Rita sat on the sofa between Dominguez and Alfonso, gulping down a glass of water and keeping an eye on Pepelito, who was lying near the television. After coaxing him back in, they'd managed to tie him loosely to the sofa so Alfonso could take a small piece of glass from his foot - and stop him leaving the living room.
'Tempted to ring Castella's helpline. Have some fun with the bastards given we both seem to be homeless as of now.' Dominguez’s tone was deceptively light. He spoke through gritted teeth.
'Don't you dare, Jesus, you know what he is,' she said, her stomach clenching at the thought.
'This app's untraceable. Might as well feed them some fake sightings, waste their time before my uncle replies.' He fiddled with something on his phone. Immediately, the speaker began playing loud paso doble music. Pepelito gave him a sorrowful, nervous stare.
'You're scaring him again!'
‘Oh, fuck. Fuck.’ Dominguez fumbled with the phone. The music stopped. Rita sighed in relief.
'Good news - Silvio says he'll bring his truck and pick us up from the bottom of your road. He's annoyed, and very confused. It'll take him a couple of hours, but he said he'd do it.' Pepelito stared at Dominguez with wary eyes, then went back to gulping water from the large bucket in the corner of the living room. Rita couldn't blame the animal, only those who terrified him. It hadn't been his fault.
'That works, he needs to get vaguely settled before such a journey,' Alfonso said, stroking her hair.
'Is he well enough to go?' she asked.
'It's not ideal but as long as he gets a chance to stop and have a drink. He'll be OK,' Alfonso said.
She glanced at her phone as another message from her mother appeared. 'Why don't you just give Maria one call to ask how she's doing? The police arrested your brother-in-law and kept him 5 hours!'
'That's what happens in murder investigations, suspects get arrested,' she wrote back, feeling nothing but cold stomach-churning fury. This time she sent the message, showing it to Alfonso. She felt safe with him. He didn't judge her. Her ex-husband always felt he had the right to tell her how to behave - and lecture her about her family. He'd always say she was too much. Too opinionated, too blunt and stubborn. When he was in a really bad mood - too fat and ugly.
'You prefer that cat to me,' he'd say when they had adopted Gloria from the rescue centre. Rita could still never forgive her ex-husband for rattling the chair to get her to jump off so he could sit down instead. It had been six months and Rita still missed Gloria more than anything in the world.
Dominguez was now holding out a packet of crisps he had bought earlier and trying to make friends with Pepelito. He clicked his tongue encouragingly. 'Hey, amigo.'
'Yeah, I'd...not do that,' Rita said. Pepelito walked towards him, tail swishing, and snatched the whole packet.
'Hey! Give that back!' Dominguez yanked the half-chewed packet away from the bull's mouth. Pepelito snatched at it again, his horn perilously close to Dominguez's stomach. Dominguez dodged the dangerous horns and lurched into Rita's side, knocking her arm and sloshing her water. He laughed in relief as the bull turned away.
'Damn, sorry, Rita,' Dominguez said, handing her a cloth to wipe up. 'I can't really get used to this arrangement.'
Rita was almost falling asleep between the two men when her phone vibrated again. Knowing who it was, she handed the phone to Alfonso without reading. How could she be 42, in a position of responsibility and still upset by her mum's words? He read it and shook his head.
'Typical uncaring policewoman? She doesn't know you,' he said, pulling her close beside him as she shut her eyes in his arms.
*
'Right, come on, you,' Alfonso said to Pepelito, as the three of them held the rope attached to the harness he was wearing. He was limping despite the dressing the vet had put on his foot, and shuffled nervously out of the doorway, avoiding the now upright but precariously balanced front door. Most of the broken glass and splinters had been swept up, and Rita had placed a tarpaulin to cover their way out.
Her police case files, photos and computer were out in the doorway along with her jewellery, some of her clothes and some toiletries, ready to take back to Alfonso's house until her flat was in a fit state to live in again. I'd better take the TV, she thought, but after Castella's unwelcome appearance and Pepelito's agitated reaction, she hadn't felt like turning it on since.
'Get him in first, then we can come back for the rest,' Alfonso said, as they led Pepelito the short distance down the road. She saw a light on in a window. Looking up, she saw a teenage girl who had clearly been crying. When their eyes met the girl mouthed 'Asesinos'. With a jolt to the stomach, Rita knew she thought they were taking Pepelito to Castella. She swallowed hard and carried on walking, taking a small cucumber from the bag of treats and feeding it to him.
'What's all this crap, Jesus?' Silvio said, getting out of his livestock truck. 'I've driven the best part of three hours. Your mum's not far from here. Why didn't you ask her? I'm an old man now. I don't have time for this shit.'
'Silvio,' Rita began as she reached the bottom of the road, feeling a jolt of sympathy for Dominguez. She wasn't the only one with a difficult family.
'Rita, what's going on, what's my nephew done this time,' Silvio said, his tone becoming far friendlier, more affectionate. Dominguez gave an awkward laugh. For some reason Silvio had taken a liking to her when she'd met him before.
