“On you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’d like you to work for me.”

Alicia observed Leandro without a word as he settled in the chair and gazed at her, smiling.

“I’ve been watching you for some time, Alicia. I think you have the gift.”

“What for?”

“For learning.”

“Learning what?”

“To survive. And also to use your skills for something more than filling the pockets of a small-time crook like Ruano.”

“And who are you?”

“I’m Leandro.”

“Are you with the police?”

“Something like that. Think of me as a friend.”

“I don’t have any friends.”

“We all have friends. It’s a matter of knowing how to find them. What I’m proposing to you is that you work for me for the next twelve months. You’ll have decent lodgings and a salary. You’ll be free to leave whenever you wish.”

“What if I decide to leave now?”

Leandro pointed to the door. “If that’s what you want, you can go. You can go back to the streets.”

Alicia fixed her eyes on the door. Leandro stood up and opened it. Then he went back to the chair, leaving the path open for her. “Nobody is going to stop you if you decide to walk through that door, Alicia. But the opportunity I’m offering you stays here.”

She took a few steps toward the door. Leandro made no attempt to stop her.

“And if I stay with you?” she said.

“If you decide to trust me, the first thing will be to find you a hot bath, clean clothes, and dinner at the Siete Puertas restaurant. Have you ever been there?”

“No.”

“They serve a delicious seafood rice.”

Alicia’s stomach rumbled with hunger. “And then?”

“Then you’ll go to your new home, where you’ll have a room and a bathroom to yourself, and there you’ll rest and sleep in your own bed with clean new sheets. And tomorrow, without rushing, I’ll come and fetch you and we’ll go to my office so I can begin to tell you what I do.”

“Why don’t you tell me now?”

“Let’s say that I devote my time to solving problems and to putting criminals like Baltasar Ruano and others far worse out of circulation, so that they can no longer hurt anybody. But the most important thing I do is find exceptional people like you, who don’t know they’re exceptional, and teach them to develop their talents so that they can do good.”

“Do good,” Alicia repeated coldly.

“The world isn’t the amoral place you’ve known until now, Alicia. The world is simply the reflection of those of us who make it up. In fact, the world is only what we make of it between us all. That’s why people like you or like me, who are born with a gift, have a responsibility to use it for the good of others. Mine is to know how to recognize talent in others and guide them, so that when the time comes they can make the right decision.”