Sweet Money Read Online Free PDF Page A

world.

5
    Jorge shaves meticulously and for a long time. He opens the tap and contemplates with satisfaction as the bathroom fills up with steam. He undresses and steps into the very hot shower. His wife says he boils himself rather than bathes. He washes his hair with herbal shampoo, scrubs his body with scentless glycerine soap, then rinses twice. He dries himself off in front of the open window, feeling his pores closing in the cold breeze. He takes a bottle of Fahrenheit cologne out of the medicine cabinet. He aims the spray at the ceiling and lets the cloud of scent fall over his skin like a morning mist. These moments of his morning ablutions are when he plans his day, when he feels most inspired. He’s quite satisfied this morning. Despite all the Apostles’ manoeuvrings and the pressure they applied to secure the position for one of their own, he got it. He remembers Filander’s angry look the day he was sworn in, and he smiles. Now he must quickly dismantle their operation. Those guys are no sissies, and he can’t expect them to roll over and play dead. That very morning he will begin to execute his plan to decapitate the organization. He knows he doesn’t have a moment to lose; he can’t give them time to get a foothold, surround him, throw him
off balance. In one fell swoop he will move Cubas to the Oran precinct, he’ll open an internal investigation of Valli and Medina – up to their eyeballs in the racket of stripping stolen cars – and he’ll put Bellón and García on administrative leave. Filander has to die. He’d rather avoid such a measure, and he resorts to it only when he has absolutely no other choice; this, he believes, is such a case. Filander is a dangerous lunatic. He trusts the rest will scurry away like cockroaches when the lights go on. Then he’ll deal with them in a few days. Ladeski has had it in for Hernández ever since he got the upper hand and kept the fifteenth precinct. If he promises it to one of them and gives the seventeenth, for example, to the other, he’s got a good chance of getting them both on his team. He’ll first have to see their reactions, but he’s almost sure they’ll come on board with him. He just has to wait and see.
    He goes back to the bedroom, where Cora has laid his clean clothes out on the bed. The shirt is impeccably ironed, the trousers have a crease so sharp you could cut salami with it – as his old man used to say – and the shoes are shined so brightly he could use them as mirrors to shave in. He takes a sip of maté through the bombilla straw as he contemplates himself in the mirror. He isn’t carrying an ounce of fat, and the few grey hairs that have appeared here and there give him a touch of distinction.
     
    I’ve still got my good looks.
     
    He gives the maté back to his wife and puts on the jacket of his spanking-new Chief of Police uniform.

    So, my love, are you proud of your hubbie? You know I am, Jorge. It’s just that I’m worried that now I’ll see even less of you than I did before. Don’t you worry about a thing. I’m not worried, it’s just that the kids treat this place like a hotel, coming here to eat and sleep, and you work more and more every day, and all I do is sit here alone and watch the mould grow. You’ve got your mother, your friends. It’s not the same, Jorge, it’s just not the same. What do you say we go out to eat to celebrate? Oh, I don’t know, you think we should? I can’t figure you out. Should I tell the kids? No, just the two of us. Oh, I don’t know. I’ll call you later and we’ll arrange it. Whatever you say, Jorge. Would I have to get dressed? I guess, unless you want to go naked.
     
    Graciela is waiting for him at the entrance on Moreno Street. She, too, is wearing a brand-new uniform. She greets him with a Good morning, sir , and a cheeky wink. They have a perfect understanding. The entire department suspects there’s something going on between them. And there is, but the secret