Alvarez was able to park immediately in front of No. 14. He crossed the pavement, stepped through the bead curtain, called out.
Christina came through to the front room. ‘You again! How am I supposed to do a proper day’s work when you keep interrupting me?’
‘This will be the last time. Has Señor Sheard returned yet?’
‘Came back half an hour ago.’
‘Then I’ll have a word with him.’
‘You’ll not be long. It’s his meal soon and I’ll not have that getting cold.’
He looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it was one o’clock. ‘I’ll be quick. Where will I find him?’
‘This way.’
She led him through a sitting-room that was far from luxuriously furnished, but was immaculately clean and tidy, to a doorway that gave access to a small open patio. ‘He’s on the other side.’
In the patio, which was no more than four metres by three, there grew an orange and two tangerine trees, whose fruit was small and green, and on the south-facing dividing wall, an ancient vine whose many bunches of grapes were just beginning to darken. On the far side was an open space in which was a wash area with a sink hewn out of rock and a single room.
The door of the room was swung back and clipped to the wall. ‘Señor Sheard,’ he called out, before stepping through the bead curtain. Sheard, wearing only shorts, lay on the bed, reading, a noisy fan directed at his chest. ‘My name is Inspector Alvarez.’
Sheard dropped the paperback and propped himself up on one elbow. ‘Have you heard something?’
‘I’m afraid not.’
‘Then he … he must be dead?’
‘We still cannot be certain, which is why I need to ask you a few questions.’
‘Are you the bloke who’s been talking to Kirsty and Cara?’
‘I am.’
‘I can’t tell you anything more than them.’
‘I’m sure you’ll be able to help, even if only to confirm what they have said … May I sit?’ He removed a pile of magazines from the seat of a chair, sat. ‘I need to learn more about Señor Lewis. Does he live on the island?’
‘It’s his first visit here.’
‘He came from England?’
‘I can’t rightly say.’
‘He is not a great friend of yours?’
‘I only met him a fortnight ago.’
‘Tell me about that meeting.’
‘There’s nothing to tell.’
‘All the same, describe it.’
‘Well, I was just having a drink in one of the bars and talking to a bloke I know. When he left, Neil came up, having heard me speaking English. Wanted to know if I could help him. He’d arrived on the night ferry and needed a bed. He’d asked around the hotels and aparthotels, but the only one with a free room was asking more than he could afford; he thought I might know somewhere he could kip down. I took him along to the hostal, but that was full and the one up in the village is being reformed so that wasn’t any good. We went into another bar and had a few drinks and I got to thinking he seemed a nice enough bloke so I said that if the old woman who owns this place didn’t object, he could doss down with me. She charged, of course. They’d screw the last penny out of their own sick grandmothers…’ He stopped abruptly, realizing his words had become offensive.
Alvarez ignored the comment, certain Sheard was of too limited an intelligence to appreciate that if one had known a time when poverty was no more than a few céntimos away, one grabbed every possible peseta to make as certain as possible that such a time did not return. ‘What caused the row between you?’
‘Row? What row?’
‘Señor Lewis left here and moved into the Hotel Vista Bella.’
‘That wasn’t because of any row. It was just that things were so cramped here and…’
‘Yes?’
‘It gave a better impression.’
‘To whom?’
‘The birds.’ He looked quickly at Alvarez and saw he had not been understood. ‘It helps to make friends with the women if it looks like you’re flash.’
Scheming liar, Alvarez thought, conveniently forgetting the days of his youth when he’d changed into a newly ironed shirt and carefully pressed trousers before joining the paseo in the village square. ‘If this is Señor Lewis’s first trip to the island, does he have friends who live or who are staying here whom he visited?’
‘He doesn’t know anyone.’
He noted the vehemence with which Sheard had answered the question. People who lacked self-confidence often tried to mask a lie by sudden forcefulness. ‘I expect you can tell me which local bank he’s been using?’
‘Not used one.’
‘Are you sure? If he hasn’t drawn a large sum of money through a bank and has no friends who have provided him with funds, how is it that when he first arrived he could not afford to stay at a good hotel, yet after a few days he not only moved into one, but also paid a large sum of money to charter a motor cruiser?’
Sheard, his expression now sullen, did not answer.
‘You don’t know how?’
‘No.’
‘The question hasn’t intrigued you?’
‘I mind my own business.’
Sheard’s hands and body were tensed and beads of sweat were pricking his forehead despite the relative coolness of the room. Yet weakness could become strength through desperation. Alvarez decided that for the moment it was best not to pursue the matter directly any further but there might be another way to confirm that the other was lying. ‘The two of you have been going around together?’
‘Yes.’
‘For much of the time?’
‘All the time.’
‘Then you do not have a job?’
‘No.’ Once again, he spoke with unnecessary force.
