“No.” Gina suddenly opened her eyes and her bitter tone surprised them all. “I’m sick of hearing that, Mama! We weren’t brother and sister. I. . I. . loved him.” Her mother tried to take her hand but she shook her off and turned to the inspector more decisively. “And yes, we drank, we put on music. We made pizzas in the kitchen. It’s not that we did anything special, but we were together. That was what was special.”
He let her speak without interrupting and gestured to his companion not to say anything.
“Then Aleix arrived. And we had dinner. And we drank more. And we listened to more music. Like we had so many times. We talked about exams, Dublin, the notches on Aleix’s bedpost. It had been a while since all three of us had been together. Like before.”
Regina’s gesture of surprise didn’t pass Héctor unnoticed. It was momentary, a simple arching of the eyebrows, but it was there. Gina continued, ever faster.
“Then a song came on that we liked and we started dancing like crazy, and singing loudly. At least Aleix and I did, because Marc stopped immediately and sat back down. But we kept dancing. It was a party, wasn’t it? We told him so, but he wasn’t in the mood. . Aleix and I turned up the volume, I don’t remember what was playing. We were dancing for a while until suddenly Marc turned off the music.”
“Was he worried about something?”
“I don’t know. . He’d become very strange. More serious. I almost hadn’t seen him in the two months he’d been back. I was studying and everything, but he hardly called.”
“But-” Regina interrupted. Her daughter cut her off:
“And then Aleix said that if the party was over, he was going. They argued. And it pissed me off, because I was having a good time, like before. So when Aleix left I asked Marc what was going on.”
She paused and looked on the verge of breaking into tears. “He said, ‘You’ve drunk a lot, you’ll feel awful tomorrow’ or something like that, and it was true, I suppose, but I got angry and I went to his bed and I waited there for a while. . and, well, I vomited in the bathroom but I cleaned it all up and I felt cold all of a sudden and got into bed because the room was spinning and I was shivering.” Tears rolled down her cheeks but she didn’t brush them away. Her mother put her arm around her and this time Gina didn’t shy away from her touch. “And that was it. When I woke up, it had already happened.”
The girl took refuge in her mother’s arms, like a baby bird. Regina held her in her embrace and, turning to the inspector, said severely:
“I think that’s enough, don’t you? As you can see, my daughter has been badly affected by all this. I don’t want her to have to repeat the same story again and again.”
Héctor nodded and gave Leire a sideways glance. She didn’t know what he meant by that look, but she was sure that at that moment, protected by her mother, Gina wouldn’t tell them anything else. And although the girl’s tears appeared sincere, she’d noticed a certain relaxation in Gina’s posture after her mother’s last words. Leire was going to say something, but Regina beat her to it.
“I still remember how terrible the following morning was.” The spotlights were back on the principal actress, who was demanding to act her role.
Héctor kept up the game.
“How did you hear about what happened?”
“Glòria called me first thing in the morning to tell me. God! I couldn’t believe it. . And although she told me straight away that Gina was fine, that it was poor Marc who had. . Well, I wasn’t happy until I saw her.” She hugged her daughter even tighter.
“Of course,” agreed the inspector. “Had you been having a party at the Castells’ chalet?”
The woman smiled ironically.
“Calling it a party is an exaggeration, Inspector. Let’s leave it at a simple dinner with friends. Glòria is charming, and one of the most organized women I know, but parties aren’t exactly her thing.”
“Who was there?”
“There were seven of us: the Roviras, the Castells, my husband and I, and Enric’s brother, the monsignor. Well, and Natàlia, of course. The Castells’ adopted daughter,” she clarified.
“Did it end early?”
If Regina was surprised by the question, she showed no sign of it.
“Early? I don’t know what to tell you; to me the night went on forever. I haven’t been so bored since the last Turkish film Salvador took me to see. Imagine, the Roviras, who dedicate more time to blessing the meal than eating, because they believe enjoying food is a sin of gluttony or greed or something. And Glòria, who spent the whole dinner getting up to see if the fireworks were bothering the little one. I told her the Chinese have spent centuries playing with powder but she looked at me as if I were an idiot.”
Gina sighed with annoyance.
“Mama, don’t be nasty. Glòria isn’t that hysterical. And Natàlia is a darling. When I babysit she always goes to sleep straight away.” Turning to the inspector, she added, “My mother can’t bear Glòria because she’s still a size eight, and because she’s studying for a degree.”
“Gina, don’t talk rubbish. I’m very fond of Glòria; she’s been the best thing that could have happened to Enric: finding a wife.” If the comment was meant to be complimentary, her tone clearly expressed a certain scorn. “And I admire her organizational ability, but that doesn’t change the fact that the ‘party’ was a bore: my husband, Enric and the priest spoke at length and in detail about Catalonia’s disastrous position at present, the crisis, the lack of values. . To top it all, one can’t even have a drink with the controls they put on the road during the night of San Juan.” She said it as if this were Inspector Salgado’s direct responsibility.
“What time did you return?”
“It would have been around two when we arrived home. Salvador returns from a trip tomorrow. I’ll ask him; he pays much more attention to time than I do.”
While her mother was speaking, Gina rose and went looking for a tissue. Leire’s eyes followed her. The tears had stopped and in their place, for a moment, was something like satisfaction. Driven by an impulse, Leire rose and went over to the girl.
“Excuse me,” she said to her, “I have to take a tablet. Would you mind giving me a glass of water? I’ll go with you, no need to bring it.”
He feels a slap in his mouth, given with the back of the hand by the guy in front of him. It’s more humiliating than painful. A trickle of salty blood stains his lip.
“See what passes for answering?” the bald one says to him, moving away a little. “Come on, be a good boy and try another answer.”
The bald guy is so close to him that he feels his breath on his face. Warm air flecked with saliva. The other is behind him and has his vice-like arm around his shoulders. Rubén, sitting in the corner of the room, looks away.
It’s not the first time Aleix has been in this place: an old garage in Zona Franca where he’s been many times to score cocaine. Because of this, he’s let Rubén bring him here, never imagining that the other two would be inside waiting for him. He doesn’t even know their names: only that they are pissed off. And with reason. Aleix is sweating, and not only because of the heat. The first punch in the stomach leaves him breathless. Truly surprised, he opens his eyes. When he tries to explain himself he feels another blow, and another. And another. He doesn’t even try to escape the fat one; he tries to make his mind go blank. They don’t know that from an early age he had to tolerate so much pain that it doesn’t frighten him any more. He repeats to himself: this is a warning, a threat. They want the money, not to kill him or anything like that. But when the bald one stops after beating him for just enough time, he sees his face. The fucker is enjoying himself. And it’s then he panics: seeing those eyes injected with satisfaction, a hand resting on his cock like he’s going to masturbate. He guesses what he’s thinking as if his brow were transparent glass with his intentions written on the other side. He fixes his gaze on the lump that has formed in the bald one’s crotch and tries to transform the terror he feels into an ironic grimace. When the fat man gives him two more punches, he knows he’s succeeded and also welcomes the pain. It’s better than other things.