to the surface of Pablo Ortega's mind? Whatever it was, he didn't want to know about it. He didn't think it worth staying alive to face it. So, not only does he
Falcon shook his head in dismay.
'You were asking him about his son, Javier, and you said you were putting pressure on him through your investigation. What did you suspect him of having done?'
'I don't want to talk about that just yet. It would help if you came to this with an open mind,' he said. 'That is, if you want to be involved. It doesn't have to be any of your business.'
'I'm involved,' she said. 'I'd like to know what the letters say. And it might be interesting to know what he had in his collection.'
A patrol car pulled up outside the house.
'We've got to do our work first,' he said. 'But I don't think this will take very long.'
An ambulance parked up behind the patrol car. Felipe and Jorge turned up a few minutes later, along with the Juez de Guardia, Juan Romero. There was a quick conference about the relevance of this suicide to the Vega case. Calderon called Romero who gave him Falcon's verbal report. It was decided to treat them separately. Cristina Ferrera arrived in time to hear the decision.
Falcon gave them a tour of the crime scene via the dead dogs by the pool and the interior of the house. Felipe took the crime scene shots while Jorge inspected the dogs and scraped meat from between their teeth. Ferrera checked the telephone for messages and asked the phone company for a breakdown of calls in and out. She searched for a mobile.
The ambulancemen came in and decided that Ortega's body had been weighted to keep it submerged and would have to be winched out via a pulley in the ceiling. They went to get a block and tackle. Felipe and Jorge moved in and bagged all the evidence before moving on to the bedroom. The Medico Forense arrived and sat chatting with Alicia Aguado by the pool while he waited for the body to be lifted out.
Felipe handed over the letters to Falcon unopened in evidence bags. The ambulancemen chipped away at the ceiling until they found a reinforced concrete beam and started drilling. Falcon took the letters into the sitting room to read. Ferrera hadn't found the mobile. He sent her out to speak to the neighbours to see what
Ortega's movements had been in the last twenty-four hours.
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
27th July 2002
Dear Javier,
I think you must have realized now that I chose you and I am sorry if this has upset you. You are the professional and, as I said, I like you and I want this, the last scene of my final act, to pass safely into your hands.
Just in case there is some doubt, or some opportunistic burglar has happened on the scene and messed up my tragedy, I would like to declare unequivocally that I have taken my own life. This was not a snap decision. It was certainly not provoked by any recent developments but is a culmination of events. I have come to the end of my road and found it a cul- de-sac, with no possibility of retracing my steps and doing all the things that I should have done. It was a dead end with only one exit and I chose it with clear eyes, if not a clear conscience.
My reasons for having taken my own life are the only reasons a suicide can have. I am weak and I am selfish. I have neglected my son. This has been the stamp of all my family and personal relationships and has happened probably because I am consumed by vanity. The reward for this is my loneliness. My son is in prison. My family have grown tired of me. My community has thrown me out. My profession has shunned me. Vanity, in case you do not know this, requires an audience. Life inside my bubble has become intolerable. I have no one to perform to and therefore I am no one.
It probably seems absurd that someone of my fame and in my comfortable circumstances should have chosen this end. I can feel myself on the brink of a long and rambling explanation, but it would only be the Torre Muga speaking. My apologies for the inconvenience, Javier. Please give the other letter to my son, Sebastian. I hope you succeed in helping him where I have so singularly failed.
Con un abrazo,
Pablo Ortega
PS I never showed you my collection. Please enjoy it at your leisure.
PPS Please inform my brother, Ignacio. His number is in the address book on the kitchen table.
Falcon read the letter through several times until his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an electric winch. He stood at the door as Ortega's stained and bloated body emerged from under the floor. The masked ambulancemen pulled him away from over the hole and lowered him on to the concrete. He had a large flat rock taped to his chest and another one shoved down his blue shorts. Falcon called in the Medico Forense and asked Felipe to take more shots.
He went to sit with Alicia Aguado and read her Ortega's letter.
'I don't think he's as drunk as he makes out.'
'There were three empty bottles of Muga in there.'
'They weren't inside him when he wrote this letter,' she said. 'He's stated his guilt, but he's been very careful not to admit to anything. The denial that his suicide has anything to do with 'recent developments' seems to be important.
'The only recent developments I know about are Rafael Vega's death and me volunteering to help his son.'
Cristina Ferrera came back from talking to the few neighbours she could find. Ortega had walked his dogs yesterday morning. He'd been out in his car twice at about 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Both trips were for about an hour and a half each.
'Would you bother to walk your dogs if you were going to kill them?' asked Falcon.
'It seems to have been a routine,' said Ferrera. 'His neighbour walked his dog at the same time. And even condemned men get fed and exercised.'
'Killing them is to do with his admitted selfishness and vanity. They were a part of him, only he knew how to love them,' said Alicia Aguado. 'You saw him yesterday morning before he went out, Javier. What did you talk about then?'
'I was interested in his relationship with Rafael Vega, how he knew him, whether he'd met him through Raul Jimenez and whether he knew any of the people around those men. I had a photograph of him with some people at a party which seemed to unnerve him. I also talked to him about his son's case. Then 1 left, but – no, that's not quite right. He told me about a recurring dream, then I left, but I came back to ask him about something I'd forgotten and I saw him sink to his knees in the garden, weeping.'
Alicia Aguado asked about the dream and he described Ortega's vision of himself in a field with his hurting hands.
'I read your report of your first meeting,' said Ferrera. 'He was very different then.'
'Yes, he was much more the actor. Most of that interview was performance,' said Falcon. 'He was more serious in subsequent talks. The pressure was building.'
'What were you being accusatory about, Javier?' asked Aguado.
'I don't want to talk about it until I've got it clear in my mind,' he said. 'I've got a lot more work to do on that.'
Jorge called Falcon over for a crime scene conference. They were convinced it was suicide. They had found nothing to lead them to believe it happened any other way. Ortega's fingerprints were over everything. Juan Romero asked the Medico Forense for his opinion.
'Time of death was about 3 a.m. Cause was drowning. There was a single mark on his forehead which probably happened as he fell into the hole. My pre-lab inspection verdict is that he committed suicide.'
Juez Romero signed off the levantamiento del cadaver. Falcon told him that he would inform the next of kin as the dead man had requested. The paramedics removed the body and those of the two dogs. Felipe and Jorge left.
