Robert Wilson - The Hidden Assassins

'Keep at it, Jose Luis,' said Falcon. 'If you want a really impossible task, try looking for the fake council inspectors.'

'I'll add that to the list of two and a half million hernia ops I've still got to go through,' said Ramirez.

'Another thought,' said Falcon. 'Contact all the Hermandades associated with the three churches: San Marcos, Santa Maria La Blanca and La Magdalena.'

'How's that going to help?'

'Whatever's happening here has some religious motivation. Informaticalidad recruits from church congregations. Ricardo Gamero was a devout Catholic attending San Marcos. The Abdullah Azzam text was sent to the ABC, the main Catholic newspaper, and it included a direct threat to the Catholic faith in Andalucia.'

'And what do you think the Brotherhoods in these churches could have to do with it?'

'Maybe nothing. You'd be too exposed as a known Brotherhood but, you never know, they may have heard of a secret one, or seen strange things going on in the churches that might give us some leverage with the priests. We have to try everything.'

'This could get ugly,' said Ramirez.

'Even uglier than it is already?'

'The media are all over us again. I've just heard that Comisario Lobo and the Magistrado Juez Decano de Sevilla are going to give another press conference to explain the situation following Juez Calderon's dismissal,' said Ramirez. 'I heard the one at the Parliament building earlier today was a disaster. And now the television and the radio are full of arseholes telling us that since Calderon's arrest on suspicion of murder and wife abuse, our investigation has completely lost credibility.'

'How has all this got out?'

'The journalists have been all over the Palacio de Justicia, talking to Ines's friends and colleagues. Now they're not just talking about the evident physical violence, but also a prolonged campaign of mental torture and public humiliation.'

'This is just what Elvira was frightened of.'

'A lot of people have been waiting a long time to get Esteban Calderon down on the ground and, now they've got him there, they're going to kick him to death, even if it means our investigation is effectively destroyed.'

'And what do Lobo and Spinola hope to achieve in this press conference?' asked Falcon. 'They can't talk about a murder investigation that's in progress.'

'Damage control,' said Ramirez. 'And they're going to talk up del Rey. He's due to come on afterwards, with Comisario Elvira, to give a recap of the case so far.'

'No wonder he was so word perfect with us,' said Falcon. 'Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea for him to talk about what we're working on now.'

'You're right about that,' said Ramirez. 'You'd better call him.' Del Rey had switched his mobile off. Maybe he was already in the studio. Falcon called Elvira and asked him to give a rather cryptic message to del Rey. There was no time to explain the detail. Falcon picked up the sketch from the computer operator in the preschool. At least it looked like a drawing of a real person. A man in his sixties, possibly early seventies, in a suit and tie, some hair on top with a side parting, no beard or moustache. The artist had included the man's height and weight as given by the security guard, he was on the small side at 1.65m and 75 kilos. But did it look like the man they wanted to find?

Back in the car he took a look at the lists given to him by Diego Torres, the Human Resources Director at Informaticalidad. Marco Barreda was not one of the employees who'd spent time in the apartment on Calle Los Romeros. Maybe he was too senior for that. He called the mobile number David Curado had given him and introduced himself with his full title.

'I think we should talk face to face,' said Falcon.

'I'm busy.'

'It'll take fifteen minutes of your time.'

'I'm still busy.'

'I'm investigating an act of terrorism, multiple murder and a suicide,' said Falcon. 'You have to make time for me.'

'I'm not sure how I can help. I'm neither a terrorist, nor a murderer, and I don't know anybody who is.'

'But you did know the suicide, Ricardo Gamero,' said Falcon. 'Where are you now?'

'I'm in the office. I'm just on my way out.'

'Name a place.'

Deep breath from Barreda. He knew he couldn't brush him off forever. He named a bar in Triana.

Falcon called Ramirez again.

'Have you got the printout of all calls made on Ricardo Gamero's mobiles?'

Ramirez crashed around the office for a minute and came back. Falcon gave him Barreda's number.

'Interesting,' said Ramirez. 'That was the last call he made on his personal mobile.'

'While I think about it,' said Falcon, 'we need the list of calls the Imam made on his mobile. Especially the one he made in front of Jose Duran on Sunday morning, because that is the electricians' mobile number.' The bar was half full of people. Everybody was looking at the television, ignoring their drinks. The news had just finished and now it was Lobo and Spinola. But Ramirez had been wrong, it wasn't a press conference; they were being interviewed. Falcon walked through the bar, looking for a lone young man. Nobody nodded to him. He sat down at a table for two.

The interviewer, a woman, was attacking Spinola. She could not believe that he hadn't known about the campaign of terror conducted by Calderon against his wife. The Magistrado Juez Decano de Sevilla, an old-school pachyderm with saurian eyes and an easy, but quite alarming, smile, was not uncomfortable with his moment in the hot seat.

Falcon tuned out of the pointless argument. Spinola was not going to be drawn. The female interviewer had lost herself in the emotional aspect of the case. She should have been hitting Spinola on Calderon's ability to perform and his integrity as a judge in the investigation. Instead she was looking for some riveting personal revelation and she had gone to precisely the wrong man for it.

A young guy in a suit caught Falcon's eye. They introduced themselves and sat down. Falcon ordered a couple of coffees and some water.

'You people are having a hard time,' said Barreda, tilting his head at the TV.

'We're used to it,' said Falcon.

'So how many times has it happened that a Juez de Instruccion has been found trying to dispose of his wife's dead body during a major international terrorism investigation?'

'About as many times as a valued member of an antiterrorist squad has committed suicide during a major international terrorism investigation,' said Falcon. 'How long have you known Ricardo Gamero?'

'A couple of years,' said Barreda, subdued by Falcon's swift response.

'Was he a friend?'

'Yes.'

'So you didn't just see him at Mass on Sundays?'

'We met occasionally during the week. We both like classical music. We used to go to concerts together. Informaticalidad had season tickets.'

'When did you last see him?'

'On Sunday.'

'I understand that Informaticalidad use San Marcos and other churches to recruit employees. Did anybody else from the company know Ricardo Gamero?'

'Of course. We'd go for coffee after Mass and I'd introduce him around. That's normal, isn't it? Just because he's a cop doesn't mean he can't talk to people.'

'So you knew he was in the antiterrorist squad of the CGI.'

Barreda stiffened slightly as he realized he'd been caught out.

'I've known him two years. It came out eventually.'

'Do you remember when?'

'After about six months. I was trying to recruit him to Informaticalidad, making him better and better offers, until finally he told me. He said it was like a vocation and he wasn't going to change his career.'

'A vocation?'

'That was the word he used,' said Barreda. 'He was very serious about his work.'

'And his religion,' said Falcon. 'Did he feel the two were bound up together?'