The White Corpses

by Gemma Herrero Virto

  ‘Then look somewhere else. I’ll be finished right away. Give me just a few minutes. I’m convinced we’re going to find something important.’

  *****

  After driving round in circles through the Peña neighbourhood, Carlos managed to find the address he had been provided with. He was in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Bilbao, and the house where Salazar lived was situated somewhat away from the rest of the houses, almost hidden by a row of trees. He spotted a gravel pathway that crossed the plot up to the entrance of the house, and he drove his car up to there.

  As soon as he got out of the car, he heard the barking of a dog. They were deep and powerful barks, so they must have belonged to a large dog. Luckily, they were coming from inside the house, therefore, at least for now, he was safe from being pounced upon. He studied the home in amazement. It was an enormous detached house, with three stories, and was modern and elegant. Either the Ertzaintza medical examiners earned more than Natalia had told him, or the deceased wife of Salazar had done very well in her career as a lawyer.

  Several windows in the house were lit up, so Salazar must be inside. Carlos went up the steps leading to the porch and rang the bell a couple of times, but the only thing he achieved was the dog becoming even crazier and starting to run in front of the door, barking louder and louder. A couple of minutes later, Carlos rang the bell again. Salazar had to be there. For a moment, he considered whether the house was so large that he had not been able to hear the bell, but it was impossible for him not to have heard the barking of the dog. Just when he was on the verge of ringing again, the door opened.

  Salazar appeared in the doorway, wearing only a towel around his waist, whilst rubbing his soaking wet hair with another, smaller towel. The dog appeared beside his legs. It was an enormous creature, a Belgian Shepherd, very furry and with a nice face, which wagged its tail, excited to meet somebody new.

  ‘Vega? To what do I owe this visit?’

  ‘I’m sorry to come at such an inconvenient time. Perhaps I should have called first.’

  ‘No, don’t worry. I’d gone out for a walk in the mountain with the dog, but the route was longer than I was expecting, so in the end it got dark on us and we got caught in the rain. Nothing a good hot shower can’t sort out.’ Salazar gave him a friendly smile and gestured, inviting him inside. ‘Come in, don’t stay there. You’re going to get soaked, and I don’t know whether I’m going to have enough towels for everyone.’

  Carlos thanked him and went inside. The doctor pointed out a peg where he could leave his coat. Carlos took it off and followed him to the kitchen.

  ‘You still haven’t told me what you came her for.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sorry. I’m finalising the details of the investigation into the case of Roberto Azkarraga’s murders, and I’d like to ask you a few questions.’

  ‘Seriously? Aguirre mentioned to me that the case was closed.’

  ‘And it is, but there are small loose ends that just aren’t tallying for me,’ Carlos thought about it for a second, and decided to be honest. ‘I’d like it if you didn’t mention any of this to Aguirre. He’s told me to leave the case as it is, but I think I have evidence that points towards Roberto Azkarraga being innocent; that there is someone else at headquarters who’s involved in the crimes, and that there could even have been another person murdered in relation to this case.’

  ‘Another person? Who?’

  ‘Daniel Gómez. He was a techie at headquarters. He’s supposed to have been killed in a car accident, but I think he could have helped the real killer to falsify the station’s server records, and that the latter killed him when he no longer needed him.’

  ‘All this you’re telling me is very interesting, and I’d be delighted to respond to all of your questions.’ Salazar pointed to himself so that Carlos would take note of his state of undress. ‘Would you give me a couple of minutes so I could put some clothes on?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Salazar left the kitchen. Carlos sat down in one of the chairs, and ended up waiting for several minutes. The dog appeared in the doorway and studied him from the threshold, with his head tilted to one side and his tongue hanging out. Carlos smiled and called to him so that he would come over.

  ‘Come here, champ.’ The dog came over to him, wagging his tail. ‘You’re a very nice dog. Let’s see what you’re called, as you master forgot to introduce us.’

