The Blind Man of Seville

tell me they cut off his eyelids.’

‘The newspapers are being sensationalist,’ he said and left it at that.

‘We were good friends, Ramon and I,’ she said.

‘But not such good friends that you could remember his name at the beginning of my investigation.’

‘I was very upset by the intrusiveness of the killer, I was just exercising some control over the intrusions of the investigator … that was all.’

‘Did it occur to you that the delay in making the connection might have cost Ramon his life?’ he said, pushing the limits of truth to the edge, to try to get some emotional purchase.

‘He said he was going to meet you.’

‘When?’

‘We’ve spoken every day since Raul was murdered,’ she said. ‘Didn’t you check the phone records?’

‘I haven’t read that report yet.’

‘Ramon was a very sensitive man and conscientious with it.’

‘When did he tell you we were going to meet?’

‘It was supposed to be yesterday for lunch.’

‘Did he say what he was going to discuss with me?’

‘No.’

‘It doesn’t sound as if it was going to implicate you, does it?’

‘Why should it?’

‘Did he tell you about our little deal?’

‘No.’

‘He would give me information that would point me in the direction of Raul’s enemies and in return I would allow him into my father’s studio for a day,’ said Falcon. ‘Do you know why he would want to do that? I mean, spend a day in my father’s studio. He said it was for no commercial reason.’

‘He was devoted to your father,’ she said. ‘Ramon’s whole life and success were due to your father’s genius.’

‘So what was it? Did he want to commune with my father’s spirit?’

‘Cynicism doesn’t suit you, Don Javier.’

‘How well did you know Ramon … how long?’

‘Nearly twenty years.’

‘Did you know that he’d been married?’

Silence.

‘Did you know that his wife died in childbirth?’

Silence.

‘Did you know that in his …’ Falcon stopped himself; futility suddenly got the better of him. His suit was heavy on his shoulders.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Tell me what you know about Ramon Salgado,’ said Falcon. ‘He’s been in and around my life for as long as I can remember. I was even featured in the killer’s film La Familia Salgado. But now I realize that I didn’t know the first thing about him, apart from the uninteresting surface of his existence.’

‘I can’t believe he didn’t tell me he was married,’ she said. ‘We talked about everything.’

‘Maybe not quite everything,’ said Falcon.

‘Well, for instance, he told me that he’d killed a man.’

‘Ramon Salgado murdered somebody?’ said Falcon.

‘He said it was an accident … a terrible accident, but he had killed somebody and it weighed heavily on his mind.’

‘Why would he tell you a thing like that?’

‘Because I had just told him everything about myself. I was drunk and depressed after my second abortion and the end of my relationship with the son of the duke. I told him about the other abortion and how I’d earned the money and … you know, it became a very personal conversation.’

‘These are big secrets to share.’

‘We were two lonely and disappointed people and we opened up to each other in a cafe on the Gran Via, over brandy.’

‘Did he say when he had killed this man?’

‘In the early sixties in Tangier. He pushed somebody in a drunken argument. The guy fell over and hit his head in the wrong place and died. Everything was covered up. He paid some money and left the country.’