скачать книгу бесплатно
‘Are they for your new book?’
‘Yes,’ her tone softened slightly, ‘they’re the ideas for the front cover. They only sent them to me today.’
‘I understand the last one was a success.’
‘Yes, it worked out quite well, so the publishers want to continue along the same lines. You know, basic pastries that any housewife can make.’
‘Don’t play it down, Flora, almost all my friends in Pamplona have a copy and they love it.’
‘If someone had told Amatxi that I’d become famous for teaching people how to make madeleines and doughnuts she wouldn’t have believed it.’
‘Times have changed … home-baking’s become exotic and trendy.’
It was easy to see that Flora felt comfortable with the praise and the taste of her success; she smiled, looking at her sister as if weighing up whether or not to share a secret with her.
‘Don’t tell anyone, but they’ve suggested I do a baking programme for TV.’
‘Oh my God, Flora! That’s amazing, congratulations,’ said Amaia.
‘I haven’t signed anything yet, but they’ve sent the contract to my lawyer so that he can go over it and as soon as he gives me the go-ahead … I only hope all this fuss about the murders doesn’t affect it. It’s been a month since that girl was killed by her boyfriend, and now there’s that other girl.’
‘I don’t know quite how they would affect you and your work; the crimes have nothing at all to do with you.’
‘No, not in terms of doing my work, but I think my image and that of Mantecadas Salazar are inextricably linked with that of Elizondo, and you have to admit that a thing like this affects the town’s image, tourism and sales.’
‘Well, what a surprise, Flora, here you are making much of your great humanity as usual. Don’t forget we’ve got two murdered girls and two destroyed families, I don’t think it’s quite the right moment to think about how this might affect tourism.’
‘Someone has to think of it,’ Flora declared.
‘That’s what I’m here for, Flora, to catch the person or people who’ve done this and help Elizondo return to peace.’
Flora stared at her sceptically.
‘If you’re the best the Policía Foral can send us, God help us.’
Unlike Rosaura, Amaia wasn’t affected in the slightest by Flora’s attempts to upset her.
She supposed that the three years spent surrounded by men at the police academy and the fact that she was the first woman to reach the rank of inspector in the homicide division meant that she’d experienced enough jokes and teasing along the way to leave her with a steely inner strength and cast-iron composure. She would almost have found Flora’s spiteful comments funny if not for the fact that she was her sister and Amaia was saddened to be reminded of how callous Flora was. Every gesture, every word that came out of her mouth was designed to wound and cause as much damage as possible. Amaia noticed the way Flora pursed her mouth slightly in a grimace of annoyance when she responded calmly to her provocations and the mocking tone her big sister used, as if she was talking to a stubborn, ill-mannered child. She was just about to answer when her phone rang.
‘We’ve got the photos and the video from the cemetery, chief,’ said Jonan. Amaia looked at her watch.
‘Great. I’ll come now; I’ll be there in about ten minutes. Gather everyone together.’ She hung up and, smiling, said to Flora, ‘I have to go. As you can see, in spite of my ineptitude, duty calls me too.’
Flora looked as if she were about to say something, but in the end she thought better of it and remained silent.
‘Why the long face?’ smiled Amaia. ‘Don’t be sad, I’ll be back tomorrow, I want to ask you about something, and have another of your delicious coffees.’
As she was leaving the workshop she almost collided with her brother-in-law, who was on his way in with an enormous bunch of red roses.
‘Thank you, Víctor, but you shouldn’t have gone to such trouble,’ exclaimed Amaia with a smile.
‘Hello Amaia, they’re for Flora. It’s our wedding anniversary today, twenty-two years,’ he said, smiling back at her. Amaia remained silent. Flora and Víctor had been separated for two years now and, although they hadn’t divorced, Flora had stayed in their shared home and he had moved into the magnificent traditional farmhouse on the farm his family owned on the outskirts of town. Víctor noticed her discomfort.
‘I know what you’re thinking, but Flora and I are still married, on my part because I still love her and on her part because she says she doesn’t believe in divorce. I don’t mind what the reason is, but I’ve still got a hope, don’t you think?’
Amaia put her hand over his hand that was holding the bunch of flowers.
‘Of course you have, Víctor, good luck.’
He smiled.
‘When it comes to your sister I always need luck.’
