Chapter 20 – Unwanted help

Francisco and João Tavares are back to their paperwork, when the first one observes a rather thick binder and asks his chief:

- Chief, can you imagine how many leads we have actually followed since this all began?

João Tavares replies:

- About a million, no? I think I’ve stopped counting long ago, Francisco.
- Well let me tell you, chief, that there were over two thousand in Portugal, plus some five thousand that were sent in from England.
- And all for nothing – João Tavares says.
- That’s true – Francisco agrees – Help that only further complicated this entire mess…
- In truth – João Tavares interrupts -, maybe it did not complicate anything at all, Francisco.
- What do you mean? – Francisco asks.
- Let’s see… for each one of them that was explored to no avail, the closer we have come to the truth, right? Look at it, from that torrent of information that we received for months, the faucet is now only dripping a few drops every once in a while.
- You’re right, Chief.
- The chief is always right – João Tavares replies with a smile.

João Tavares knew what he was talking about. He knew that the truth would not emerge from a single policeman, Portuguese or English. He knew that the definite solution of this case would come as the result of the hard work and the exhaustive exploration of every single theory that would be annexed to the process in the meantime.

If a single lead, pointing to precise persons or locations, failed to be explored until its natural elimination, it would always be a loose end that others would use to argue the neglect and the incompetence of the Portuguese police. Thousands of leads were explored by the investigators from the Algarve and from Lisbon.

In order to eliminate any doubts, over five hundred apartments and hundreds of vehicles were thoroughly searched in the area, and hundreds of persons were questioned. Kilometers and kilometers of coastline and inland terrain were searched. If Madeleine was in the area, dead or alive, she would have been found. But she wasn’t. Nor could she be.

Chapter 21 – The conscience of People

The conscience of a people is based on what was its history, on its customs. One people has specific characteristics that distinguish it from the others, and normally there is an accepted division among the people of Europe, into the Northern, the Eastern and the Southern. The ‘Portuguese people’ belongs to the latter category.

With their soft customs, peaceful, proud, solidary, passionate, and sometimes a bit selfish, the conscience of this people was awakened by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Curiously, it had not been awakened, or not in this way, by Joana Cipriano Guerreiro or by Rui Pedro, or even by Rui Pereira or Claudia or Ana Sofia, among others.

Voyeurism, we all know, is an obligatory condiment for any national media receipt, but it does not justify everything. From early on, the people have felt solidary with the loss that those parents had suffered. So had the policemen. They forgot that they cannot have feelings in these cases, but as they are only human, they make mistakes. They make mistakes and they will continue to make them, just as courts will make mistakes with their sentences, prosecutors will make mistakes with their accusations. They make mistakes because they make decisions, and only those who make them are entitled to the displeasure of, at a given moment, verifying that the route that they have taken was not the correct one. It is most serious when the mistakes do not allow for Justice to be corrected anymore.

Excessively and exhaustively covered by the media, this disappearance took over the lives of people and many identified with the pain of Gerry and Kate, who on the other hand called all possible attention upon themselves.

Everything was scrutinized into the smallest detail, and the constant following of the process by the media lead to breaks of the judicial secrecy, and inevitably some details of the process were made public. With daily revelations about the developments, the McCann family started a steep decline in the public opinion, and lost the national support that they had enjoyed. They then opted to return to England, turning their backs on those who had supported them so intensely and unconditionally.

For this people, that still believes in Justice and that was genuinely solidary with the McCanns, this attitude, right after they had been made arguidos, was a stab of a knife into their back. For this people, they should have stayed at least until the lab test results were known, and then they would make a decision. Instead, for the moment that they chose, for what had happened two days earlier, for the silent preparation, and for the way that it was done, the Portuguese people think that the McCanns have fled Justice.

When they returned home, we realized that these same characters that had been all the rage all over the world, if it wasn’t for the journalists that were gathered at the door of their so comfortable residence, had nobody waiting for them except for a few relatives.

The Northern people are different, more closed upon themselves and maybe also less colorful. Or at least that is the general notion that we have of them, as for those of us who deal with them every summer, that is not exactly the impression that the British leave behind. Maybe another one, rather close to the opposite, of some excesses and some haughtiness…

We could conclude that there are no better or worse people, just different ways to approach and deal with the situations. That is difference. Every country has its circumstances, its people, its culture, and that largely determines the way that they relate with one another, and with others.

