In Search of Murder--An Inspector Alvarez Mallorcan Mystery (17 page)

‘I'm afraid not.'

‘Then you do not know the facts of the case, only some which are connected with it.'

‘That's rather a fine distinction.'

‘Which will escape you. As also, no doubt, has the fact that this is the fourteenth day of your investigation.'

‘I have been too busy to count the days.'

‘We may well disagree on the meaning of “busy”. Do you understand that the purpose of your investigation should be to prove whether or not death was accidental; failing certainty, to learn whether one or more persons had motive for killing Picare, to judge if such motive was sufficiently strong to raise the presumption that the person concerned was probably the murderer.'

‘Yes, señor.'

‘Had your investigation been successfully conducted, you would have quickly identified all persons who might possess such motive, questioned them, and now would present me with the name of the probable murderer or, lacking any such names, the probability that such lack raises the probability of suicide. Instead of which, you name another suspect whom you have not questioned.'

‘I wished to report to you, señor, before I spoke to Señora Macrone.'

‘An excuse which thunders with the ring of familiarity. You will question her today.'

‘It is Sunday.'

‘For you, that is reason for doing nothing?'

‘It is a day of rest for most people and they will be on the beach or spending time away from home. I am unlikely to be able to make any worthwhile progress until tomorrow.'

‘You will discover if your hopeful optimism is justified after you have visited her home and failed to find her there. In addition, you will determine whether Russell did lie or Marta was mistaken.'

‘As you wish, señor.'

‘As I order.'

The bungalow, a kilometre from Cala Roig, was the last of three around the base of land which rose to fifty metres in a cone shape. The garden was not large, but the ground was newly worked, many roses were in flower, the low surrounding hedge was newly clipped. It always puzzled Alvarez that there were people who would undertake work which could never be completed. The door was opened by a middle-aged man, dressed in T-shirt and over-long shorts.

‘Señor Macrone?' Alvarez asked.

‘Yes?'

He introduced himself. ‘I'm sorry to trouble you on a Sunday, but it is necessary.'

There was a call. ‘Who is it Frank?'

‘Be with you in a minute, Lee. Inspector, please come on in.'

The hall/entrada was lightly furnished. On the small table and by the side of the telephone was a cut-glass bowl in which were several different coloured roses, artistically arranged; on the tiled floor was an oval carpet, elsewhere an evergreen pot plant with a bark-like stem and many curving fronds and a small bookcase filled with paperbacks.

The door to the room on the right opened and a woman, younger than her husband, dressed with a touch of flamboyancy, stepped out. She stared with curiosity at the visitor.

‘Inspector Alvarez, Leila,' Macrone said.

‘Is something wrong?'

‘He thinks maybe you helped yourself to that pearl necklace you so admired at the jewellers.'

‘Do keep your schoolboy humour in check.' She turned to face Alvarez. ‘Inspector, if Frank asks if the security van we sometimes see in the village outside a bank is worth attacking, don't humour, just ignore him. Do come on in.'

The sitting room was furnished in minimal style. The lack of physical comfort, as well as of visual pleasure, was emphasised when Alvarez sat on a chair which seemed to be all bumps.

‘Señor, Señora,' he said, ‘as you will probably know, I am concerned in trying to understand the unfortunate death of Señor Picare.'

His wife gave no indication she had listened. Macrone said, ‘Then you're here now because you've been told he was after my wife?'

‘Frank!' she said sharply.

‘You think he won't have heard the latest gossip and is now wondering which version could be true, which malicious?'

‘Must you …?'

‘Well?' Frank Macrone looked at his wife.

‘Nothing.' She looked down at her feet, angry and flushed.

Alvarez brought to a stop what, he thought, might become a heated argument. ‘Señor, did you ever speak to Señor Picare about the nature of his behaviour towards your wife?'

‘I told him that if he went on pestering Leila, I would cut his pleasures short.'

‘Do you think he took your threat seriously?'

