‘You drove down on the A-16 autopista to Sitges. Your vehicle was filmed going through the Castelldefels toll booth at one twenty-two p.m.’
‘Oh.’
‘Did you go to Sitges the last time you were here, Kathy?’ Mozas asked. ‘You must remember that!’ He grinned again, and Kathy recognised a trap.
‘Well, yes, I did,’ she said carefully. ‘I drove down the coast one afternoon. It was very pleasant.’
‘Any particular points of attraction? Places of interest?’
‘I did a bit of sightseeing…’
‘And you went to a fitness club, yes?’
‘I believe I did, yes.’
Alvarez suddenly unleashed a stream of angry prose at Mozas, who stiffened, his playful manner evaporating. ‘The captain says that you are full of shit, Kathy. He wants you to tell us the truth now, or he will hand this over to our bosses to take to the highest levels in Scotland Yard. We know you broke into the Apollo-Sitges Fitness Club yesterday evening…’
‘No.’
‘The alarm was recorded at eight twenty-three p.m., and your car was photographed again on the autopista at eight fifty-four p.m., returning to Barcelona.’
They’ve had help, Kathy thought. Lizancos has told them exactly where to look. What else has he told them?
‘Why would I want to break into a fitness club? Are you accusing me of a robbery?’
‘No, Kathy. In a way it’s much more serious than that. The building is owned by Dr Javier Lizancos, as you well know. You’ve met Dr Lizancos, of course. You went to his home on the eighteenth of September, the day before you went to Sitges to visit his premises there.’ Kathy noticed that Captain Alvarez had picked up The Complete Works of Luis Domenech i Montaner and was pointedly turning the pages, studying the illustrations. Mozas leaned towards Kathy across the table and lowered his voice. ‘Is there someone you are in contact with here in Spain, Kathy? Another arm of the police services, perhaps? The Guardia Civil? It would be so much simpler if you would tell us. It would avoid misunderstandings.’
‘No, really.’
Mozas looked put out. ‘But you cannot even speak Spanish! You don’t have Linda with you. What did you expect to achieve?’
‘I just wanted a change of scenery for the weekend.’
Alvarez got to his feet and reached towards her, brandishing the book. For a moment Kathy thought he was going to hit her with it. Instead, he slammed it down on the table, open at the page illustrating the house of the superintendent of Sant Pau, and glared at her.
Mozas said, ‘Dr Lizancos has reported an intruder in the grounds of his house in the Eixample district last night. This house, that you have the plans for in your bag. Fortunately he had a guest staying with him, the manager of his Sitges building, who had come to report on the break-in there. This man scared off the intruder, but he did take note of a car parked outside in the street. A red Cordo, with the same number as yours.’
Kathy felt thoroughly outclassed by the lizard doctor. She wondered what he had done with her tools. Was he holding them back, like a careful boxer reserving the big punch, or had he already planted them somewhere?
‘Look, Jeez, I can’t help you with this. There’s obviously been an unfortunate series of coincidences, but I’m sure you don’t have time to waste where no real harm has been done, and I don’t think either of us would want an embarrassing international incident.’
‘I’m not sure that can be avoided, Kathy. You see, from where we are sitting, it looks as if a member of the British police has been caught carrying out illegal acts against a Spanish citizen on Spanish soil. Dr Lizancos is a very distinguished man, highly regarded. He holds the police medal as well as many other honours. He is a personal friend of Captain Alvarez, who, incidentally, is very pissed off that you and Linda passed yourselves off as acting on his orders when you went to visit the doctor the first time.’ Mozas paused, his stern expression softening a little. ‘Is there someone you would like to contact for help, Kathy? Your superior? It doesn’t seem fair that you should have to deal with this all alone.’
Kathy imagined Brock at the end of a pleasant Sunday lunch with Suzanne, and felt a sharp pang of longing for home. But ringing him would only seem to implicate him.
As if reading her thoughts, Mozas said, ‘Mr Brock is your immediate boss, isn’t he? But he’s only a chief inspector. I think Captain Alvarez will want to go higher than that. Much higher. Do you really want to be crucified alone?’
Kathy felt sick.
They took her back to the cell and left her there for several more hours. Finally, Lieutenant Mozas came for her with a uniformed cop. The two of them chatted amiably in Catalan while Kathy was led out to the front counter of the police station. One by one her possessions were produced and signed for. Mozas looked at his watch and said something to the desk officer, who muttered and sped up the process, then they were leading her to a patrol car in the street outside. It was a balmy evening, with the glow of sunset on the tiled roofs.
‘What’s going on, Jeez?’
‘You’ve got a plane to catch,’ he said. ‘You know, I never saw big guns move so fast, Kathy.’ He laughed and consulted his notebook. ‘Commander… Deputy Assistant Commissioner… Assistant Commissioner… Deputy Commissioner… back to Commander. Is that right? Such odd names. I thought commissioners were the people who check your ticket at the movies. Here’s your orders, by the way.’
He handed her a copy of a fax with the Metropolitan Police letterhead. It read, ‘DS K. Kolla is ordered to report for interview at the office of Commander D. Sharpe, Room 632, New Scotland Yard, at 0900 hrs on Monday 1 October.’
‘Tomorrow morning,’ Kathy murmured.
‘Yeah. Tough.’
‘What’s the story?’
‘You’ve been working too hard, and you’ve had some personal problems, yes? To do with a boyfriend? You’ve had a breakdown, something like that. Anything to keep that headline out of the paper.’
‘What headline?’
‘Drunk lady cop arrested in Spain.’ Mozas laughed again. He seemed to be enjoying himself. ‘Your drink- driving charge will stay on the record, in case you ever try to come back. You’ll have to sort out the damage to the car with the hire company.’
Well, Kathy thought, at least I won’t be giving the speech to the police conference on Wednesday.
‘Boy, your clothes really stink of booze and stuff,’ Mozas said. ‘How’s your hangover, by the way?’
‘Terrible.’
‘Get yourself a drink in the airport. It’ll make you feel better. If there’s time, that is.’ He leaned forward and spoke to the driver, who flicked on the siren and pressed his foot to the floor. Mozas leaned closer to Kathy and lowered his voice. ‘I got rid of your burglar’s tools. I thought you’d want that.’
Kathy looked at him with surprise. ‘Why did you do that?’
He shrugged. ‘I thought you were in enough trouble without the physical evidence. Alvarez wouldn’t have agreed to let you go if he’d seen those.’
‘Thank you, Jeez. I appreciate it.’
‘Lizancos and his gorilla set you up, didn’t they?’
‘Yes.’
‘You know, you should have come to me in the first place, Kathy. I could have helped you.’
‘I’d have got you into trouble, too.’
He shrugged. ‘And now you’ve got yourself into a hole. I guess they’ll kick you out.’
‘Yes…’ She saw the terminal building ahead, and suddenly felt quite calm and settled, for the first time that day. ‘Unless I can come up with something really smart.’
‘Like a miracle?’ Mozas laughed. ‘Good luck!’
