'I can tell from your face,' said Falcon, drifting back to the wall chart, 'that whatever it is, it's not much to show for two weeks' work.'

'Not solid work, and you know what it's like here in Seville: things take time,' said Ferrera. 'You already know she has no criminal record.'

'So what did you find?' asked Falcon, catching a different tone in her voice.

'After getting people to do a lot of rooting around in the local police archives, I've come up with a reference.'

'A reference?'

'She reported a missing person. Her sister, Margarita, back in May 1998.'

'Eight years ago?' said Falcon, looking up at the ceiling. 'Is that interesting?'

'That's the only thing I could find,' said Ferrera, shrugging. 'Margarita was seventeen and had already left school. The local police did nothing except check up on her about a month later and Marisa reported that she'd been found. Apparently, the girl had left home with a boyfriend that Marisa didn't know about. They'd gone to Madrid until their money ran out and then hitched back. That's it. End of story.'

'Well, if nothing else, it gives me an excuse to go and see Marisa Moreno,' said Falcon. 'Is that all?'

'Did you see this message from the prison governor? Your meeting with Esteban Calderon is confirmed for one o'clock this afternoon.'

'Perfect.'

Ferrera left and Falcon was once again alone in his head with Marisa Moreno and Esteban Calderon. There was an obvious reason why Calderon was never far from his thoughts: the brilliant but arrogant instructing judge of the 6th June bombing had been found, days after the explosion, at an absolutely crucial moment of their investigation, trying to dispose of his prosecutor wife in the Guadalquivir river. Calderon's wife, Ines, was Javier Falcon's ex-wife. As the Homicide chief, Falcon had been called to the scene. When they'd opened the shroud around the body and he'd found himself looking down into Ines's beautiful but inanimate features he'd fainted.