4

      Amaia was looking out of the window as the room started to fill up behind her. As she heard the scraping of chairs and the murmur of conversations she put her hands against the glass, pearly with microscopic drops of breath. The cold left no doubt that it was still winter outside and Pamplona looked damp and grey on that February evening as the light fled rapidly towards darkness. The gesture filled her with nostalgia for a summer that was so distant it seemed to belong to another world, a universe of light and warmth where dead girls would never be found abandoned on a river’s icy bank.

      Jonan appeared at her side, offering her a cup of milky coffee. She thanked him with a smile and held it in both hands, hoping in vain that the warmth from the cup would transfer to her frozen fingers. She sat down and waited while Montes closed the door and the general murmur abated.

      ‘Fermín?’ said Amaia, inviting Inspector Montes to start things off.

      ‘I’ve been to Elizondo to talk to the girls’ parents and the shepherd who found Carla Huarte’s body. Nothing from the parents. Carla’s say that they didn’t like their daughter’s friends, that they went out a lot and got drunk, and they are convinced her boyfriend did it. One important detail: they didn’t report her missing until the fourth of January, bearing in mind that the girl left the house on the thirty-first … Their explanation is that the girl turned eighteen on the first and they thought she’d left home like she’d often threatened to do. It was only after they contacted her friends that they realised she hadn’t been seen for days.

      ‘Ainhoa Elizasu’s parents are in complete shock and are here in Pamplona at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, waiting for the body to be released once the autopsy’s taken place. The girl was wonderful and they don’t understand how someone could have done this to their daughter. The brother hasn’t been much help either; he blames himself for not having said anything sooner. And her friends from Elizondo say that they were at one of their houses first and then they went for a wander around town. Ainhoa suddenly realised what time it was and had to run; nobody went with her to the bus stop because it was very close to where they were. They don’t remember being approached by anyone suspicious, they didn’t argue with anyone, and Ainhoa didn’t have a boyfriend and nor was she messing around with anyone. The most interesting thing was talking to the shepherd, José Miguel Arakama, who’s a real character. He’s sticking to his initial statement, but the most important thing is something he remembered days later, a detail he didn’t think was important at the time because it didn’t seem to be at all related to the discovery of the body.’

      ‘Are you going to tell us then?’ interrupted Amaia impatiently.

      ‘He was telling me that a lot of prostitutes hang around that area and leave it in a real mess, with cigarette butts, empty cans, used condoms and even knickers and bras lying around, when he happened to mention that one day one of them left a pair of brand-new red party shoes there.’

      ‘The description matches the ones that Carla Huarte was wearing on New Year’s Eve, and they weren’t found with the body,’ pointed out Jonan.

      ‘And that’s not all. He’s sure that it was New Year’s Day that he saw them; he was working that day and, although he didn’t take the sheep down to drink there, he saw the shoes clearly. In his own words, it looked as if someone had left them like that deliberately, like when you go to bed or for a swim in the river,’ he said, reading from his notes.

      ‘But didn’t they find Carla’s shoes when her body was discovered?’ asked Amaia, looking at the report.

      ‘Someone had taken them,’ clarified Jonan.

      ‘It seems that the killer left the shoes behind on purpose to mark the area, so it wouldn’t have been him,’ said Montes, who considered this idea for a moment and then continued, ‘Other than that, we know both girls were students at the high school in Lekaroz and, even if they knew one another by sight, which is fairly likely, they weren’t close: different ages, different friends … Carla Huarte lived in the Antxaborda neighbourhood. You must know it, Salazar,’ Amaia nodded, ‘and Ainhoa lived in the neighbouring town.’

      Montes leant over his notes and Amaia noticed his hair was covered in an oily substance.

      ‘What have you put in your hair, Montes?’

      ‘It’s brilliantine,’ he said, running his hand over the back of his neck, ‘they put it on at the barber’s. Can we continue?’

      ‘Of course.’

      ‘Right, well there’s not much more at the moment. What have you got?’

      ‘We’ve been speaking to the boyfriend,’ Amaia replied, ‘and he’s told us some very interesting things, such as his girlfriend liked rough sex with scratching and love bites and stuff. This has been confirmed by Carla’s girlfriends, with whom she liked to share her sex life in explicit detail, explicit being the operative word here. That would explain the scratches and the love bite on her chest. He’s sticking to his earlier statements; the girl was really feeling the effects of the drugs she’d taken and she became literally paranoid. It’s in line with the toxicology report. He also told us that Carla Huarte normally shaved her pubic hair off, which would explain why there was no trace of it at the scene.’

      ‘Chief, we’ve got the photos of the crime scene where Carla Huarte was found.’

      Jonan spread them out on the table and everyone leaned in around Amaia to see them. Carla’s body had turned up in an area where the river tended to flood. Her red party dress and her underwear, which was also red, appeared to have been slashed from her chest down to her groin. The cord with which she’d been strangled wasn’t visible in the photo due to the swelling of her neck. Something semi-transparent was hanging from one of her legs. Amaia initially thought it was skin but then identified it as the remains of Carla’s knickers.

      ‘She’s quite well preserved given that she spent five days out in the open,’ observed one of the technicians. ‘It must be due to the cold: it didn’t get above six degrees during the day that week and the temperature dropped below zero for several nights.’

      ‘Look at the position of her hands,’ said Jonan, ‘they’re turned upwards, like Ainhoa Elizasu’s.’

      ‘For New Year’s Eve, Carla chose a short, red, strappy dress and a white jacket made of some kind of plush fabric which hasn’t been found,’ read Amaia. ‘The murderer tore her clothing from the neckline to the hem, separating the underwear and the two parts of the dress so they lay to either side. An irregular shaped piece of skin and flesh, about ten centimetres square, is missing from the pubic area.’

      ‘If the murderer left one of those txantxigorris on Carla’s pubic mound, it would explain why the vermin only bit her there.’

      ‘And why didn’t they bite Ainhoa?’ asked Montes.

      ‘There wasn’t time,’ replied Dr San Martín as he entered the room. ‘Sorry I’m late, Inspector,’ he said, taking a seat.

      ‘And fuck the rest of us,’ murmured Montes.

      ‘Animals come down to drink at first light; unlike the first girl, she was there for barely a couple of hours. I’ve brought the autopsy report and a lot of news. The two girls died exactly the same way, strangled with a cord that was pulled tight with extraordinary force. Neither of them defended themselves. Both girls’ clothes were slashed with a very sharp object that produced superficial cuts on the skin of their chests and abdomens. Ainhoa’s pubic hair was shaved off, probably using the same sharp object, and sprinkled around the body. A small, sweet cake was left on her pubic mound.’

      ‘A txantxigorri,’ commented Amaia, ‘it’s a typical local