Blood Red

Fifty-three

I was still staring at that box when Tom called to me from the terrace, book in hand, bright eyed. I hadn’t expected him to sleep for more than fifteen minutes; that does the job for him during the day. ‘The phone rang when you were in the shower, Mum. It was Alex; he asked if you would call him back.’

I was going to call him anyway, but first I went down to the office, went online and made some arrangements. It was only when I was ready that I picked up the phone and keyed in his mobile number.

‘Primavera,’ he answered, sounding on the triumphant side of cheerful, ‘an update for you. Hector and I have interviewed Senora Imelda Hernandez. She was very pleased to see us, as it happened. She did make a statement two years ago, but only after she got fed up waiting for someone to call her and decided to go to Girona herself. She spoke to the public prosecutor, personally, although. . and this is very important. . she didn’t know that he was Dolores’s brother. In fact she didn’t know that until we told her.’

He was so excited, I decided that my news could wait. ‘What did she have to say?’ I asked.

‘She told us that on the night Henri died, there was shouting from the house next door, an argument, both of them yelling. Then the door slammed. Imelda Hernandez has a big round living-room window; she can see a lot from it, without being seen herself, and I reckon she looks out frequently. That night she saw Henri leave; she watched him turn into Carrer Pinedes, then round into Manol, and finally into the road that leads to the woods and beyond, to the cliff walk. But before he’d got that far, Dolores had left the house too. She took the same route, but she didn’t go into the woods, not straight away. She waited, until a car pulled up, and a man got out. Imelda was too far away to identify him, but she said that he was not tall, but quite solidly built, with dark hair. Together, this man and Dolores followed Henri into the woods. That was as much as she saw, but it’s what she told Fumado. That’s what’s important to us.’

‘So you’ve got him?’

‘Yes, beyond any doubt, because there’s more. I’ve seen the original autopsy report. While it says that Henri suffered a heart attack, it adds that there’s no way of determining that it was the cause of his fall. As you said at the very start, it could have happened when he was on his way down to the rocks. That qualification has been removed from the report that’s on the file. In addition to that we know that Dolores Fumado called her brother at home at nine fifteen, not after ten as he said. My bet is that she told him straight out that she and Henri had had a fight and that when he was out walking, she’d shoved him off a cliff, and then said, “What are you going to do about it, Javier?” Yes, he’s well sewn up. You’re a clever lady, Primavera.’

‘What happens now?’

‘Tomorrow, we’re going to see Chico at Restaurant Rhodas, to take a formal statement from him. Once that’s done we go to the senior public prosecutor, and lay what we’ve got before him. Fumado’s going to jail; we picked him up as he was leaving his office. Hector says thanks; we owe you one.’

I contradicted him. ‘You owe me several, and I’m going to collect. First, you should go back to Imelda and ask her if she’s told her story to anyone else. If so, when and to whom? Second, I want you to pull every string you’ve got to check all of Justine Michels’ communications over the last few days. .’

‘Justine?’ he exclaimed.

‘Yes. . from her home, from her mobile and from the town hall; all the calls she’s made and received, texts sent and received, everything you can trace. If you can get into her personal email, that would be even better. Third, can Gomez do all the rest of the stuff on his own, and can Gloria look after Tom? I am going somewhere tomorrow, with or without you, but I really would like you to come.’

He whistled. ‘Are you sure that’s all? Christ, Primavera. . what’s this for, who’s this for?’

‘It’s for Gerard,’ I told him, ‘and it may be about saving two lives.’