Chapter 22 – Pray for us sinners

Following the excellent and well-knitted campaign that promoted two key notions on a worldwide basis, “Maddie disappeared” and “Maddie was abducted”, British diplomacy, which had opened so many doors for the McCann all across the world, ultimately proved several things, including that those who hold the power to influence are closer to the divine graces, while those who do not hold it, must insist in prayers.

It was that same power to influence, politically and in the media, that took Madeleine’s parents to the Vatican, where they attended a public ceremony sitting in the front row, and two or three minutes of the attention of Benedict XVI were conceded to them. The way that this meeting was reported all over the world, lead the public to believe that these were powerful people who had access to everything and everyone.

That was not the way it happened in Berlin, where they wanted to meet the President of the German Government, Angela Merkel, but had to do with the Mayor of Berlin. That was not the way it happened in the United States, where the British machine wanted the McCanns to be received at the highest level, and ended up being met by a member of staff from the cabinet of the First Lady, Laura Bush. It was not the way it happened in Spain, where instead of Zapatero or a member of the Royal Family, they were received by the Minister for Internal Affairs.

It could not be any other way. How would the heads of the states that the McCanns wanted to visit, explain this to their own citizens, while the parents of equally missing children never had been given the opportunity to present their cases to those that govern them?

Diplomacy tells us to treat our allies well, but not to the point of compromising heads of state with issues that are not solved yet.

The information services of each one of those states also counseled their leaders to prudently stay away from that matter. The ones at the Vatican are actually the best in the world.

Benedict XVI was the high point of a campaign that had started much earlier, with the visible and well publicized visits at the church in Luz, constantly appealing to religion and to God. The visit to the Vatican represented a conquest for those that were coordinating the pro-McCann campaign; yet, nothing could be done when that State decided to redraw all references to Madeleine from their official site, a clear message that they wanted to distance themselves from the case.

What led to this happening only days before the first lab test results were revealed? Coincidences? Surely not!

We all sin and the Vatican takes that for granted. But did the advisors to Benedict XVI not rush themselves, when they wanted to associate the papal figure to the events that were taking place in Portugal? Didn’t they, initially, step aboard the wave of pity and sympathy towards the McCanns’ pain? Didn’t it look good, in terms of religious policy towards a country like the United Kingdom, that the figure of the Pope became associated to what was the event of the year for Her Majesty’s subjects? Certainly yes.

From that small, yet influent state, strong winds blew when Rome received the news that the McCanns held a key to the church, which had been given to them by a parishioner from a group that was associated to the Church, bypassing the local priest. The clerical hierarchy fell upon the Portuguese church, which after being admonished, ended up blaming the poor priest, who had not contributed to the situation at all.

Those nightly prayers, even though “God is everywhere”, were seen by many as visits to the only location where the couple thought there were no wiretaps, thus being able to talk freely. In reality, although they believed they were being tapped, at home and on the phone, the fact was that they were not.

Chapter 23 – The worse is always for those who leave

Has anyone tried to imagine how many millions of articles have been written, all over the world, about the disappearance of Madeleine? How many thousands of hours of tv broadcast time, blogs, discussion forums? How many newspapers were sold, how many journalists were at Praia da Luz, how many commentators and opinion makers saw their careers gain a fresh breath? The numbers are overwhelming, it’s useless to try to think about it.

Has anyone already tried to place him or herself into the mind, into the body and soul of Madeleine? Imagine yourselves barely four years old. Remember what you thought back then, what were your daily priorities. Playing. Eating. Father. Mother. Siblings. Grandparents. Aunts. Uncles. Family. Fun. Laughter. I like this one better than that one. I want more of this and less of that. Simple, right? Now imagine yourselves in that world of simplicity and innocence and all of a sudden, without a warning, it’s over. Everything goes dark and it’s over. Even before you could experience the difficulties of adolescence. Of studies. Of dating. Of having children. Everything is over. Before it had even started.

