A Small Death in Lisbon

Chapter XL

05.30 Friday, 26th June 1998, Paco de Arcos, Lisbon I was lying in bed unable to sleep, listening to the traffic, smoking cigarettes, reading Fernanda Ramalho's pathology report for the hundredth time. I was two hours away from a media storm that would change my life and now I didn't want it. I wanted the old life back.

It had been a terrible week. I'd assumed when Luisa had said her father, Vitor Madrugada, had a magazine on the blocks that everything was ready and all he had to do was press a button. But he didn't even have a printer and it cost him some very big money to get: one, because printers' presses don't hang around doing nothing waiting for a job-they're running all the time. It took a week. It meant he had time to think.

He'd wanted a big story to launch his new business magazine, and had ended up with something monumental that would stand for as long as the Marques de Pombal had stood in his Praca. He had to be reassured. I had to make a presentation to him, his board of directors including Luisa, and his editor. I had to lay out my entire case against Miguel da Costa Rodrigues and my reasons for attacking him in this fashion.

The editor was nervous. He was an intelligent man, but one who'd come from an age when the media still had respect for public figures, a hangover, perhaps, from the days when journalists were told what to write. To him the Director-Geral of the Banco de Oceano e Rocha was a very important man with influential friends and a wife, also from an excellent family, and a very religious woman, whereas Catarina Oliveira…

'I'm not convicting him in this article,' I'd replied. 'I'm just making sure that Miguel Rodrigues also known as Manuel Abrantes comes down to the Policia Judiciaria to answer my questions. He's done everything he can to block this investigation. He's used his friends to make sure that I don't get the information I need about his car. He's had me removed from the case. He's had me pushed under a tram. I've had my home invaded by Narcotics agents and your boss's daughter has had hate messages plastered over her car. We do have some justification.'

The editor had looked at Luisa's father.

'I hope you're right,' Vitor Madrugada had said to me. This is a big story-important families, a dynasty based on Nazi gold, a PIDE murderer, sex, drugs and the killing of an innocent, or rather, a young girl who did not deserve to die. This is a story that will go through Portugal like a forest fire in summer.'

'And you don't want to be perceived as an arsonist.'

'No,' he'd said, 'I don't. And I don't think I am one.'

He'd pressed the button.

I'd left the meeting with elation and dread on either shoulder. I drifted around for a few days. JoJo Silva called me about Lourenco Goncalves who still hadn't turned up. I told him to file a missing-persons report and I'd make sure it was handled. Carlos and I worked in a desultory fashion on the Xeta murder case with little success.

At 7.00 a.m. I made some coffee and already there was a murmur in the street. In less than ten minutes the calcada outside the house was full of journalists and cameramen. I called the PSP station and asked them to send down some men and a car.

At 7.30 a.m. I stepped out into the street and met a barrage of questions and flashlights. I said nothing and set off at a brisk pace to where the PSP were waiting with a car. I led a motorcade into Lisbon to the Policia Judiciaria building, where more newsmen were waiting. The PSP car dropped me round the back and I went straight up to Narciso's office. This time I didn't have to wait and it was a very different Engenheiro Jaime Leal Narciso on the other side of the door.

He asked me to sit down. He sat on the same side of the desk as me. We smoked. The secretary brought in some coffee. He quietly reinstated Carlos and me as the investigating officers in the case and gave me full permission to bring in Miguel da Costa Rodrigues for questioning.

'I'll want to search his property as well,' I said.

'There's a search warrant already prepared,' he said.

At 07.45 there was a phone call in Narciso's office from Miguel da Costa Rodrigues' lawyer, volunteering to bring his client down for questioning in the Policia Judiciaria building.

At 08.15 Miguel da Costa Rodrigues was in the building. His lawyer went out front and delivered an opening statement to the journalists. He denounced the Policia Judiciaries methods of trial by media and clarified the voluntary nature of his client's appearance in the building. He didn't respond to any of the questions that came back at him.

At 08.25 Narciso clapped me on the back and showed me a reassuring fist with which he would help me smash Miguel da Costa Rodrigues. He put on his jacket and went out to the front of the building. He beat the lawyer's statement to a pulp and took eighty-five percent of the credit for the investigation so far, leaving me with fifteen and Carlos with none. He was doing what he was paid for. He was doing what he did best.

At 08.30 Miguel Rodrigues was shown into interrogation room three which had the largest observation window. Some of the men gathering at that window I'd never seen in the building before. It was like a cocktail party in there.

