“Abandoned?” asked Alicia.

“Nobody has seen him or had any news from him since. He’s vanished from the face of the earth without a trace.”

A long silence fell over the dining hall. Alicia searched Leandro’s eyes.

“My men are working tirelessly,” he continued, “but for the moment we’ve got nothing. It’s as if Mauricio Valls had evaporated the moment he stepped into that car.”

“Did the minister leave a note, or some indication of where he was going before he departed?”

“No. The theory we’re considering is that the minister, for some reason we can’t quite follow, had at last discovered who was sending him those threats and decided to confront that person himself with the help of his trusted bodyguard.”

“And that way perhaps fall into a trap,” Leandro concluded. “‘The entrance to the labyrinth.’”

Gil de Partera nodded repeatedly.

“How can we be certain that the minister didn’t know from the start who was sending him those notes and why?” Alicia now queried.

Both Leandro and Gil de Partera threw her a disapproving look. “The minister is the victim, not the suspect,” the latter put in quickly. “Don’t confuse the facts.”

“How can we help you, my friend?” asked Leandro.

Gil de Partera took a deep breath and waited a few moments before replying.

“My department has limited procedures. We were kept in the dark on this subject until it was too late. I admit we may have made some mistakes, but we’re doing everything in our power to resolve the matter before it gets into the news. Some of my superiors believe that, given the nature of the case, your unit could come up with some additional angle that would help us resolve this question as soon as possible.”

“Is that also what you believe?”

“To be honest, Leandro, I no longer know who or what to believe. But what I’m quite sure of is that if we don’t find Valls safe and sound very soon, Altea will unleash a storm and put his old friend Hendaya on the case. And neither of us wants that to happen.”

Alicia looked inquiringly at Leandro, who shook his head almost imperceptibly. Gil de Partera chuckled bitterly under his breath. His eyes were bloodshot. He looked as if he hadn’t slept more than two hours a night for a week.

“I’m telling you as much as I know, but what I don’t know is whether I’ve been told the whole truth. I can’t be any clearer. We’ve spent the last nine days groping around in the dark, and every hour that goes by is another hour lost.”

“Do you think the minister is still alive?” asked Alicia.

Gil de Partera looked down and said nothing for a long time. “It’s my duty to think that he is,” he said finally, “and that we’ll find him safe and sound before any of this can leak out, or the case is taken out of our hands.”

“And we’ll be behind you on this matter,” Leandro agreed. “Be in no doubt that we’ll do all we can to help you with your investigation.”