  Carlos stroked the dog’s neck and searched through his fur for the ID tag. When he read it, he felt a frozen current descend down his spine:

  Aker

  631957825

  Warning: Epileptic

  CHAPTER TEN

  Gus continued with his gaze riveted on the ceiling, waiting for Natalia to finish checking Daniel’s post-mortem report. Every time he heard the sound of some footsteps, the beeping of the lift, or the banging of a door closing, he jumped. Even the silence was shredding his nerves. This place was making him ill. He could not make sense of how Natalia was capable of working there everyday without going crazy.

  ‘I’m not finding anything out of the ordinary,’ said Natalia, causing Gus to jump again. ‘Do you want to calm down? Nothing bad is going to happen to you.’

  ‘I’ll calm down when we leave this place,’ replied Gus. ‘And since you’re saying there’s nothing strange, I think it’s a great time for us to leave.’

  ‘I don’t know, there has to be something... Carlos says that Daniel’s parents assure he never drank...’

  ‘And is there anything about that on the report?’

  ‘Yes, look. According to the analyses, Daniel had three grams of alcohol for every litre of blood.’

  ‘And what does that mean?’

  ‘Well it means that, for someone who didn’t drink, he was on the verge of an ethylic coma. Such a high concentration of alcohol explains perfectly why he would lose control of the car. It’s even possible that he could have fallen asleep at the wheel.’

  ‘That’s it then, we’re done. Let’s go.’

  ‘But his parents say he didn’t drink...’

  ‘God damn it, Natalia... You’re so naïve! All parents think their kids don’t drink. I’ve come home absolutely ratted, and have convinced my mother that I’ve had a dodgy hamburger. One time I even convinced her that the bottle of gin from the bar unit must have evaporated from having been open for so long. There’s nothing to investigate here.’

  ‘I don’t know... I was hoping they would have found traces of Luminal in his blood. That would have proven that his death was related to our case, but there’s nothing.’

  ‘Then that means we were wrong.’

  ‘No: it’s strange. It’s not that they haven’t found traces of Luminal in his blood: it’s that there isn’t anything. No toxicology analysis was carried out. All that appears are the results for the blood alcohol level. I imagine they had it so clear in their minds that he had been killed by drunk driving that they didn’t search for anything else.’

  ‘Is that the regular procedure?’

  ‘No. They should have analysed whether he had consumed any drugs, in addition to alcohol. There’s something strange here. I’m going to call the laboratory.’

  Natalia picked up her phone, dialled the number, and waited, whilst Gus resumed stirring restlessly in his seat, keeping his eyes fixed on the door to the room in case any living dead appeared. Natalia smiled and raised her thumb when they answered her call.

  ‘Good evening. This is Natalia Egaña, Ertzaintza medical examiner. Yes, we’ve spoken before at some point. I have a question about a report that you sent to us a few weeks ago. I can’t find the toxicology report... Yes, perhaps you’ve forgotten to send it to us. The victim’s name was Daniel Gómez Velasco. Yes, I’ll wait...’

  Natalia dedicated the following two minutes to pacing around the room, impatient. When she heard them pick the phone back up on the other end of the line, she smiled at Gus again to convey to him that they were nearly done now and that soon they
would be able to leave.

  ‘Yes, I’m still here. How can it be that that name doesn’t appear on your files? I have in front of me the report of the analysis you carried out, and it bears your letterhead. I don’t know; there has to have been some mistake. Would you be able to go back and check? Sure, of course. I’ll investigate what could have happened and call you back.’

  Natalia hung up and stood looking at her mobile with a confused expression. Gus got up and stood in front of her.

  ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘I don’t understand it. They say that they didn’t carry out Daniel’s analysis; that they’ve checked several times and that name is not on their files.’ Natalia returned to the desk and picked up the page to show it to Gus. ‘His name is here, with his address, his phone number, his signature...’

  ‘Well, the only thing that occurs to me is that that report is a fake,’ ventured Gus.

