The Angel's Game (The Cemetery of Forgotten 2)

Grandes nodded.

“Quite dead. Someone had amused himself by pulling out the man’s eyes and cutting out his tongue with a pair of scissors. The pathologist believes he died by choking on his own blood about half an hour later.”

I felt I needed air. Grandes was walking around. He stopped behind my back and I heard him light a cigarette.

“How did you get that bruise? It looks recent.”

“I slipped in the rain and hit the back of my neck.”

“Don’t treat me like an idiot, Martín. It’s not advisable. Would you rather I left you for a while with Marcos and Castelo, to see if they can teach you some manners?”

“All right. Someone hit me.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

“This conversation is beginning to bore me, Martín.”

“Well, just imagine what it’s doing to me.”

Grandes sat down in front of me again and offered a conciliatory smile.

“Surely you don’t believe I had anything to do with the death of that man?”

“No, Martín, I don’t. What I do believe is that you’re not telling me the truth and that somehow the death of that poor wretch is related to your visit. Like the death of Barrido and Escobillas.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Call it a hunch.”

“I’ve already told you I don’t know anything.”

“And I’ve already warned you not to take me for an idiot, Martín. Marcos and Castelo are out there waiting for an opportunity to have a private conversation with you. Is that what you want?”

“No.”

“Then help me get you out of this so that I can send you home before your sheets get cold.”

“What do you want to hear?”

“The truth, for example.”

I pushed the chair back and stood up, exasperated. I was cold and my head felt as if it were going to burst. I began to walk round the table in circles, spitting out the words as if they were stones.

“The truth? I’ll tell you the truth. The truth is I don’t know what the truth is. I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know why I went to see Roures or Salvador, I don’t know what I’m looking for or what is happening to me. That’s the truth.”

Grandes watched me stoically.

“Stop walking in circles and sit down. You’re making me dizzy.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Martín, you’re not telling me anything. All I’m asking you to do is to help me so that I can help you.”

“You wouldn’t be able to help me even if you wanted to.”

“Then who can?”