Fernandito read the urgency in Alicia’s eyes and nodded again, looking contrite. “I’m sorry, Señorita Alicia. It’s all been a mistake. Manolo says it’s ready now, and please to forgive him. It won’t happen again.”

Alicia snapped her fingers a few times. “Go on, then. What are you waiting for?”

Fernandito nodded once again and made himself scarce.

“They can’t get anything right,” Alicia spat.

“That’s why I live in a luxury hotel,” said Leandro. “Everything is resolved with a simple phone call.”

Alicia assumed a calm smile and went back to Leandro’s side. “And to what do we owe the honor of your having left the comfort of the Palace for my humble abode?”

“I’d like to say that I missed your sarcasm, but the truth is that I bring good and bad news.”

Alicia shot a quick glance at Vargas, who simply nodded.

“Sit down, please. You’re not going to like this, Alicia, but I want you to know it wasn’t my idea, and I haven’t been able to do anything to avoid it.”

She noticed Vargas withdrawing into himself.

“Avoid what?” she asked.

Leandro left the cup on the table and paused, as if he were gathering courage to give her the news. “Three days ago the police investigation revealed that last month Don Mauricio Valls had been in touch by phone on three different occasions with Señor Ignacio Sanchís, director general of Metrobarna. That same morning, in the early hours, during a search of the company’s Madrid offices, the police found documents showing that a number of share purchase operations of the Banco Hipotecario, Metrobarna’s parent company, had taken place between its manager, Don Ignacio Sanchís, and Don Mauricio Valls. According to the police technical division, these operations were the subject of important procedural irregularities, and there was no record of the transactions having been duly reported to the Banco de España. When one of the clerks of the head office was questioned, he denied having any knowledge or record of such operations.”

“Why were we not kept informed?” asked Alicia. “I thought we were part of the investigation.”

“Don’t blame Gil de Partera, or the police. It was my decision. At the time I didn’t know that your investigation was going to lead you to Sanchís by another route. Don’t look at me like that. When Gil de Partera told me about this business, I thought it best to wait for the police to confirm whether we were facing something relevant to the case or just a simple trading irregularity that would have been beyond the scope of our investigation. If at any given moment the lines had crossed over, of course I would have told you. But you two got ahead of me.”

“I can’t quite get to the bottom of this matter,” said Alicia. “Shares?”

Leandro gestured for her to be patient. “The police continued investigating and found more signs of questionable transactions between Sanchís and Mauricio Valls. Most of them included the purchase of shares and promissory notes from the Banco Hipotecario, purchases that had taken place for almost fifteen years behind the back of the company’s board and management. We’re talking about significant amounts. Millions. At Gil de Partera’s request, or rather, following his orders, I set off for Barcelona last night, where the police were ready to arrest and interrogate Sanchís sometime today or tomorrow, as soon as they had confirmation that Valls had used funds obtained through the fraudulent sale of Banco Hipotecario debt securities to pay off a mortgage he’d taken out against the lands and building works of Villa Mercedes, his private residence in Somosaguas. The technical report from the police suggests that Valls had been blackmailing Sanchís for years to obtain illicit funds stolen from the balance sheet of the bank and its companies—funds that Sanchís had disguised with fictitious transactions between shell companies to hide the identities of the real receivers.”