| |
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 that?’ 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.’