Macrone was about to answer when Leila interrupted him. ‘You need to understand what did happen, inspector, in case you wonder what's been going on. We'd met Neil at a friend's party and found it pleasant to be with him because he had a good sense of humour and both he and Frank had similar tastes when it came to music. Our friend had a machine playing all the time we were there and they both thought it wasn't music but a row.

‘A month or two later, we had an invite from Neil a day before Frank heard his father was seriously ill which meant he had to return to England immediately. I was downbeat because I knew Frank was going to be very upset because he and his father had always got on well together and, mea culpa, I decided to go to Neil's party hoping it would lighten life. When there, I made excuses for Frank's absence and Neil was very sympathetic. The next day, he asked if I'd heard how my father-in-law was, invited me to a meal to take my mind off my troubles. I knew his reputation, but he had seemed genuinely sympathetic, so I accepted, ready to defend myself. I need not have bothered. He drove me back from the restaurant after a very good meal, saw me safely inside, left.

‘He turned up again a couple of days later. I told him Frank's father was not responding to treatment, he suggested it would help me if I could take my mind off the troubles even for a short while and suggested a trip on his motor cruiser with a friend of his, a woman roughly of my age.

‘The next morning, I drove down to the port, parked, and found his motor cruiser. He helped me board, called to someone ashore to cast off. I asked where his friend was. He told me she'd had to call off at the last moment. I said then I was sorry, but I was going to do the same. He tried to persuade me by saying he had a very special packed lunch and there was a bottle of Krug in the refrigerator. I made it clear I'd prefer to return ashore. When I stepped off the gangplank onto the quayside, I met a friend and the way she looked and spoke made me certain she believed I'd returned from a trip with Neil, not just aborted one. As soon as I returned home, I rang Frank to say what had happened.'

‘Did you see Picare again?'

‘No. And the more I held him at two arms' length, the more eager he became. He phoned, sent flowers, even wrote a letter to assure me he sought friendship, nothing more, and was distressed I should think otherwise.'

‘Did you keep his letter, señora?'

‘Tore it up. Why should I keep it?'

‘It would have shown you were telling the truth,' Macrone pointed out.

She faced Alvarez. ‘You can't accept my word? You're wondering if he would not have continued pestering me unless he thought that before long it would be worth his while?'

‘Señora, having met and spoken to you, I do not need proof that you have spoken the truth.' He asked Macrone, ‘Señor, do you have any doubts about what the señora has told me?'

‘Of course I bloody don't. But it's your job to disbelieve anything you're told unless or until it can be proved to be the truth.'

‘To disbelieve only when there can be doubt and here there can be none. When your wife explained what had taken place, did you face Picare?'

‘I drove to his place and told him that if he ever approached her again, I'd make certain he didn't trouble another woman.'

‘You threatened to kill him?'

‘To castrate him.'

Small wonder there had been a furious row.

‘W
hat day is it today?' Salas asked.

Alvarez gazed down at his desk as he sought to find reason for the question.

‘It is Monday.'

‘Yes, señor'

‘My intention for asking is to remind you what day yesterday was.'

Alvarez wondered which of their minds was adrift. ‘Sunday, señor.'

‘That still holds no relevance for you?'

‘Not really.' What the hell are you on about? he wanted to ask.

‘Did you interview Señor Macrone yesterday?'

‘Yes, as ordered.'

‘I have received no report regarding it. My secretary has earlier rung your office three times without having the opportunity to speak to you.'

‘I wasn't here, señor …'

‘That is known as emphasising the obvious. Would you explain why you were not in your office and do so without introducing someone whom you had to meet because you thought he had important information for you, but it turned out he had none.'

‘I was just about to ring you when you rang me.'

‘To provide an explanation for your silence which now deserts your memory? Your report.'