At 08.32 I made the necessary introductions to the tape recorder. Miguel da Costa Rodrigues showed no sign that we'd ever met. He looked like a man who'd prepared a story in his head and it was going to take an earth-mover to get him to deviate from it. He was a PIDE man. He would know about interrogation. My only advantage was that he might not have been on the end of many interrogations himself.

He glanced at the reflective panel set in the wall. His lawyer sat next to him, like a trained hawk, with only the tips of his fingers on the edge of the table. I started by asking Senhor Rodrigues to clarify his identity and he calmly revealed that he was Manuel Abrantes and that he'd changed his identity in order to reduce the possibility that his previous employment might reflect against the bank. I didn't ask him to elaborate on that. I didn't want to blur the focus of my opening interview with him.

'Senhor Rodrigues,' I started, 'where were you at lunchtime, at around 13.00 on Friday June 12th?'

'I was in the Pensao Nuno.'

'What were you doing there?'

'I was watching three people engaged in a sexual act.'

'How?'

'I was in an adjacent room, watching them through a two-way mirror set in the wall.'

'Did you know any of these people?'

'No.'

'Had you seen any of them before?'

He conferred with his lawyer.

'I'd seen the girl before.'

'Where?'

'In the same Pensao.'

'When?'

'Exactly a week before.'

'Engaged in a sexual act?'

'Yes.'

'How many times have you seen this girl?'

'A few times.'

'Can you be more specific, Senhor Rodrigues? You should know that Senhor Jorge Raposo the manager of the Pensao is cooperating with the Policia Judiciaria?

'I can't be certain. It could have been as many as twelve times.'

'And always in the Pensao Nuno?'

'And always engaged in sexual acts with other men, although last Friday was the first time I'd seen her with two men at the same time.'

'After any of these occasions did you make any attempt to follow her?'

He leaned over to his lawyer again.

'Two weeks ago on Friday I followed her from the Pensao Nuno to the school she was attending, on Avenida Duque de Avila.'

'That's not quite correct, Senhor Rodrigues.'

'I'm sorry, no. She went to a cafe near the school first.'

'Did you go in there?'

'Yes.'

'Do you remember its name?'

'No.'

'How did you know she was attending the Liceu D. Dinis?'

'I followed her out of the cafe and saw her go into the building.'

'So when you were observing her in the Pensao Nuno last Friday you already knew she was a schoolgirl.'

'Yes.'

'The sexual act you were watching last Friday, can you describe it please?'

'The girl was kneeling between two young men, one of the men had his penis in her mouth, the other was sodomizing her.'

'Sodomizing her?' I asked, beginning to see his strategy now.

'Yes.'

'How did you know that he was sodomizing her?'

'I could see from where I was sitting.'

'How was that possible?'

'They had moved the bed in front of the mirror and I could see very clearly what was happening.'

'Would you say that she was enjoying what she was doing?'

'There was nothing in her face to indicate to me that she was not:.'

'Did you follow her on that occasion?'

'No.'

'But you were in a car waiting for her outside the school later that Friday afternoon, at around four-thirty.'

'Yes.'

'Can you describe the car you were in?'

'It was a black Mercedes C200, petrol, registration 18 43 NT.'

'Is that your car?'

'The car is in my wife's name.'

'So you were waiting for the girl?'

'Yes.'

'What were your intentions?'

'To talk to her.'

'Talk to her? About what?'

'The possibility of having sex with her.'

'And what happened?'

'She came out of the school. She was talking to someone, an older man, perhaps one of her teachers. I don't know. They were talking or rather they were arguing, because at one point he hit her, slapped her face. She walked away from him up the street in the direction of Avenida 5° de Outubro. When I saw that, I pulled away from the kerb, stopped at the traffic light next to her, asked her if she was all right and whether I could give her a lift anywhere.'

'What did she say?'

'She got in the car.'

'She didn't say anything?'

'Not that I recall.'

'We have witnesses who say you talked for nearly a minute, until the lights changed.'

'That's correct. I remember now. I asked her the way somewhere. She started to explain and then said it was easier to show me.'

'What did you discuss in the car?'

'Music. We talked about music.'

'Is that it?'

'Yes.'

'Where did you go?'

'I wanted to go back to Cascais. I decided to cut through the Monsanto park to get to the motorway.'

'I thought you wanted to have sex with her.'

'Yes.'

'When was that discussed?'

'When we were in the Monsanto park.'

'Was she surprised?'

'How do you mean?'

'Originally you'd asked her the way somewhere. Where exactly?'

'I don't recall.'

'She seemed to think it was complicated.'

'Monsanto. I asked her the way to Monsanto. It is complicated to get to Monsanto from there,' he said, the flustering just starting.

