even look at the photos in the reports Natalia passes on to me.’ Gus puffed out, in order to try to expel the anguish. ‘Seeing the coffin, the cemetery, the crying family members... I can’t handle it.’

  ‘It’s normal, Gus.’ Natalia took him by the arm and gave him an understanding smile. ‘I don’t want any mick-taking, Carlos.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to take the mick. Damn, that’s quite a view you have of me. I have a heart too...’

  ‘Yes, but it’s small and black,’ joked Gus, trying to shrug off the matter.

  Suddenly, some hurried footsteps behind them caused them to stop. They turned around and saw Aguirre , who was walking straight towards them.

  ‘Good afternoon,’ he greeted them. ‘Would you mind if I spoke alone for a moment with Mr Guevara?’

  ‘No problem,’ replied Carlos. ‘We’ll be waiting for you in the bar opposite.’

  Carlos and Natalia left the cemetery. Aguirre remained in silence, greeting with a nod the colleagues who were passing nearby, on their way out. Gus waited, feeling impatient, and puffing deeply on his cigarette. He was certain that he was the person with the greatest urge to get out of that place, and he was going to be the last one to leave.

  Once Aguirre was confident that nobody could hear them, he gestured to him that they could start heading towards the high railings of the cemetery.

  ‘You’ll be wondering what it is I want to tell you...’

  ‘To tell the truth, I am. Have I done something wrong?’

  ‘No: on the contrary. I’ve been looking into your work with this case, and with the previous cases in which you collaborated with Inspector Vega and Miss Egaña, and I have discovered that you are a very intelligent man, with a great deal, of intuition and many resources.’

  ‘Thank you very much,’ Gus dared to say, still not knowing where Aguirre was going with this.

  ‘Of course you’ve made mistakes, but I believe they have been due to your inexperience. I deem you to be a diamond in the rough that needs to be polished.’

  ‘Thank you, honestly, but I don’t understand what you mean by all of this.’

  ‘You are the type of man I want on the force: intelligent, brave, decisive... the type of person who becomes obsessed with the cases and doesn’t stop until they solve them.’

  ‘Are you offering me a job with the Ertzaintza?’

  ‘No, of course not. I can’t offer you a job. It has to be earned.’ Aguirre gave him a couple of strong slaps on the back. ‘The public examinations are in June. Sit them. When you pass them, I’ll make sure you’re assigned to our station. We have a position open in IT.’

  Aguirre left the cemetery in big strides, before he could even reply. Gus remained paralysed for a few seconds. Once he was able to come round, he finished his cigarette and left the cemetery at a brisk pace.

  He arrived at the bar where Natalia and Carlos were waiting for him. They were drinking a beer, but on the table there was a cup that must have been for him.

  ‘What’s that?’ he asked.

  ‘A lime blossom tea,’ replied Natalia. ‘I thought it would do you good.’

  ‘To tell the truth, it would. You’ll never guess what Aguirre’s just said to me.’ Gus drank half the infusion before he continued speaking, in spite of the fact that it was boiling hot. ‘He wants me to work for the Ertzaintza. He’s just offered me the dead man’s job.’

  ‘My God... And the prize for the most insensitive person of the day goes to... Aguirre!’ Carlos leant back in his chair as he shook his head. ‘Natalia, today I have permission to say all the nonsense I want, and you can’t disapprove. It’s impossible to top that.’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The absolute silence that prevailed over the room was interrupted only by the sound they made as they turned the pages. Natalia looked up from her list and gazed at her friends. She was finding it strange that neither one of the two was protesting, in spite of the fact that they had spent almost two hours doing the same thing. As if he had read her thoughts, Gus looked up and began to speak:

  ‘Listen, Natalia... How certain are you that one of these names belongs to the guy we’re searching for? It’s just that this is starting to get like searching for a needle in a haystack. I’ve spent minutes upon minutes looking at each name, searching for all of the information I can about every one of these guys in order to try and be sure he’s not the one we’re looking for... And, even so, every time I cross of a name, I’m left feeling so nervous that I have to go back and check it... How can I be sure that I’m not crossing off the killer’s name and wrecking the investigation? I can’t take this tension...’

  ‘Gus, calm down... You’ll do a good job,’ replied Natalia. ‘You should only eliminate a name if you are totally sure that it can’t be the killer. If a person doesn’t tally with what we know about him, cross him off. Otherwise, leave him and create a report about what you’ve found out about him. Carlos and I will check it afterwards.’

  ‘Sure, but suppose I cross of a name because the guy doesn’t seem as tall and strong as the killer, and his problem is that he comes off badly in his photos on Facebook...’

  ‘Are you sure that can happen?’ Natalia raised an eyebrow, incredulous. ‘Normally people try to seem taller and more strong and attractive than they really are in their social media.’

  ‘That’s normal people, but this guy is crazy. Who knows how he thinks.’ Gus got up out of the chair and searched his pockets. ‘Do either of you have any change? I want a coke.’

  ‘I don’t know whether any more caffeine is advisable for you,’ intervened Carlos. ‘You’re hysterical.’

  ‘Dude, I run on caffeine. Be a good sport and let me have a few euros, and I’ll bring you each a coffee.’

  Carlos got up to give him the money, and in that moment the door to the room opened with such force that it crashed against the wall. Aguirre was in the threshold, with a piece of paper in his hands. His face was pale and his eyes were so wide open they looked as though they were about to jump out of his head.

  ‘Aguirre, is something wrong?’ asked Carlos, going over to him. ‘Has another victim turned up?’

  Aguirre shook his head and remained paralysed in the doorway. Carlos took him gently by an arm and brought him in. He placed his arm around his back and walked with him to a chair. The sergeant allowed himself be led, as if he were an automaton with no will, and collapsed into the chair as he shook his head.

  Carlos grabbed another chair, turned it around backwards, and sat down in front o
f Aguirre, with his arms resting on the back of it. He bent forwards, trying to see what was on the piece of paper that Aguirre was still holding scrunched in his hand, fearing that he might be responsible for the sergeant’s state, but he could not discern anything. Natalia came over and crouched down in front of her boss.

  ‘What’s is it, sir?’ she asked in a calm voice. ‘If you don’t tell us what’s happened, we won’t be able to help you.’

  Those words seemed to pierce through the state of astonishment that had kept Aguirre immersed in a kind of trance, and to reach his consciousness. He shook his head a couple of times, as if he were waking up, and riveted his gaze on Natalia.

  ‘We’ve managed to get the dating site to provide us with the suspect’s IP.’

  ‘That’s great. Now all we need to do is find out which phone number belongs to it, and we’ll have him,’ said Carlos, feeling euphoric.

  ‘We already know which phone number it belongs to.’ Aguirre took a couple of breaths in order to be able to utter the words that appeared to have clogged up in his throat. ‘The number belongs to this station. The killer is one of ours.’

  For a few seconds, nobody knew how to react. Natalia thought that it was just impossible to believe. No member of the Ertzaintza could be crazy enough to have committed those crimes. They went through regular psychological evaluations. It was impossible for them not to have detected anybody so disturbed.

  Gus took a couple of steps forward and held out his hand so that Aguirre would pass him the piece of paper that he was still holding onto as if it were a lifeline. The sergeant sat looking at him. He seemed to hesitate. Perhaps inside he was thinking that, as long as he did not share that piece of information with anybody else, he would be able to continue denying it to himself; that he would be able to stop it from being real. After a few seconds, he hung his head and handed him the paper.

  ‘This has to be a mistake... Or a nightmare,’ he said in a whisper. ‘One of our own. I can’t believe it.’