As before, when Nogueira realized he’d involuntarily revealed some aspect of his private life, he acted as if he suddenly felt vulnerable. He looked away, ignoring Manuel’s surprised expression. The confession seemed that much more intimate after the man had shown an almost affectionate regard for the old woman.
Nogueira continued his list of observations. “It’s not just the clean house and the phone numbers. The medicines are marked with the times she’s supposed to take them, and they’re marked in large letters to show what each is for. He takes care of his aunt, and, like she says, something must have happened to keep him from phoning. He knows all too well that the old woman can’t take care of herself.”
Manuel was skeptical. “A crocodile with a heart of gold.”
“Sometimes even the worst degenerates have one. That’s what’s confusing. If the good folks were good and the bad ones were simply bad, the world would be a lot easier for everybody. On the other hand, his buddy’s attitude bothers me. Ricardo; they call him Richie. The two are inseparable. The aunt calls to say the boy hasn’t come home, and it doesn’t worry him. So, two possibilities: Either he knows where To?ino is, or he knows what the boy’s hiding from, and he figured out that the disappearance coincided with álvaro’s visit.”
Manuel looked away in disgust.
“Could be that there’s no connection,” Nogueira admitted. It was the first time he showed any consideration for Manuel’s feelings.
Manuel didn’t thank him for it. He dodged the topic with a question. “And the other one? The one who’s been calling?”
“Probably a client. His recommendation to call the police is a clear indication he doesn’t know squat.”
Manuel looked out unhappily at the houses spread across the Os Marti?os slope below them. “Now what?”
“I take you back to the inn. Get some sleep. Both you and the dog look hung over.” Café hadn’t budged from his blanket on the backseat. “I’ll talk with my contacts and get them to put the vehicle into the missing persons bulletin. Cars are easier to track than people. And tonight we’ll drive out to Lugo to pay Richie a visit, and he can explain why he’s not worried about his friend’s disappearance. But first,” he said, using his chin to indicate the house next door, “we pay our respects to the neighbor lady.”
Manuel stepped forward and saw that the same old woman who’d seen them earlier from her ground-floor window was beckoning to them.
Stationed at her window, she was the living image of a malicious gossip. Her shameless peering at them when they arrived had suggested as much, and so did her expression when she came to the door. Her behavior was quite different from that of To?ino’s aunt. This one held the front door open a crack and stuck her sharp nose through it to sniff at them like a bird dog. She opened it a bit wider, just enough for them to see she was wearing a housecoat. The lace edging of a nightdress was visible below it.
“You’re from the police, right?” She didn’t give them time to answer. “When I saw you I thought you were here for To?ino. Did they arrest him again? I haven’t seen him for days.”
Nogueira didn’t answer her questions. He gave her a broad professional smile. “Good morning, se?ora. Would you be so kind as to give us a couple of minutes?”
The woman simpered, flattered, as she pulled tight the belt of her housecoat and reached up to finger her lapels in pretended modesty. “Well, of course. But you’ll have to excuse me. With all the uproar I still haven’t had time to get dressed.”
“Oh, please don’t worry, we understand perfectly. And we thank you for your kindness.”
She stepped aside and opened the door a little more, enough for them to slip through into the house. The place smelled of chickens and cat piss.
“What a lovely house!” the lieutenant said, and walked over to windows hung with sheer curtains that gave an unimpeded view of every detail of the yard of the house next door. “And you’re fortunate you can see so much,” he added with a crafty smile.
The woman had gotten someone to build a bench that ran the entire length of the window. It was covered with cushions of various sizes and different fabrics she must have sewn for herself. Manuel noticed a sewing basket and a crochet project on the floor under the bench. An obese cat lay on the window seat, no doubt responsible for at least half of the stink.
“Well, I don’t want you thinking I’m a gossip or anything like that. I’m not interested in other people’s lives, but I really enjoy sewing, needlepoint, and crochet work, and since I have the best light next to the window, well, even if I weren’t interested . . .” She shrugged.
“Of course, se?ora.” Nogueira was firmly on her side.
“The truth is that I really do feel sorry for Rosa María. We’ve been neighbors for more than forty years, and we’ve never had any problems, but that nephew of hers! Her nephew is something else again. His mother abandoned him, and his father passed away, and I think Rosa María loved him so very much she just raised him wrong.” That censure was severe. “Look, I never wanted to do him any harm, but I could have called the police a thousand times for the way he was always carrying on. Day after day we had people here yelling at his door, friends of his calling him early in the morning . . .”
“And lately?” Nogueira asked.
“Things have been quiet over the last few days. Well, I should tell you what happened last week.” She was leading them on, well aware that Nogueira was getting more and more interested. “Well, it had nothing to do with the scandalous things that used to go on here. I mean, they weren’t addicts or anything like that.”
“Tell me about it,” Nogueira requested with flattering attention as he walked her to the bench and took a seat beside her.
“Well, you see, Rosa María told me that her nephew was doing fine and had even started to work for his uncle at the seminary.”
Manuel interrupted. “In the seminary? In the San Xoan seminary?”
“There’s no other one,” the woman replied tartly. “The prior of the seminary is Rosa María’s brother and brother to To?ino’s father. It wasn’t the first time he hired the boy to help the gardener; small tasks and fixing things at the brothers’ residence, but the boy never lasted long in any job, and this time was no different.”
“Go on,” Nogueira encouraged her.
“Well, the other day I was sitting here working when I saw—just the way I saw you today—a car stop in front of the gate. The prior of the seminary got out. He doesn’t often come around, but I’ve seen him and I know him. Well, the thing is, he started beating on the door and shouting for the nephew. He and Rosa María were arguing at the front door, and she didn’t let him in. To?ino didn’t stick his nose out. He hid behind his aunt’s skirts and argued from the inside of the house, but it was obvious he was too scared to come outside.”
“When was that?”
“Early Saturday afternoon. After lunch.”
Manuel looked at Nogueira in astonishment, but it was obvious that the lieutenant also had realized To?ino’s aunt had been lying. She might have done so merely to justify her declaration he was missing; the rule is that no adult person in possession of his faculties may be declared missing until twenty-four hours have passed.
“Are you absolutely certain this was Saturday and not some other day? Friday, for example?”
“Of course I’m certain,” she answered, annoyed. “It was Saturday.”
“Could you hear what they were saying?”
“Officer, I could hear it because they were shouting. Not because I was trying to eavesdrop on my neighbors or anything like that.”
“Obviously, se?ora!” Nogueira said again, although this time with a touch of sarcasm.
She didn’t notice the edge in his voice. “The prior said, ‘You don’t know who you’re getting involved with. This could be the end of me.’ And then he said, ‘Things are not going to stay like this.’”
“You’re sure that’s what he said?”
The woman appeared offended for a moment and then affirmed with great seriousness, “It was just like I’m telling you.”
“Then what happened?”
“Nothing. The prior left, and right away To?ino got into his car and drove off. He’s been gone since then. He’s still missing.”
CABALLEROS