justified employing equally corruptive powers and fanatical energy to bring the aimless world back to heel.
Falcon became quite concerned that the rage unleashed by his revelation of Manuela's comparative peevishness might result in a fatal embolism or lethal infarction. Angel's forty-five years of political frustration had finally erupted, producing spluttering admissions which indicated, beyond any doubt, his and Fuerza Andalucia's involvement in the conspiracy, but did nothing to help the investigation cross the divide into unknown areas.
By prior arrangement, Falcon was not going to be interviewing anybody between 10.30 and midday. He was going to attend the funeral of Ines Conde de Tejada. He drove out to the San Fernando cemetery on the northern outskirts of the city. As he drew near he counted three television vans and seven camera crews.
Everybody from the Edificio de los Juzgados and the Palacio de Justicia was in attendance at the cemetery. Close to two hundred people were milling around the gates, most of them smoking. Falcon knew them all and it took him some time to work his way through the crowd to reach Ines's parents.
Neither of her parents was tall, but the death of their daughter had diminished them. They were dwarfed by its enormity and overwhelmed by the numbers of people around them. Falcon paid his respects and Ines's mother kissed him and held on to him so tightly it was as if he was her lifesaver in this sea of humanity. Her husband's handshake had nothing in it. His face was slack, his eyes rheumy. He'd aged ten years overnight. He spoke as if he didn't recognize Falcon. As he was about to leave, Ines's mother grabbed his arm and in a hoarse whisper said: 'She should have stayed with you, Javier', to which there was no answer.
Falcon joined the crowd walking up the tree-lined path to the family mausoleum. The camera crews were there, but they kept their distance. As the coffin was taken up the steps there was a great wailing from some of the women in the crowd. These occasions, especially with untimely deaths, were so emotionally lacerating that many of the men had their handkerchiefs out. When one elderly woman cried out, 'Ines, Ines,' as the coffin disappeared into the dark, the crowd seemed to convulse with grief.
The crowd dispersed after the short ceremony. Falcon walked back to his car, head bowed and throat so constricted he couldn't respond to the few people who tried to stop him. Driving back alone was a relief, a great unknotting of strangled emotion. He arrived at the Jefatura and wept for a minute, with his forehead on the steering wheel, before pulling himself together for the next round of interviews. By lunchtime they'd all discovered their fundamental problem. Not even Rivero, who was the weakest of the three, would give the interrogators the necessary link between Fuerza Andalucia and the bomb makers. Not one of them would even yield up the link to Informaticalidad, never mind to Lucrecio Arenas and Cesar Benito.
In a conference between Elvira, del Rey and Falcon, in which they were trying to work out the most serious possible charges with which they could hold the three suspects, Elvira put forward the possibility that the link wasn't forthcoming because it didn't exist.
'They had to give Hassani's work to someone,' said del Rey.
'And I think we all believe now that the reason Ricardo Gamero killed himself was that the electrician's card, which would end up in the Imam's hands, via Botin, made him feel responsible,' said Falcon. 'Mark Flowers told me that the Imam was expecting more intrusive surveillance. In fact, he wanted the microphone planted in his office so that the CGI antiterrorist squad would find out about Hammad and Saoudi's plan. Obviously, none of them knew a bomb was going to be planted with that microphone. The point is that Gamero went back to the person who had given him the card, looking for an explanation. Who gave that card to Zarrias?'
'It's possible that Zarrias didn't know about the bomb either,' said Elvira. 'Perhaps he just thought this was an escalation of the surveillance carried out by Informaticalidad.'
'The person I would really like to see down here is Lucrecio Arenas,' said Falcon. 'He positioned his protege, Jesus Alarcon, to take over the leadership from Rivero. He is a long-standing friend of Angel Zarrias and he has been involved with the Horizonte group, with whom Benito and Cardenas are associated and who ultimately own Informaticalidad.'
'But unless these guys give him up, all you can do is talk to him,' said del Rey. 'You have no leverage. The only reason we've got this far is a lucky sighting of Tateb Hassani late on the Saturday night in Rivero's house, and Rivero's subsequent confusion and loss of nerve when you and Inspector Ramirez first spoke to him.' Falcon was in the observation room for the next interviews, which started at four o'clock. At about five Gregorio appeared at his shoulder.
'Yacoub needs to talk,' he said.
'I thought we weren't due to 'chat' until tonight.'
'In an emergency we've given Yacoub the possibility of making contact,' said Gregorio. 'It's to do with the initiation rite.'
'I haven't got the Javier Marias book with me.'
Gregorio produced a spare copy from his briefcase. They went up to Falcon's office and Gregorio prepared the computer.
'You might find there's more of a delay between each line of 'chat' this time,' said Gregorio. 'We're using different encryption software and it's a bit slower.'
Gregorio gave up Falcon's seat and went over to the window. Falcon sat in front of the computer and exchanged introductions with Yacoub, who opened by saying he didn't have much time and gave a brief account of what had happened that morning. He wrote about the execution he'd witnessed, but wrote nothing of his own mock execution. Falcon reeled from the computer screen.
'This is out of control,' he said, and Gregorio read Yacoub's words over Falcon's shoulder.
'Steady him. Keep him calm,' said Gregorio. 'They're just warning him.'
Falcon started to type just as another paragraph came through from Yacoub.
'Important things in no particular order. 1) I was taken from the house in the medina at about 6.45 a.m. The journey was about three and a half hours long and then there was about forty minutes before I met the two men, who called themselves Mohamed and Abu. They told me they were following the Seville bombing very closely. 2) They said that the explosion had caused 'great disruption to one of their plans which had demanded a lot of reorganization'. 3) I was left in a room with books on one wall. The titles were all about architecture or engineering. There were also a number of manufacturer's car manuals for four-wheel-drive vehicles. 4) They knew about the arrest of three men from a political party called Fuerza Andalucia, who were suspected of murdering 'an apostate and traitor' called Tateb Hassani. They also knew that this was in some way connected to the Seville bombing, but said that these men were 'unimportant'. 5) The information they want from you, Javier, is as follows: the identities of the men who were responsible for the planning of the bombing of the mosque in Seville. They know about the three arrests, and they believe that although you know who the real perpetrators are, they are too powerful for you to touch them.
'I don't expect you to reply immediately. I know you will have to talk to your people first. I need your answer as soon as possible. If I can give them this information I believe it will increase my standing with the council immeasurably.'
'That last bit I don't even have to think about,' said Falcon. 'I can't do it.'
'Just wait, Javier,' said Gregorio, but Falcon was already typing out his reply:
'Yacoub, it's completely impossible for me to give you that information. We have our suspicions, but absolutely no proof. I assume the leaders of this council are looking for revenge for the bombing of the mosque and that is not something I am prepared to have on my conscience.'
Falcon had to hold Gregorio back as he hit the send button. After about fifteen seconds the screen wavered and the CNI secure website disappeared to be replaced by the msn home page. Gregorio played about on the keyboard and tried to get back into the website, but there was no access. He made a call standing at the window.
'We've lost the connection,' he said.
After several minutes of listening and nodding he closed down the mobile.
'Trouble with the encryption software. They had to terminate the transmission as a precaution.'
'Did my last paragraph go through?'
'They said it did.'
'All the way through to Yacoub?'
'That I don't know yet,' said Gregorio. 'We'll reconvene at your house at 11 p.m. I'll have had a chance to discuss the meat of what Yacoub was saying and its implications with Juan and Pablo by then.'