'But having guided you to Monsanto I wouldn't think she'd want to be dropped there in the middle of nowhere.'

'As we began talking she told me that she was going back to Cascais and I said I'd give her a lift there. I was…'

'But you weren't. You were only going as far as Paco de Arcos that evening,' I said, using a recognized tactic for confusing a scripted story-concentrate on a small detail and tease out the half-lies.

'Look, Inspector,' he said, frustrated now, 'I asked her the way somewhere. She said she was going to Cascais by train. I said I was going there by car. She seemed happy to get a lift. She got in the car. I did not force her to come with me. She got in there voluntarily. If your witnesses are saying I dragged her in…'

'They're not. I just want to know exactly how it was, Senhor Rodrigues. In order to get her in the car you'd told her you were going back to Cascais.'

He wasn't happy but he needed to get away from it.

'She got in the car. I drove. We started talking,' he said, firmly.

'About music and going to Cascais… so how did sex come up?'

It wasn't hot in the interrogation room, but Senhor Rodrigues was finding it uncomfortable. His collar was tight around his neck and sweat was beginning to pimple on his forehead. He changed position in his chair several times and wrapped an arm around the back of his lawyer's.

'I told her I'd seen her in the Pensao.'

'That must have surprised her.'

'Why?'

'She thinks that she's got into a car at random. She thinks she's showing somebody the way to Monsanto. She thinks she's being given a lift to Cascais. You're talking about music… what sort of music were you talking about, by the way?'

'She said she liked the Smashing Pumpkins.'

That chilled me down to my liver.

'So you're talking about the Smashing Pumpkins, driving through Monsanto and then… you change it. Suddenly you're a punter, suddenly you're the one who's been watching her through a two-way mirror in the Pensao. Suddenly, Senhor Rodrigues, you are not a nice guy giving a girl a lift. You're another creep.'

'You don't have to use that kind of abusive language to my client,' said the lawyer.

We both looked at him.

'Senhor Rodrigues?' I said.

'What was the question. I'm not sure…'

'What was her reaction when you told her that you'd seen her before, performing sex acts in the Pensao Nuno?'

'She was a prostitute, for God's sake.'

'She did not get into your car as a prostitute. She got into your car as a schoolgirl, who'd had a spat with a man, and who was going to show you the way to Monsanto so that you could take her on to Cascais. Think about it again, Senhor Rodrigues, and tell me how you changed it and what her reaction was.'

'Changed it? I haven't changed anything. Changed what?'

'How you changed the situation, Senhor Rodrigues.'

Silence. The lawyer looked at his client, unclear as to what the problem was, and already noticing that the truth was not coming out in a continuous milky flow.

'Did you perhaps make an assumption, Senhor Rodrigues?'

'An assumption? I don't follow you.'

'Did you assume that if you touched her in a sexual way that she would understand… or maybe, because you were being a nice guy, she would just like you. And when she didn't understand, you had to tell her that you'd seen her, and how you'd seen her, and that you knew that really she was a prostitute. If that was the case I don't think she would have liked it, Senhor Rodrigues.'

'Why not? That's what she was.'

'Because it was all going so well, Senhor Rodrigues, you were being a nice guy and then in one small sentence, perhaps one small action you've shown yourself as something else. A creep.'

'Inspector, please,' said the lawyer, exasperated by my disrespect.

'Did she put up a fight, Senhor Rodrigues? Did she lash out? Give you a little kick perhaps… so that you had to be firm?'

'No, no, and no,' he said, seeing his story off the leash and galloping away from him.

'We're stuck here, Senhor Rodrigues. You have to help this interview along.'

'I pulled over into the pine trees in the Monsanto park. I asked her if she was willing to have sex with me. She was, you're right, Inspector, she was a little surprised. I told her I'd seen her in the Pensao but I didn't tell her that I'd seen her performing sex acts. I just offered her ten thousand escudos.'

'For what?'

'To have sex with me,' he said, annoyed.

'This isn't your first time with a prostitute is it, Senhor Rodrigues?'

'No, it isn't.'

'I understand it's common practice to state exacdy what you want for the price.'

'I offered her ten thousand escudos to have straight sex with me.'

'And how did this straight sex take place?'

He took a deep breath.

'She knelt on the seat and pulled down her underwear.'

'Did she completely remove her underwear?'

'No, I don't think so.'

'And what did you do, Senhor Rodrigues?'

'I undid my trousers and knelt on the seat. She knelt with her legs across the handbrake.'

'Was that on or off?'

'Off.'

'You were on flat ground?'

'Yes.'

'Carry on.'

