Southern Seas (25 page)

‘That’s for later. It’s much better after you’ve eaten.’

Carvalho brought out a bottle of Peñafiel red.

‘Tell me about this wild-boar sausage.’

‘I wrote down what they told me in the shop. It’s called
xolis de porc senglar
. They make it in the Arán valley. It’s very rare. This was the only piece they had in the shop.’

Goats’ cheese, ewes’ cheese from Navarre, Chester, and a mild cheese from the Maestrazgo. His praise for her selection obviously delighted Yes.

‘Now that you’ve eaten, and sated the beast inside you, I’m going to tell you my plan. When you finish this job, if you decide to finish it, we’ll take the car and go on a trip to Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece. Crete must be wonderful in spring. If it works out OK, we could cross the Bosphorus and go through Turkey, Afghanistan …’

‘For how long?’

‘All our lives.’

‘That’s too long for you.’

‘We could rent a house somewhere and wait.’

‘Wait for what?’

‘For something to happen. And when it does, we’ll carry on with our travels. I’d like to see my brother in Bali. He’s a nice boy. But if you don’t feel like seeing him, we don’t have to go to Bali. Or maybe we could go there and not see him.’

‘What if we ran into him in the street?’

‘I’ll pretend to be confused. “Yes! Yes!” he’ll say. And I’ll say: “You’re wrong, pal!” “But aren’t you my sister Yes?” “No, I’m nobody’s sister.” ’

‘Then he’ll say that his sister has a scar under her left breast, and he’ll want to check.’

‘And obviously you won’t let him.’

‘What about Bleda?’

‘We’ll take her along.’

‘And Biscuter?’

‘No. Perish the thought! No, we couldn’t take Biscuter.’

‘And Charo?’

‘Who’s Charo?’

‘She’s like my wife. She’s a whore I’ve been going round with for eight years. She’s eaten with me at this table, and screwed in my bed. A few days ago, in fact.’

‘You didn’t have to say she’s a whore.’

‘But she is.’

Yes stood up, and knocked the chair over as she did so. She went into Carvalho’s bedroom and closed the door. The detective went to put on a record of the Riego Anthem. The flames were fighting to escape up the chimney. Carvalho sprawled on the sofa, watching them. After a little while, Yes crept up and put her hands over his eyes.

‘Why are you always sending me away?’

‘Because you’ve got to go, and the sooner the better.’

‘Why do I have to go? And why the sooner the better? I’m only asking for your company.’

‘You’re asking me to spend the rest of my life travelling!’

‘But that life could last five years or just a week. What are you so afraid of?’

He stood up to put the Riego Anthem on again. He slowly undressed her and entered her as if he wanted to fix her to the carpet. She coiled gently around him. Reddened by the fire, their bodies enjoyed the moistness and the warmth. As they drew apart, they were each absorbed with their own desires and their own section of the ceiling.

‘I’ve always had the horrors of becoming a slave of emotions, because I know it could too easily happen. I’m not keen on experiments. Live your own life, Yes.’

‘What life are you asking me to live? What am I supposed to do? Marry a rich young heir? Have babies? Spend the summer by the sea at Lliteras? Take a lover? Two lovers? A hundred? Why can’t my life be with you? We don’t have to travel. We could just stay here, in this room.’

‘When I reached forty, I reckoned up what my future held. Paying off debts and burying the dead. I’ve paid for this house and I’ve buried my dead. You can’t imagine how tired I am. Now I’m realizing that I don’t have the time to take on new debts. I could never pay them off. I’ve only got one corpse still left to bury—myself. I’m not interested in wild affairs with a girl who can’t tell the difference between love and cocaine. You can’t tell the difference, can you? Sleep the night here, but tomorrow morning you’ll have to go, and we won’t be seeing each other again.’

Yes rose to her feet. From the floor, Carvalho could see the precise lines of her body, her sexual parts moist after the advances of his voracious member. She moved her rounded buttocks towards the door, turning for a moment to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Then she went into the bedroom and closed the door. Moments later, Carvalho followed her into the room and
found her snorting cocaine. Yes smiled from the depths of a waking reverie.

