Sangre De Toro (Old Draft - Now Published!)

Chapter 22 - Sonia (part 2)

Jorge lived on the sixth floor of a run down tower block. The building looked as though it was rarely if ever cleaned or maintained. The floor stank of piss and the lift had broken down. There was graffiti on the walls though nothing artistic, tags, scrawled phone numbers, pictures of cocks.

'What do you want?' he said nervously, opening the door. Peeking in, Rita noticed that he couldn't open it fully because of all the piles of newspapers and books inside.

'I'm sorry to bother you. We want to speak to you about Sonia Gutiérrez,' Rita said. Instantly the man's expression changed. His face was frightened. He had washed and showered but had an untidy beard and his tracksuit top had stains on it.

'I didn't do it, I'd never hurt any of the girls,' he said, in a shaky voice.

'I know,' Rita said. 'We're hoping we can catch the person who did.'

'I liked her, she was nice,' the man said miserably, opening the door. Mansouri and Rita stepped into the tiny bit of floor space.

'We're here because you knew Sonia. Would you be able to tell me anything about her?' Looking around, she could see why the man paid sex workers. Had his life gone downhill to this level after he had been a suspect, or was it always like this?

'Sonia was nice, I used to see her every week, sometimes twice a week if I had extra money, it was like she was my girlfriend,' Jorge said sadly. He had difficulty speaking, and stammered and sucked his teeth.

Swallowing, he moved half of a pile of newspapers balanced on an old chair onto the floor, so he could sit down. 'I went to her funeral.'

'Tell me about her, you said she acted like your girlfriend, did she tell you much about her life outside seeing you,' Rita said. Mansouri looked uneasy, embarrassed.

'She told me she had three kids. She told me...'

He thought for a moment. He obviously didn't get to talk to people very often. 'She told me about a rich Italian guy who paid for her to go on holiday to Venice with him. I'd have liked to take her to Venice.'

'What was his name?'

'Marco something,' Jorge said. Rita looked at her notes. The Italian had been questioned at the time but had a solid alibi. He had since died.

'Did Sonia ever mention a woman called Caroline McKenzie? A businesswoman from Scotland?' It was a long shot. Jorge shrugged.

'I don't know. No. Who was she?'

'She was murdered about ten days ago, and the reason we're speaking to you today is because we believe she was killed by the same person who killed Sonia,' Rita said. Jorge looked shocked. His mouth opened.

'I didn't do it, you don't think I did it, do you,' he stuttered, looking as if he was about to cry. Rita shook her head.

'No we don't, but just for our records, we'd like you to confirm where you were between 17:00 and 19:00 on Saturday the 16th of April,' Mansouri said. Caroline's estimated time of death.

'Two weeks ago? I - I was with one of the girls, a Nigerian lady, she said her name was Serena, it was the first time I have been able to pay in months but my benefit money came through on time and my mum gave me some extra so I thought - thought I'd have, you know, a treat,' Jorge said, looking embarrassed and sad. He couldn't be a serious suspect in Caroline's murder; he would have stood out like a sore thumb in the expensive hotel where she was found.

'Am I in trouble?' he gulped. Mansouri shook his head.

'This is very important, Jorge. Did Sonia ever mention any enemies, anyone who might have wanted to hurt her?' Rita said gently, looking into his eyes. Nobody had asked him this before.

After a minute of thinking, he said, 'That stuff she used to tell me about, that's dangerous, all that. I wanted her to stop doing it.'

'What stuff?' Rita said.

'Protests. She used to go on protests a lot. She said she wanted to make a better world for her kids than what she'd grown up in. I told you she was nice. But it's dangerous. You can get in trouble, you can get arrested.' Sonia had been at the bottom of society but she had cared, cared so much.

Maybe she'd lost her life for it.

'Did she mention anything in particular?' The prostitutes he saw were providing more than just sex for him. She doubted he had friends that he didn't have to pay for. The thought was so desperately sad. It was lucky for him that Sonia had been there.

'Yeah, she told me someone tried beating her up.' Jorge hesitated.

'Go on.'

'She used to go and stand outside the plaza de toros with a poster of a dead bull. But why would she want to do that, it sounds so horrible?' Jorge stared around, lost and confused. Rita's chest tightened as she recalled her phone calls with Heather.

That sick bastard with his darts.

There was no doubt now.

'It wasn't horrible. Sounds like she wanted to wake up people's conscience.' Rita spoke firmly.

'What happened?' Mansouri said.

'She said someone going in grabbed her and threw her against a wall and started punching her, then some guy got him off her. One of her kids was there, the youngest, that's what made her the most upset,' Jorge swallowed, looking disturbed and frightened by his story.

'Did she report it to the police?' Mansouri said. What do you think, Rita thought, flipping through her file. This hadn't come up when Jorge was questioned previously. The police had only seen him as a suspect, not a witness – a weirdo with mental health problems who found companionship with sex workers like Sonia.

In reality, he was another victim.

'No, she said they wouldn't care. It was, like, three weeks before she died, and when she told me about it, that was the last time I saw her, I had to pay a huge bill. I didn't have the money.' Jorge picked up a filthy mug of coffee from under a pile of magazines and turned it over in his hands, staring at the police officers anxiously.

'Did she say anything about what this man looked like, or anything like that?' Jorge thought for a few moments after Mansouri asked the question.

'She told me, he'd said if he saw her there again, he'd kill her.' Jorge gulped. The way Sonia had been uncared for in death, the contempt with which police had treated the family, made her murder even more horrific.

'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I don't remember any more. It was a long while ago. I liked Sonia. I wished she really was my girlfriend.' Rita put a hand on Jorge's back.

'You've been very helpful,' she said.

'Are you going to get him?' Jorge said.

'I hope so.'

*

As soon as Rita was out of the tower block, she composed an email to Heather on her phone.

'Hi, Heather. Please call me ASAP. We're looking for the same killer.'

AN: at least he didn't end up going to prison :(

No dedication this time but thanks so much to everyone for reading this far xx