Final Challenge (5 page)

  Marvin took advantage of the opportunity to come close to Hanson. He owed one. Thanks to his reflection he had approached at least to Susan. The o
ther side of the coin was that
her reaction did not give rise to hope. Marvin conveyed his dismay. Hanson returned to express a thought.

- Remember that when a woman hates so much, is because before she have loved in the same proportion. You can still retrieve her, you should try. Surely she is waiting for a sign from you.

- No, Hanson, no. You don’
t know how she is. You know many women, but not her. I'm sure she is not going to give me
another chance. The other day he
made
it clear.

- Do you hope that she claps you?  That
she gives you a kiss and says
"Yeah
, darling, let us forget, welcome home"? Nobody, least of a woman, act
s
like that. You must persevere, persist.

  Marvin turned his head in the negative way and soon f
ound an excuse to change the subject.

- Well, never mind. Returning to the case at hand an
d the reason, after all, to be
here.

  Hanson sighed as way of resignation and made summary that both were waiting.

- As you wish. I am sure certainly we agree in that. It seems clear. T
w
o renowned biotechnologists with
rare a
nd unsociable character
that were
working
on projects that h
ave
no special significance.
They ill with cancer, with different tumors that develop at different times, but so aggressive that they only have weeks to live.

Marvin then intervened to apostille.

- Whereupon they choose to commit suicide. After all they also had something else in common.

  While Marvin hurried his drink, Hanson continued.

- Yeah, I guess you mean that they were unmarried, had no immedi
ate family, no one whom addresses
a farewell letter.

  Now was Hanson who drank the last sip, put the glass on the table rathe
r abruptly and finally said
sententiously
, as he gestured to go:

- C
losed
case
, then.

  Marvin put his hand on his shoulder.

-
         
Hanson, Hanson, always so impetuous. There's more.

  Hanson
looked at hi
m with renewed attention while
Marvin took out two newspaper clippings from the bottom of his jacket,
extending and putting them on
Hanson's hands. While
Hanson was reading, Marvin made
a comment.

- This morning it occur
red to me dip into the files
. I found nothing like to what
happened in the last ten years, but, as you can see, if anything more than interesting.

  Hanson returned him the cuts.

- Do not understand. How? Missi
ng? S
o,
no more? ...
he
asked
to
Marvin.

- Yeah
, without any vestiges, no apparent reason. Note that curious. Nearly six years ago and over a period of just three months, two biotechnologists of those wh
o never know more. And they weren’t precisely
undistinguished, no. They were among the most reputable scientific community.

- What about their personal circumstances?

- They were similar to our case. Well, one of them had recently widowed and the other one was separated.

- Anyway, I think you miss that ... that is not our problem, and that has nothing to do with the matt
er at hand. Those two probably
are alive, ours are dead.

- Okay, but is not one, but two strange coincidences.

-
Well, w
e do not lose anything by requesting
an
autopsy on the bodies.

- No, I think it would not hurt, although the report .... have to wait a week.

  Hanson made
a circumstances
face
,
it was not difficult for Marvin to interpret his thoughts.

- Do not worry,
I'll see to tell the boss.

IX

  
  As expected,
the boss was furious. He didn’
t
understand neithe
r the interest that
it
could have t
o do a
n
autopsy on
the bodies
n
or
the hypothesized relationship that might exist between the two cases. He told t
hem that, by that same token, one
should study the relationship between a policeman that had been killed and another who had decided to withdraw from the body. But then something came to his mind. It could be just another way to self-disqualify
Marvin and Hanson detectives facing with their coworkers
, of keeping them away definitely
from circulation. B
y their own feet,
without costing
him any effort
. So he decided to accept their request.

  Another ordeal would be
to
convince the forensic
expert
of the Department to do a meticulous and exhaustive work. The coroner was a guy with a really curious character. A consummate professional whose intrinsic skills and experience needed of the confluence of two prerequisites to conduct a successful request: first, that the relationship at a personal level with who had requested the report was at least good. In that sense they were lucky, because Hanson was understood to perfection with him. Second, the case motivated him. He was not careful at all with routin
e matters
. So Hanson would have to deploy all its charms and seek an incentive where apparently the interest was zero.