7 (#ulink_819e6c6d-0825-5798-abaa-aa024be423a9)
Like the police stations in Pamplona and Tudela, the new Policía Foral station in Elizondo was of a modern design, moving away from the typical architecture of the town and the rest of the valley. It was a truly unique building, characterised by its walls of whitish stone and huge, thick plate-glass windows spread over two rectangular storeys, the second of which overhung the first forming a kind of inverted staircase effect and giving it a certain resemblance to an aircraft carrier. A couple of patrol cars parked under the overhang, the surveillance cameras and the mirrored glass all underlined the building’s purpose. During Amaia’s brief visit to the Elizondo commissioner’s office he had reiterated the same expressions of support and assurances of collaboration that he had already given her the day before, along with the promise of providing every assistance she might need. The high definition photographs didn’t reveal anything they might have missed at the cemetery. The funeral had been well-attended, as they usually were in such circumstances. Entire families, plenty of people Ainhoa had known since her childhood, among whom Amaia recognised a few of her own classmates and old friends from school. All the staff and the head teacher were there, a few local councillors and Ainhoa’s friends and classmates, forming a chorus of tearful girls with their arms around one another. And that was all; no delinquents, no paedophiles, nobody with an outstanding arrest warrant, no solitary man wrapped in a black raincoat, wolfishly licking his lips as the sun glinted off his canines. She tossed the mountain of photos onto the table with a look of disgust thinking how often this job could be so frustrating and disheartening.
‘Carla Huarte’s parents didn’t attend the funeral or the burial, and they weren’t at the reception at Ainhoa’s home afterwards,’ remarked Montes.
‘Is that strange?’ asked Iriarte.
‘Well, it’s unexpected; the families knew each other, if only by sight, and keeping in mind that and the circumstances of the girls’ deaths …’
‘Perhaps it was to avoid fuelling any gossip; let’s not forget that they’ve believed Miguel Ángel to be their daughter’s killer all this time … It must be hard to accept that we don’t have the killer and, furthermore, that he’s going to be released from prison.’
‘You could be right,’ admitted Iriarte.
‘Jonan, what can you tell me about Ainhoa’s family?’ asked Amaia.
‘After the funeral almost all the mourners went back to their home. The parents were very upset but quite calm, supporting one another. They held hands the whole time and didn’t let go even for an instant. It was hardest for the boy; it was painful to see him, sitting on a chair all by himself, looking at the floor, receiving everyone’s condolences without his parents even deigning to look at him. It was a shame.’
‘They blame the boy. Do we know whether he was really at home? Could he have gone to pick his sister up?’ inquired Zabalza.
‘He was at home. Two of his friends were with him the whole time, it looks like they had to do a project for school and then they got absorbed in playing on the PlayStation; one other boy joined them later, a neighbour who dropped in for a game. I’ve also spoken to Ainhoa’s friends. They didn’t stop crying or talking on their mobiles the entire time, a really bizarre combination. They all said the same thing. They spent the evening together in the square and wandering around town, and then they went to a bar on the ground floor of the building where one of them lives. They had a bit to drink, although not very much according to them. Some of them smoke, although Ainhoa didn’t; even so, it would explain why her skin and clothes smelled of tobacco. There was a little gang of boys drinking beer with them, but they all stayed where they were after Ainhoa left; it looks like she was the one with the earliest curfew.’
‘And much good it did her,’ commented Montes.
‘Some parents think that making their daughters come home earlier keeps them safe from danger, when the most important thing is that they don’t come home alone. By making them come home before the rest of the group, they’re the ones putting them at risk.’
‘It’s difficult being a parent,’ murmured Iriarte.
8 (#ulink_9cb1ed35-732c-5f0e-ae91-ff14a5fe60c4)
As she walked home, Amaia was surprised to realise how quickly the light had faded that February afternoon and she had a strange sense of being cheated. The early nights during winter made her feel uneasy. As if the darkness carried an ominous charge, the cold made her shiver beneath the leather of her jacket and yearn for the warmth of the quilted anorak James had tried so hard to persuade her to wear, and which she had rejected because it made her look like the Michelin man.
The warm atmosphere of Aunt Engrasi’s house dispersed the unwelcome remnants of winter that clung to her. The scent of the wood in the hearth, the huge rugs that covered the wooden floor and the incessant chatter from the television, which was permanently on even though nobody ever watched it, welcomed her back again. There were much more interesting things to do there than listen to the TV and yet it was always on in the background like a poltergeist, ignored as an absurdity and tolerated out of habit. She had once asked her aunt why and she had replied, ‘It’s an echo of the world. Do you know what an echo is? It’s a voice you can still hear once the real one has died away.’
Back in the present, James took her by the hand and led her over to the fire.
‘You’re frozen, my love.’
She smiled, nuzzling her nose into his jersey and inhaling the scent of his skin. Ros and Aunt Engrasi came out of the kitchen carrying glasses, dishes, bread and a tureen of soup.
‘I hope you’re hungry, Amaia, because your aunt’s made enough food to feed an army.’