'Thanks for coming up, we really need your help.' She clutched the rope tightly as Pepelito came trotting up beside her. He then hung back nervously. A very strange expression on his face, the old man looked at the bull and then back to her.
'We rescued him, he needs somewhere to go, and Jesus says you're a good person,' Rita said, her voice hesitant. She realised she was about to cry.
'Rescued him from where, how could he be rescued here?' Silvio said in confusion. He was right. This place was nowhere near any farms or slaughterhouses.
'He escaped from the plaza de toros,' Rita said, gesturing behind her in the direction of the awful place with her thumb. She looked towards the newly anxious Pepelito - maybe he understood, or was it that car in the distance? Alfonso was feeding him some fruit. Silvio gave her a look of distaste. He looked at Pepelito thoughtfully.
'Oh. Did he? Good for him. I've never liked that stuff. Bit of a rigged contest if you ask me, and the way they strut around so pleased with themselves like they've done something amazing, leaves a bad taste.' He took a cigarette packet out of his shirt pocket. He hadn't mentioned the reward. He probably didn't even know about it.
'I was telling Rita how you know all about cows. He'd be good for your two. She's been hiding him there for a week and he's completely trashed the house and kicked down most of her doors. I'm telling her he needs to be outside in a nice big field like the one at yours, this isn't a place for him.' Dominguez gave his uncle a pleading, despairing look.
'Well, I've only got Maribel now after Beatriz died last month. The old girl is so lonely, she could do with a companion.' Silvio sighed. He took a drag on his cigarette. Rita looked behind her. The teenage girl was walking towards them with tears in her eyes. She was filming on her phone. With a weird intellectual curiosity, Rita half wondered if she was about to get bombarded with hateful comments from millions of people she didn't know.
'Yeah. I'll take him. I'll get the ramp down so we can get him in.' Rita patted Pepelito's side. Alfonso had taken his bandage off while she was sleeping, revealing several huge, long stitched up scars. She couldn't look at them without wanting to cry.
She really was going to miss him.
'Enjoy your two million, you fucking murderers,' the girl yelled from behind them. Something hit Rita in the back. She turned around and saw a small stone land on the ground.
'He trusts you but you've killed him. I wanted him to live, we all did!' A second pebble fell short, landed on the pavement.
'You're a cop. All cops are bastards!' the girl sobbed, disappearing into the night. Wishing she could set the record straight, Rita gulped back tears and began walking the hundred metres back to her flat to fetch her valuables. She'd never feared the dark or walking alone. But the shadows seemed menacing tonight, and Caroline McKenzie's murder plagued her thoughts.
Had Castella killed her?
While he lacked the convictions to prove his criminal history, everything she knew about the man told her he was more than capable of taking human life. But Dominguez was right. The timing and choice of victim seemed unlikely.
But if not him - who?
Rita took the bags full of her stuff out of the doorway and pushed Dominguez's suitcase into the street. Most of the plastic and straw was now in the bins outside, but not all of it. She supposed she should tidy it up or try to conceal it but it was such a huge job. After moving some stuff, her and Alfonso would be back later for her car. That would make it easier.
'We got him in,' Dominguez said as he headed up to grab his suitcase. 'He's got water and some straw, but Silvio reckons we ought to go now so he's not in there too long.'
Rita walked over round the back of Silvio's truck. Pepelito had stuck his nose out the window. He raised his head without much difficulty, but looked confused and sad. She took out the bag of treats and fed him a sweet pepper. Alfonso put his arm round her.
'I've given Silvio the meds he needs to have for the next week, he said he's got some of that stuff at home too, but he might not need much more after a couple of weeks. He's so much more active now, isn't he,' Alfonso said, holding her close as she tried not to cry.
'We'll have to go visit him,' she said, patting Pepelito's nose through the bars. Tearing herself away, she walked over to Silvio and Dominguez.
'You coming with us, Jesus? How you getting to work tomorrow?' she said.
'I'll go back with Silvio; he wants some help getting him in the field. Got the day off tomorrow supposedly, so I could move, although that's now fallen through.' Dominguez rolled his eyes. Good luck. They both knew you could never rely on it being an actual day off. She tried to put thoughts about Caroline at the back of her mind. She was off the case; she had to let it go.
'I'll drive round and pick you up in the afternoon,' Rita said. Turning to Silvio, she said, 'Look after him, he does get scared.'
'Oh, the old girl will calm him down, nothing fazes her. Not much fear in my life, either; nothing's killed me yet, though a rooster came close once,' he said.
Rita smiled. 'He'll be happy there.'
Silvio grinned. 'Safe, too. If anyone comes, I've got some angry geese.'
AN: do you think Pepelito will be all right with this guy?
Dedicated to Dominique Arizmendi, an anti-corrida activist who's helped me a lot with this story.
The next part is quite gory just to warn you all...