Lascano heads towards the girl hidden away in the “office”. The voice of the carpenter booms out over his shoulder.
If you do catch whoever killed Biterman, tell him I’ll pay for his lawyer.
17
And what’s all the mystery in aid of? It’s a surprise. Another one? This one’s different. Come on. Where are we going? To the place where you found me. The brothel? Exactly. Are you going to tell me what this is all about? Not until we get there. Shrouded in secrecy. You have to make a promise.
She looks lovely and he’s ready to promise her anything.
I’m going to show you something I found when I was hiding and you were busting the brothel. OK. What I found is very important. What is it? Let me finish. You haven’t said your vows yet. Go on. I want you to promise that we’ll keep what I show you for us, just for you and me. But what is it? Promise. All right, I promise. Good, let’s go then.
The street is empty. They quickly get out of the car, cross the road and pull down the crime-scene tape stuck across the green door to Tony Ventura’s bordello.
We are committing a crime, Eva. The crime was meeting you in the first place.
Lascano follows her up the stairs to the room with the false socket.
Close your eyes. Again? Close them. OK, they’re closed. Surprise!
Lascano opens his eyes, Eva’s hand waves the two wads of dollar bills.
Holy shit! And what’s this? Money to buy bird food. It must be a very hungry bird. It’s starving. Girl, we have to hand this in. You promised. And anyway, hand it in to who? I don’t know… to the law. What law? Don’t look at me like that, it’s not ours. It is, it says so here, pay the bearer. It belongs to whoever is holding it. I don’t know. I do, you look after it, but remember it’s both of ours. OK, but we’ll decide what we’re going to do with it later. Secure our future is what we’re going to do with it. We’ll have to think about that. You think about it all you want. I’ll make you see sense. For now, I have to go and see your friend, the one who’s going to help me with the documents. Do you want me to give you a lift? Please.
18
Lascano crosses the road, squeezes his cigarette butt between thumb and forefinger and tosses it into the little stream running in the gutter. The doorman is a tight-lipped country boy who immediately recognizes Lascano as a policeman. Lascano’s just as quick to work out the porter is an ex-con, but he decides not to question him for now. Perro walks past and they pointedly ignore each other, monitoring one another all the while. The building is silent. Lascano gets in the lift. The grill jams when he tries to draw it shut. There’s a small triangular chink of something stuck in the groove, stopping it from sliding smoothly. He bends down to pick up the offending item. It’s a little piece of perforated plastic with the quarter part of a hole, evidently the fixing for a screw. He’s pretty sure it belongs to the handle of a gun. He puts it in his pocket. He tries the grill again and, much to his satisfaction, it slides shut with ease.
Good morning, I’m Superintendent Lascano. Good morning, Superintendent, how can I help you? Is this Mr Biterman’s address? Mr Biterman at your service. You’re Biterman? I am. I’m looking for a different Biterman. That’ll be my brother. Is he around? He hasn’t arrived yet. Can I come in? Be my guest. When did you last see your brother? Tuesday afternoon.
While Horacio turns to shut the door, Lascano takes the Polaroid out of his pocket and holds it up, ready to observe Horacio’s reaction.
Is this your brother? What’s happened? He was murdered. But… how…why…who? I was hoping you might be able to answer some of those questions. I don’t know who could have done such a thing. He was a much loved guy, never upset anyone. What kind of a business is this? Finance. So I see. Things going well for you? Modestly, we can’t complain. Were you and your brother partners? I’m an employee. Do you mind if I have a quick look around? Is it really necessary? I can come back with a search warrant and ten other officers if you’d prefer. No, there’s no need for that, go right ahead.
Keeping his hands in his pockets to be sure not to touch anything, Lascano explores the office, which seems to be a bit too tidy. Something tells him it’s not normally like this. On top of the desk is a chequebook for the Banco de Crédito Comercial
.
He notices that the corner of the desk is splintered and that the damage seems recent because the laceration sprouts hairs of fresh wood. On the wall there’s a black stain that someone has tried to clean up. Lascano would like to confirm it’s still damp but Horacio’s watching him like a hawk so he resists the temptation. He walks past Horacio in silence. The curtain rail has fallen down and a shred of cloth hangs from it.
Did he have family? Just me. Enemies? None I knew of. Well, I don’t want to trouble you any more at this painful time. But I will need to talk to you again. Whenever you like. Would you be able to come down to the mortuary to identify the body? When would you like me there? Tomorrow at eleven suit you? Fine. Do you know where it is? No. Viamonte, 2151. I’ll find it. Was your brother rich? Let’s say he was fairly well
off. And how about you? I get by. See you tomorrow at eleven then.