Aunt Engrasi’s footsteps may have been slightly slower than they were at Christmas, but her mind was as clear as ever. Amaia smiled tenderly as she noticed this detail and her aunt snapped at her, ‘Don’t look at me like that, I’m not slow, it’s these damn shoes your sister gave me that are two sizes too big. If I pick my feet up I’m likely to go flying so I have to walk as if I’m wearing a dirty nappy.’
They chatted while they ate, with James telling jokes in his American accent and Aunt Engrasi sharing the local gossip, but Amaia couldn’t help noticing the deep sadness that lay behind the smile with which Ros tried to follow the conversation and the way she tried to avoid eye contact with her sister.
While James and her aunt took the plates through to the kitchen, Amaia caught her sister’s attention with just a few words.
‘I was at the workshop today.’
Ros looked at her as she sat down again with an expression that revealed both her disappointment and relief at being found out.
‘What did she tell you? Or rather, how did she tell you?’
‘In her own way. As she does everything. She told me that they’re going to bring out her second book, that they’ve brought up the possibility of a television show, that she is the backbone of the family, a paragon of virtue and the only person in the whole world who knows the meaning of the word responsibility,’ she recited the litany in an exaggerated sing-song voice until she managed to make Ros smile.
‘… And she also told me that you don’t work at the workshop anymore and that you have serious problems with your husband.’
‘Amaia … I’m sorry that you found out that way, perhaps I should have told you sooner, but it’s something that I’m working through bit by bit, something that I have to do by myself, that I should have done a long time ago. Anyway, I didn’t want to worry you.’
‘Don’t be daft, you know worrying is part of my job description and I’m good at my job. As for the rest, I agree with you, I don’t know how you managed to work with her for so long.’
‘I suppose it was all there was. I didn’t have any other options.’
‘What are you trying to say? We all have more than one option, Ros.’
‘We’re not all like you, Amaia. I suppose it was what was expected, that we would continue to run the workshop.’
‘Are you trying to reproach me for something? Because if that’s the case …’
‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but when you went it was as if I didn’t have any choice.’
‘That’s not true, you have a choice now and you had a choice then.’
‘When Aita died, Ama started behaving very strangely, I suppose it was the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and I suddenly found myself trapped between the responsibility Flora demanded of me, Ama’s episodes and Freddy … I suppose at that point Freddy seemed like an escape route.’
‘And what’s changed now? Because there’s something you mustn’t forget, and that’s that although Flora might act like the owner and boss of the workshop, it’s as much yours as it is hers, and I gave up my share to you two on that condition. You’re as capable of running the company as she is.’
‘That may be so, but it’s more than just Flora and work at the moment, it’s not only because of her, although she has played her part. I suddenly felt like I was drowning there, listening to her and her litany of complaints every day. On top of the problems in my personal life it was just unbearable. Having to go there every morning and listen to the same old story made me so anxious I felt physically ill and emotionally drained. But somehow I also felt as calm and clear-headed as ever. Determined, that’s the word. And all of a sudden, as if the heavens had opened and sent me a sign, it all became clear: I wasn’t going to go back, I didn’t go back, and I won’t go back, at least not for the time being.’
Amaia brought her hands up to head height and began to clap slowly and rhythmically.
‘Well done, Ros, well done.’
Ros smiled and gave a mock curtsey.
‘And now what?’
‘I’m working at an aluminium factory, keeping the accounts. I manage the payroll and organise the weekly diary, arrange the meetings. Eight hours a day, Monday to Friday, and when I leave the office I forget all about it. It’s nothing to get too excited about, but it’s just what I need right now.’
‘And what about Freddy?’
‘It’s bad, really bad,’ she said, biting her lip and shaking her head.
‘Is that why you’re here, staying with Aunt Engrasi?’ She didn’t answer. ‘Why don’t you tell him to leave? When all’s said and done, it’s your house.’
‘I’ve already told him, but he refuses to even consider moving out. Since I left he spends all day going from the bed to the sofa and the sofa to the bed, drinking beer, playing on the PlayStation and smoking joints,’ said Ros with disgust.
‘That’s what Flora called him, “The PlayStation champion”. Where’s he getting the money from? Surely you’re not …?’
‘No, that’s all stopped, his mother gives him money and his friends keep him well supplied.’
‘I can pay him a visit if you want. You know what Aunt Engrasi says, a man with plenty to eat and drink can go a long time without working,’ said Amaia, laughing.
‘Yes,’ replied Ros with a smile, ‘she’s absolutely right, but no. This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Let me sort things out, I will sort them out, I promise.’
‘You’re not going to go back to him, are you?’ said Amaia, looking her in the eye.
