THE HEART OF the grand hotel was already working full tilt as it coped with the first breakfast sitting. An army of cooks, kitchen boys and waiters came in and out of the kitchen areas and tunnels, pushing trolleys or carrying trays. Alicia edged around the commotion with its aroma of coffee and a thousand delights, receiving a few surprised looks, although everyone was too busy to focus on what was obviously a lost guest or, more likely, a luxury courtesan slipping out discreetly at the end of her work shift. Because of this code of invisibility that prevails in all luxury hotels, Alicia was able to play that card unabashed until she reached the service lifts. She stepped into the first one, which she shared with a maid carrying towels and bars of soap who looked her up and down with a mixture of curiosity and envy. Alicia gave her a friendly smile, as if to imply that they both walked on the same side of the street.
“So early?” asked the maid.
“Early bird catches the worm.”
The maid nodded shyly. She got out on the fourth floor. When the doors closed and the lift continued up to the last floor, Alicia pulled out the bunch of keys from her handbag and looked for the golden one Leandro had given her two years earlier. “It’s a master key. It opens all the rooms of the hotel. Including mine. Make good use of it. Never enter a place if you don’t know what awaits you.”
*
The service lift opened onto a small hidden passage next to the cleaners’ cupboards and laundry rooms. Alicia hurried down the passage to the door that led into the main corridor, which went around the entire floor. She opened it cautiously. Leandro’s suite was on one of the corners hanging over Plaza de Neptuno. She stepped into the corridor and walked towards the suite. On the way she passed a guest who was returning to his room, probably after having had his breakfast. He smiled politely. Alicia smiled back. When she rounded the bend in the corridor, she saw the door to Leandro’s suite. There were no bodyguards posted outside the entrance. Leandro hated that type of display; he’d always advocated discretion and an absence of melodrama. But Alicia knew that at least two of his men must be nearby, either in a neighbouring room or going through the hotel, at that very moment. She reckoned she had, at best, five to ten minutes.
Pausing in front of the door to the suite, she looked right and left, then quietly put the key in the lock and turned it gently. The door opened, and Alicia slipped inside. She locked the door behind her and stood there for a few seconds, leaning her back against it. A small entrance hall led to a corridor at the end of which was the oval room, set beneath the dome of one of the towers. Leandro had been living there as far back as she could remember. She crept towards the room, her hand resting on the weapon in her belt. The room was in semi-darkness. The door to the suite’s bedroom was ajar, projecting a shaft of light. Alicia heard water running and a whistling she knew well. She walked across the oval room to the door and opened it wide. At the far end was the bed, empty and unmade. To the left was the bathroom door, which was open, letting out a delicate vapour scented with soap. Alicia stopped in the doorway.
His back to her, Leandro was shaving meticulously in front of the mirror. He wore a scarlet bathrobe and matching slippers. The bath, full of steaming water, waited on one side. A radio murmured a tune that Leandro was whistling. Alicia met his eyes in the mirror, and he smiled warmly, without a hint of surprise.
“I’ve been expecting you for days. You will have noticed that I told the boys to get out of the way.”
“Thanks.”
Leandro turned and wiped the foam off his face with a towel. “I was thinking of them. I know you’ve never liked teamwork. Have you had breakfast? Shall I order something for you?”
Alicia shook her head. She pulled out the pistol and pointed it at his belly. Leandro poured a bit of aftershave on his hands and massaged his face.
“I take it that’s poor Hendaya’s weapon. Good thinking. I suppose it’s pointless to ask you where we can find him. I’m only saying this because he had a wife and children.”
“Have a look in a tin of cat food.”
“That’s my girl. Shall we sit down?”
“We’re fine here.”
Leandro leaned against the dressing table. “As you wish. What’s up?”
Alicia hesitated for a moment. The easiest thing would be to shoot now. Empty the gun and try to get out of there alive. With luck she would reach the service stairs. Who knows, perhaps she would make it to the lobby before being shot down.
Leandro, as usual, read her thoughts. He gave her a look of compassion and paternal affection as he slowly shook his head. “You should never have left me. You don’t know how much your betrayal has hurt me.”
“I have never betrayed you.”
“Please, Alicia. You know perfectly well that you’ve always been my favourite. My masterpiece. You and I are made for one another. We’re the perfect team.”
“Is that why you sent that vermin to kill me?”
“Rovira?”
“Was that his name?”
“Sometimes. He was meant to be your substitute. I only sent him so he could learn from you and watch you. He admired you a lot. He’d been studying you for two years. Every dossier. Every case. He said you were the best. My mistake was to think that perhaps he could take your place. Now I’ve come to accept that nobody can replace you.”
“Not even Lomana?”
“Ricardo never really understood his role. He would volunteer uncalled-for judgements and poke his nose where he shouldn’t, when all that was required of him was brute force. He confused his loyalties. Nobody can survive in this business without being clear about where those lie.”
“And where do yours lie?”
Leandro shook his head.
“Why don’t you come back to me, Alicia? Who will take care of you like me? I know you as if you were my flesh and blood. I just have to look at you to know that right now pain is eating you raw, but you haven’t taken anything because you want to stay alert. I look into your eyes, and I see you’re afraid. Afraid of me. And that hurts. It hurts so much . . .”
