The Blind Man of Seville

‘I know that name,’ said Calderon. ‘Isn’t he a theatre director?’

‘And a well-known mariquita,’ finished Ramirez.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Calderon.

‘He was fucking them both,’ said Ramirez. ‘He said he was fucking her because she reminded him of his mother.’

‘What’s all this about?’

‘Lucena was trying to offend Inspector Ramirez,’ said Falcon.

‘But not you,’ said Calderon smoothly. ‘Are you going to arrest him?’

‘First of all, I don’t think these people are stupid enough to walk into the security cameras … ‘

‘Unless they’re being very intelligent and subtle about it,’ said Calderon. ‘For instance, we never see the lover in the Familia Jimenez movie, do we? We only see his address.’

‘You’re forgetting the prostitute, Eloisa Gomez,’ said Falcon. ‘If Lucena was the killer he would have been in the apartment, filming her having sex with Raul Jimenez as we saw on the movie. The girl was taped leaving the building at three minutes past one and was back on the Alameda at one-thirty. Basilio Lucena was still in the Hotel Colon with Sra Jimenez. I’ve worked on the timings to see if it’s still possible, and it is, but highly improbable.’

‘Well, that was nearly exciting,’ said Calderon. ‘When did Lucena leave the building?’

‘No record,’ said Falcon. ‘He says he left in the morning with Marciano Ruiz.’

‘Why no record?’

‘The camera links in the garage had been cut,’ said Ramirez, which was news to Falcon. ‘According to the Policia Cientifica they were severed with pliers.’

‘So that was the way in?’ asked Calderon, trying to get through to more interesting information.

‘It was definitely the way out,’ said Falcon. ‘The problem, though, was not just to get into the building without being seen, but to get into the apartment as well. Raul Jimenez was very security conscious. He always locked his door, which needed five turns of the key — and that was confirmed by the prostitute, who heard him while she was waiting for the lift.’

‘So how did the killer get in?’

Falcon gave him the theory of the lifting gear on the back of the Mudanzas Triana removals truck. Calderon played with that idea in his head.

‘So he gets into the apartment, which admittedly is empty, but he hides in it for twelve hours and he’s even brought his video camera with him to record Raul Jimenez with a whore? That doesn’t sound …’

‘If that was the case, I don’t think that part of it was planned,’ said Falcon. ‘I think he did that in a moment of arrogance. He wanted to show us that he’d been there all the time. If he hadn’t filmed them we’d have known much less. We’d probably still be wasting our time with Basilio Lucena. So we can thank the killer for that small slip, along with the forgotten chloroform rag, because with each of these mistakes he’s telling us something about himself.’

‘That he’s an amateur,’ said Calderon.

‘But an amateur with nerve,’ said Falcon, ‘He’ll take risks and he likes to tease.’

‘Psychopathic?’

‘Driven and playful,’ replied Falcon. ‘With not a lot to lose.’

‘And some surgical expertise,’ said Ramirez.

Falcon gave him the second scenario — Eloisa Gomez letting in her lover or low-life friend to kill Raul Jimenez.

‘Nothing was stolen,’ said Ramirez. ‘The place was practically empty, so the only reason for getting in there was to kill Raul Jimenez.’

‘How did she stand up to the interrogation?’

‘She toughed it out,’ said Ramirez.

‘You’ll go back to her though, won’t you?’ said Calderon.

In the quiet that followed their nods Falcon gave Calderon a short report about his discussion with Lobo on the level of corruption in the building of Expo ‘92 and Raul Jimenez’s involvement. He mentioned the warning he was given by the Comisario.

‘If there’s corruption associated with this murder I have to be free to talk about it,’ said Calderon, eyes alight, suddenly the crusading judge.

‘You are, of course,’ said Falcon. ‘But there are some sensitive issues here and important people, who, even if they’re clean, might not like the associations. You remember who was in those photographs from your side: Bellido and Spinola, to name two.’

‘It’s ten years old, anyway,’ said Calderon, idealism instantly doused.

‘That’s not so long to hold a grudge,’ said Falcon, and the two men looked at him as if he might be holding several simultaneously.

Falcon gave a report on his conversation with Consuelo Jimenez and handed over the print-out of the address book, mentioning that the killer had stolen Raul Jimenez’s mobile. Calderon ran his finger down the list. Ramirez yawned and lit another cigarette.

‘So what you’re saying,’ said Calderon, ‘is that despite that terrible scenario the killer left in the apartment,