Now go a bit deeper. Your eyes are Madeleine’s eyes. Your body is still small and fragile. You don’t need to be strong anyway, your parents are there to protect you from danger. You’ve played all day long. You’ve played with daddy. The holidays are good, although you’d rather spend more time with your parents and less at the crèche of this place where you’re staying.

It’s still in the daytime. Dinner is served. You play with your siblings. Rituals are carried out, which you have already adopted although you’re small. Then… well, then there are the policemen that try to prevent other adults from hurting children like you, and who make sure that those adults are punished. Sometimes they don’t succeed, but they do everything they can to explain it.

- That’s it, Francisco. And you know what? – João Tavares says, showing a resigned face – in the middle of all of this sh*t, the whole world could stand on its head, but the worse is always for those who leave us, who should have stayed around for many years more, you understand? The kids are absolutely innocent of the monsters that adults can become, and then it’s always the same. The weaker one loses out. It’s like I told you, there are not that many differences that separate us from the gorillas in the jungle.

- You’re absolutely right – Francisco agrees – but let’s get this paperwork done with, because we need to hurry.

Francisco was talking about the final redaction of the rogatory letters that were to be sent to the British authorities, and which included the request for several diligences. The letters are a poisoned gift, and despite the fact that they target several people, there are two persons who are of special interest to the policemen. And those are not the McCanns.

It’s a bit like those routine police actions, when you go to a hotel to find out whether a certain individual is staying there, and you ask the receptionist for the guest book. You write down seven names at hazard, and an eighth name, which is the one that actually matters. The receptionist is watching, and although he gave the policeman all the information that was needed, he ended up knowing nothing about the person who was actually the target of that action.

The aforementioned police cunning is revealed in these details. The police has established the logical chain of events a long time ago, and has also understood, for quite some time, that they will hardly find the queen evidence. The process will have to live from details. From the circumstances and the detection of small failures from the person that committed the crime, that concealed it, and logically, has lied.

- Let’s see whether the English dispatch this swiftly so we can advance – Francisco says, never taking his eyes off the papers, and putting them into a sequence. Formalities abound, and they want to make sure that nothing fails in this diligence that is so important.

- There is no hurry anymore, Francisco – João Tavares notices -, the one who had to leave is gone now, now all it takes is for us to move calmly, but well, because the bad deeds are done. If we were looking for a little girl that was locked up somewhere in a room of the house of a dangerous, disgusting paedophile, then we would be in a hurry, but as we know, actually, as only we know, that is not a theory that we will swallow anymore.

Chapter 24 – Quim Zé – that terrible man

It was already in January 2008 that the McCanns’ advisor revealed, during a press conference that was held in a hotel in London, two drawings of a man that he considered to be the main suspect of being the author of Madeleine’s disappearance. He said that Gail Walker, a British tourist in Praia da Luz, had considered the man and his movements to be strange.

This advisor concluded that the man, whose photofit he was holding, might lead to Madeleine. He also mentioned that he could be completely unrelated. He thus reassured public opinion and the subject himself, without ever informing the entity that is responsible for the investigation, exhibiting to the world the drawing of the face of a man that he knew would immediately be pointed out as the author of the most media-exposed abduction ever.

It was suggested that this was the result of a private investigation, which had been carried out over the last few months, and which had made the production of the drawing possible. The press conference was held with great apparatus and the world press was invited. It looked like finally the famous abductor of Madeleine was to be revealed, and the moment had to fit the news.

Said man, or at least the one who most resembled the picture, was Mr Joaquim José, an individual who had already been approached by the Policia Judiciaria during the second half of the month of May 2007. The newspapers echoed this fact. It was concluded that it would have been enough to show the drawing to the investigators first, and everything would have been clarified. But this was not what happened, and Mr Quim Zé had a battalion of journalists at his doorstep.

Joaquim earned his few minutes of fame, which he surely never wished for, due to being married to a British woman who, after a heavy discussion among the couple, denounced him to the PJ for being the dangerous kidnapper who had abducted the English girl. The witness that had helped draw up the photofit ended up stating that Joaquim José was not the man that she had seen.

The fact is that Joaquim José was ‘hit’ with the Police and the journalists camped at his door. The next time that he fights with his wife, he will certainly think twice, and make up with her, to prevent her from accusing him of being the mastermind behind 9/11 or of being the retroactive mentor of the death of Kennedy, in Dallas.