“If you want a pill, or even the entire bottle, it’s all yours.”
Leandro smiled sadly, muttering under his breath. “I admit that I was wrong. And I apologize. Is that what you want? Because if you like, I’ll go down on my knees. I’m not embarrassed. Your betrayal hurt me a great deal – it blinded me. Me, the one who’s always taught you that one should never make decisions in anger, pain, or fear. You see, I’m human too, Alicia.”
“You’re going to make me cry.”
Leandro’s smile now betrayed malice. “Do you see how, deep down, we’re the same? Where will you be better off than by my side? I have grand plans for us. I’ve been thinking a lot these past few weeks, and I’ve understood why you want to leave this. Moreover, I’ve realized that I want to leave it too. I’m sick and tired of cleaning up after incompetent idiots. You and I are made for other things.”
“Oh, are we?”
“Well, of course. Or did you imagine we would always be dealing with other people’s messes? That’s over. I’ve set my sights on something far more important. I’m also leaving all this behind. And I need you to be by my side, I need you to come with me. Without you, I can’t do it. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
“I haven’t a clue.”
“I’m talking about politics. This country is going to change. Sooner or later. The General won’t last forever. New blood is needed. People with ideas. People who know how to manage the world out there.”
“Like you.”
“Like you and like me. You and I, together, can do great things for this country.”
“Such as murdering innocent people and stealing their children to sell them?”
Leandro sighed, a look of annoyance spreading over his face. “Don’t be naive, Alicia. Those were other times.”
“Was it your idea, or Valls’s?”
“Does it matter?”
“It matters to me.”
“It was nobody’s idea. It’s simply the way things happened. Ubach and his wife took a fancy to Mataix’s daughters. Valls saw an opportunity. And then came others. It was a time for opportunities. And there’s no supply without demand. I just concentrated on doing what I had to do and making sure the matter didn’t escape Valls’s control.”
“It looks like he didn’t quite pull it off.”
“Valls is a greedy man. Unfortunately greedy people never know when it’s time to stop abusing their position, so they force things until they blow up. That’s why, sooner or later, they fall.”
“Is he still alive, then?”
“Alicia . . . What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
Leandro laughed to himself. “The truth? You and I know such a thing doesn’t exist. The truth is an agreement that allows innocent people not to have to cope with reality.”
“I haven’t come here to listen to your book of quotations.”
Leandro’s look hardened. “No, you’ve come here to poke around where you know you mustn’t. As you always do. To complicate everything. Because that’s how you do everything. That’s why you left me. That’s why you betrayed me. That’s why you come here now to talk to me about truth. Because you want me to tell you that yes, you’re better than me, better than all this.”
“I’m not better than anyone else.”
“Of course you are. That’s why you’ve always been my favourite. That’s why I want you back by my side. Because this country needs to have people like you and like me. People who know how to control it. How to keep it in line, and calm, so it doesn’t all turn into a sack full of rats again, living to feed their hatred, their envy and their spiteful anger, rats who eat one another alive. You know I’m right. You know that even though we’re always being blamed for everything, without us this country would go to hell. What do you say?”
Leandro gazed at her at length and, when he didn’t get a reply, walked over to the bathtub. He turned his back to her and removed his robe. Alicia looked at his naked body, pale like the belly of a fish. He grabbed the golden bar on the marble wall and slowly immersed himself in the bath. Once he was lying in the tub, the steam caressing his face, he opened his eyes with a hint of sadness.
“Everything should have been different, Alicia, but we’re children of our time. Deep down, it’s almost better this way. I always knew it would be you.”
Alicia let the gun drop.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m not going to kill you.”
“Then why have you come?”
“I don’t know.”
“Of course you know.”
“What are you doing?”
Leandro stretched out a hand to the telephone extension hanging from the bathtub wall. Alicia aimed at him again.
“You know what this is like, Alicia . . . Operator. Yes. Put me through to the Ministry of the Interior. Gil de Partera. Yes. Leandro Montalvo. I’ll wait. Thank you.”
“Put the phone down. Please.”
“I can’t do that. The order never was to save Valls. The order was to find him and silence him, so that none of this sad business would come out in the open. And we were on the point, once again, of crowning the mission with success. But you didn’t listen to me. That’s why now, much against my will, I’m going to have to order the death of all those people you have involved in your adventure. Daniel Sempere, his wife, and all his family, including that fool who works for them, and all those to whom, in your crusade for redemption, you’ve had the ill-fated idea of blurting out what they should never have known. You’ve wanted it this way. Fortunately you’ve led us to them. As usual, even when you don’t try, you’re the best. Operator? Yes, Minister. Same here. That’s right. I have news—”
One shot was enough. The receiver slipped from Leandro’s hand and fell on the floor by the bathtub. His head tilted to one side as he bestowed upon her a look poisoned with affection and longing. A scarlet cloud spread under the water, masking the reflection of his body. Alicia stood there, motionless, watching as he bled with every throb, until his pupils dilated and his smile froze into a mocking grin.
“I’ll wait for you,” he whispered. “Don’t be long.”
A second later the body slid slowly, and Leandro Montalvo’s face sank into the blood-filled water, its eyes still open wide.