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BARCELONA
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“SO, HOW DID THE HEARING go?” Sofia asked when Cortez walked into the living room of the house she had been moved to following the attack on the previous safehouse.
“About as well as I expected,” Cortez said as he settled himself on the sofa with his mug of coffee. “How’s your day been?”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what happened?” Muting the volume on the television, Sofia turned to Cortez.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Cortez said. He didn’t really want to go over what had happened that morning. The preliminary hearings into the attack on the safehouse, which had taken place over the past few days, were boring, annoying, and had accomplished nothing. If he had been able to avoid them, he would have, so the last thing he wanted was to talk about them. “How was your day, did you get up to much?”
“It was fine. Boring, like yesterday, and the day before, but that’s good since it means no-one was trying to kill me. I watched TV, read, and did some puzzles, but time is still dragging. If things get any worse, Noir won’t need to send someone to kill me, I’ll die of boredom.”
“I know this isn’t easy for you, but the alternative to boredom isn’t worth thinking about,” Cortez said. “I’ll be right back, I need to have a word with the inspector.”
“You will tell me about your hearing when you get back, won’t you,” Sofia called after Cortez as he headed for the door.
“If you think it’ll keep you from getting bored,” Cortez said, though he doubted that.
**
“I WAS TOLD YOU’RE STILL attached to the case,” Jacinto Jovellanos, the inspector who had been placed in charge of Sofia’s protective detail, commented when Cortez walked into the dining room, where he was playing cards with a couple of the officers under his command.
“I expected that someone would let you know what’s going on,” Cortez said, dropping into the empty chair at the table. “Has there been any trouble today?” He had heard nothing from Vega or any of his men since the attack on the previous safehouse, but he wasn’t convinced they were safe from another attack.
“No, nothing much has happened today. A delivery van dropped off a new fridge at number three this morning, and number eight had a package delivered this afternoon, but that’s it for people who don’t belong here. I think we’re safe,” Jovellanos said, as he had each day they had been there. “I doubt Noir will find this place, let alone attack us here. Even if he does, he won’t be successful. About all we have to worry about is boredom while we wait for Noir to be extradited and put on trial.”
“I think you’re being optimistic, as I’ve said before,” Cortez said. “The evidence suggests that Noir has a source, either in the department or in Interpol. Someone who was able to give him the location of the last safehouse, and that means there’s a good chance he’ll find out about this place. Even if his source isn’t able to find out about this house, we’re in the middle of a small neighbourhood of people who have at least some idea of what is going on. We’ve been as discreet as we can, but two vehicles with officers and agents in a small cul-de-sac is a bit of a giveaway that a police operation of some kind is going on. The parents probably won’t say anything, if only because they won’t want to have to worry about their families being put in danger. There are five children of various ages here, though, and they also have some idea of what is going on. Any one of them could let slip something that gets back to Noir. It would be an accident, but that won’t help us.”
“We’ve been over this,” Jovellanos said as he tossed several Euros into the pot. “And I’m not about to discuss it again.”
“I didn’t imagine you would.” Cortez had got tired of trying to persuade both Jovellanos and their superiors that the cul-de-sac was not a good place for Sofia’s safehouse. It had been made clear to him that his only role was to entertain Sofia and keep her out of the way of the security detail.
**
“COME ON, TELL ME WHAT happened in the hearing,” Sofia said the moment Cortez joined her on the sofa. “Are you in trouble?”
“Probably, but that doesn’t matter right now,” Cortez said with an indifferent shrug.
“So, what did they say?”
Cortez smiled. “They said my methods were unorthodox —I suppose that’s better than saying they were potentially illegal — but that I was forced to employ them because of Francisco’s unwillingness to either believe or act upon the information I got from my sources.”
“So, what happens now? Is he going to be punished?” Sofia had been surprised by Pizarro’s refusal to do anything, even when he was told where to find Noir’s men.
“Probably not, not seriously anyway,” Cortez said in a resigned tone. “He’s been taken off the case, and it’s likely that his next promotion will be delayed, but other than that, I doubt anything much will happen to him. He’s too well-connected, thanks to his father-in-law. There’s more chance they’ll try and put the blame on me, but not until this situation’s over. They won’t do anything that might upset you, or otherwise interfere with the possibility of them securing a conviction against Noir.”
“You mean they let you off, for now, because they don’t want to upset me?” Sofia couldn’t believe that senior police officers would do that.
“I doubt that was the only reason for their decision, but it was almost certainly a part of it. It’s always possible they actually believe in the decision they came to. Until the official hearing happens, though, which is unlikely to take place before Noir’s trial, there’s no way to be sure what’s really going to happen. I might get all the blame while Francisco gets off, or they might actually put the blame on Francisco, though I think that’s unlikely. They might even decide that no-one deserves to be blamed.” Cortez had been around for long enough to know that the final decision would be as influenced by politics as it would be by the facts.
“So, you could still end up in trouble?”
Cortez shrugged, as if to suggest that anything was possible, and then sought to divert Sofia by asking, “What’s on TV?”