Page 19 of His Worst Crime

“Hi Ramon,” Àgata stepped forward, kissing him on both cheeks. She was a small fit woman with short-cropped dark hair and John-Lennon-style glasses. “We had a few problems with some homophobic guests of Caroline’s,”

“Oh no, what happened?”

“Nothing too scandalous,” she replied. “But at the wedding, some of those drunk old boys felt it was their duty to try and ‘turn’ a couple of lesbians. We decided we wouldn’t stay for the after-wedding breakfast, so as not to distract from Caroline’s big day. We left early this morning, claiming we had an emergency at the stables.”

“Have we?” Carme asked.

“What?”

“Got an emergency at the stables?”

“Well, Estel—“

“Because I see you and David are now sharing clothes, something must have gone down.”

“Ah, no,” he laughed, but the heat in his face told him he was blushing. “I came from a party at Jaume’s yesterday in my good clothes, and ended up staying with Estel in the box. So my clothes got rather dirty. David’s lent me some of his.”

“Ah,” Carme responded, a twinkle in her eye. “Nothing to do with due diligence?”

“What—?” Ramon started.

“Psst, Carme!” Àgata cut in, but Carme kept on:

“Because Àgata almost crashed our car into the gatepost when we drove in. She said she saw two naked men sword-fighting in the window of David’s room. Damn, I missed it myself.”

“Very funny,” Ramon growled. “We weren’t expecting you back till this afternoon.”

“We realized that,” Carme chuckled. “I’m not questioning your Interpol techniques—I know you have to get inside him somehow, I just didn’t realize that was a police-approved method.”

“Only for the hardest cases!“ Àgata giggled.

“Don’t you want to hear about my horse? Estel’s out of danger, thank you for asking.”

Carme’s face changed. “It was just a cut, wasn’t it?”

“No, it developed into cellulitus. But we caught it fast. I had Ernest come over a couple of times. The vet? We found his number in your agenda. He just left, about an hour ago, in fact.”

“Poor Estel! How is he?”

“He had quite a swollen leg for a night, couldn’t stand. But the antibiotics seem to have done their work. We’re walking him again. Two weeks, Ernest thinks, and he should be right as rain.”

“Well, come on. Let’s go and look at him.”

Where a horse’s health was in question, Carme’s whole attitude changed. The horse was her first concern. Ramon hoped they would find David in the box with Estel, but he was nowhere to be seen. After they had looked at Estel and reassured Carme that he was in fact on the mend, Ramon went looking for David. But after a full search of the stables, he couldn’t find him. He even slipped through the hole in the fence and down to the pond where they had first kissed. But he wasn’t there either. The pond bank felt lonely on his own, without David, as if its spirit had been sucked away. Eventually he gave up. Returning to the stables, he found Carme doing the rounds of the horses, checking each one in person, Àgata in tow.

“Come on, Carme, this was supposed to be your weekend off. Go home and enjoy what’s left of it with Àgata. Maria’s got it all covered.”

Àgata made a face at him in thanks.

“Yes, we’re off. I just wanted to check in on all the animals. Then we’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.”

“He’s disappeared. Any idea where he might be?”

Carme shrugged. “It’s his day off. He doesn’t have to be here.”

“Yeah, mine too. I should go then. I’ll come and check on Estel tomorrow before work.”

He kissed the women goodbye and walked off. He wished David had stuck around to talk at least. The way their lovemaking had been interrupted like that felt excruciating. He didn’t even have a number for him and didn’t dare to ask Carme for it. She would be scathing in her ridicule. Then there was the fact that from a legal standpoint, as David’s employer, she probably wasn’t allowed to give it out, even—or especially—to an off-duty policeman, and a horny one at that. He decided to pick up his clothes from David’s room and leave him a note.