‘Can’t you survive without seeing me? I’ve already told you, I prefer to keep a low profile.’

‘I needed to talk to you.’

‘I’m nobody’s servant. I told Viladecans. He’s done me favours, but I’ve done plenty enough in return. A policeman isn’t a servant.’

He paced the floor of Carvalho’s office, nervously.

‘I wouldn’t like anyone in the force to know that I’m having dealings with a shit-stirrer. Pardon the expression, but that’s what we call you people.’

‘All right. I won’t keep you long. When you were investigating the Stuart Pedrell case, I presume you started with the knife-gangs?’

‘We did what we could. They say that there’s one rat for every person living in this city. Well, for every rat there’s also someone carrying a knife. We keep tabs on most of the gangs, but there are new ones springing up every day.’

‘Did you get any tip-offs?’

‘Our tip-off was that none of the known gangs was claiming responsibility. That didn’t get us far. You know, people are surprised that there’s a new knife-gang popping up every day. But it’s not surprising at all. Did you know that the judge at the delinquents’ court is a red? As fast as we send them to court, he puts them back on the streets. This job is getting more pathetic all the time. Now they’re supposed to have a lawyer present during interrogation. How can you get something out of a villain without
roughing him up a bit? The people who make the laws should have to deal with this riff-raff themselves. At least the lawyers don’t come to the station very often. Not that they wouldn’t like to. They’re just scared.’

He had calmed down and was eyeing Carvalho from behind his sunglasses.

‘I hope you’re not expecting me to solve this case for you. It’s your baby now.’

‘Did you cover the whole city in your search?’

‘First of all, we started round Holy Trinity. Then we contacted our informers all over town. But it was hard for us to get really stuck in, because of pressure from the family. We weren’t even allowed to publish Stuart Pedrell’s photo. Viladecans pulls a lot of weight. Things aren’t like they used to be. Between you and me, I’m getting out of this job. But before I go, I’m going to set off a few fireworks. I’ll knock off a few reds, and see if they come after me. A society of inadequates and cripples—that’s what they’re creating. Look.’

He took a wad of notes from his wallet.

‘Forty thousand pesetas. I always carry ready cash, in case I suddenly get the urge to leave. That’s what it would cost me to get to Paris and stay a few days while I enlist in a group of mercenaries. When I find I can’t take it any more, I’ll get the hell out and head for Zimbabwe.’

‘There’s already a black government in Zimbabwe.’

‘There too? The world’s gone mad! Well, I’ll make it South Africa. At least
they’ve
got their heads screwed on right.’

‘What were your conclusions about the Stuart Pedrell case?’

‘That the truth will come out sooner or later. When you’re least expecting it, a little birdie drops into your lap. You force him to eat a bit of shit, and he tries to get you off his back by confessing to something big. Now you’re on the right track. But you’ll never get anywhere without using rough stuff. One day, the killer will walk into the net. We’ll stick him with the biggest
thing around at the time, and he’ll get shit scared and come up with something we can believe. A mutual favour, you might say. I like my job; I’d never say I don’t like it. But it’s getting harder and harder. The reds hate our guts, and they’re afraid of us. They know that we’re what holds this society up, and that if they want to take over, they’re going to have to get rid of us first.

‘You see this hand? It’s had the pleasure of laying one on one of those MPs who’s so much in the news nowadays. They’d got together a little group to present a petition to the head of the Council, but they hadn’t got a proper authorization. This was when the Old Man was still alive. This guy started getting uppity, so I gave him one that he won’t forget in a hurry. You don’t happen to know a good publisher, do you? He’d have to have guts. You see, I keep a diary in which I write down everything I do, and everything I see and hear. There’s a conspiracy all around us. You’d die of fright if I told you how many top knobs in this country are working for the KGB. I leave the diary with a woman friend of mine, in case anything happens to me. If you mention it to a publisher with guts, I’d happily give you a commission.’

