Bernard paced the bedroom in frustration, his eyes repeatedly scanning for hidden cameras and bugs. He no longer knew where he could feel safe.

“Come on, my friend, let’s go down to the beach. We can talk more calmly there,” Esteban suggested.

Carlos didn’t need to be told twice. He had no desire to recount the story of his kidnapping somewhere where even the walls had ears.

Esteban’s sudden appearance felt like salvation for Ted. More precisely: his approach. The moment Ted saw the man, he immediately jumped to his feet, adjusted his thick, Coke bottle glasses, and started walking toward the pool.

They both flinched at the loud bang. Instinctively, Ludmilla moved closer to Esteban, who protectively wrapped his arm around her. From the direction of the terrace, they could hear excited fragments of male and female voices.

“Doesn’t María José have some kind of pantry or storage room?” Esteban scratched his head.

“Every house has a small room downstairs, next to the entrance. Why do you ask?” Ludmilla asked, surprised.

It took Ted a few minutes to realize he hadn’t seen Carlos in days. In fact, the two Dutch neighbors had vanished as well. But as he sat across from Carlos now, watching the old man’s lips smack against the beer bottle, Ted couldn’t understand why he even cared about any of this.

Esteban turned the document holder over, hummed thoughtfully for a moment, and then shared his conclusion.

“They’ve been taken abroad.”

“Excuse me?” Ludmilla squeaked.

“The good news is, they’ll probably come out of this unharmed.”

Esteban moved around Ludmilla’s house as if it were his own. While talking on the phone, he opened a kitchen cupboard—hitting the right one on the first try, the one where Ludmilla kept the glasses. He grabbed one and filled it with tap water.

At the sound of the doorbell, Ludmilla suddenly had no idea how to react. Ever since she had moved into the complex at Calle la Rosa 22, the doorbell had hardly ever rung. Anyone who came to see her always arrived via the terrace and knocked on the glass door.

Ted paced restlessly around his living room. Awful heat waves tormented him, sweat beaded on his forehead, and his stomach churned.