‘Señora Macrone has spoken freely. Her husband had to return suddenly to England because of the illness of his father and as a result of this, she went on her own to one of Señor Picare's parties. She would never be called beautiful because not all her features are in harmony, but as is so often the case, her imperfections tend to be more attractive than—'

‘At the best of times, your judgments are suspect; when they concern the female race, they become solely a judgment on yourself. You will ignore all matters that are not directly relevant to the case.'

‘Señor Picare met Señora Macrone and became interested in her, particularly when her husband was forced to return to England. Picare employed the usual seduction techniques – sympathy, admiration, possibly even poetry – he then added the advantages which wealth permits: meals at luxury restaurants, small, but not necessarily cheap gifts, projected voyages on his privately owned motor cruiser. As you will know, when one normally eats
sobrasada
on a slice of
barra
and occasionally drinks cava,
Truffles à la maréchale
,
Homard thermidor
,
Poivres à l'impératrice
certain events become inevitable, people become irresistible …'

‘To a woman of honour, nothing offered by anyone other than her husband is irresistible. That you should consider otherwise is yet one more indication of the values you hold.'

The line became dead.

Alvarez replaced the receiver. The phone rang.

‘Inspector Alvarez,' Ángela Torres said, ‘I have been instructed to say you are to give me the details of your interview with Señor and Señora Macrone.'

He provided a bowdlerised report.

‘One moment.'

Several moments later, Salas said, ‘Have you yet not learned to question a witness efficiently and effectively?'

‘Yes, señor … Rather, no.'

‘You would like to provide a less ambiguous answer?'

‘No, I have not learned yet because yes, I have.'

‘You are mentally disturbed?'

‘As you have pointed out in the past, señor, a double negative—'

‘Were I granted the ability to retrace time, I would not take the risk of explaining a double negative to you and would forbid you, as I do now, to mention one. Your report is incomplete.'

‘I don't think it is, señor.'

‘You told Señorita Torres that because Macrone's wife was being pestered, he threatened Picare if this did not cease. You omitted to describe the nature of the threat. This should have been detailed.'

‘Señor, you asked Señorita to hear my report.'

‘Who naturally noticed the error.'

‘I decided that when truth can offend virtue, silence is golden.'

‘Truth is virtue, virtue cannot be offended by silence.'

‘Señorita Torres might have found the words used by Señor Macrone to be offensive.'

‘You have forgotten what he said?'

‘Macrone told Picare that if he bothered his wife one more time, he'd rip off his cojones.'

‘You understand the consequences?'

‘Picare might become a counter tenor.'

‘The kind of remark to be expected from you. Macrone becomes the second man whom we have reason to name a suspect because of his delivered intention to punish his wife's adulterer.'

‘Would-be adulterer, señor. There is no doubt that Leila Macrone utterly rejected Picare's advances.'

‘You have reason for such certainty?'

‘Having spoken to both her husband and her, there does not seem to be any need for proof.'

‘Once more, you force me to ask myself if you possess the ability required by your job. You clearly have failed to question Macrone as if he was a suspect, you have not demanded to know where he was when Picare drowned, questioned others if they saw him that morning, asked those who live by the Puig what they noted during the morning. Perhaps you have at least ascertained the make, model and colour of Macrone's car or cars?'

‘No, señor.'

‘That is something I should expect you to have done.'

‘If I thought Macrone was a man who had the character to carry out his threat, I would have done.'

‘You saw no reason to override your thoughts? You overlooked Picare's legacy of ten thousand pounds, wealth to a man who is penniless?'

‘On Marta's evidence, Picare was alive when Russell left Vista Bonita.'

‘The value of her evidence was proved negligible by the cook and—'

‘Rosalía.'

‘You wish me to note you can recall her name? Did you not judge her evidence as by far the more trustworthy?'

‘But taking everything into account, the fact is that Señor Russell is not well built or strong; I find it difficult to think he could seize Picare by the legs and drag him under the water with the necessary speed and force. Again, to commit a planned murder, one needs a strong, if perverted, character. Russell's character is just weak.'