Sangre De Toro (Old Draft - Now Published!)

Chapter 26 - Gotcha

The call had been gruelling and had lasted two hours, and Rita had only talked for a few minutes. Unlike Heather, who was the face of the whole thing, she hadn't taken any questions, but leaving the chat she wondered if she'd just put a target on her back. Serial killers often followed police investigations into their crimes closely. Some, like BTK and the Zodiac even tried to involve themselves and 'help'.

Had he been watching?

Something told her he had.

'Can anyone confirm they can give me backup this weekend when I meet Lucia? Just in case of any safeguarding issues, she's 14.' Rita felt increasingly anxious at the meeting, and any guests the teenager could invite. She wondered if agreeing to see her was a mistake.

'Yeah, I'll come along and sit at the back somewhere. I don't think people assume I'm a cop,' Laurentia said, speaking Spanish with a strong Romanian accent. Only 7 years older than Lucia, she could be mistaken for a teenager depending how she dressed.

'Thanks, Laurentia.'

'As in... that Lucia? Wonder what she wants to talk to you about?' Mansouri was confused and spoke nervously as he rose from his black office swivel chair. Since their ill fated visit to Bonita Gutiérrez, he'd been avoiding her.

'Yeah, says she has some information about her mum she wants to tell me now she knows the truth.' Because of how she'd helped Pepelito, Rita guessed. Maybe Lucia thought she wasn't some typical uncaring cop.

Perhaps Lucia felt she could trust her.

'Considering her mum's feelings on all this, yeah, that'd make sense.'

'Yeah. Right, Jesus, Abdul, you coming to the plaza?' she said, getting up; hating the prospect of stepping foot there. She wouldn't be in the stands long, if at all, but she'd see and hear enough. The fury she felt, picturing the spectators paying for their tickets, was now tinged with fear.

Would the killer be there, watching?

'Yeah, let's get on it. Just gotta remember not to murder anyone ourselves,' Dominguez muttered.

'Sanchez wants to see me, see you there in a bit,' Mansouri said. Rita was glad of Jesus's presence as they walked out the door of the police station, heading down a narrow street in the direction of the ring.

'I hope my uncle's going to be all right. I told him to consider giving him to a sanctuary, if that prick harasses him again. The village cops won't take the threats seriously, they think it's a joke. Too bad it isn't anywhere near our jurisdiction.' Dominguez sighed. Rita felt horrific. Silvio was an old man. He'd willingly taken Pepelito, and adored him, she reminded herself. But he didn't ask for any of this.

'Probably wouldn't do him much good to move again but yeah, maybe they'd be more experienced with dealing with this intimidation,' Rita said quietly, feeling for her gun in her pocket.

'Maybe. I heard Castella bragging about his kills on the radio this morning. What did he say? 'I've got an unbroken record of killing every bull I've ever faced, and I'm not about to lose that record.'' As Dominguez spoke, Rita could picture it.

'Ugh. Pepelito just wants to live.'

'Yep. Going after him is a can of worms those guys don't wanna open.' Walking past her road, Rita gave a brief glance in the direction of her flat. She couldn't face going in and sorting it out. A cleaning company and some builders had given her a quote. The amount was eye watering, so she'd have to do most of it herself instead. She had another message from Heather.