  ‘How could it be a fake?’

  ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, but even a child with the minimum knowledge of Photoshop could forge a page like that. All you need to do is grab another report from that laboratory and change the details so that it says whatever you want it to.’

  ‘So then you’re suggesting that the person who wrote the report for this post-mortem put in a false report to hide the real reason for Daniel’s death...’

  ‘Which means that that person is the same one who killed him and, very likely, the woman killer we’re looking for,’ said Gus, nodding. ‘And that person is...?’

  ‘Alberto Salazar, one of our medical examiners and the husband of the second victim.’

  *****

  Carlos heard with clarity a familiar click behind him. He did not need to turn around to know what it was. He had heard that sound an infinite number of times. Even so, he turned around slowly towards the door to verify that Salazar was aiming at him with his own handgun. He cursed himself for having been so idiotic. It was true that he had not gone to that house planning on interrogating a suspect, but rather a work colleague, but it had been stupidity leaving the gun in the coat.

  ‘Aker, her,’ the doctor shouted.

  The dog went towards him, wagging his tail. Salazar made him leave the room and closed the door behind him.

  ‘You can calm down. I’d never hurt a dog,’ commented Carlos. ‘So now what? Are you going to shoot me? I think that if we calm ourselves down for a moment, we can find a better solution for all of this.’

  ‘I’m not going to shoot you if I can help it,’ replied Salazar. ‘Get up slowly and open that drawer.’

  Salazar pointed to one of the kitchen draws with the barrel of the gun. Carlo stood up without making any sudden movements and headed towards it. When he opened it, he found a ton of Luminal boxes.

  ‘Wow, that’s quite a stash. Would you be able to tell me how you got them? I’ve been going over and over this for all these months...’

  ‘Yes, I know that you asked for the list of all the epileptic patients that had requested extra boxes. Luckily, Aker doesn’t appear on that list.’

  ‘I have to admit to you that we did not think at any time that the patient could be a dog.’

  ‘It wouldn’t have mattered if you had thought it. The legislation is very strict in regards to the distribution of Luminal to people, but, for reasons nobody would understand, the same thing does not happen with animals. You just have to go to your vet, ask them to write you a prescription for several boxes and go to the pharmacy, where they give it to you without asking for any identification. The mysteries of bureaucracy.’ Salazar allowed himself an ironic smile. ‘Pick up a box and sit back down.’ ‘You don’t think I’m going to take this of my own free will do you? I know what happened to Roberto. I was the one who found his body.’

  ‘I’m going to let you chose. I’ve already told you I don’t want to shoot you, but I will do of you leave me no other option. You decide. You can take all of the tablets in that box, or hope that someone will find you still alive and be able to save you, or I can fire a couple of shots into the back of your neck and be certain that they will only find your body.’

  *****

  Silence seized hold of the room for a few seconds. Natalia continued looking at the post-mortem report, on which the name of Alberto Salazar seemed to stand out as if illuminated by neon lights. She could not believe that it could have been him. She had been with him when he discovered that the woman whom he was on the verge of performing the post-mortem on was his wife. She had seen how he had turned pale, how he trembled, how his gaze became vacant... She had to admit that he was a great actor. He had managed to fool her without her doubting him for even a single second.

  She remembered that it had been he who had asked her to accompany him as observer to the post-mortem, with the excuse that they could be looking at the crimes of a serial killer. He had prepared everything from the beginning so that she would be involved, to guide her suspicions and dispel them from him. Then, he had just had to feign the logical interest of any husband who wants justice done for the murder of his beloved wife so that Aguirre would keep him informed at every moment of every step they took. He had fooled them all.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Gus’s voice managed to bring her out of her thoughts.

  ‘Carlos needs to be informed immediately.’ Natalia picked up her mobile and dialled. Whilst she heard the call tones, she looked at Gus and smiled. ‘We now have enough evidence. Aguirre will have no other option than to listen to us.’

