26 - THE DELEGATE

 26 - THE DELEGATE

- It was everything I didn't need...

Duarte, looking despondently at the rider who is dismounting in front of the police station. Tall, athletic build, a thin mustache, severe air. His attire was all black... including the gloves he wore. That gentleman entered the room, holding his hat in his hand. He looked Duarte in the eyes, and with a firm voice greeted him, explaining what he had come for.

- I'm Deputy Vicente Lia, sent from the command of the Capital... you know why I'm here, don't you?

Duarte looked at the ceiling of the police station and sighed heavily... of course he knew why that police officer had been sent to his city... the mysterious crimes have only increased lately... after they buried the semi-dead stranger, three more corpses appeared in the camp. Two without blood and one without the internal organs. It was of no use for Doctor Alberto to send positive reports to his superiors... in fact, it almost cost him his job when it came to light that he was not registering the "causes of death" correctly... It took a lot of talking, both from him and from the chief , so that the physician's immediate supervisor would not dismiss him from his post. And that's where they sent this special delegate. After all, if there was something wrong in the locality, it was necessary to investigate. And for the leadership there in the Capital, it seemed that this was not being done... and if it was, the service was very poorly done, since several crimes occurred in the locality and the law enforcement agents did not have the slightest clue of what happened.

- You know that we've been investigating these cases for a few months now... don't you?

Duarte took a deep breath. Of course he knew. After all, the Government's secret service investigated anything out of the ordinary that occurred in that endless wilderness. And that was precisely why he and Doctor Alberto tried to sugarcoat their reports... they wanted to distance themselves from Central Government investigators...

- Doctor Duarte, you had almost twenty unexplained cases here in your jurisdiction... and you didn't report any of them... why?

Duarte was still standing, thoughtful. How would you respond to this dandy from the Big City? That the cases were too weird to report? That he didn't have the slightest idea how to talk about the cases that had occurred? How to explain something that common sense claimed to be just popular belief, with no basis in real life? How to explain, for example, a dead person who wasn't quite dead, like that? Who would believe such a report? If he put that in his official records, he would certainly have been removed a long time ago... although, as everything was indicating at the moment, his exoneration was not long in coming...

- I know what you are thinking, Doctor Duarte... don't worry, I didn't come here to replace you... in fact, my mission is to help you solve this problem in which we are all involved! Once this case is over, I'm leaving... after all, it's not just your city that has mysterious cases to solve...

Duarte looked at the man, intrigued... what do you mean, he hadn't come there to replace him? As far as the carriage was concerned, Duarte could already see himself in the queue of the unemployed, counting on the goodwill of some landowner who would employ him as a cowboy or jagunço... more likely the second option than the first, since he was more familiar with weapons. that with the cattle... well, anyway, knowing that his job wasn't in jeopardy... yet... brought him some relief. It was better to collaborate with the guy in front of him, and hope that they managed to solve the problem as quickly as possible, after all, the faster they solved the case, the faster that deputy would leave...

- Even if I hardly ask you, doctor... why did you come here to Berizar?...

- Have you already taken a look at the cases that occurred in the region, Doctor Duarte?

Duarte scratched his head… no, he'd never taken notice of cases outside his little town… he had enough work trying to keep order throughout his jurisdiction with just two helpers… where would he find the time to look after them? other cases?

- Well, as I'm sure you didn't take the trouble, I'll explain... most of the cases occurred around your city. There were several places... but always around Berizar... so, nothing more logical than starting the investigation here, don't you think?

Duarte sighed, discouraged... no, he didn't think it was logical to investigate anything in his camp... investigate what? Haunting stories told by the backwoodsmen in that corner? Tatá ox, headless mule, woman in white... all invention of those superstitious people...

- Doctor, I...

- Look, Doctor Duarte... I know that things seem a little strange... but if there's one thing I've learned during my comings and goings through this sertão, it's that there are more things walking through this world of God than we can imagine. dreaming... I've seen a lot of things that I couldn't explain... but that was happening before my eyes. So, when we are trying to solve a situation, after discarding all the logical solutions, we have to investigate the illogical ones too...

- I...

- Understand one thing... behind a story of the carochinha there's always some background of truth. I know that there are rumors of at least three types of monsters prowling around Berizar.... The Oriole, The Woman in White and a third, which no one yet knows what it is... are these little stories for the ox to sleep? It's likely... but the crimes are happening, so we have to investigate that too, as the logical line of resolution leads us nowhere...

- It's okay, doctor... we'll investigate this... it's all very good. But where do we start?

- How about starting talking to the healers and healers in the region? If there is anyone who can answer some of our questions, it is certainly these people...

- You've got to be kidding...

- No, I'm serious... when the possible becomes impossible, we hope that the impossible becomes the possible...

- Now that I don't understand anything...

- Simple, Chief... we're going to investigate the supernatural... it's the only thing we have left... that is, we have no choice!

Duarte nodded in agreement, with a disheartened look... now he wasn't going to break up fights with boozers at the weekend... he was going to hunt werewolves and other animals... if they'd told him when he took office that one day he'd run after beings from the other world, I would simply laugh in the face of whoever said that... and now...

- Any questions, delegate?

- No, doctor... it's all right...

- So let's go...

- To where?

- First, for the Church... we need to talk to the curate...

And the two took to the street, leaving an assistant to take care of the police station. Duarte still felt a little embarrassed about the situation, but as he always said ... "what has no remedy, is remedied ..."