Dolores Redondo - The Invisible Guardian

The expert from Huesca and his assistant were wearing garish orange overalls and were each carrying a silver coloured briefcase similar to the ones used by forensics officers. When Amaia and Jonan reached them they seemed absorbed in observing the trunk of a beech tree.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Inspector,’ said the man, holding out his hand. ‘I’m Raúl González and this is Nadia Takchenko. If you’re wondering why we’re wearing these clothes, it’s because of the poachers; nothing appeals to those riffraff like the rumour that there’s a bear in the area, and you’ll see them popping out from all kinds of places, even under rocks, and that’s no joke. The big macho Spaniard sets out to catch a bear, and he’s so terrified that the bear might catch him first that he’ll shoot at anything that moves … It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve shot at us thinking we were bears, hence the orange overalls. You can see them two kilometres away; in the Russian forests everybody wears them.’

‘What have you got to tell me? Habemus bear or not?’ asked Amaia.

‘Dr Takchenko and I believe it would be too precipitate to confirm or refute something like that at this stage, Inspector.’

‘But you can at least tell me whether you’ve come across any sign, any clue …’

‘We could say yes, we’ve undoubtedly come across traces that indicate the presence of large animals, but nothing conclusive. In any case, we’ve only just arrived, we’ve barely had time to inspect the area and the light is almost gone,’ he said, looking at the sky.

‘Tomorrow at dawn we will get down to work, is that how you say it?’ asked Dr Takchenko in strongly accented Spanish. ‘The sample you sent us is certainly from a plantigrade. It would be very interesting to have a second sample.’

Amaia decided it was best not to mention that the sample had been found on a corpse.

‘You’ll have further samples tomorrow,’ said Jonan.

‘You can’t tell me anything else, then?’ persisted Amaia.

‘Look, Inspector, the first thing you ought to know is that bears aren’t often sighted. There have been no reports of a bear coming down into the Baztán Valley since the year 1700, which is when the last recorded sightings occurred; there’s even a register that lists the compensation paid to the hunters who killed one of the last bears in this valley. Since then, nothing. There’s no official record that a bear has come down this low, although there have always been rumours amongst the people in the area. Don’t misunderstand me, this is a marvellous place, but bears don’t enjoy company, company of any kind, not even their own kind. And especially not human company. It would be quite rare for a man to come across one by chance, the bear would smell him from several kilometres away and head away from the human without their paths crossing …’

‘And what if a bear had, by chance, come down as far as the valley, following the scent of a female, for example? My understanding is that they’re capable of travelling hundreds of kilometres with that as a lure. And what if it was attracted by something special?’

‘If you’re referring to a corpse, it’s quite unlikely. Bears don’t eat carrion; if there’s a shortage of prey they gather lichen, fruit, honey, young shoots, almost anything rather than carrion.’

‘I wasn’t talking about a corpse, more something like processed foods … I’m afraid I can’t be more specific.’

‘Bears are strongly attracted to human food; in fact, the chance to sample processed food is what leads bears to approach populated areas to search for rubbish bins instead of hunting, unable to resist the scent of it.’

‘In that case, could a bear feel so attracted by the scent of processed food that it would approach a corpse, if that corpse smelled of it?’

‘Yes, if we assume that a bear had come down as far as the Baztán Valley, which is pretty unlikely.’

‘Unless they’ve confused a bear with a, how do you say it? With a sobaka again,’ laughed Dr Takchenko. Dr González looked towards the forest rangers, who were standing a few steps further away.

‘Dr Takchenko is referring to the supposed discovery of a bear’s body very near here in August 2008; following an autopsy, it was found to be that of a large sobaka dog. The authorities made a big fuss over nothing.’

‘I remember the story, it was in the papers, but on this occasion aren’t you the ones who are confirming that we’re dealing with bear hairs?’

‘Of course the hairs you sent us belong to a bear, although … In any case, I can’t tell you anything more at the moment. We’ll be here for a few days, we’ll inspect the places where the samples were found and we’ll set up cameras at strategic points to try and film it, if there is one around here.’

They picked up their briefcases and went back up the path along which the others had come. Amaia moved forward a few metres, walking between the trees, trying to find the traces that had so interested the experts. She could almost sense the hostile presence of the forest rangers behind her.

‘And what can you tell me, gentlemen? Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary in the area? Has anything caught your attention?’ she asked, turning round so as not to miss their reactions.

The two men looked at one another before answering.

‘Are you asking whether we’ve seen a bear?’ asked the shorter one in an ironic tone.

Amaia looked at him as if she’d only just noticed his presence and was still deciding how to class him. She went over to him until she was so close she could smell his aftershave lotion. She saw that he was wearing an Osasuna t-shirt beneath the khaki collar of his uniform shirt.

‘What I’m asking, Señor Gorria … it is Gorria, isn’t it? – is whether you’ve noticed anything worth mentioning. An increase or decrease in the number of deer, wild boar, rabbits, hares or foxes; attacks on livestock; unusual animals in the area; poachers, suspicious day-trippers; reports from hunters, shepherds or drunks; UFO sightings or the presence of a T-Rex … Absolutely anything … And, of course, bears.’

A red flush spread down the man’s neck and up to his forehead like an infection. Amaia could almost see the small drops of sweat forming on the taut skin of his cheeks; even so, she remained at his side a few seconds longer. Then she took a step back without dropping her gaze and waited. Gorria turned to his colleague again, looking for support that was not forthcoming.

‘Look at me, Gorria.’

‘We haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary,’ Flores intervened. ‘The forest has its own heartbeat and its natural equilibrium seems unchanged. I think it’s highly unlikely that a bear would come so far down into the valley. I’m not an expert on plantigrades, but I agree with the Ghostbusters. I’ve been working in these woods for fifteen years and I’ve seen a lot of things, I can tell you, some of them quite rare, or even extraordinary, like the body of the dog that appeared in Orabidea that the guys from the Environment Agency thought was a bear. We never believed it,’ Gorria shook his head, ‘but, in their defence, I will say it must have been the biggest dog ever and it was very decomposed and swollen. The fireman who retrieved the body from the pothole where it was found had an upset stomach for a month afterwards.’

‘You’ve heard the expert, there’s a possibility that it might be a young male who’s strayed from his usual path following the scent of a female …’

Flores pulled a leaf off a bush and started folding it symmetrically in half while he considered his reply.

‘Not this low down. If we were talking about the Pyrenees, fine, because however clever those expert plantigrade specialists think they are, it’s likely that there are more bears than they’ve counted. But not here, not so low down.’