Chapter 25 – Madeleine / Mari Luz
Missing Portuguese children

The media coverage and the police attention that were given to the case of Madeleine, were of proportions that had never been seen in Portugal before. In fact, means were put in motion like never before in a missing child case, and an event like this had never had such prominence, not in Portugal and not anywhere else in the world.

The truth is that even the parents of missing English children were subject to mixed feelings. If on one hand they were solidary with the parents of a child from their own country, on the other hand they failed to understand why this event was more serious and more deserving of national and worldwide attention than what had happened to themselves.

In Portugal, the parents of missing Portuguese children felt the same, with the aggravation of events taking place in their own country, the same country where their own children had disappeared. Concerning the media coverage, there are no doubts about the commitment and the dedication, but it has to be kept in mind that the Portuguese media just followed a tide of information that was being generated and fed on an international level by the most important media groups, present in Portugal also. If there is an event in our country that is also the most publicized one all over the world, the Portuguese media cannot remain indifferent to what is happening around them.

On the police level, the commitment was the same as in any other case. What this one had in particular, was that diligences that were taking place, day after day, were transported into publicity, despite the fact that the reporting was not always the most faithful mirror of what had actually been carried out by the authorities. The police did not always show to be prepared to deal with a type of publicity that it was not used to at all. Tradition demands that the work is carried out in secret, and results are only shown at the end.

The parents of missing Portuguese children felt that there was a different treatment of this case. They felt that, because of the dimension of media coverage. But the police did not commit any more or any less to this case than to any other, and it was certainly not the high number of investigators that were assigned to the case, that would guarantee a different quality in their work. This became obvious when dozens of investigators that had been dislocated into the Algarve, returned to their original posts. This is not what determines the solution of the cases.

What effectively happened in the case of Madeleine McCann was that, since the early days, people who make it their work to project events, to mould them and to give them impulse, took sides in the process. They carried their mission out, knowing that the first impulse would be the hardest one. That if this one was properly executed, the rest would follow naturally. And that is how it was. With all the implications that it brought along.

In January this year, Mari Luz Cortes disappeared in Huelva. The Portuguese media converged into that city, and as the media took an interest in the case, so did the public.

There is another missing child in Spain, Amy Fitzpatrick, aged 15. The young Irish girl disappeared on the evening of New Year’s Day, and never seen again. Neither the Spanish nor the English media ever gave this case a relevance that came even near to that which was given to the cases of Madeleine or Mari Luz.

There are Portuguese children that disappeared several years ago, from the street where they lived, from the garden where they used to play. Parents who werebroken by the emptiness of not knowing. They even conceive that their children may be dead, but they are dead and dry inside, themselves.

They were all forgotten, until a little British girl, almost four years old, disappeared when she was spending a week of holidays with her parents, in Praia da Luz.

Just for having reminded us of the others, those Portuguese boys and girls that had been forgotten, only for that, Madeleine has done a great favor to those who refuse to forget.

In fact, the media formula that was used by the McCanns has made ‘jurisprudence’, as their example was followed by others, namely by the family of Rui Pedro Mendonça, that created the site www.ruipedro.net, and the parents and family of Mari Luz.

Madeleine awakened the sleeping minds, helping those who still refuse to accept the fate, the destiny, the star of some Portuguese children and their parents.

But she did so much more than that. She prompted debate, heated opinion interchanges. She motivated cultural convulsions. She forced us to speak about missing children. She made so many of us read, learn, speak about children that disappear without a trace, that are sexually exploited, that become labor slaves, children from poor countries where their organs are used to save the lives of children in rich countries with rich parents, even if that means the death of the poor children. Madeleine made us talk.

Chapter 26 – Thank You Maddie

(this chapter is fully translated)

You represented to Portugal and to the world so much more than you can ever imagine. You entered the lives and the daily existence of millions, albeit for the worst of reasons. You did it for the worst of reasons. You definitely were and still are important to many of us, all over this world. It’s a pity that for the world to wake up, you had to be taken away from our midst, just like it happened to Joana Cipriano Guerreiro.

