‘Vultures,’ Daniel said simply.
He handed him something wrapped in cloth. It looked heavy.
‘Here,’ he said. ‘Put that on the ground very carefully, then take a look.’
Dídac felt the weight of the thing – it was metal, and already, with a quickening of his pulse, he had a feeling of what it was.
When he unwrapped it he saw a black gun, shaped like the letter T, the barrel forming the cross while the handle and magazine dropped down in the middle. Fear and excitement bristled within him.
‘That’s a STAR Model Z-84,’ Daniel said, crouching down beside him. ‘A sub-machine gun. They’re very good and very rare.’
He picked it up and nestled it in his arms, his finger on the trigger.
‘It’s lightweight, waterproof and very accurate.’
His hand slipped down to the bottom of the handle, stroking the magazine jutting out of the bottom.
‘This can hold thirty 9-millimetre parabellum rounds. It’s a combat weapon, originally made for sub-aquatic operations. Only a thousand were ever manufactured. They’re hard to come by. But one or two occasionally come on to the market.’
Questions raced through Dídac’s mind: how had his father got hold of it? How much had it cost? Did he have contacts on the black market?
Most of all, however, was the question racing not through his mind but through his blood: was he going to let him try it out?
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Daniel said. ‘I know what you’re wondering. The point is, we’re at a critical moment, and decisions have to be made.’
He paused before continuing. Dídac felt a quiver in his legs.
‘You and I have more important things to do. There’s so much more that we can give. The food collective, the bank operations … that’s small stuff. We can go much, much bigger. But it will mean change, sacrifice. I don’t see Valencia as the main battleground these days. A bigger struggle is coming, and it will be played out elsewhere.’
Dídac nodded energetically. Daniel rarely talked to him like this. There was a new strength in his father, new purpose. I want to follow this man. The thought registered on some deep, animal level. I want to be like him.
‘Besides,’ Daniel said, ‘we don’t really know who we can trust. And in the times that are about to come, loyalty will be the most important quality there is. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, yes,’ Dídac said.
‘I need to know I can count on you one hundred per cent,’ said Daniel.
‘You can.’
His father looked him in the eye, boring into his mind.
‘Good,’ he said at last.
He glanced down at the gun.
‘Hunters use this place,’ he said. ‘No one will bother us.’
He held the gun out to Dídac, opening up the foldable shoulder rest and wedging it against his upper arm.
‘Take it, feel it, learn to love it,’ he said. ‘Do this – do it well – and there’ll be much, much more I’ll be teaching you.’
TEN
POLICIA LOCAL DE VALENCIA
6TH UNIT: EXPOSICIÓ
C/ D’EMILI BARÓ, 91
46020, VLC
WITNESS REPORT
Witness name: Vicente García Sánchez
Sex: Male
Age: 37
Occupation: Carpenter (disabled)
Address: 18, Rosa dels Vents, Carpesa, Valencia (Horta Nord)
Statement taken at 11.10 hours on 2/10
Witness states that he is in the habit of taking an early-morning walk with his dog, a three-year-old Labrador. Witness is in a wheelchair after car accident suffered when seventeen years old. His usual route takes him out of the village of Carpesa and along tarmac roads into surrounding fields. Usually not out of the house more than twenty minutes – half an hour maximum – before returning home.
On morning in question he left the house at around 07.30, following habitual route east out of Carpesa, before turning north. Tarmac road ends near an abandoned well and witness cannot progress further along dirt track. Dog, however, ran on, in animated state towards a nearby field of orange trees (abandoned) where he started digging with front paws. Witness tried to call him back, but dog insistent. Much barking, very excited. Appeared to be pulling at something with his teeth. Object too far away for witness to identify, but began to get suspicious. After another fifteen minutes, unable to get dog to return to him and dog still barking, witness decided to call a friend who is a Policía Local – Agent José Luis Montero, who appeared on the scene some twenty minutes later.
Agent Montero identified the object as a human corpse.
