PM Thank you, Señora del Mar. As for myself, I take a completely different position. First: I believe that the Cottee blog is not only authentic, it is also accurate. If the Montesinos house no longer boasts a nuclear shelter in its basement, then I believe that Maureen Voros and others have had it walled up in the last couple of weeks. Given their property interests, they must know many builders who could do a quick job with a single delivery of concrete and payment in cash with no questions asked. Second: though the Cottee blog is genuinely the work of Donald and Susan Cottee, it never existed in its current form as far as the Cottees themselves were concerned. I believe it was assembled by Philip Matthews and given to Susan Cottee on the Tuesday, the day before the disappearances, when she left The Castle. I speculate that Philip Matthews offered Donald Cottee some free copies of the software he was using upstairs in The Castle and that the Cottee’s computer spent some days prior to the disappearance in Philip Matthews’s possession. This is why there are no entries in the Cottee blog after the discovery of the Onsoda murder. I find it inconceivable that someone like Cottee would not have related any of the events that transpired over the following week, especially Susan Cottee’s repeated coverage in the British press, alleging she was involved in an illegal people trafficking business, with documents printed, as alleged earlier by her husband, by Philip Matthews and Karen McEvoy in their room in The Castle. Keeping that activity based there allowed others to keep their own distance... They were getting worried that things were closing in on them, so Philip Matthews had a look at what was stored on the Cottee’s computer because at the time they did not know how much incriminating material might exist. So Philip Matthews then assembled the blog as we now see it from separate entries stored on the Cottees’ computer. His prime aim was to anger Susan Cottee. What he and the others expected was that Susan would read the material on the Wednesday morning and have a giant and public row with her husband, thus providing a convenient domestic motive for the planned disappearance later that day. Not only had Philip Matthews created the the file for Susan to view, he had also placed it - and it alone - on a memory stick to make sure that Susan could easily locate it. When Mrs Mason took the stick by mistake, it ruined the plan. Susan had not looked at it and, for that matter, had forgotten about the stick’s existence. Susan Cottee specifically told Jennifer Mason that there was one stick she could use to store her photographs when in fact there were two. Burning the Cottee’s mobile home was merely a means of destroying the evidence that we now possess by chance.
GL This is absurd...
PM It is less than absurd, Señor. My independent research has generated an original, hand-written and signed affidavit from a witness confirming that Philip Matthews had the Cottee’s computer in his room in The Castle and that it went back to the La Manca Park with Susan Cottee when Matthews took her home on the Tuesday evening. Hardly the activity of a common criminal about to steal goods and cash, is it?
MdM Excuse me, may I make a point? If what you are saying has even a grain of truth, then Matthews also had enough time to read the material, edit it, elide it and even add things he wanted. If he was employed by Voros International, why would he have left material that might incriminate his employer?
PM Good question... It also occurred to me. First: the material was always going to be destroyed when the Cottee’s mobile home was torched. I believe that was always part of the plan, in which case no-one was ever going to see it. Second: if Matthews deliberately left material in place that might incriminate Voros International, knowing that it might be shared by Susan Cottee, then it raises the question as to whom he was actually working for, doesn’t it? The thefts and apparent disappearance, in the case of Matthews-McEvoy, are mere diversions. Either position is a possible way of interrepting these events.
The pause that he left here was fascinating. Pérez Molino looked left and right repeatedly. He was possibly prompting mere acknowledgement, or it might have been that he believed that what was to follow was known by the others. He was scrutinising their reactions to his words, but the others remained utterly stone-faced throughout and concentrated on the papers immediately before them. At this point I had the distinct impression that his speculation was calculated to drive a wedge between his colleagues. He was assessing their reaction, but they offered none.
PM This is off the record, of course, as are my following points, Señor Garcia and Señora del Mar. Señor Garcia, I believe that you are employed by a law firm based in Alcoy and that you are attending this hearing purely as the legal representative of Voros International. Am I correct?
Of course there was not even recognition that he had spoken.
PM And Señora del Mar, you are fulfilling that same role here on behalf of a large construction company, I believe? There are contracts at stake - one for a large new residential block and another for several proposed wind farm sites. Is that not correct? And the purpose of burning the mobile home was to destroy all evidence in the form of the Cottee word processor files. It was pure luck that any of the material survived. And as for motive, it was Miss Markov who had the most to gain. Her goals were both professional and personal. There was the mother who deserted her and two men, either of whom might have been her father, and neither of whom seemed to care. Donald had pursued her and, no doubt, so had Mr Watson at some time, but he was also aware she might be his daughter. Philip Matthews and Karen McEvoy were loyal employees and accomplices and under her management. And she is now, I believe, either a senior operative in the business and being protected or, and this is a real possibility, she has been recruited by an opposing interest. Matthews and McEvoy have disappeared with new identities to continue their work elsewhere. The thefts and arson were mere diversions, aimed at confusing the police and covering tracks.
MdM I hope this nonsense is not being recorded!
She turned to look at the clerks who confirmed that none of these speculations would see the light of day. What they did not realise, however, was that I, the translator, had a freelance contract with you, Joe. In the light of all this, I can not stress how important it is that you handle the material sensitively. After all, you don´t want to make enemies or pick fights you can’t win. Pérez Molino continued.
PM And, as for the rest, we may speculate that it had already come to light that Mayor Onsoda had switched camps. He was ready to ally himself with another, competing interest and also about to refuse all wind power applications in his area.
GL This is a bigger fiction than the Cottee blog.
PM We know so little about people... I doubt that any of the stories we have heard is true. They contain grains of truth, but those seeds grow only into what their owners want to be seen.
MdM But we do know who you are, don’t we Señor Pérez? We do know that you, yourself, are here to represent a consortium of businesses and property owners who oppose the application to develop The Castle site.
It was a statement, not a question. Pérez Molino did not look in the least perturbed. García Lopez looked down at his papers and, for once, smiled. A glance across to Maria del Mar shared the mirth. It was left to Pérez Molino to sum up. He had started the proceedings and so it was his responsibility to bring them to a close.
PM Can I ask, please, that the official record is restarted from now? Thank you. It would have been better for everyone if this hearing had delved deeper, but our remit was limited and consequently our achievements few. Without these hearings, there would merely be six disappeared people. As a result of the testimonies we have heard, there are still six disappeared people, but now we know just a little of how they related to one another and perhaps have some idea of what might have happened to them. And thus we have a suggestion of what inquiries should be pursued. What is also clear is that progress on the other matter will depend on the testimonies that some or all of the six disappeared can supply. We three council members must meet again at a date to be decided to sign o
ff the transcript of these proceedings, a transcript that must be dissected thoroughly for clues that might suggest where further investigations might be pursued. Our future deliberations would be assisted if the material we have circulated was more widely read. I therefore make an official request that the document we have called ‘the Cottee blog’ be translated into Spanish. It is within my powers to suggest that this task be allotted to Señora Quejada. I therefore call upon our administrators to arrange a contract to this effect as soon as possible. But what is clear is that we must immediately use the powers at our disposal to identify the whereabouts of those people who might assist us. We call therefore for international authorities to be contacted. We request officially that a search be initiated to establish the whereabouts of Olga Markov, and of Michael Watson. We need also to locate Philip Mathews and his partner Karen McEvoy. Crucially, we need to talk to Susan Cottee. And, of course, we need a search for Donald Cottee.
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A Search for Donald Cottee Page 63
