The Good Suicides Read Online Free PDF Page B

overburdened with work. Like everyone.”
    “Exactly,” insisted Leire. She’d perceived a shift in her superior’s tone, so she was careful not to lose ground already conquered. “It would be six weeks, maybe less. If the baby comes early, it’s over. But I believe I can cast a fresh pair of eyes on the case. I didn’t know Ruth Valldaura. While we were investigating I always had the impression that, given the victim’s identity, everyone took a series of things for granted. And Inspector Salgado couldn’t see it either, however much he wanted to.”
    “I know.”
    Leire smiled. She sensed that she was about to win the game.
    “Listen,” Martina went on. “I don’t know what this will come to, or why you’re getting me into this mess. However, I know you well enough to understand that you’ll do whatever you feel like, with or without my approval. No, Leire, don’t lie to me. You came to me because I can facilitate certain things for you, not because you plan to listen to me ifI forbid it. At the end of the day, it’s your free time and you can use it as you wish.”
    “If you say no, I’ll abandon the matter. I don’t want to get you in any trouble, and I promise if I discover anything, I’ll inform you directly. You can decide how to proceed with Bellver from there.”
    Agent Castro knew she was treading on dangerous ground. The sergeant’s ill-will toward Bellver had been public since he snatched the role of inspector from her with merits more personal than professional. But Leire suspected that the most insignificant allusion to the affair would make Martina Andreu dig in her heels.
    “Fine. Come and pick me up at seven, at the end of my shift, and you’ll have a copy of the file. Oh, and not a word to Inspector Salgado if you come across him.”
    It was unlikely, and the sergeant knew it: Savall had summoned him to his office, along with others, to discuss something with a National Police guy, some Calderón. After only half an hour, it looked as if it would go on for a while.
    “Leire, if you want to work during leave, the same rules apply as if you were on duty, so, for your own good, I want to be kept informed. Keep me up to date on every move and every detail. Don’t do anything off your own back or I assure you when you return your life here will be very difficult. Is that clear?”
    The grateful look that Leire Castro gave her convinced the sergeant for a moment that she wasn’t doing anything wrong. As the agent had said herself, they lost nothing by trying and, deep down, Martina was almost sure that the Ruth Valldaura case was doomed never to be resolved. At the same time, and not without a certain professional envy, she was sure that if there was anyone in that station capable of tackling an apparently unsolvable mystery, that person was Agent Castro.

4
    So, that same night, file already in hand, Leire did what her mind and body were crying out for. She needed activity, a focus, and the file she had in front of her, although mostly familiar, represented a challenge that, among other things, made her feel alive. And useful. With a discipline she’d learned to appreciate, she read it slowly, as if she were facing it for the first time, convinced that on occasion the most insignificant details could culminate in the answer.
    Then, after a good while of intense concentration, she did something that had helped her internalize things since she was small. Sitting at the dining-room table, she wrote down the most relevant details. It was a somewhat tiresome task now that practically nothing was written by hand, but Leire was aware that this forced her to slow down. She didn’t follow a precise order, but rather allowed her hand to outline what for her was a first approximation of the facts.
    Ruth Valldaura Martorell. 39. Designer/illustrator of considerable success due to a line of home accessories very popular recently. Separated and mother of one son, Guillermo, who lived with her.