ALICIA PICKED THE receiver up and put it to her ear. The line wasn’t connected. Leandro had not called anyone. She pulled out the bottle of pills and swallowed a couple, chewing them and mixing them with a gulp of expensive brandy Leandro kept in a small cabinet in the sitting room. Before leaving the suite, she cleaned Hendaya’s gun thoroughly and dropped it on the carpet.
The walk down to the staff passage seemed interminable. Two of the lifts were coming up, so she used the stairs, walking down as fast as possible. Once again she made her way through the tangle of corridors around the kitchen area. Finally she was on the last stretch to the exit, convinced that at any moment she would feel the bullet hit her back and fall headlong, to die like a rat in the tunnels of the Gran Hotel Palace basement, the court of the Scarlet Prince.
Out on the street, a gust of sleet brushed her face. She stopped for a moment to recover her breath. The taxi driver was still standing by the cab, in the same place he’d dropped her, waiting anxiously. As soon as Ernesto saw her, he ran towards her and, without saying a word, grabbed her arm and led her to the cab. He sat her in the passenger seat and hurried across to take the wheel.
Sirens could already be heard in the distance when the engine started and the taxi glided off towards Carrera de San Jerónimo. As they drove past the main entrance to the Palace, at least three black cars were parked outside the hotel doors. A number of men were running inside, pushing aside anyone they met on their way. The taxi driver continued calmly, pressed the indicator, and melted into the traffic driving downhill towards Recoletos. Once they were there, hidden in a swarm of cars, buses and trams creeping along in the fog, he let out a sigh of relief and for the first time dared to look at Alicia. Tears ran down her face, and her lips were trembling.
“Thanks for waiting for me,” she said.
“Are you feeling all right?”
Alicia didn’t reply.
“Shall we go home?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I must make one last stop . . .”