POLICIA LOCAL DE VALENCIA
6TH UNIT: EXPOSICIÓ
C/ D’EMILI BARÓ, 91
46020, VLC
CRIME REPORT
For Attention Of: Central de Policía Local, Jefatura Superior de la Policía Nacional de Valencia
Agent J. L. Montero
Date: 2/10
Time: 12.40
In the process of carrying out policing duties on the morning of 2/10 in the locality of Carpesa (Pedanías del Norte) at 08.19 in the area of the abandoned well (NE of the village – road known as Camí del’Alquería del Poço – about 1km from village outskirts) Agent Montero was called by a local inhabitant to investigate a suspicious object in an orange grove beyond the end of the tarmac road. Responding to said call, Agent Montero arrived shortly after and proceeded to the orange grove in question. The object was identified by a dog (golden Labrador) owned by Carpesa inhabitant Vicente García Sánchez. Señor García Sánchez was unable to approach the object himself as he is disabled and confined to a wheelchair.
On approaching the object, Agent Montero was able to ascertain quickly that it corresponded to the remains of a human – possibly that of a child – buried less than a metre below the surface of the ground.
Agent Montero immediately put through a call to the Comisaría to report his finding, and other Policía Local officers soon arrived on the scene.
The orange grove in question is the property of Antonio Carrasco Hidalgo, 89, resident of Carpesa. It has not been properly tended in some eight-to-ten years and is presently in a state of abandonment.
POLICIA LOCAL DE VALENCIA
6TH UNIT: EXPOSICIÓ
C/ D’EMILI BARÓ, 91
46020, VLC
CRIME REPORT
For Attention Of: Central de Policía Local, Jefatura Superior de la Policía Nacional de Valencia
Agent: Sub-Inspector Rojas
Date: 2/10
Time: 14.50
In the process of carrying out policing duties on the morning of 2/10, Sub-Inspector Rojas was called to the village of Carpesa (Pedanías del Norte) following the location of a human corpse in an orange grove near the locality. Arriving at the scene at 11.13 and confirming the report initially made by Agent J. L. Montero that a body – probably that of a youth – had been discovered in a shallow grave, the decision was immediately taken to refer the matter to the Jefatura Superior de la Policía Nacional.
Sub-Inspector Rojas remained at the scene until the arrival of detectives from the Policía Nacional murder squad, and assisted them with their initial inquiries.
After consultation with the Policía Nacional detectives, Sub-Inspector Rojas and Agent J. L. Montero interviewed the proprietor of the orange grove in question, Antonio Carrasco Hidalgo, 89, resident of Carpesa at his home in the village (C/ Ermita San Roque, 12). Señor Carrasco Hidalgo was visibly shocked when informed of what had been discovered on his land. He said that he had stopped tending the orange grove in question some ten years before, around the time that his wife died, and that he rarely visits the field any more due to ill health.
His testimony was corroborated by Señor Carrasco Hidalgo’s daughter, María Amparo Carrasco Gómez (63) who lives at the same address. No other residents are recorded as living at the address.
A report on the interview with Señor Carrasco Hidalgo and his
daughter was submitted to the Policía Nacional murder squad, at which point Policía Local involvement in the case officially terminated.
POLICIA NACIONAL, GRUPO DE HOMICIDIOS
Initial report on location of corpse near village of Carpesa (Horta Nord)
Detective: Inspector M. A. Castro
Date: 3/10
Time: 18.30
Following the intervention of officers of the Policía Local 6th Unit (see relevant reports), Inspectors Lozano and Castro of the murder squad went to Carpesa to conduct initial investigations.
The corpse was located near the centre of an abandoned orange grove to the north of the village. The nearest inhabited buildings are at least 500 metres away. The grove can be accessed by tarmac road leading away from the village. This turns into a dirt track for approximately 200 metres along the edge of an irrigation channel before ending at the field in question.
The corpse appeared to have been buried in a shallow grave, less than 1 metre deep. An initial inspection suggested that it was the body of a boy between the ages of 8 and 12, 1.4m tall and approx. 30kg in weight. No wounds or injuries were immediately visible. The very light decomposition pointed to a recent time of death, possibly within the previous 24 hours.