‘No, I’m not going back.’
For a moment Amaia wasn’t convinced. Then she realised her doubt must be showing on her face and was reminded of Flora and her lack of faith in other people. She made herself smile openly.
‘I’m glad for you, Ros,’ she said with all the conviction she could muster.
‘That part of my life is behind me now, and that’s something that neither Flora nor Freddy can understand. Me changing jobs at this point is incomprehensible to Flora, but at thirty-five years of age, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life working under my older sister’s yoke. Putting up with the same reproaches every day, the same snide comments and malicious remarks, as she shares her poison with the whole world. And Freddy … I suppose it’s not his fault. For a long time I thought that he was the answer to all my questions, that he’d have the magic formula, a kind of revelation that would give me a new way of living. So opposite to everyone else, so rebellious, a non-conformist, and most of all, so different to Ama and Flora, and with that ability to really irritate her,’ she smiled mischievously.
‘That’s true. The guy does have the ability to get on Flora’s nerves, and I like him just for that,’ replied Amaia.
‘Until I realised that Freddy isn’t so different after all. That his rebellion and his refusal to accept the rules are nothing more than a cloak to hide a coward, a good-for-nothing capable of giving forth like Che against the evils of consumer society while spending the money that he wheedles out of his mother or me on getting stoned. I think it’s the only thing on which I agree with Flora: he is the PlayStation champion; if he was paid money for it, he’d be one of the richest men in the country.’
Amaia looked at her with tenderness.
‘At a certain point, I found myself on a different path to the one we’d been on together. I knew I wanted a different way of life and that there had to be something more to life than spending every weekend drinking beer at Xanti’s bar. That, and having children. Perhaps that’s the real issue, because as soon as I decided to change my way of living, having a child suddenly became really important to me, an urgent need, my role in life. I’m not an idiot, Amaia, I didn’t want to have a child only to bring it up in a cloud of smoke from all the joints, but even so, I stopped taking the pills and hoped, as if everything would just happen according to a plan drawn up by destiny.’ Her face darkened, and her eyes seemed to lose their sparkle. ‘But it wasn’t to be, Amaia; it looks like I can’t have children either,’ she said in a whisper. ‘I got more and more desperate as the months passed without my falling pregnant. Freddy told me that perhaps it was for the best, that we were fine as we were. I didn’t answer him, but the rest of the night while he was asleep, snoring at my side, a voice was thundering inside me saying, “No, absolutely not, I am not fine like this.” And the voice kept thundering in my head while I got dressed to go to the workshop, while I dealt with the telephone orders, while I listened to Flora’s tireless litany of reproaches. And that day, when I hung my white overall in my locker, I already knew I wouldn’t go back. While Freddy was moving onto the next level of Resident Evil and I was warming the soup for supper, I also realised that my life with him was over. Just like that, without shouting or tears.’
‘You shouldn’t be embarrassed, tears are necessary sometimes.’
‘That’s true, but the time for tears had passed, my eyes had run dry from crying so much while he snored away beside me. From crying with shame and understanding that I was ashamed of him, that I could never be proud of the man at my side. Something broke inside me, and what had, until that point, been pure desperation to save our relationship became a war-cry from somewhere very deep inside me, and it condemned him. Most people are mistaken; they believe you can go from love to hate in a moment, that love suddenly breaks down, as if your heart had imploded. But, that’s not how it was for me. The love didn’t suddenly break down, but I had a sudden realisation that I had wasted myself in a relentless sanding-down process, scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch, day after day. And that was the day when I realised that there was nothing left. It was more like suddenly seeing something that has been there all along. Making those decisions made me feel free for the first time in a long time, and that’s made things straightforward for me, but neither your sister nor my husband were prepared to let me go that easily. You’d be surprised by how similar their arguments, their reproaches, their tricks were … because the two of them played tricks, you know, and they used the very same words.’ She smiled bitterly as she remembered them. ‘Where are you going to go? Do you think you’ll find something better? And, finally: who will love you? They’d never believe it, but although their tricks were designed to undermine my conviction, they had just the opposite effect: I saw how small and cowardly they were, so inept, and anything seemed possible, easier without them dragging me down. I wasn’t sure about everything, but at least I had an answer to the last question: I am; I’m going to love myself and take care of myself.’
‘I’m proud of you,’ said Amaia, hugging her. ‘Don’t forget you can count on me, I’ve always loved you.’
‘I know you have, and James, Aunt Engrasi, Aita and even Ama, in her own way. The only one who didn’t really value me was me.’
‘Then love yourself, Ros Salazar.’
‘There’s been a change there, too: I prefer people to call me Rosaura.’