‘Then you are a lucky man since you do not have to work to live! Your money comes from England?’
‘Yes.’
‘Which bank here handles the transfer?’
‘What … Why d’you want to know?’
‘In my job, I have to confirm as much as possible, whether or not it’s really of any importance. So I will need to ask your bank to confirm what you’ve just said.’
Sheard began to fidget. ‘I…’ He flicked the edges of the paperback. He spoke in a rush. ‘Friends bring the money out in travellers’ cheques.’
‘At which bank or banks have you changed these?’
There was no answer.
Alvarez’s tone was friendly. ‘Señor, do not forget that I am Mallorquin.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Should I learn of a foreigner who has a job, but who forgets to inform the authorities and in consequence does not pay any tax, my only response is envy. I feel no desire to denounce him.’
Sheard hesitated.
‘Of course, if I discover that fact in the course of an investigation and there is no way of concealing it from my report, my superior, who is Spanish, may well be of a different mind.’
Sheard drew a deep breath. ‘All right, I do odd jobs for the ex-pats.’ He suddenly showed a rare flash of pride. ‘There’s always plenty of work going because they’re either too old or too superior to do it themselves. And I’m good at the work.’
Since Sheard had been lying the second time he had spoken so forcefully, it seemed reasonable to assume that the first occasion had also masked a lie. But why lie about Lewis’s knowing or visiting anyone? Because this had a direct bearing on the other’s disappearance? Yet whilst it was easy to envisage Sheard’s engaging in some minor criminal activity at no apparent risk to himself, it was difficult to believe he would do so if the crime were major and the physical risk obvious. But, of course, if his half-formulated interpretation of events was correct, there had been no physical risk. And the reward? Surely that had in some way to be connected with Lewis’s new-found wealth?… ‘Señor, please tell me all you can remember about Thursday night, from the moment you met the two señoritas.’
Heartened by Alvarez’s friendly manner and apparent dismissal of what had gone before, Sheard spoke with a measure of confidence. His evidence only twice contradicted Kirsty’s and on each occasion the point was of no consequence.
‘You have a good memory,’ Alvarez said flatteringly. ‘Perhaps it will help me clear up one final point. When Señor Lewis opened the second bottle of whisky, did it look as if he had to break the seal of the cap?’
‘I wasn’t watching. But seeing it was a full bottle, the top would’ve been sealed, wouldn’t it?’
Alvarez was surprised that Sheard had not spoken forcefully.
* * *
Alvarez parked, crossed the pavement, and entered the front room. The air tingled with the scent of cooking. In the dining-room, Jaime sat at the table, a bottle of brandy and an empty glass in front of him. ‘I don’t know what’s for grub, but it’s making me hungry.’
Alvarez brought a glass out of the sideboard, filled the glass with brandy, added two cubes of ice from the insulated container. ‘From the smell, it could be Estofat de xot. She’s not cooked that for months.’
‘You’re making me even hungrier!’ Jaime reached across the table for the bottle, but as he did so there was the swish of the bead curtain to warn him that Dolores was coming through from the kitchen. He hastily withdrew his hand.
Face damp with sweat, she stepped into the dining-room. ‘I’m sorry, but the meal’s going to be a bit late because the shopping took such a long time, what with not finding what I wanted and meeting people who would talk.’
‘She who travels slowly prolongs the pleasure of arriving,’ Alvarez said.
‘There’s not much pleasure in shopping with all the foreigners around.’ She turned. ‘You’ve time for another drink,’ she said over her shoulder as she went back into the kitchen.
Jaime picked up the bottle. ‘Where did you learn these peculiar things you say?’
‘Probably at school.’
‘Bloody odd school you must have gone to.’ He refilled his glass. He drank, put the glass down, looked at the bead curtain and said in a low voice: ‘Have you noticed Dolores?’
‘What about her?’
‘I think something’s up.’
Alvarez’s concern was immediate. ‘You mean, she’s ill?’
‘Not exactly ill. But acting strange. Comes in here a moment ago and says the meal’s going to be late so have another coñac. You know what she’s usually like. Says I’m a drunkard when I’m on my first drink. Another thing. It’s days since she’s yelled at me over anything. Why’s she like this?’
‘How would I know? Maybe it’s because your cousin made such a hit with her.’
‘Are you suggesting she and him…?’
‘Have you gone crazy? If she heard you suggest that, she’d yell so hard your brains would scramble.’
‘Well it just seemed like that’s what you were implying.’
‘Do yourself a favour and stop thinking.’
‘But it makes me worry, her behaving like this.’
‘If a man offers you a lamb for free, don’t bother to ask him where he got it.’
‘I suppose you learned that at your school as well?’ He drank deeply. ‘Well, I’m glad I didn’t go to it.’