By the time he leaves, Lascano’s convinced Elías was killed in the Bitermans’ office. There’s no sign of Horacio having been in a struggle, and in any case he seems too faint-hearted for murder, but Lascano has no doubt the brother was instigator, brains or accomplice. As ever, the question is:
Who benefited from this death? Horacio. But there’s someone else involved and I have to find out who before putting the pressure on little brother.
These are Lascano’s thoughts as he waits for the lift, when he hears a noise to his side. He pretends to cough and with a quick glimpse catches the neighbour’s eyes at the little window of the peephole. When he starts to walk over, the shutter closes with a bang. He can see the shadow of feet at the bottom of the door as he knocks lightly with his knuckles. He smiles. The door opens immediately, revealing a woman around seventy years old, tiny but strong and tense. Her hard hands hold a brand new dishcloth. She smells of bleach, is wearing a pinafore and has slippers on her feet. She looks like she’s stepped straight out of a detergent commercial.
Good day to you, madam. I’m Superintendent Lascano. What did you say? That I’m Superintendent Lascano, from the police. Oh, sorry, I’m a little deaf, the health service still hasn’t got around to authorizing my hearing aid. I need one in order to hear properly these days… Can I come in and talk to you for a minute? And how do I know you’re really from the police?
Lascano flashes his badge.
Satisfied? Please come in.
It’s a space much like the Bitermans’. The whole flat speaks of an owner obsessed with cleaning. Everything gleams. Through the door opening to the bedroom
Lascano sees the television covered with a plastic sheet. It has a glass cockerel on top that predicts the weather by changing colour. The floor shines. It’s easy to guess that a pristine façade hides a mortally boring life, but in spite of this, or maybe precisely because of it, the place is very soothing.
Sorry to bother you. It’s no bother. Please take a seat. Thanks. Do you live alone? Yes. I’m widowed. My son lives in Comodoro Rivadavia. He’s an engineer. Great. Do you know your neighbours, the Bitermans? If you mean know them in the sense of knowing them, then no, I don’t know them. I come across them on the landing from time to time. The younger one is friendly. The elder one never even says hello. He always seems to be on a different planet. What can you tell me about them? Well, they don’t live here. They just have their office here. But if you asked me what they did for a living, I wouldn’t have a clue. What is true though, is that quite a lot of people come and go. Sometimes they buzz my door on the intercom by mistake. They get confused. I see. And these visitors, what sort of people are they? Older people, always in a hurry. No one stays for longer than ten or fifteen minutes. Don’t ask me what they talk about though, because I don’t like to meddle in other people’s business. Each to their own, that’s what I think. But I do know that the two of them don’t get on well. You don’t say. I do say. You know what these modern apartments are like. The walls are paper thin. Even if you don’t want to, you can’t help but hear everything. And I’m half-deaf, so just imagine. What have you heard? Now and again voices are raised. I don’t pay much attention, but on more than one occasion I’ve had to bang on the wall to make them stop shouting. It gets as bad as that? The other night they had a terrible fight. I was already in bed. It sounded to me like it came to blows. In fact, I was quite scared. When was this? …Let me think… Tuesday night. Are you
sure? Yes, because it was the day I went to the dentist. And did you see anything? When I got up, I looked out of the peephole, but things had calmed down by then… I was quite shaken… I had to take a pill to get back to sleep. Excellent. Thanks a lot for your help. Has something serious happened? We don’t know. A complaint was made and so we’re investigating. It was probably nothing more than a brotherly squabble. Yes, of course. Well, I shan’t trouble you any more. It’s no trouble. Oh, one other thing. I’d prefer it if you didn’t mention our little conversation to anyone for the moment. No problem. If you need anything, I’m at your service. Many thanks. Good day. Good day.
19
Marraco’s office is on the sixth floor of the courthouse and is reached via an intricate labyrinth of corridors lined with shelves packed with files. Lascano’s convinced that justice almost always gets lost somewhere in this sea of papers that come and go like the tides: deadlines, conclusions, official letters, certificates, notifications, notice orders, pigeon hole memos, public prosecutor permits, counsellor permits, days that go by, files that grow thicker, lawyers that issue more and more writs, documents, evidence, court orders, expert opinions, proceedings and more proceedings, until nobody can remember why the whole thing started in the first place, or nobody is left with the will to read through three or four hundred pages. Criminals with the means to hire a skilled lawyer end up going free. The ones who lack the resources end up counting the days to their release dates, learning the error of their ways doing time at “the school”, as inmates call Devoto prison, because you learn a lot there.
