Matilde frowned. The twisted ones were the worst. Determined to straighten out the situation, she proceeded to undo Fernandito’s belt and pull down his trousers. He interrupted her.

“Don’t be afraid, love.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Matilde,” said Fernandito.

She stopped and looked straight at him. “Is someone following you?”

Fernandito nodded.

“I see. Police?”

“I think so.”

The woman stood up and sat next to him. “You’re sure you don’t want to do anything?”

“I just want to be here for a while. If you don’t mind.”

“Don’t you like me?”

“That’s not what I meant. You’re very attractive.”

Matilde chuckled. “Do you have a girl you like?”

Fernandito didn’t answer.

“I’m sure you do. Go on, tell me, what’s your girlfriend’s name?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

The woman was looking at him inquisitively.

“Her name’s Alicia,” said Fernandito.

The woman’s hand settled on his thigh. “I’m sure I know how to do things that your Alicia doesn’t.”

Fernandito realized that he didn’t have a clue about what things Alicia knew or didn’t know how to do, and it wasn’t from lack of speculation.

Matilde observed him with curiosity. She lay down on the bed and took his hand. When he looked at her in the light of the anemic bulb, which gave her a yellowish hue, he realized that she was much younger than he’d imagined. She might have been only four or five years older than him.

“If you like, I could teach you how to caress a girl.”

Fernandito choked on his saliva. “I know how to do that,” he managed to articulate, rather dispiritedly.

“No man knows how to caress a girl, sweetheart. Take it from me. Even the most experienced men have fingers like ears of corn. Come, lie down next to me.”

Fernandito hesitated.

“Undress me. Slowly. The slower you undress a girl, the faster you win her heart. Imagine I’m Alicia. I might even look a bit like her.”

You’re like chalk and cheese, thought Fernandito. Even so, the image of Alicia lying before him on the bed with her arms stretched over her shoulders clouded his eyes. He clenched his fist to stop the trembling.

“Alicia doesn’t have to know. I’ll keep the secret. Go on.”

19

Buried in a dark corner of Calle Hospital’s nether regions stood a somber building that looked as if it had never been touched by sunlight. An iron door forbade entrance, and there was no notice or sign to hint what was inside. The police car stopped in front of it. Vargas and Linares got out.

“Will that poor devil still be here?” asked Vargas.

“I don’t suppose job offers are raining down on him,” said Linares as he rang the bell.

After about a minute the door opened inward, and they were greeted by the reptilian glare of an unfortunately built little man, who admitted them with a somewhat unfriendly expression.

“I thought you were dead,” he said to Vargas once he recognized him.