The Invisible Guardian. Dolores Redondo

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СКАЧАТЬ two men were extremely thin and wiry, although one of them was almost a head taller than the other. Amaia noticed how the taller of the two stood up straighter on hearing her rank.

      ‘I’m Alberto Flores, Inspector, and this is my colleague Javier Gorria. We’re in charge of keeping watch over this area; it’s very big, more than fifty square kilometres of woodland, but if we can help you in anyway, you can be sure that we will.’

      Amaia looked at them in silence without replying. It was an intimidation tactic that almost never failed, and it worked this time too. The ranger who had stayed leaning against the Land Rover stood up and moved forward a pace.

      ‘Ma’am. We’ll do everything we can to help. The bear expert from Huesca arrived an hour ago, he’s parked a bit further down,’ he said, indicating a bend in the road. ‘If you’ll come with us, we’ll show you where they’re working.’

      ‘Good, and you can call me Inspector.’

      The path became narrower as they went into the wood, opening out again in small clearings where the grass grew green and fine like a beautiful garden lawn. In other areas the wood formed a sheltered, sumptuous and almost warm maze, an impression reinforced by the endless carpet of pine needles and leaves that stretched before them. The water hadn’t penetrated as far into that level, scrubby area as it had done on the slopes, and great dry, springy patches of windblown leaves crowded around the bases of the trees as if forming natural beds for the forest-dwelling lamias. Amaia smiled as she remembered the legends Aunt Engrasi had told her as a child. In the middle of the forest it didn’t seem so far-fetched to accept the existence of the magical creatures that shaped the past of the people of the region. All forests are powerful, some are frightening by dint of being deep or mysterious, others because they are dark and sinister. The Baztán forest is enchanting, with a serene, ancient beauty that effortlessly brings out people’s most human side; a childlike part of them that believes in the fairies with webbed ducks’ feet that used to live in the forest. These fairies would sleep all day, emerging only at nightfall to comb their long blonde hair. Known as lamiak, they would give their golden combs to any man who chose spend the night with them, despite their ducks’ feet, thus granting him his heart’s desire.

      Amaia felt the presence of such beings in that forest so tangibly that it seemed easy to believe in a druid culture, the power of trees over men, and to imagine a time when the communion between magical beings and humans was a religion throughout the valley.

      ‘Here they are, the Ghostbusters,’ said Gorria, not without a hint of sarcasm.

      The expert from Huesca and his assistant were wearing garish orange overalls and were each carrying a silver coloured briefcase similar to the ones used by forensics officers. When Amaia and Jonan reached them they seemed absorbed in observing the trunk of a beech tree.

      ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Inspector,’ said the man, holding out his hand. ‘I’m Raúl González and this is Nadia Takchenko. If you’re wondering why we’re wearing these clothes, it’s because of the poachers; nothing appeals to those riffraff like the rumour that there’s a bear in the area, and you’ll see them popping out from all kinds of places, even under rocks, and that’s no joke. The big macho Spaniard sets out to catch a bear, and he’s so terrified that the bear might catch him first that he’ll shoot at anything that moves … It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve shot at us thinking we were bears, hence the orange overalls. You can see them two kilometres away; in the Russian forests everybody wears them.’

      ‘What have you got to tell me? Habemus bear or not?’ asked Amaia.

      ‘Dr Takchenko and I believe it would be too precipitate to confirm or refute something like that at this stage, Inspector.’

      ‘But you can at least tell me whether you’ve come across any sign, any clue …’

      ‘We could say yes, we’ve undoubtedly come across traces that indicate the presence of large animals, but nothing conclusive. In any case, we’ve only just arrived, we’ve barely had time to inspect the area and the light is almost gone,’ he said, looking at the sky.

      ‘Tomorrow at dawn we will get down to work, is that how you say it?’ asked Dr Takchenko in strongly accented Spanish. ‘The sample you sent us is certainly from a plantigrade. It would be very interesting to have a second sample.’

      Amaia decided it was best not to mention that the sample had been found on a corpse.

      ‘You’ll have further samples tomorrow,’ said Jonan.

      ‘You can’t tell me anything else, then?’ persisted Amaia.

      ‘Look, Inspector, the first thing you ought to know is that bears aren’t often sighted. There have been no reports of a bear coming down into the Baztán Valley since the year 1700, which is when the last recorded sightings occurred; there’s even a register that lists the compensation paid to the hunters who killed one of the last bears in this valley. Since then, nothing. There’s no official record that a bear has come down this low, although there have always been rumours amongst the people in the area. Don’t misunderstand me, this is a marvellous place, but bears don’t enjoy company, company of any kind, not even their own kind. And especially not human company. It would be quite rare for a man to come across one by chance, the bear would smell him from several kilometres away and head away from the human without their paths crossing …’

      ‘And what if a bear had, by chance, come down as far as the valley, following the scent of a female, for example? My understanding is that they’re capable of travelling hundreds of kilometres with that as a lure. And what if it was attracted by something special?’

      ‘If you’re referring to a corpse, it’s quite unlikely. Bears don’t eat carrion; if there’s a shortage of prey they gather lichen, fruit, honey, young shoots, almost anything rather than carrion.’

      ‘I wasn’t talking about a corpse, more something like processed foods … I’m afraid I can’t be more specific.’

      ‘Bears are strongly attracted to human food; in fact, the chance to sample processed food is what leads bears to approach populated areas to search for rubbish bins instead of hunting, unable to resist the scent of it.’

      ‘In that case, could a bear feel so attracted by the scent of processed food that it would approach a corpse, if that corpse smelled of it?’

      ‘Yes, if we assume that a bear had come down as far as the Baztán Valley, which is pretty unlikely.’

      ‘Unless they’ve confused a bear with a, how do you say it? With a sobaka again,’ laughed Dr Takchenko. Dr González looked towards the forest rangers, who were standing a few steps further away.

      ‘Dr Takchenko is referring to the supposed discovery of a bear’s body very near here in August 2008; following an autopsy, it was found to be that of a large sobaka dog. The authorities made a big fuss over nothing.’

      ‘I remember the story, it was in the papers, but on this occasion aren’t you the ones who are confirming that we’re dealing with bear hairs?’

      ‘Of course the hairs you sent us belong to a bear, although … In any case, I can’t tell you anything more at the moment. We’ll be here for a few days, we’ll inspect the places where the samples were found and we’ll set up cameras at strategic points to try and film it, if there is one around here.’

      They picked up their briefcases СКАЧАТЬ