Alicia flashed her teeth, gave the piece of toast a big bite, and smiled.

“What’s the plan?” he said.

“Yesterday we concentrated on the car. Let’s pay a visit to the lawyer, Brians, today.”

“As you wish. How do you want to do this?”

“I was thinking that I could be the young, naive heiress who has discovered she owns a copy of a Víctor Mataix book and wants to sell it. Don Gustavo Barceló told me that Brians represents a collector who is interested in buying all the Mataix books on the market, etcetera.”

“You as the naive young lady. Promising. What about me. Who am I supposed to be? The squire?”

“I thought you could be my loyal, mature, and loving husband.”

“Fabulous. The cat woman and the old captain, couple of the year. I don’t think he’ll buy it, even if he got the lowest grades in law school.”

“I don’t expect him to. The idea is rather to arouse his suspicions so that he makes a false move.”

“I see. So what do we do then? Do we follow him?”

“You’re quite the mind reader, Vargas.”

* * *

When they set off down the road, a dazzling sun had managed to break through and was combing the rooftops. Vargas gazed at the facades and hidden corners bordering Calle Aviñón with the placid expression of a provincial seminarist on a weekend trip. Soon he noticed that Alicia kept turning her head to look back over her shoulder every few meters. He was about to ask whether something was wrong when he followed her eyes. Rovira was trying unsuccessfully to hide discreetly in a doorway, about fifty meters away.

“I’m going to spell it out to that little piece of shit,” murmured Vargas.

Alicia held on to his arm. “No, it’s best if you leave him.”

She waved at Rovira and smiled. The man looked both right and left, hesitated for a moment, and, realizing he’d been discovered, returned the greeting timidly.

“Useless idiot,” spat Vargas.

“Better him than someone else. At least this one is on our side, if he knows what’s good for him.”

“If you say so.”

Vargas signaled to Rovira to move further back and stick to the agreed distance. The man nodded and raised two thumbs.

“Look at him,” said Vargas. “He must have seen that at the movies.”

“Isn’t that where people learn how to live nowadays, in the cinema?”

“That’s what the world’s come to.”

They left Rovira behind and continued walking.

“I don’t like having this cretin tailing us,” Vargas insisted. “I don’t know why you trust him. God knows what he’s telling them at headquarters.”

“The fact is, I feel rather sorry for him.”

“I think a couple of knuckle sandwiches wouldn’t be amiss. You don’t have to witness it if you don’t want to. I’ll catch him on my own at some point and leave him to soak.”

“You eat too much protein, Vargas. It affects your disposition.”