The Desecrations Become a Personal Challenge

This thread traces the church attacks from apparently ordinary vandalism into a deliberate provocation that draws Amaia Salazar toward a deeper criminal design.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Church Under Attack

A Church Under Attack From vandalism to desecration A string of night-time intrusions at Iglesia de San Juan Bautista de Arizkun initially looks like a local vandalism problem. The baptismal font is broken, a pew is hacked apart, and altar cloths are set alight. The damage is conspicuous, but the acts still seem small beside the homicide cases that ordinarily command Amaia Salazar’s attention. The discovery of a child’s arm among the burned objects changes the scale of the incident. Jonan Etxaide identifies it as a mairu-beso, a human relic associated with old Basque beliefs. What had looked like destructive mischief now involves a desecrated grave, a religious site, and a body treated as an instrument in a message. History enters the case The damaged objects point toward the history of the Agotes, who were segregated for centuries and denied equal access to church rites. The font, front pew, altar, and old entrance each evoke restrictions imposed on them. Amaia doubts that historical grievance alone explains the attacks, but she recognizes that the pattern is too deliberate to dismiss as random destruction.

The Suspect Behind the Blog

The Suspect Behind the Blog A plausible culprit Jonan traces an inflammatory blog about the Agotes to Beñat Zaldúa, a bright teenager from Arizkun who writes as though he himself lives in the era of persecution. The discovery gives the police a coherent explanation for the historical references and the boy’s anger, and the team summons him with his father. The interview complicates the apparent solution. Beñat’s father is drunk and aggressive, while bruises on the teenager suggest abuse. Beñat speaks passionately about the injustice inflicted on the Agotes, but his isolation and vulnerability make him a poor fit for the calculated, theatrical attacks on the church. A second hand on the controls After further questioning, Beñat admits that an adult who called himself Cagot contacted and encouraged him. The teenager had expected publicity for his cause, not a campaign involving human remains and escalating damage. His testimony shifts the conflict: the blog author is no longer the likely mastermind but a young person recruited by someone who knows how to turn grievance into action.

Garrido’s Assault and Flight

Garrido’s Assault and Flight A violent proxy emerges The police identify Antonio Garrido as the adult behind the church desecrations. He has also brutalized and imprisoned his former wife, Nuria Otaño, for years. When Nuria finally shoots him during an attempted return to her home, the domestic violence case becomes entangled with the attacks on the church. Garrido’s injuries do not end the threat. After escaping the house, he is found hiding in Hospitalenea, an old pilgrims’ hospital stocked with antique medical instruments. He tries to hang himself when officers enter, but Fermín Montes saves him, leaving the police with a living suspect whose role may extend beyond the public acts of vandalism. The threat is larger than the accomplice In interrogation, Garrido taunts the investigators and insists that he will speak only to Amaia Salazar. He regards Beñat as a failed instrument and hints that the teenager should have killed his father. The remarks reveal the coercive logic behind the church attacks: Garrido can frighten and manipulate others, but he is not the author of the broader design. His refusal to explain himself, and his repeated attention to the time, make the arrest feel less like a conclusion than a delay. Amaia suspects that his intended suicide has been interrupted and that the campaign has moved into a new phase. The physical conflict is temporarily contained, but the unseen planner still has room to act.

The Agote Motive Is Unmasked

The Agote Motive Is Unmasked A suspect who does not fit The church attacks appear to express anger about the Agotes, but Amaia rejects the easy conclusion that Beñat acted alone. His blog explains the rhetoric, not the logistics or the careful selection of bones. Garrido, meanwhile, proves to be a violent intermediary whose actions were directed by someone more patient and systematic. The investigation establishes that remains from the family burial ground at Juanitaenea were used in the desecrations. Their placement is not merely a protest against church history; it is a personal gesture aimed at Amaia. The conflict has moved from the public symbolism of Arizkun’s church to the private vulnerability of the investigator’s family. The apparent resolution breaks open A clue from the old pilgrims’ hospital leads the team to identify the antique tools used in the serial amputations. The connection strengthens the case that the church desecrator and the hidden instigator belong to the same criminal world, even though Garrido is only one of its servants. The church case no longer stands apart from the murders that Amaia has been investigating. The decisive turn comes when Garrido’s call reaches the psychiatric service at the University Clinic of Navarra. It links his delay, the prison therapies, and the clinic’s network of psychiatric visits. The church attacks have served their immediate purpose: they drew Amaia into a trail that reaches beyond a local grievance and toward the person orchestrating violence from behind it.

A Diversion With a Human Cost

A Diversion With a Human Cost The clock becomes part of the threat While Antonio Garrido sits in custody, he asks repeatedly for the time and delays his promised statement. Amaia realizes that he is keeping the investigators occupied until an event elsewhere can unfold. The pattern makes the criminal conflict unusually cruel: the detained accomplice is not merely withholding information but helping create the interval in which a second attack becomes possible. The feared target is Amaia’s home in Elizondo. A storm has cut power, damaged communications, and swollen the Baztán River. Amaia learns that Rosario Iturzaeta has escaped the clinic with Doctor Berasategui and that the threat concerns the baby Amaia had been expecting to have before Ibai was born. From pursuit to rescue A call from Ros confirms the worst: Rosario has attacked Engrasi and taken Ibai. The police race toward Elizondo while floodwaters and a blocked highway complicate the pursuit. Amaia’s fear threatens to overwhelm her, but she forces herself to act and follows a route through the forest that may bring her to the cave before the abductors arrive by road. Inside the cave, Rosario prepares Ibai for a human sacrifice while Berasategui watches. Amaia’s fear of her mother returns with the force of childhood, but the baby’s cry breaks the paralysis. She orders them away, rescues Ibai, and arrests Berasategui. Rosario vanishes into the flood, leaving the immediate danger ended but the family conflict unresolved.

Early in the investigation, after Amaia Salazar returns to work

The next morning, after the first church attacks

Several weeks into the inquiry, after the church wall is breached

The morning after Garrido’s arrest

The night the investigation converges on Berasategui