She walked up to him and stopped just a few centimeters from the pale nape of his neck. Then she formed an O with her lips and blew.

He jumped and almost lost his balance. When he turned around and saw Alicia, he lost what little color he had left.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” she asked.

If the little man had a voice, he didn’t find it. His eyes swiveled around a hundred times before settling on Alicia.

“If you run off, I’ll stick a bodkin in your guts. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” said the guy.

“That was a joke.” Alicia smiled. “I don’t do that sort of thing.”

The poor wretch was wearing a coat that could have been found in a trash bin, and looked like a cornered rodent. Some spy she’d been assigned. She grabbed him by his lapel and led him quietly to the street corner. “What’s your name?”

“Rovira,” he muttered.

“Were you the one standing in the doorway of the espadrille shop last night?”

“How do you know?”

“Never smoke against the light of a streetlamp.”

Rovira nodded, cursing under his breath.

“Tell me, Rovira, how long have you been in the Force?”

“It would have been two months tomorrow, but if they find out at the police station that you spotted me—”

“There’s no need for them to find out.”

“No?”

“No. Because you and I, Rovira, are going to help one another. Do you know how?”

“I don’t follow, miss.”

“Yes, that’s the idea, but call me Alicia. We’re on the same side, after all.”

Alicia searched Rovira’s coat pockets and found a packet of cigarettes, the sort they sold in cheap bars and that went well with a carajillo coffee. She lit one and put it in the man’s mouth. She let him take a couple of puffs and gave him a friendly smile. “A bit calmer now?”

He nodded.

“Tell me, Rovira, why exactly have they chosen you to follow me?”

The man hesitated. “Don’t take this the wrong way, miss, but nobody else wanted the job.”

“And why’s that?”

Rovira shrugged.

“Come on, don’t be shy, now that we’ve been introduced. Spill it out.”

“They say you screw people up, and you’re bad news.”

“I see. Obviously that didn’t deter you.”

“I tried, but I wasn’t given a choice.”

“Poor baby. And what does your mission consist of, exactly?”

“I’m to follow you from afar and inform on your whereabouts and what you’re doing without you noticing. I told them this wasn’t my kind of thing.”

“Clearly. So why did you join the police?”

“I wanted to go into the printing business, but my father-in-law is a captain at the central police station.”

“I see. And the missus likes uniforms, right?” Alicia placed a maternal hand on Rovira’s shoulder. “Rovira, there are times when a man has to have some balls, and if you’ll forgive my French, show the world that he was born to pee standing up. And just so you know that you’re far more capable than you think, I’m going to give you the chance to prove it: to me, to the police force, to your father-in-law, and to the little wife. Once she sees the stud she has at home, she’s going to need to sniff some smelling salts to keep her undies on.”