Free The Ignorance of Blood by Robert Wilson Page A

unprecedented,’ said Zorrita. ‘Do Opus Dei have an Improvised Explosive Device division?’
The two men smiled at each other.
‘What we do know from our suspects in custody and other inquiries is that Arenas's motivation was not his Catholic beliefs,’ said Falcón. ‘The Hen-Wee spoke from his heart.’
‘And César Benito was in construction,’ said Zorrita.
‘Where there's always large amounts of black money, which can be hidden away in the offshore world.’
‘But you're not getting anywhere by following the money,’ said Zorrita.
‘Only that there's undoubtedly money-laundering involved and that both men were well set up in property in the Costa del Sol.’
‘The Russian mafia,’ said Zorrita. ‘I know it's a knee-jerk reaction when you hear the words “money-laundering” and “Costa del Sol” in the same sentence, but after the recent Marbella town council scandal…’
Falcón nodded.
‘And you think they're going to be easier to penetrate than the offshore world?’ said Zorrita.
‘Let's just take a look at the violence,’ said Falcón, holding up a finger. ‘In that period around the 6th June bombing there were five expressions of violence. The first was the murder of Tateb Hassani, who was vital to the conspiracy for his drafting in Arabic script of the extremists' plans for taking over Andalucía. He was found on the Seville dump, poisoned and mutilated, on the morning of the explosion. Murdered because a) he knew too much, b) he would always be a vulnerable point to the conspiracy and c) it got everybody's hands dirty. The second expression of violence was the bomb itself which, as I said, was designed to point the finger at Muslim extremism whilst increasing the prestige of Fuerza Andalucía, making them the preferred partners of the ruling Partido Popular.’
‘The third, presumably, was Esteban Calderón's murder of his wife,’ said Zorrita, ‘which derailed the investigation into the Seville bombing.’
‘And four and five were the executions of Lucrecio Arenas and César Benito,’ said Falcón. ‘They had to be killed once we'd caught the other half of the conspiracy, because there were direct links between them. It would only be a matter of time before Arenas and Benito gave up the bombers they had employed.’
‘So there's a clear motive in every case.’
‘Except Calderón,’ said Falcón.
‘He was beating her, that was clear, and he's never denied it,’ said Zorrita. ‘If he didn't kill her, then why didn't he just call the police when he discovered her dead body in theirapartment? Why did he try to dispose of her body in the river?’
‘He made a serious error of judgement.’
‘You're telling me.’
‘Another angle,’ said Falcón. ‘What was the worst thing that could have happened to our investigation of the Seville bombing?’
‘I agree, losing Calderón at that stage was a disaster for you.’
‘He was at the top of his game,’ said Falcón. ‘Giving good direction. Keeping the media away from my squad, the counter-terrorism guys and the CNI. If you were at the zenith of your career, would you choose that moment to murder your wife?’
‘He chose that moment to start abusing her.’
‘And that was important.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I think that when Marisa Moreno saw Inés in the Murillo Gardens she noticed somehow that she was being abused,’ said Falcón. ‘I've just been speaking to her, getting her family background. Her natural mother “disappeared” in Cuba. Her attitude to her dead father was not exactly respectful. He was, like Calderón, an inveterate womanizer. She had more time for her Sevillana stepmother than she did for him.’
‘This isn't going to stand up anywhere near a court, Javier.’
‘I know; all I'm trying to do here is find weaknesses. The only killing about which there's a very slight doubt in my mind is that of Inés.’
‘But not in my mind, Javier.’
‘Two hours after I'd been to see Marisa this afternoon I got an