The Policía Local had cordoned off the area, but already the immediate vicinity of the body had suffered material damage, mainly from the dog that according to reports initially gave the alert of the presence of a body and had proceeded to dig part of it up. Owing to the lack of rainfall over recent weeks, the ground was dry, so the location of any footprints in the area would have been unlikely in any case.
Witness Vicente García Sánchez was the first on the scene. In a verbal statement to Policía Nacional detectives he stated that this was his normal route for a daily walk with his dog (Señor García Sánchez is disabled and moves around in a wheelchair), and that he had come to the same spot at a similar time the day before. At no point on this previous occasion did he notice anything suspicious, nor did his dog act in any unusual way. This fact taken with the first evaluation of the light decomposition of the corpse suggested that the body had been buried in the orange grove only hours before, possibly overnight.
Despite the absence of any obvious wounds to the body of the boy, the case was considered suspicious and a murder investigation was officially instigated.
Judge Andreu Peris of Court 2 was called in as the investigating official and the case was placed under his jurisdiction.
Following the removal of the body, Detectives Lozano and Castro consulted the Missing Persons file and a potential match was quickly identified. At 23.05 the previous night Célia Capilla Romero (43), resident at Trinquet de Cavallers 5, 46003 in central Valencia, reported missing her son, Fermín, aged 10. According to information she gave to agents of the Comisaría de Distrito Centro, Fermín had been playing in a football match that evening in the old river bed and was expected to walk home in time for dinner. Usually he returned between 20.00 and 20.30, but that evening he had failed to appear. After several calls to his mobile phone failed to locate him, she called friends and the parents of school friends to see if anyone knew the whereabouts of her son. Finally, having failed to locate him and becoming increasingly distressed, she contacted the Policía Nacional and filed a Missing Persons report.
Once the corpse of the boy located in Carpesa had been taken to the forensic medicine department and cleaned up, agents of the Policía Nacional conducted Célia Capilla Romero to the department where, at 16.30, in the presence of Judge Andreu Peris and Inspectors Lozano and Castro, she positively identified the body as that of her missing son, Fermín.
Célia Capilla Romero was taken to the Nueva Fe hospital shortly afterwards, where she was treated for shock.
FORENSIC MEDICINE DEPT
AUTOPSY REPORT
Medical officer: Dr Rosario Alegre
Subject: Fermín Capilla Romero
Sex: male
Age: 10
Date & time of autopsy: 3/10 09.30
Cause of death: severing of the spinal cord, with severe trauma to the neck and fracturing of vertebrae 5 and 6, causing loss of consciousness. Bruising to the bottom of the chin and contusions in the neck area suggest that this was caused by powerful force being exerted in a simultaneously horizontal and vertical twist designed to cause the specified effect. Death would have been almost instant.
Time of death: lividity and extent of rigor mortis as well as examination of the gut with a last recorded time of consumption at 17.30 (mid-afternoon snack) gives a time between 19.30 and 21.00 on 1/10.
Conclusion: death was deliberately perpetrated by a second party. As such, recommendation that case be considered as homicide.
POLICIA NACIONAL, GRUPO DE HOMICIDIOS
Background and context report on case of Fermín Capilla Romero
Agent: Inspector J. Albelda
Date: 3/10
Time: 15.45
Following the positive identification of the Carpesa body as Fermín Capilla Romero (aged 10), agent Albelda was tasked with background investigation into the deceased.
Registry records provided the following:
Date of birth: 2/1/2004
Sex: Male
Place of birth: La Clínica Hospital (private), Valencia
ID No.: 90187211 B
Address: Trinquet de Cavallers, 5, 46002 Valencia
Father: Alfonso Segarra
Mother: Célia Capilla Romero
Fermín was a pupil at the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús School in central Valencia.
