"At least they might have gotten the killer."

"Maybe," Ann said. "And Martha would still be dead."

Hood wasn't convinced, though he would know more when his own cleanup analysis was completed. "Is there anything else we have to take care of, presswise?" he asked as his phone beeped twice. That meant it was an internal call. Hood glanced at the caller code. It was Bob Herbert.

"Not a thing," Ann said. She rolled her lips together as though she wanted to say more, but she didn't.

So much for communication. Hood thought cynically as he picked up the phone. "Yes, Bob?"

"Paul," he said urgently, "we've got something."

"Go ahead."

"We picked this recording up from a small commercial radio station in Tolosa. I'm sending it over on the Vee-Bee. We haven't been able to verify the authenticity of the tape you're about to hear, though we'll be able to do that in about an hour. We're getting sound bites of the speaker from a Spanish television station here in order to compare the voices. My gut tells me they're real but we'll know for sure in an hour or so.

"The first voice you're going to hear is the local radio announcer introducing the tape," Herbert went on. "The second voice is from the tape itself. I'm emailing the translation over as well."

Hood acknowledged as he closed the Serrador file and brought up Herbert's e-mail. Then he hit the VeeBee key on the keyboard. The Vee-Bee, or Voice Box, was the equivalent of audio e-mail. The sounds were digitally scanned and cleaned by one of "Miracle" Matt Stoll's computer programs. The audio delivered by the Vee-Bee simulator was as close to real life as possible. Thanks to the digital encoding, the listener could even isolate background or foreground sounds and play them separately.

Ann came around the desk and leaned over Hood's shoulder. Her warmth, her closeness were comforting. He concentrated on reading the translation as the message played.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening," said the announcer. "We interrupt the supper club troubador to report about further developments in the explosion of the yacht tonight in La Concha Bay. A few minutes ago, a tape recording was delivered to our studio. It was brought by a man who represented himself as a member of the First People of Spain. This recording is reportedly of a conversation which took place onboard the yacht, identified as the Veridico, moments before it blew up. With the delivery of this tape, the FPS claims responsibility for the attack. They also declare Spain as the province of Spaniards, not of the elite of Catalonia. We will play the recording in its entirety."

A parenthetical comment from Herbert read: The FPS is a group of Castilian pure-bloods. They've been publishing broadsides and recruiting members for two years. They've also claimed responsibility for two acts of terrorism against Catalonian and Andalusian targets. Their size and the identity of their leader(s) is unknown.