  As
the coroner told them he had done
the
two autopsies and he would have on his table the results the next morning, they lacked time to go to his office, knowing that their overzealous professional could p
lay them a trick if that case did
not exceed what appeared to be. The price would be that their populari
ty would drop to unusual levels
, on par with their professional prestige. So, when they sat in front of the coroner, shirt not reached the neck. The coroner loved to be begged, they had to get the words out with pliers, and they knew it.
It was Marvin who broke the ice.

- Well, doctor?...

- We have just finished the exam of the second corpse. You will receive the report officially in the morning - said the coroner with a very serious and circumspect look.
-

It was time for Hanson to intervene, perhaps he could have mor
e luck so did not think twice.

- But ... Couldn’t
you anticipate us anything? ... Have you seen anything ... strange? ...

- Do not be impatient, gentlemen! -
the coroner
answered
visibly angry - however ...

Both stared at him. This time it was Marvin who could not restrain his impulses.

- What? ...

- In one case it was a brain tumor, in the other one a bone tumor, but with something in common, both of them were very aggressive. Moreover, there are remains of poisonous substances, but from different sources. However,
there’s
no
t
sign of violence.

- As pointed out in the first report ... - Said Hanson -

- Yes, it seems that they decided to be out of the way. Nothing new, sorry.

In a desperate attempt not to give up and admit the obvious, Marvin outlined another possibility.

- There is always the possibility that someone had poisoned them.

- Come on, sir, do not be ridiculous! If so, th
eir hypothetical murderers had
bothered to look for other toxic substances, which leave no tracks ... Besides, what interest can have someone in killing a person who has only
two months of life?...,
coroner
snapped
.

Despite his
usually calm and quiet character, Marvin had to do not to lose his temper. Apart from the hurtful tone with which those words were spoken, another
of the peculiarities of the coroner
was to take powers that did not correspond.
He s
hould be limited to do
his job, but always ended up getting involved and giving their views,
although
no one had previously asked for
. After all, perhaps
he
always wanted to be a detective, Marvin
thought
.

Hanson got up and said goodbye kindly to th
e doctor. While returning to their
office, not only thought the case was closed but their own career would follow
quickly
the same way.

X

 
They had not courage enough to write the report, so having a beer at the bar as usual, decided to leave that slab han
ging over their heads until
Monday. Instead, that
weekend should serve more than ever l
ike a soothing balm mission. About
Marvin, he decided to shut up tight in his apartment, provisioned, and devote his time to read and watch television. In the end, he had to admit that he was deceiving himself. His confinement was more internal than external, because he could not concentrate on anything, his thoughts were always looking for the same purpose. And the much more he thought, the more he concluded that his family was as broken as his heart, and he would have to learn to live again, or survive with that regret for the rest of his life.

  Meanwhil
e Hanson was isolated from his
labor problems as he always used to do. He was one of those p
eople that many admire for his
ability to break out and learn to enjoy life. His relationship with Ingrid, the busty blonde, was booming. On Friday they released all their adrenaline in bed, to the point that they barely managed to sleep. He had to admit that he was extremely attracted to that woman, who added, to her impressive physical, a nature that fit perfectly with him. On Saturday they decided to leave, going to the cinema and taking a few drinks, but the end for the night was the same as the previous day, so at ten o'clock, when the phone rang, he thought someone was playing tricks. But his surprise was great when he
heard the voice of his mate
on the other side of the handset.

- Sorry, buddy
, especially if you're doing any kind of social life. But something urgent has arisen.

  Hanson got up like a shot, looked at his watch and then instinctively to Ingrid, who was fast asleep.

- I don’t
think anything can justify this! - Were his first words to Marvin -

- Yeah
, I assure you it is.  The boss has called me.

- Damn! A
Sunday morning? So keen for us?

- Wait, wait ... Someone called this morning to the barr
acks. At first they didn’t do
him any case, but then they realized he really knew something about the matter.

- Something? Do you mean only ... something? ... for a Sunday morning ... I find
it
very little
.

- He mentioned in particular to Klein, told them he knew him and that he was in danger too, so they took
it more seriously and passed his
cal
l to the boss. I think that guy
may have something important to say.

- Okay, okay ... I hope so - Hanson
replied with worn
voice as he began to dress in a hurry - Where shall we meet?

- I called him and I was quoted in Arbott park next to the bandstand.