“Father Lucas, I release you from the seal of confession!”
“No!” screamed Catarina.
“Did you hear me, Father? Did everyone hear? I renounce the secret of confession! Tell them everything!”
He jumped.
SALUTE AND BOW: THE CURTAIN FALLS
Oh, yes, he thought as he looked into the sky, what a fine expert I’ve become: I thought it was going to rain all night. Clouds masked the heavens, but now as only a thin veil across the sky. For a moment he caught the glimmer of a pale and faded moon that immediately hid itself as if in vexation. The immense storm clouds were gone. The flash and rumble of their spectacular progress were still perceptible in the distance, but their fury had ceased.
Patrol cars, flashing blue lights. Manuel saw Ophelia arrive almost at the same time as the local authorities. He accepted the coffee a young policeman held out to him. From the shelter of the front portico of the clinic, he saw Nogueira in lively conversation with his superiors. Or former superiors. Or whatever. For a moment he had misgivings and worried about the consequences for Nogueira when they learned he’d been mixed up in this business, but their close attention as he spoke, firm pats on his shoulder, and the grin on Nogueira’s face reassured him.
He was more concerned for Lucas. When Santiago threw himself from the roof Lucas had dropped as if shot. He’d knelt, his hands over his face, racked by sobs that shook him as if some trapped creature were fighting to emerge from inside him. The water on the flat roof was ankle deep, for the drains had been overwhelmed by the torrent. Manuel and Nogueira had lifted the distraught priest and half-dragged him back to the stairs, down and through the smashed glass door, and out of the storm. Lucas seemed to regain his calm once they were back in the orderly and regulated interior of the clinic. His crisis of grief ended. Despite Nogueira’s initial opposition he insisted on going with them to Santiago’s body to confirm his death and administer extreme unction. He refused an offer of dry clothing and declined to accept anything to drink. He went to pray in the clinic chapel until the police arrived.
Manuel was stationed so he could see Lucas. The priest was now seated in one of the upholstered chairs in the well-appointed office put at the disposition of the police for their preliminary investigation. Manuel couldn’t hear them, but he saw Lucas taking small sips from a water glass. Lucas appeared collected. He was speaking calmly and deliberately to an officer, laying out the story as if it were simple and straightforward.
He also saw Catarina. She was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser with a policeman at her side. Her hair had begun to dry and curl, framing her face with a natural simplicity that made her look younger. Unlike Lucas, she had accepted the offer of other clothing. Someone had provided a white blouse, and they’d put a thermal blanket around her shoulders. Manuel found her very beautiful. Nogueira materialized beside him as he was contemplating her.
“They’ll permit it, but for no more than five minutes. And you’re not to touch her for any reason. I’ll escort you.” Nogueira clasped his shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. “Those are the instructions. And this from me: it’s a bad idea. But if you’re determined to do this, keep in mind I said I’d vouch for you. Don’t you fuck me over!” They crossed the drive together.
Nogueira opened the door of the patrol car, exchanged a couple of words with the policeman beside Catarina, and walked away. The other policeman got out and followed Nogueira.
Manuel had nothing planned. He didn’t know what he was going to say. His request to speak with her had been spontaneous, the expression of a wish he assumed could not be fulfilled. But what he hadn’t expected and couldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams was her response. Those serene eyes met him calmly and without a shadow of pain. He found himself wanting to see her frightened. He’d have given anything to find some emotion, any emotion at all, disturbing the eternal elegance of her face.
He looked at her and she looked back, completely in control and without a trace of agitation. Catarina, the woman they’d all said knew her place better than anyone.
Her calm annoyed him, and he tried to disturb it. “I don’t know if you’ve heard. The old marquess is dead. Vicente turned up at As Grileiras a few hours ago. They talked and he shot her dead. Then he blew his own brains out.”
He detected an almost imperceptible start. She hadn’t known. She took a breath and then released it slowly before replying. “My mother-in-law was elderly, she’d had a good life, and in recent years she’s suffered terribly from arthritis. As for Vicente, well, he never knew his proper place. That became obvious some time ago. I should have dispensed with his services earlier.”
Manuel shook his head in astonishment. Catarina spoke with the same calm as if her aged mother-in-law had passed away peacefully in her bed and the problems with her employee were merely minor indiscretions.
“And álvaro?”
She returned his gaze, then closed her eyes for a couple of moments as if signaling this was difficult; but no such sentiment was to be heard in her voice. “I won’t be so gauche as to apologize, Manuel. That would hardly be appropriate. But the fact is that I had no intention of killing álvaro. It was sudden and unpleasant, a problem I had to solve in the spur of the moment. If Santiago had told me everything from the start, álvaro would never have known. But my idiotic husband fell in love with that despicable boy, and he had such a romantic notion about this attempt at blackmail.” She smiled, recalling it in amazement. “Can you imagine that? He argued in favor of it: ‘He doesn’t have a cent, his father died, his mother walked out, and he’s living with his sick old aunt.’” She shook her head as if describing a naughty child. “I tried to explain that a blackmailer always comes back for more. How long would three hundred thousand euros have lasted for a wretch like that? But it was too late. Santiago was sure álvaro would pay up, and he’d already told him. álvaro was here the next day, and he suspected there was more between Santiago and the boy than just a ransom demand. I followed Santiago to the lot outside the roadhouse where the payoff was scheduled. I heard álvaro insisting he wasn’t going to pay. He said he was fed up with all the lies. As far as he was concerned, everything could be made public.
“Santiago ran off and went home to cry, like always. I looked in the back of the pickup and saw the gardening stakes. I got out, grabbed one, and walked up to him. álvaro was a bit surprised to find me there, but he still reached out to hug me.”
Catarina shrugged at the inevitability of what followed.
Manuel recoiled. A horrified expression appeared on his face and tears filled his eyes.
“álvaro left. I went back to the pine grove alongside the parking lot to wait for To?ino, but he didn’t turn up. I decided he wasn’t coming, so I went back to the estate.”
“And when they called Santiago about álvaro’s death, he thought To?ino had something to do with it. He arranged a meeting. And you followed him.”
“The business with the boy had nothing to do with álvaro. It was different, and not nearly as difficult. Santiago left the boy too battered and dazed to put up a fight. I went to his car, knocked on the window, he opened the door and got out. You already know what happened then. I stabbed him.”
“Eight times.”
She appeared unmoved. “And hanged him. That seemed entirely fitting for such vermin. Santiago refused to listen to me, and I knew there’d be no end to it. He was a threat to our family.”