A Shortcut to Paradise by Teresa Solana

Author:Teresa Solana
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Published: 2011-03-02T05:00:00+00:00

15

The news of Amadeu Cabestany’s alleged habits was splashed over the following day’s front pages and began to stress everyone out. First, Amadeu’s lawyer and his wife, who was already flat out on their sofa after downing potent tranquillizers, and, naturally, the prosecution, the judge responsible for the case and the police. The stress translated into a series of furious calls to the Director of the Model demanding he find out where the fuck – to quote verbatim – that macabre story had come from and how it had got out. The forensic declared there wasn’t the slightest sign of any cannibalistic practices on Marina Dolç’s corpse, and the fact that the population of Vic were adamant one of their ranks was a depraved cannibal had a reasonable enough explanation if one considered how an aspiring mosso had blurted out and kick-started the rumour, as more than a dozen eyewitnesses could confirm. Amadeu, who’d also glanced at the story in the paper before a disgruntled inmate took it and graphically indicated what he used the dailies for when going to the lavatory, thought the description of cannibal was a metaphor referring to his use of tradition and literary sources, which hardly made his day. It was fine to say he was inspired by his favourite authors but not that he devoured them like a cannibal, as the article suggested.

Everybody in the Model had seen Amadeu Cabestany’s photo on the front pages and it had created a real fuss. The director had shut himself away in his office at dawn and had ordered his minions to open an investigation to find the source of a rumour that, judging by the judge’s hysterical screams from the other end of the line, could cost him his career. Two hours later, his minions were unanimously agreed that all the evidence pointed to Paquito Expósito, a prisoner in the fifth gallery.

“Bring him to my office immediately,” spat out the director.

The director was aware that all that mess was his fault, and was very worried. If he had bitten his tongue, rather than rushing to ring the judge in order to impress her… But that was ancient history and perhaps there was a perfectly reasonable explanation. Anyway, he ruminated while waiting for Paquito, perhaps the cannibal story was true and he might get out of this shit almost unharmed. It was too much to believe that that bunch of brainless fools had invented the whole thing, and he was hoping Paquito Expósito would explain himself and help clear up the mystery.

“Come in, Paquito, sit down, please,” the director began, trying to be pleasant when the latter knocked on his door.

“Very sorry, Director,” responded Paquito limply. “I didn’t know what it was all about, except that I’d put my foot in it.”

Paquito Expósito had been in the Model five years. He was around fifty but looked ten years older. All his teeth were decayed and he was a former heroin addict inside for drug trafficking and the illegal possession of firearms.

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