Free The Butcher Beyond by Sally Spencer Page A

hazarded.
    â€˜You see, that is where I think you are you wrong,’ the Mayor replied. ‘The way I imagine it, the friend would shrug and say, “Oh well, we have murders in this country, too, and not all of them are solved, either.” But let us now move to the other possible scenario, the one in which the police have done all they could to track down the killer.’
    â€˜And have they caught him, in this scenario?’
    â€˜Perhaps they have, and perhaps they haven’t. It really doesn’t affect the argument. “What was your holiday like?” the friend asks. “Dreadful,” replies the visitor. “There were police all over the place. I was questioned twice myself, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. We couldn’t get decent service in the restaurants because all the waiters were continually being interrogated by the law. It was impossible to get a taxi half the time, for much the same reason. There were queues in the shops, and if anything broke down in the hotel you had to wait forever to get it fixed. I certainly won’t be going back there again.” And his friend says, “I don’t think I’ll be going there, either.” In other words, in an attempt to restore our good name, we may be doing no more than blackening it even further.’
    â€˜But—’
    â€˜As I see it, it is all a question of deciding which course of action will damage us the least.’
    â€˜There is a third alternative,’ López said tentatively.
    â€˜And what might that be?’
    â€˜I have spent the morning looking through my records, and have found a man who could have committed the murder – or could certainly be made
to look as if
he had committed it.’
    â€˜And who is this man?’
    â€˜He is of no consequence in himself. We suspect that he is a radical. His brother is already in gaol for his anti-state activities. It will not be too difficult to construct a case against him.’
    For a moment, Durán looked tempted. Then he shook his huge, fat head. ‘Arresting someone will only keep the case alive in other people’s minds,’ he said. ‘It would be far better to let it simply fade away.’
    â€˜But we must consider the reputation of the Guardia Civil!’ Captain López protested.
    Durán raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘The reputation of the Guardia Civil?’ he repeated. ‘Or your own
personal
reputation?’
    â€˜They are the same thing.’
    â€˜No, they’re not,’ the Mayor contradicted him. ‘You are answerable to your Captain-General. As far as you are concerned, he is a giant whose opinion of you can make or break your career. True?’
    â€˜I would not put it quite like that.’
    â€˜Then you’re a fool, because that is the way things are. But consider this; while you must gaze up at your Captain-General, there are others who are powerful enough to look him squarely in the eye. A provincial governor is one example which comes immediately to mind. And in a few weeks’ time,
I
will be the civil governor of
this
province – which just happens to be the one in which you work.’
    There was a knock on the door, and the servant entered.
    â€˜Yes?’ Durán said, bad-temperedly.
    â€˜Your bitch is about to give birth, Your Excellency. You said you wanted to see it.’
    â€˜Quite right,’ the
Alcalde
agreed. ‘We should always take the opportunity to observe the miracles of nature.’ With some considerable difficulty, he raised himself from his chair and waddled over to the door. ‘Wait here,’ he said to López, almost as an afterthought.
    The Captain did not move from the spot on which he was standing until he was sure the Mayor had left the building, but then he stepped quickly over to the desk. The
Alcalde
’s papers and official documents were spread across the surface in a haphazard manner, but even so,