Further details on Célia Capilla Romero:
Date of birth: 30/12/1970
Address: as above
Occupation: not given
Marital status: single
Further details on Alfonso Segarra:
Date of birth: 3/4/1957
Address: Alquería del Duc, Benifaraig, 46016 (Horta Nord)
Occupation: businessman
Marital status: widowed
Former spouse: Francisca Grau Escrivá
Señora Grau Escrivá, owner of the Abogados Grau S.A. legal firm, died in Valencia four months ago of pancreatic cancer aged 50 years. She was mother to Alfonso Segarra’s three daughters, Francisca (31), Emilia (29), and Julia (21).
Alfonso Segarra is the well-known businessman and owner of the Horta supermarket chain. Until now, the existence of his illegitimate son with Célia Capilla Romero has never been officially acknowledged.
POLICIA NACIONAL, GRUPO DE HOMICIDIOS
Interview with Alfonso Segarra
Conducted by Chief Inspector Laura Martín, head of the Grupo de Homicidios
Date: 3/10
Time: 17.10
The Carpesa body was identified as that of Fermín Capilla Romero, illegitimate son of businessman Alfonso Segarra. Following the confirmation that his death was being treated as murder, Chief Inspector Martín went to interview Segarra at his company headquarters in Paterna.
Segarra confirmed that Fermín was his son, as well as the existence of his relationship with Célia Capilla Romero. He stated that he had been in a relationship with her for the past twelve years and paid for her flat on Trinquet de Cavallers, as well as for the upkeep both of herself and the child.
His wife, Francisca Grau, had never known about his other relationship or the boy, he said. Segarra said that he had always wanted a son. He and his wife had three daughters, but he started his affair with Célia Capilla Romero given his desire for a male offspring. At no point, he said, had he considered divorcing his wife and marrying Célia Capilla Romero. (Presumably this is for religious reasons, although he refused to confirm this.)
Asked whether he believed his wife could have known about his mistress, he denied the very possibility. Everything, he insisted, had been dealt with discreetly and elegantly. But now, with the boy’s murder, the whole world knew about his private life.
Asked whether he had received any threats in recent weeks or months that might shed light on the mu
rder of his son, he said that he had never seen anything that might indicate a threat either to himself or his family.
He gave assurances that if anything came to light that might help the investigation he would immediately get in touch with the murder squad.
IT WAS LATE by the time Cámara and Torres finished reading the reports. Cámara stood up and stretched.
‘Segarra’s the key here,’ he said. ‘We need to do some sniffing around.’
Torres grunted from his desk.
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Of course.’
Torres got up and they both put on their jackets to leave.
‘You know, something Albelda left out in his background report –’ Torres said.
‘What’s that?’
Torres opened the door and they stepped out of the office.
‘Segarra’s a big political donor,’ he said. ‘Been giving money to the ruling party for years.’
ELEVEN
TORRES’S AGEING SEAT coughed white smoke as they drove from the Jefatura, over the landscaped gardens of the old river bed and into the north of the city. The route took them through poorer areas, where apartment blocks built of grey-yellow brick with thin, aluminium-frame windows rose like walls at the sides of every street. On the pavements, Ecuadoreans and Peruvians rubbed shoulders with Pakistanis and sub-Saharan Africans. In the past, the neighbourhood of Torrefiel had been the home of immigrants coming in from Albacete, Teruel and other parts of Spain, looking for work: the area was on the outskirts of the city and offered cheap housing. Today the tradition continued, but with peoples from further afield. Many foreigners had left Spain in recent years, driven out by the lack of work, but in this part of the city, despite a certain flatness in the atmosphere, it appeared that the process of absorption and renewal was still alive.
Descending into an underpass below the ring road, they came up into a different world: the tower blocks stopped, giving way to a flat landscape of well-tended fields and white farmhouses. Beyond, in the far distance, the Sierra Calderona framed the view, scratching its jagged edge against a milky blue sky.
‘This is tiger-nut country,’ Torres said, looking out over meadows of what looked like thick green grass. ‘What they use to make horchata.’
A Body in Barcelona: Max Cámara 5 Page 6
