A Maze of Murders Read Online Free PDF Page B

squid, and a small prawn make a paella.’
    Alvarez spoke reflectively. ‘Remember when Guillermo owned the Pescador and did the cooking? Even Dolores couldn’t better his paella … That was on his good days, of course. When he and Inés had been rowing, you seldom knew what you’d be eating.’
    â€˜Or if you did, you didn’t eat it.’
    â€˜One peseta; or was it one peseta fifty?’
    â€˜Two with a carafe of wine.’
    â€˜I often wondered where he found that wine – never tasted anything like it before or since.’
    â€˜They said he went round all the bodegas, buying up the lees.’
    â€˜I’ll believe that.’
    â€˜Still, for fifty céntimos you couldn’t expect Marqués de Riscal.’
    For a while they continued to reminisce, remembering the past in rosy colours and forgetting the harsh conditions, the uncertainties, the fears that had prevailed. Then Alvarez said goodbye and left. He returned to his car and drove along the front, past the new restaurant – already a number of tables were occupied; few tourists were selective – and stopped in a no-parking area. He walked back to the offices of Gomila y Hijos.
    A young woman sat in front of a VDU and painted her nails. She looked up briefly, returned her attention to her nails.
    â€˜I wonder if you can help me,’ Alvarez said.
    â€˜Doubt it.’
    â€˜I need to know who chartered the Aventura. ’
    â€˜What’s it to you?’
    â€˜Cuerpo General de Policia.’
    â€˜You don’t look like you’re anything to do with them.’
    â€˜It is the good Lord who decides our looks, not our jobs,’ he said pompously. Nostalgia for the past increased. Twenty-five years ago, she would have treated him with considerable respect.
    She studied the nail she had just painted. ‘What is it, then?’
    â€˜Have you not heard that an Englishman who sailed on the Aventura on Thursday night is missing?’
    â€˜Oh, that,’ she said dismissively.
    Her indifference angered him. ‘I want to know the name of the person who chartered the boat,’ he said roughly.
    She replaced the brush in the bottle, screwed down the cap, breathed on her nails to make certain the varnish had dried, finally turned to the computer. She tapped out instructions, studied the screen. ‘He did.’
    â€˜Señor Lewis? Are you certain?’
    â€˜It’s on screen, isn’t it?’
    â€˜How long did he charter her for?’
    â€˜A fortnight.’
    â€˜What did it cost him?’
    â€˜A hundred and fifty thousand.’
    He whistled.
    â€˜It’s only a small cruiser. A decent sized one would’ve cost him double that,’ she said disdainfully, contemptuous of his ignorance of life in the rich lane.

CHAPTER 6
    Alvarez was able to park immediately in front of No. 14. He crossed the pavement, stepped through the bead curtain, called out.
    Christina came through to the front room. ‘You again! How am I supposed to do a proper day’s work when you keep interrupting me?’
    â€˜This will be the last time. Has Señor Sheard returned yet?’
    â€˜Came back half an hour ago.’
    â€˜Then I’ll have a word with him.’
    â€˜You’ll not be long. It’s his meal soon and I’ll not have that getting cold.’
    He looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it was one o’clock. ‘I’ll be quick. Where will I find him?’
    â€˜This way.’
    She led him through a sitting-room that was far from luxuriously furnished, but was immaculately clean and tidy, to a doorway that gave access to a small open patio. ‘He’s on the other side.’
    In the patio, which was no more than four metres by three, there grew an orange and two tangerine trees, whose fruit was small and green, and on the south-facing dividing wall, an ancient vine whose many bunches of grapes were just