Alex felt Vicente tugging him back as he tried to get closer. “I just want to see.”
“You’re macabre, you know that?”
Macabre? It wasn’t every day he saw fatal car accidents in the back streets of Chueca. He could just now make out the face. The bright colours of a rooster tattooed on the forearm… “Holy shit.”
“You there, get back,” one of the officers barked at them.
Alex tried to catch his breath as he allowed Vicente to drag him away.
“Man, whydid you do that? What is wrong with you right now?”
“Vis, that was him.”
“What? Who?”
“Paco… I mean, he said his name was… That was the guy who robbed me.”
Vicente stared at him, lost for words. “I don’t understand. The dead guy?”
“Yes, the dead guy, look.”
“Look? How would I recognise—”
“Right. Forget it. I just—”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“That’s… Let’s just go home.”
Nothing else was said until they reached the front door of Alex’s building, where Jago sat on the step, waiting with a full bottle of red wine.
“Hi,” Alex said quietly. Vicente said nothing.
“Hey.” Jago’s smile quickly darkened. “Are you guys okay? You look like you’ve seen—”
“There was an accident,” said Vicente. “It looked nasty.”
“An accident?”
“Yeah, it’s… it was bad.” Questions turned in Alex’s head like a wheel until he at last grabbed the most obvious one. “How did you find my house?”
“I’m sorry. Of course, this looks so rude of me. When I took you back to my place, I checked your wallet for your identity card. I swear, it was just in case I had to call a doctor.”
“Ah. Okay, I guess.”
“I’m sorry. I thought it would be a nice surprise.”
“It’s a surprise,” Vicente said. “If you don’t mind, man, we’re kind of shaken up. Maybe another time?”
“Of course, of course. Here.” Jago handed Vicente the bottle of wine. “A peace offering? I’ll leave you be.”
“Wait,” said Alex, quickly. “It’s okay.”
“Seriously?” Vicente asked, his mask of civility slipping for just a second.
“Vis, I’m fine. You go up. I’ll be there in a bit.” Alex handed him the keys. Vicente paused, giving Jago one last sceptical look before making good on his promise to trust that Alex knew what he was doing.
