The Silent and the Damned

‘Or perhaps she heard the death agonies of her husband and surprised the murderer, who then had to deal with her,’ said Falcón.

‘Where’s the pad Sr Vega wrote his note on?’

‘Good question. It hasn’t been found. But it’s possible that it was an old piece of paper he had in his dressing-gown pocket.’

‘Who bought the drain cleaner?’

‘Not the maid,’ said Falcón.

‘Do we know when it was bought?’

‘Not yet, but if it was from a supermarket it won’t be much help.’

‘It looks as if Sra Vega was on her own that night, indulging herself as usual,’ said Ferrera. ‘She spends a lot of time on her own and she’s well prepared for it.’

‘You’re always on your own with mental illness,’ said Falcón.

‘She has a box of her favourite videos and DVDs. All romantic stuff. There’s a DVD still in the machine. She gets the call from her neighbour so the child is taken care of. She has no responsibilities. When did her husband get home?’

‘I’m told it was normally quite late…around midnight.’

‘That would fit: put off coming home to the despair for as long as possible,’ said Ferrera. ‘Sra Vega probably didn’t like seeing him anyway. She heard the car…or maybe not through these windows. So she more likely heard him come into the house from the garage. She turned off the DVD and ran upstairs leaving her slippers. He eventually joined her in bed, or at least…’

‘How do you know he joined her? His pillow was undented in the crime scene shots.’

‘But the sheets and covers were pulled out…so he might have been about to join her…’

‘And then been distracted by something else.’

‘Do we know from the phone company if there were any more calls after the neighbour rang about the child?’

‘Not yet. You can work on that when we get back.’

‘The only other oddity I’ve come across is that in the crime scene photographs he’s got his watch on with the face on the outside of his wrist, but in the photos I’ve seen elsewhere in the house he always wore it with the face on the underside of his wrist.’

‘What do you conclude from that?’

‘It either worked its way round in his struggle with himself or an assailant,’ said Ferrera, ‘or the watch has come off and been put back on his wrist by somebody who doesn’t know how he wears it.’

‘Why would someone want to do that?’

‘Well…if it came off as a result of a struggle with an assailant whose ultimate aim was to make this look like a suicide it would be less indicative of another person’s presence if the watch was on his wrist rather than on the floor.’

‘What sort of a strap did his watch have?’

‘It seems to be a metal bracelet type, which can come off easily in a struggle or just as easily work its way round a wrist, so…’

‘Whatever…that was a good piece of observation,’ said Falcón. ‘It might not help us form a case for murder, but it is indicative of the strange circumstances of the crime scene. Now all we’ve got to do is find the incontrovertible proof that will convince Juez Calderón that we have a case. We know Sr Vega was burning things at the bottom of the garden. What does that imply to you?’

‘He was getting rid of things in preparation for something.’

‘They were personal things, letters and photographs, and they caused him great distress.’

‘So he didn’t want them discovered. He was hiding them and now…’

‘If you were Sr Vega and you wanted to hide something, where would you put it?’

‘In my territory – either here in my study or in the butcher’s room.’

‘I’ve searched the study,’ said Falcón.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.