Spanish Lies by Mark Harrison

Author:Mark Harrison [Harrison, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime fiction
Publisher: Caffeine Nights Publishing
Published: 2012-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

‘You really enjoyed that, didn’t you?’ Mariela said as we left the town hall.

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ I protested.

Mariela snorted. ‘And where did you get all that stuff about planning law, technical reports and General Plans?’

‘It always pays to prepare, Mariela.’ I adopted a professorial tone. ‘That way you can ask the right questions and know the answers before they are given; a distinct advantage when dealing with slippery customers like Sanchez. I spent a couple of hours on the internet last night. There’s an organisation here in Valencia called Abusos Urbanisticos No – AUN – they’ve been campaigning for years against corruption and injustice caused by Valencia’s planning laws. They’ve even taken cases to the European Parliament. Their web site contains a detailed explanation of the most common forms of abuse and there are detailed case studies, including one about the situation here in Beniforell.’

‘And there was me thinking you didn’t even know how to turn on the computer.’

‘There’s a great deal you don’t know about me, Mariela.’

‘And vice versa,’ she said tersely. ‘So what do you think about Sanchez?’

‘I think Sanchez is as bent as the rest of them and I have no doubt he was on a promise of some kind if he helped get the plans through. But corruption is not our focus is it? This is a murder investigation and we can certainly add Sanchez to the list of suspects. I want you to check with his wife. We still don’t have an exact time of death, especially as Mora died sometime after he fell, or was pushed. We need to be precise about what time Sanchez arrived home that night. He knew about the money and kept quiet. As I’ve said before, a quarter of a million euros is a great deal of money and corrupt, greedy people have a tendency to fall out when it comes to dividing up the spoils.’

‘I suppose that’s possible,’ Mariela said, thumbing her chin. ‘Mora had the money and was holding on to it. If you’re right then Santos and Sanchez were in on the deal and expected their fair shares. But once the plans were approved by the council, Mora had little use for the others and perhaps he was trying to freeze them out. They could hardly go running to the police could they?’

It sounded plausible to me, but we were a long way from finding out who actually killed Mora and why. I looked at my watch, just past noon.

‘You say paella is always eaten at lunchtime, yes?’

‘Yes, why?’

‘Come on then, let’s go to L’Era in Parcent. I promised you a lunch, remember?’

‘Actually you promised me a dinner, but lunch will do fine.’

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