The judge is showing an office junior how to log the writs in a case file, like those on the racks behind them. He’s a lad around seventeen years old, a law student working for free in order to get a foot on the judicial
ladder. Lively and curious, he quickly gives Lascano the once over. Lascano likes the look of the kid. A bond forms between them right away. Lascano sits down opposite the judge and, while they chat, he admires the precise movements of the youngster, itemizing and amending.
Superintendent, I have to congratulate you. Operation Gaspar Campos was a total success. Even if some walked. Two. Who were they? A colonel and his deputy. Anyway, you haven’t come here for a pat on the back. No, I’ve come about another matter that also corresponds to you. The three John Does. Two John Does.
Marraco asks the office boy to bring him the file. The judge opens it, flicks through a few pages and then points at a line of text with his finger.
It says three here. But one no longer exists. His name’s Biterman, Elías Biterman, he was a moneylender. What’s the story then? I got a call because a lorry driver had reported two bodies dumped by the Riachuelo. What are we settling on, two or three? I’m getting there. The guy said two. Uh-huh, and then? Well the thing is, when I got there, an hour later, I found three bodies. Maybe he could only see two from where he was or he got confused. It’s possible, but it seems highly unlikely. Why? Two of them were youngsters and had their heads blown to bits. Meaning? Meaning armed forces. Why so? Well, on their sorties, every member of the task force has to shoot the victim in the head. Basically so that they’re all implicated… Look, you… Anyway, the fact is that right from the beginning this Biterman caught my attention. His head was intact, the other two were much younger and there were big differences in what they were wearing. Furthermore, while the two kids were wet with dew, Biterman was completely dry. All right, a fair few differences… But that’s not all. When I arrived on the scene, I saw a car speeding away. At the time I didn’t pay it much attention. But afterwards I started to think that maybe
they moved Biterman’s body in that car to plant him there. A reasonable assumption. What happened next? Same as usual, I took them to the mortuary. You’re a policeman with scruples, Lascano. Is that a compliment? An acknowledgment, anyone else in your position would have buried all three and forgotten the matter. But you, no, you started to investigate. What have you found out? Well, first I established an identity. I also gently questioned the brother of the victim, a certain Horacio, and a neighbour of theirs. And? Of one thing I’m certain. Horacio’s involved in his brother’s death right to the core. Why do you say that? Biterman was rich. Horacio was his employee. Biterman was a miser. Horacio fancies himself as a playboy. They got on very badly and Horacio’s his only inheritor. So we have the motive. What about the opportunity? We still haven’t established the time of death. But I would bet my life that Horacio has a cast-iron alibi anyway. He gave me the most unconvincing display of being a grief-stricken brother. So what are you saying? I don’t think he killed him, he’s too dainty for that, so he must have had at least one accomplice. I’m still working on it, there’s a few questions to clear up. Such as? The matter of moving the body and who did it, how did they know that they were going to execute the other two there? It could be pure coincidence. I find it strange, Judge, to hear you of all people speak of coincidences. At one point it occurred to me that maybe the army have been dumping bodies there for a while and the killer knew this. Not a bad theory. But then I rejected the idea. Why? Because I would have heard about it. So you think that Biterman was killed somewhere else and then dumped there to make it look like he was killed by the armed forces. What I think is that someone who was involved in the military operation moved the body, or told Horacio or his accomplice about it. Could well be. But now, Lascano, you, me, everyone, we all know what’s going on with subversion. People are being killed all over the place. The guerrillas lay bombs and
kill. The army does its thing. You know better than me, that on this matter, we can’t do a thing. But with Biterman it’s different. I agree, but if there are military personnel mixed up in it, things could get ugly. Biterman’s death has nothing to do with subversion or whatever you want to call it. Maybe not. Many people in your position would just forget the whole thing. With so many corpses everywhere, why worry about one more? It’s my job. We live in terrible times, it’s true. A state of complete confusion, it seems to me. And I must confess that I too get very confused and often don’t know what to think for the best. But, you know what? Doing my job focuses me, gives me objectives. If I didn’t do it, I think I’d go mad. My only recommendation, Lascano, is that you don’t try to act the hero. This thing could get very unpleasant. Do you want me to abandon the investigation? On the contrary, I want you to carry on investigating. But I will ask one thing of you. Fire away. Let’s be sensible with it. I’m asking for your discretion. Anything you find out, you tell me first, before you speak to anyone else. We proceed with care. Agreed? You’re the boss. I’m amazed at the speed the case is moving forward. I can’t decide whether the killers are complete incompetents or whether they think themselves completely above the law, because they’ve left their grubby paws all over the place. They’re probably incompetents who think themselves above the law. Well, you said it. Keep me posted. I should have it solved in a few days.