‘Fuerza Nueva has a publishing house.’

‘They’re all sold out. The government tolerates them, so as to keep them in line. What do they actually do? A few rallies, a few punch-ups, and it’s all over. That way, they can keep the kids amused and stop them blowing everything sky-high. I’ll publish it when I’m in South Africa or Chile.
Red Power Over Spain
. How do you like that as a title? I’ll use a pen name—Boris Le Noir. Ever since I was little, I’ve been thinking up adventures for myself. And I’ve always been Boris Le Noir.’

‘You do of course realize that Boris is a Russian name.’

‘Not all Russians are communists. In fact, the great majority of them aren’t. That’s what I call an iron dictatorship. You can always get out of a fascist dictatorship, but what about a communist one? Tell me, how can people be so blind? The reds’ll end up taking over everything. They start by castrating the men and
masculinizing the women. They’re getting their fingers in everywhere. There’s not one virile country left north of the Equator. I’ve been giving this some thought: in the North, you have the countries where democracy and communism are ruining everything; in the South, you have the countries where there are still virile qualities, where the individual still has room to fight. Chile, Argentina, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Indonesia … Make no mistake. If you still want to die on your feet, with your balls in the right place, then forget all this shit and join up with the mercenaries.’

‘Do all your colleagues think like you?’

‘No. The force is rotten too. Socialists are springing up like mushrooms. I ask them where they were four years ago, and they can’t even answer. They’ve got no sense of adventure. They’re just pen-pushers. Talking with you has made me quite excited again, you know. This evening I think I’ll go and get my ticket at the Estación de Francia. What do you think I should do about the book?’

‘Take it with you and add some field observations.’

‘Not a bad idea. But what if it gets lost? I’ll make a photocopy and leave it with my woman. Let me give you some advice. Don’t break your back trying to solve the Pedrell case. Try to find an explanation that sounds plausible. Give it to the family, and pick up your cheque. They haven’t the slightest interest in finding out what happened. That guy was in their way, I can smell it. He was a nuisance to all of them.’

He clicked his tongue against his cheek, adjusted his glasses, and went on his way.

‘I don’t know how you can stomach all that garbage, boss. How can you stand people like that?’

‘He’s a good kid, and one of these days they’ll do for him. He’ll never make commissioner-in-chief.’

‘He’ll have asked for it all right. Now he’s off to gun down blacks, because he can’t kill reds. He’s off his rocker.’

‘Biscuter, I want to give you an assignment for the next three months.’

‘At your service.’

‘Chinese cooking is the healthiest food there is. It’s tasty, but doesn’t make you fat. I’d like you to specialize in Chinese cuisine.’

‘Will I have to cook rats and snakes?’

‘No. Just about everything else, though. Go and spend a couple of hours every morning at the Cathay restaurant. The owner is a friend of mine, and he’ll initiate you into the secrets.’

‘I’ve been working on Rioja cooking lately, and it hasn’t turned out too bad.’

‘Chinese is the cookery of the future.’

‘Thanks, boss. It’ll be an honour and a pleasure. The main thing in life is not to get into a rut. Cooking for you has shown me that I can be of use to someone. And I’d like to learn more.’

‘If you do well, I may even pay for you to go to Paris and learn how to make French sauces.’

‘I couldn’t leave you here alone.’

‘Who says you’d have to? I’d come too, and we could set up shop there for a while.’

‘That would be really nice, boss. I won’t be able to sleep for thinking about it.’

‘Sleep easy, Biscuter. What’s important is that we start planning for a change in our lives.’

‘And Charo?’

‘She’d come too.’

‘And the dog?’

‘Naturally.’

‘In a flat? You do realize that dogs don’t stay little for ever? They grow.’

‘We’ll rent a little house on the outskirts of Paris. By a lock on the river. We’ll be able to sit and watch the barges passing.’