The truth is, “Madeleine McCann”, a name that was repeated until exhaustion all over the planet, will be something that we will still remember in many years. At some point, the world’s spotlights turned on your parents and it seems that everyone has forgotten you, that your name is merely being used as an excuse for the names “Kate and Gerry” to be said. From a certain moment onwards, you were passed onto a secondary plane, when that which you had suffered or might have felt, that, indeed, was the most important thing.

Maybe you even were turbulent and a ‘know-it-all’. So what? That is precisely the attitude that the world needs. Common knowledge does not tell us that those who truly changed the course of History, spent their childhood in the uttermost tranquility. They revealed that same state of turbulence, of curiosity and stubbornness, since their early days. Those are the ones that we need, at least here in our little corner of the world, I can guarantee you that. People who will question things, and therefore, will move them forward, changing, inventing and creating.

We know you only from a photograph or through some videos, it’s true, but we were all left with the desire to meet you personally. Some look at your photos and say that there was a sad girl, others say you were the happiest child in the world. Truth is, there was simply a child that could and should have seen more colors beyond the black that she came here to find.

Madeleine, or Maddie, as some call you, will always be synonym of someone who disappeared on an early evening in May 2007, in a tourist resort in a region of this sunny country. But that is not all. Millions of texts were written in your name. Thousands of hours on tv were occupied, all over the world, by your face. Posts and people that you never even heard of, were questioned.

You prompted the parents of other children, who had been taken away from their loved ones, to learn how to show their suffering to the media. Heads of government have spoken only because you disappeared. Thousands have cried and prayed for you. There were adults who lost their faith in life, and others united over you. You were so much more than important.

You know, Madeleine, many of those people who work as policemen, did everything they could to solve the mystery of your disappearance, and to bring you back to the coziness of your bed. Then they continued, never stopping, to do everything they could to clarify what had happened to you. Hundreds of men and women dedicated themselves to trying to understand what had been your destiny. They never looked at their meager salaries or at their non-existent overtime payments. They gave up time with their families and with their “Madeleines” to search for you, to try to understand what might have happened to you.

If you’d ask them today if they would do it all over again, whether there was a microscopic chance of returning you into your bed or not, I assure you that all of them would respond to the calling again, and get back to work. Come rain or sunshine, against whomever they might have to go, they would do it all over again.

Just for the fact that you are a child, innocent, small and helpless, they would go into all the deserts of Morocco to search for you. They would lift the world’s carpet to see if you where underneath it.

These people are not always perfect in everything they do, but I can guarantee you one thing: they are committed, they are stubborn, and they also don’t like losing one bit, especially when children like you are at stake. That is when they dedicate themselves even more to the services that other men assign them to. Not only because of the justice of men, but essentially because of the justice that your name deserves. They did everything they could so you could laugh at the end. So you were not gone in vain. You certainly aren’t.

Only for the fact that you confronted us with the worst and the best in so many of us, and also because you did it without ever saying a single word, you were a heavy stone that hit the standing waters of our national feeling. For all this, we thank you, Miss Madeleine Beth McCann.

Thank you!

Chapter 27 – Finally...


It was in this police, social, political, journalistic and psychological context that the main characters of this play lived, throughout many months. Because, after all, this is a show. It had everything that a grand production needs: leading actors, supporting actors, doubles, “lights, camera, action”, laughter, tears, lies, police cunning, police ingenuity, the good and the bad, the innocent girl, power games, manipulation, “blood, sweat and tears”, hatred and love, ostentation, good people and bad people, solidarity that was denied to those who needed it, and when they needed it most.

As if this were not enough, this mega-production also included prime ministers, directors, prosecutors, English millionaires, ambassadors, bottomless funds, loaned airplanes, a pope who receives but not too much, a cardinal who is a fierce defendant of Opus Dei, secret services, sightings from Jupiter, express CSIs, lots and lots of DNA, private investigators who are constantly a step away from cracking the case, crazy associations of conspiracies… a world of actions and characters that set this show in motion, a show that took place in a small, unknown village, Aldeia da Luz, which ended up projecting itself all over the planet.

