Blood Red

Twenty

I was right; Gerard told me that when he presented himself, in uniform, at the Mossos office, asking to speak to Intendant Gomez, the desk officer was so taken aback that she didn’t even think to ask why. Instead, she asked him to wait for a moment, disappeared through a door behind her, and returned a minute later with the detective.

But Gomez wasn’t alone. Matthew Reid was with him, free to leave. Gerard asked no questions; he drove him straight to St Martí, where I’d told him that Ben, Ingrid and I would be waiting. His wife burst into tears as soon as she saw him; once she had calmed down I took them and Gerard up to my place, leaving Ben to reopen the shop. The square was busy as we walked through. I hoped he hadn’t lost too much business.

As he sat on one of my kitchen chairs, Matthew seemed almost as bemused by the experience as Ingrid had been. I offered them a drink, but they both settled for coffee. ‘First time in my life I’ve ever been arrested,’ he muttered, as he took his from me, ‘and it has to be here. And you know I’m still not entirely clear what it was about.’

Gerard leaned forward in his chair, forearms on his knees. ‘What did they ask you?’

‘The older one wanted to know why I’d been to see Planas on Friday. I told them that I’ve been looking around for property for my son.’

‘Is that all?’ I exclaimed.

‘They didn’t mention you, Primavera, and neither did I. That was what I said when I arranged the meeting, so I didn’t lie.’ He took a sip from his mug. ‘Then the young one asked what we’d argued about. He said that one of Planas’s staff, the guy, had told them he could hear the noise in the outer office, for all that the door’s pretty thick. I told him that I’d taken exception to his manner.’

‘You didn’t tell them it was Planas and Primavera who had the argument?’ asked Gerard.

‘Why bring her into it?’ he retorted.

‘Because I am in it,’ I sighed, ‘because they already know I was there. Jesus. . sorry, Gerard. . you’re as bad as me. I didn’t tell them that you were there when I saw Planas. They’ll think we’re covering for each other. . they’ll be right too. . and they’ll wonder why.’

‘The old bastard must have made a complaint against us, Primavera,’ Matthew declared. ‘Mind you,’ he continued, ‘that doesn’t explain why they were so keen to know what I’d been doing on Friday night. . unless my mate and I got a bit outrageous and somebody made a separate complaint about that. They wanted to know everywhere I’d been; I told them that we’d started in Escalenc and wound up in JoJo’s, then. .’

‘We?’

‘Mike Regan and me. He’s a guy who used to be in the same business as me; he’s in town on holiday and he looked me up.’

I thought it was time to lighten the mood. ‘Two ex-PR consultants out on the piss,’ I said. ‘No wonder they took an interest in you.’

Matthew glanced at his wife, then shook his head. ‘I was never in PR, Primavera; that’s a cover story I use to avoid endless questions.’

‘And for personal security,’ Ingrid intervened.

‘To an extent,’ he agreed. ‘I was a career soldier: I served for over thirty years in the Parachute Regiment, but that included a couple of spells on secondment to the SAS, during the Falklands War and at the height of the Irish trouble, then again during the first Gulf War. That’s how I came to speak Spanish, much better than I ever let on, and Arabic. Those are the times I have to be careful about; not even Ben knows about it, so keep it to yourself, please.’

‘I will, promise. Did the police ask you about your career?’

‘No, they just looked at my passport, saw that it describes me as “retired”, and seemed to be satisfied with that. I wish I’d had occasion to learn Catalan, though,’ he mused. ‘That’s what they spoke between themselves, and I’m useless at that.’

‘If they check up in Britain. .’

‘They won’t find out anything about that side of my career. All they’ll come up with is Brigadier Matthew Reid, retired.’

‘DSO, MC,’ Ingrid added, quietly.

‘Pardon?’ said Gerard.

‘The Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross,’ I told him. ‘They mean that our friend here’s a retired hero.’

‘Who should know better than to go out on the batter at his age,’ Matthew muttered. His brow knitted into a frown. ‘Nonetheless,’ he declared, ‘I reckon I’m beginning to get annoyed. Yes, I was a senior army officer and I’ve done nothing to warrant being taken from my house without a word of an excuse. I could have pulled rank on those guys, you know. Hell, I think I still might. Where’s the force command based, Barcelona?’

‘Yes, but before you head off there with all guns blazing, you’d better know the whole story.’ I looked at my watch. ‘People, I have to go and pick up my son from school. Gerard, maybe you could explain to Matthew exactly what Gomez and Alex are after.’ I headed for the door that leads down to the garage. ‘And once you’ve done that,’ I said, as an afterthought, ‘maybe you could take a look in the fridge and the larder and whip up some lunch for Tom, me and anyone else who fancies it.’