'I knelt behind her and…'

'You'd given her the money by now?'

He faltered.

'Yes.'

'So she must have been very angry.'

'Angry? Why?'

'When you sodomized her, Senhor Rodrigues. That wasn't in the deal.'

'I did not sodomize her, Inspector,' he said quietly. 'That was one of the boys in the Pensao.'

'He says he didn't.'

'He's lying.'

'In this situation, Senhor Rodrigues, I have an advantage over you because I've read the pathologist's report a hundred times over and I've listened very carefully to what you've been saying. So…'

'I did not sodomize her,' he said quietly, placing his hand flat on the table as if there was a bible there.

'I've just warned you that it's not a question of your word against the boy's in the Pensao, Senhor Rodrigues. I'm giving you an opportunity to tell the truth.'

He checked me over thoroughly. He thought I was bluffing. His eyes sneered at me.

'I did not sodomize her, Inspector.'

'The medical examination conducted by Dr Fernanda Ramalho indicates that Catarina Oliveira had been sodomized. A condom was used and a water-based lubricant. Dr Ramalho's examination of the victim's sphincteral muscle shows that it was torn indicating that the victim was not accustomed to this kind of sexual activity. What do you think that means, Senhor Rodrigues?'

'I don't… I did not…'

'It means that it would be extremely painful, Senhor Rodrigues. Did she shout out?'

' I did not sodomize her.'

'I'm sorry, my mistake, Senhor Rodrigues, she didn't shout out because, and I quote, "There was nothing in her face to indicate that she was not"…enjoying what she was doing. Catarina Oliveira did not shout out in the Pensao Nuno that Friday lunchtime did she Senhor Rodrigues?'

Silence.

'Did she, Senhor Rodrigues?'

'My client has nothing further to add,' said the lawyer.

'We'd like to search Senhor Rodrigues' two houses and his wife's car. Will you agree to that?'

'With a search warrant,' said the lawyer. The rest of the interview was a series of denials. Senhor Rodrigues admitted that he had sex with the girl. He said that afterwards she'd left the car and that he'd driven at a leisurely pace to arrive in Paco de Arcos to present his cheque to the mayor at the festa. He denied hitting her on the back of the head, he denied stripping her, he denied putting her in the boot of his car and he denied dumping her naked body on the beach in Paco de Arcos later that night. I terminated the interview and took a team of men down to the house in Lapa.

Senhor Rodrigues and his lawyer met us in Lapa. The lawyer inspected the search warrant and then sat with his client in the living room. The lawyer was already avoiding looking at his client, in the way that humans do when they've been let down by someone they've trusted. I gave the house a quick inspection and announced to the team that I personally wanted to search the suspect's wardrobe and study. I left four men to work the rest of the house, the double garage and the garden. Carlos and I started on the Mercedes.

It had been valeted, seriously valeted. It was like a new car inside, with that new car smell. I told Carlos to get the name of the valet company and to go down there and talk, not to the manager, but to the actual cleaners of the car. I started with the front seats. Tucked under the front passenger seat was a pair of white knickers, neatly folded. The brand name was Sloggi. I bagged them. As Carlos came out of the house I told him to bring the person who'd found the knickers back here. I found nothing else of interest in the car.

I took Senhor Rodrigues up to his wardrobe and asked him to pick out the clothes he had been wearing on the afternoon of Friday 12 th June. He pointed to a blazer, a pair of grey slacks and the tie Olivia had made for him. The blazer and the slacks had been dry-cleaned. The tie hadn't. There was a small red brown stain on the back of it. I bagged that and had it sent down to the lab.

In the study, behind an old eighteenth-century chest, we found a cupboard recessed into the wall. There were fifteen video tapes in there, two wine boxes containing pornographic magazines and, at the back neatly folded, a white T-shirt and a light blue with yellow check mini-skirt which were lying on top of a pair of clumpy shoes studded with rhinestones. The clothes and shoes were bagged. The contents of the cupboard were taken down to the Policia, Judiciaria.

The man from the valet company who'd found the knickers said he'd been in two minds about what to do. He'd found them stuffed down the side of the seat. At first he thought they belonged to Senhor Rodrigues' daughter and he was just going to leave them on the seat. But then, because it was Senhor Rodrigues who'd brought the car in to be cleaned on the Monday morning, he thought this might be embarrassing, so he put them under the seat and decided to mind his own business.

Miguel da Costa Rodrigues was formally charged with the murder of Catarina Oliveira at 13.30. When he was asked to remove his clothing two large bruises were revealed on his chest. Photographs were taken and he was issued with standard prison clothing and taken to the cells.