The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson

would suggest that the man was horrified by what had been done to him as well as what he was being forced to watch,’ said Falcón.
    ‘I’d go along with that,’ said Calderón, unconsciously fingering his eyelids. ‘Any thoughts on what the killer showed him?’
    Ramírez shook his head. No room for that sort of conjecture in his hard cranium.
    ‘I think we only know our own worst nightmares, not those of others,’ said Falcón, trying not to be patronizing.
    ‘Yes, I hate rats,’ said Calderón cheerfully.
    ‘My wife can’t be in the same room as a spider,’ said Ramírez, ‘ … even if it’s on television.’
    The two men laughed.
    ‘This is something a little stronger than a phobia,’ said Falcón, stuck in the schoolmaster role. ‘And conjecture isn’t going to help us right now, we need to concentrate more on motive.’
    ‘Motive,’ said Calderón, nodding the task into himself. ‘You’ve spoken to Sra Jiménez?’
    ‘She gave me her motive for killing her husband or having him killed,’ said Falcón. ‘Their marriage was not successful, she had a lover, and she and the children would inherit everything.’
    ‘The lover,’ said Calderón, ‘did you speak to him?’
    ‘We did, because he was recorded as entering the Edificio Presidente about half an hour before Raúl Jiménez was murdered. He’s also a lecturer in biochemistry at the university.’
    ‘Opportunity and expertise,’ said Calderón.
    ‘As well as access to chloroform and lab instruments,’ said Ramírez, so that Calderón had to check him for irony or stupidity.
    ‘So?’ asked Calderón, hands open, waiting for the obvious.
    Falcón gave him the bad news that Lucena was on his way up to Marciano Ruíz’s apartment on the eighth floor.
    ‘I know that name,’ said Calderón. ‘Isn’t he a theatre director?’
    ‘And a well-known mariquita,’ finished Ramírez.
    ‘I don’t understand,’ said Calderón.
    ‘He was fucking them both,’ said Ramírez. ‘He said he was fucking her because she reminded him of his mother.’
    ‘What’s all this about?’
    ‘Lucena was trying to offend Inspector Ramírez,’ said Falcón.
    ‘But not you,’ said Calderón smoothly. ‘Are you going to arrest him?’
    ‘First of all, I don’t think these people are stupid enough to walk into the security cameras … ‘
    ‘Unless they’re being very intelligent and subtle about it,’ said Calderón. ‘For instance, we never see the lover in the Familia Jiménez movie, do we? We only see his address.’
    ‘You’re forgetting the prostitute, Eloisa Gómez,’ said Falcón. ‘If Lucena was the killer he would have been in the apartment, filming her having sex with Raúl Jiménez as we saw on the movie. The girl was taped leaving the building at three minutes past one and was back on the Alameda at one-thirty. Basilio Lucena was still in the Hotel Colón with Sra Jiménez. I’ve worked on the timings to see if it’s still possible, and it is, but highly improbable.’
    ‘Well, that was nearly exciting,’ said Calderón. ‘When did Lucena leave the building?’
    ‘No record,’ said Falcón. ‘He says he left in the morning with Marciano Ruíz.’
    ‘Why no record?’
    ‘The camera links in the garage had been cut,’ said Ramírez, which was news to Falcón. ‘According to the Policía Científica they were severed with pliers.’
    ‘So that was the way in?’ asked Calderón, trying to get through to more interesting information.
    ‘It was definitely the way out,’ said Falcón. ‘The problem, though, was not just to get into the building without being seen, but to get into the apartment as well. Raúl Jiménez was very security conscious. He always locked his door, which needed five turns of the key — and that was confirmed by the prostitute, who heard him while she was waiting for the lift.’
    ‘So how did the killer get in?’
    Falcón gave him the theory of the lifting gear on the back of the Mudanzas