  The call tones played out, one after the other, without anybody answering on the other end. When the call cut off, Natalia dialled the number back in. After a few seconds of waiting, the calls cut off again.

  *****

  Carlos’s mobile rang for the third time. The two of them remained in silence, listening to the ring tone.

  ‘Take out the phone slowly and look to see who’s calling,’ Salazar ordered him.

  Carlos obeyed and took the phone out of his back pocket. He looked at the screen. It was Natalia. For a second, he had the idea of answering and crying for help. Even if he did not have time to say anything else, he knew that Natalia would do everything possible to find him and help him. Unfortunately, Salazar would not take any longer than a second before shooting him and, if he blew up his head, there would no longer be any possible help.

  ‘It’s Natalia,’ replied Carlos, putting the phone on the table.’

  ‘Get up and walk towards that corner.’

  Carlos stood up and walked backwards, with his eyes fixed on the screen of the phone. It was so frustrating to know that help was simultaneously so close yet so far from his reach... Salazar went over to the phone and touched the buttons.

  ‘Have you turned it off?’

  ‘No, that could make her suspect. I’ve just lowered the volume on it.’ Salazar stepped back towards the kitchen door again, without taking his aim off him for a single second. ‘Now sit back down and start taking those pills.’

  *****

  Natalia put in Carlos’s number and, whilst she listened as the call tones repeated with no result, she began to pace up and down the room. Gus went over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her.

  ‘Maybe he’s busy with some interrogation and can’t answer it right now,’ he suggested.

  ‘No, that’s not it. He would have answered, even if it were only to tell me to stop bothering him.’ Natalia shook her head and looked at Gus with frightened eyes. ‘Something bad’s happening to him. I can feel it.’

  ‘You too? Weren’t Carlos’s hunches enough for us? Now you’re having “feelings” as well?’

  ‘Don’t make fun. I know something bad’s happening to him, that he’s in danger...’

  ‘You always make fun of Carlos’s hunches.’

  ‘Yes, but in the end I take heed of them.’ Natalia gave him a look of desperation. ‘We have to do something. We’ve got to find him.’

  ‘Okay. Is there any computer around here?’

  ‘I h
ave a laptop in my office.’

  The two of them raced out of the file room and went down the corridor as quickly as they could. In spite of the fact that he had tried to shrug off Natalia’s fears, the truth was that he also had a bad feeling. She opened her bag and began rummaging around.

  ‘Come on, what are you waiting for?’

  ‘I can’t find the keys. God, why do I have to carry so many things in my bag?’

  Gus tore the bag out of her hands, turned it upside down, and allowed all of the contents to spill out onto the floor of the corridor. Natalia crouched down, picked up the keys, and opened the door. Gus went inside, sat down, and turned on the laptop.

  ‘Please tell me Carlos has a Gmail account,’ he said, as he waited for the computer to boot up.

  ‘Yes, he has one,’ replied Natalia, who was still crouching in the corridor collecting all of her things to put them back into her bag.

  ‘Now tell me that you know it, and you know the password, and you’ll make me the happiest man in the world.’

  ‘Well you’re going to be in luck, because I do know it.’ Natalia finished picking everything up, went into the office, and positioned herself behind Gus’s chair to look at what he was doing. ‘I had to create it for him because he’s still clueless about this IT thing. What are you going to do?’

  ‘Enter with his password and use the Android Device Manager. It’s a program that serves for locating your mobile device, in case it gets stolen or you lose it,’ Gus move aside a little and brought the computer closer to Natalia. ‘Put in the Gmail account and password.’

  ‘I don’t think Carlos has activated this service,’ said Natalia, as she typed in the details that Gus had asked her for.

  ‘That’s the good thing, that you don’t have to activate it. All the mobiles with Android come with it automatically activated, although few people know it. If you don’t want to be locatable, you have to deactivate it, but I’d bet you anything that Carlos wouldn’t know how to do that, even if his life depended on it.’