Were we prepared for all of this? Obviously not. Which does not mean that after making the necessary adaptations, we did not rise to the situation, which we did. We took a while to adjust to the novelty. It’s normal, in a human being. What is not normal is that those who have the truth right in front of them, refuse to see her, simply because it is not convenient.

In the beginning, we said we could be integrated but not submitted. Look at Spain, the country right next to us. If this case had taken place there, it would not have had an external approach like it did in Portugal, simply because Spain is duly integrated within Europe, but still places its national identity and pride before everything else. Unfortunately, in Portugal this is not always the main perspective.

Throughout more than 60 years of history, the Portuguese Policia Judiciaria was always proud of its good work. It was an institution that had its very peculiar culture, one of transmission of knowledge among colleagues. The greatest asset of that police force was the mixture of people that formed its investigative personnel.

People from humble origins and others from wealthy families. Some who had only basic instruction and others with a degree. For all of them, to become an “Agent with the Policia Judiciaria” was a motive of pride and worthy of everyone’s respect.

This mixture of backgrounds, all of them necessary with a PJ Brigade, often helped to solve cases through a combination of experiences and perceptions, which had been obtained from real life. And this mixture created a feeling of solidarity and of familiarity. It was a second family for many agents, and not rarely, it was their only family.

Criminal investigation today is not exempt from mistakes, because it has to be done by men and women, not by error-free computers. Facts and possibilities are analyzed under the light of knowledge that was produced by others before, and adapted to each case in particular. It is not always done the best way, but other professions also make mistakes, so why would anyone believe that criminal investigators are free from error? This is precisely why everyone is considered innocent until proved guilty.

The serious criminal investigator, when he makes a mistake or when he makes a conclusive judgment, does not do it inadvertently, but rather because indices point him into that way. He is a collector of evidence, which, directly or indirectly, will allow the law to produce an accusation against someone for the practice of a crime. And even because those who have the mission of accusing others, may also err, because they are also men and women, there are other stages that follow, of a superior hierarchy in terms of decision, that are under the responsibility of other men and women, whose mission it is to judge the accuracy of the steps that had been taken before. Of course, the system does not always function in such a clear manner, due to the fact that we are dealing with human beings, and power and control so often rule above the truth. This investigation has largely overstepped the mere search for truth about what happened to the little girl. It has become a power game in which different forces have disputed everything among them, except for the desire to discover the truth.

Finally, everything was done and the conclusion is that the investigators will have a hard time to reach their initial goals, but it will still be a dignified conclusion to the work and dedication that were placed into this case. Madeleine Beth McCann would thank them, for everything that they gave up for her, and for the search. For her truth. If someday, someone would like to thank them, they will reply:

“You’re welcome. That is what we are here for!”

Chapter 28 – The millionaire bet

João Tavares and Francisco Meireles are on service in Praia da Luz for the last time. Or at least, that is what they expect. The place does not bring them bad memories, but it has shown them doors that are still closed to human knowledge.

They are sitting on the wall that surround the Church of Luz. The sea, as they can see it from there, looks imposing. It is very blue. It is a lot of sea. They say that it talks to those who listen to it, but it’s never said a word to these policemen. Francisco had never properly made a friendship with his chief. But he liked to talk with him, because he was always learning. The chief was not prone to talking about his family life, but Francisco took a chance and teased his superior:

- Well, Chief, looking into the blue like that… don’ tell me you already miss this, when you have barely left?

- Francisco, Francisco – João Tavares says, keeping his eyes on the ocean and smiling – everything in life, even the worst things, can help us to learn a little more.

- That is quite true, chief. But sometimes, if we knew a little more before things happen, that would be a good idea.

- That would not be funny at all. Knowing what is coming, would take pleasure out of life. This is how it’s enjoyable. Suddenly and without warning. That is how we see who can take it as a man!

- Well, I actually think it would be great. For example, it would come in handy for Euromillions, wouldn’t it?

João Tavares looks away from the ocean for a moment, and looking at Francisco, he says:

- I don’t usually bet on Euromillions, my friend, but if I ever did, there would be at least four numbers where I would place my little crosses, to hit the winning key. And I bet that at least I would get those four right. As a matter of fact, I would even call it the Luz key.

Those would be the 5, the 2, the 3 and the 1!