‘Dígame.’ The woman behind the hard plastic screen barked her command through a microphone.
‘A ticket to Madrid, please.’
‘Single or return?’
‘Single.’
He passed his bag through security, handed his ticket to a girl in a blue-and-white uniform, and found a space on the platform. From further up the track the white sleek form of the train was coming into view.
His mobile vibrated in his pocket. Lifting it out, he pressed the button. It was a text message from Hilario.
Dentro de la concha está la perla, aunque no puedas verla, he’d written. The pearl is in the shell, even though you can’t see it.
Cámara smiled as he stepped on to the train. His home–his shell–had been smashed. Now, his grandfather was telling him, was his chance to pick up a pearl of freedom nestling in the rubble.
He placed his suitcase on the rack and sat down next to the smoked-glass window.
The route would take him through the high, flat, burnt fields of La Mancha. His territory, his home.
It was dark by the time they pulled into the capital. The air was dry and hotter than on the coast, but the relief from the stickiness of the sea air made it feel cooler.
The taxi dropped him outside the front door. He found the button for her flat, pressed it and waited. Would she be in?
A pause, then the intercom crackled.
‘¿Sí?’ came a woman’s voice.
‘Alicia. It’s Max,’ he said. ‘There’s something I want to tell you.’
Also by Jason Webster
Nonfiction
Duende: A Journey Into the Heart of Flamenco
Andalus: Unlocking the Secrets of Moorish Spanish
¡Guerra!: Living in the Shadows of the Spanish Civil War
Sacred Sierra: A Year on the Spanish Mountain
Fiction
Or the Bull Kills You
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to my friends Rafa Campo of the Policía Científica, policeman-cum-novelist Inspector Sebastián Roa, and Inspector Esther Maldonado of the Valencia Grupo de Homicidios, for passing on details of how the Spanish National Police operates. Also to Fiona Wright for getting in touch and setting things in motion.
G. and V. gave me invaluable insights into the conditions faced by ordinary Spaniards in the years before the abortion laws were relaxed. Abortion is a delicate subject, and so I won’t give their full names here, but I thank them for their candour and trust.
Thanks also to Alexandre Guerrero, Sandra Ferrandez and Gisela Dombek for their support, backup, ideas and good company.
My knowledge of the Cabanyal area was greatly enhanced by meeting Maribel Domenech, Rafa Brines and Rosanna Sagnelli. Many thanks to them for helping me get to know one of the most characteristic neighbourhoods in Valencia. Sadly, as I write this, the Town Hall still has plans to knock a large swathe through the barrio, as described in the book. A local pressure group, Plataforma Salvem el Cabanyal, is fighting the project. Their website is www.cabanyal.com.
Thanks again to everyone at Chatto and Vintage for their work on, and belief in, the Max Cámara series: Clara Farmer, Parisa Ebrahimi, Alison Hennessey, Bethan Jones, Vicki Watson, Jane Kirby, Monique Corless and Roger Bratchell. Mary Chamberlain is a genius who takes almost all of the pain away from copy editing. And very special thanks, as ever, to my editor Jenny Uglow, to whom I owe so much.
My agent, Peter Robinson, has been wonderful, and I thank him for his continued support and generosity. Thanks also to Alex Goodwin, for his patience and efficiency.
Lastly, my love and thanks to Salud, to Arturo, and to Gabriel, who was already on the way.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A DEATH IN VALENCIA. Copyright © 2012 by Jason Webster. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
ISBN: 978-1-250-01211-1
First published in Great Britain by Chatto & Windus
A Death in Valencia Page 24