DANIEL’S FIGURE WAS outlined in the distance, a shadow sheltering under the streetlamps of the Raval quarter. Alicia quickened her pace as much as she could. Soon the soreness in her hip returned. She struggled to shorten the distance separating her from Daniel, breathing with difficulty, a sharp pain searing through her bones.
When Daniel reached the Ramblas, he turned round and saw her. He threw her an angry look.
“Daniel, please, wait for me,” called Alicia, holding on to a streetlamp.
Ignoring her, he set off again at a brisk pace. Alicia somehow managed to drag herself after him. Sweat covered her forehead, and the whole of her side was now an open wound aflame.
At the corner of Calle Santa Ana, Daniel looked over his shoulder. Alicia was still there, limping in a way that disconcerted him. He paused to watch her for a moment and saw her lifting a hand, trying to catch his attention. Daniel shook his head and mumbled under his breath. He was about to give up and go home when he saw her fall, as if something had broken inside her. He waited a few seconds, but Alicia didn’t get up. He hesitated, then walked towards her as she writhed on the ground. Her face under the streetlamp was drenched in sweat, and she was grimacing with pain. He felt the urge to leave her there to her fate, but drew a bit closer and knelt down beside her. Alicia was gazing at him, her face covered in tears.
“Are you playacting?” asked Daniel.
She stretched a hand out to him, and he helped her up. Her body shook with pain under his hands, and he felt a hint of remorse. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s an old wound,” Alicia said, panting. “I need to sit down, please.”
Holding her by the waist, Daniel led her to a café at the start of Calle Santa Ana that always closed late. The waiter knew him, and Daniel was sure that the following day the entire neighbourhood would be served with an exhaustively detailed account of his arrival there on the verge of midnight with a young lady of shadowy charms in his arms. He guided Alicia to a table by the entrance and helped her sit down.
“Water,” she whispered.
Daniel went up to the bar and spoke to the waiter. “Give me a bottle of water, Manuel.”
“Just a bottle of water?” asked the man, winking knowingly.
Daniel didn’t venture into detail. He returned to the table with a bottle of water and a glass. Alicia was holding a metal pillbox in her hand and trying to open it. He took it and opened it for her. She took two pills and swallowed them with a gulp of water, which dribbled down her chin and throat. Daniel was looking at her anxiously, not knowing what else to do.
She opened her eyes and looked at him, trying to smile. “I’ll be all right in a minute.”
“Maybe if you eat something it will kick in faster . . .”
Alicia shook her head.
“A glass of white wine, please . . .”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to mix alcohol with those?”
She nodded, and Daniel went off in search of the wine. “Manuel. Give me a glass of white wine and something to nibble.”
“I have some mouthwatering ham croquettes.”
“Whatever.”
Back at the table, Daniel persisted until he’d got Alicia to eat one and a half croquettes with her wine and whatever those two white pills were.
Slowly she recovered her self-control, managing to smile as if nothing had happened. “I’m sorry you had to see me like this.”
“Are you feeling better?”
She nodded, although her eyes had taken on a glassy, liquid tinge. Part of her, it seemed, was miles away.
“This doesn’t change anything,” Daniel warned her.
“I understand.” Alicia spoke slowly, almost slurring her words.
“Why did you lie to us?”
“I didn’t lie to you.”
“Call it what you like. You’ve only told me one part of the truth, which comes to the same thing.”
“Even I don’t know the truth, Daniel. Not yet. However much I wanted to, I couldn’t give it to you.”
Despite himself, Daniel felt tempted to believe her. Perhaps he was even stupider than Fermín thought.
“But I’m going to find it,” said Alicia. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this matter, and I can assure you I’m not going to keep anything from you.”
“In that case, let me help you. It’s in my own interest.”
Alicia shook her head.
“I know that Mauricio Valls murdered my mother,” said Daniel. “I have every right in the world to look into his face and ask him why. More than you and Vargas.”
“That’s true.”
“Then let me help you.”
Alicia smiled tenderly. Daniel looked away.
“You can help me by keeping yourself and your family safe,” she said. “Vargas and I are not the only ones following this trail. There are others. Very dangerous people.”
“I’m not frightened.”
“That’s what worries me, Daniel. Be frightened. Very frightened. And let me do what I know how to do.” Alicia looked for his eyes and took his hand. “I swear on my life that I’m going to find Valls and make sure you and your family are safe.”
“I don’t want to be safe. I want to know the truth.”
“What you want, Daniel, is revenge.”
“That’s my business. And if you don’t tell me what’s really happening, I’m going to find out for myself. I’m serious.”
“I know. May I ask you a favour?”
Daniel shrugged.
“Give me twenty-four hours. If in twenty-four hours I haven’t resolved this matter, I swear on whatever you want me to swear that I’ll tell you everything I know.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “Twenty-four hours,” he conceded at last. “I also have a favour to ask you in exchange.”
“Name it.”
“Tell me why Fermín says you owe him an explanation. An explanation about what?”
Alicia lowered her eyes. “Many years ago, when I was a child, Fermín saved my life. It was during the war.”
“Does he know?”
“If he doesn’t, he suspects it. He’d given me up for dead.”
“Is this wound you have from then?”
“Yes,” she replied, in a way that made him think it was only one of many wounds Alicia was hiding.
“Fermín has also saved me,” said Daniel. “Often.”
She smiled, and made as if to get up. “Sometimes life sends us a guardian angel.”
Daniel walked around the table to help her, but she stopped him. “I can manage on my own, thanks.”
“Are you sure those pills haven’t left you a bit . . . ?”
“Don’t worry. I’m a big girl. Come on, I’ll walk with you to your front door. It’s on my way.”
They walked together to the door of the old bookshop, where Daniel pulled out the key. They looked at one another silently.
“I have your word,” said Daniel.
She nodded.
“Goodnight, Alicia.”
She remained there, motionless, watching him with that glazed look. Daniel didn’t know whether to attribute it to the drugs, or to the bottomless pit he could sense behind those green eyes. When he was about to go in, Alicia stood on her toes and brought her lips close to Daniel’s. He moved his face away, and the kiss brushed his cheek. Without saying a word, Alicia turned and walked away, her silhouette evaporating in the shadows.
*
Bea had been watching them from the window. She’d seen them come out of the café on the street corner and approach their front door when the midnight bells rang out over the city’s rooftops. The moment Alicia drew close to Daniel and he stood there, stock-still, lost in her eyes, Bea felt her stomach turn. She saw her get on her toes, ready to kiss his lips. Then she stopped looking.
She went slowly back to the bedroom and stopped for a moment outside Julián’s bedroom. He was sound asleep. Bea closed his door and went on to her bedroom, then got back into bed and waited to hear the door. Daniel’s footsteps moved stealthily along the corridor. Bea lay there in the semi-darkness, staring at the ceiling. She listened to Daniel undressing at the foot of the bed and putting on the pyjamas she’d left for him on the chair. She felt his body slip in between the sheets. When she turned her head, she saw that Daniel had his back to her.
“Where were you?” she asked.
“With Fermín.”