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."Don Jaime made a dismissive gesture."I'm just a fencing master," he replied, trying to sound indifferent."Our relationship was an exclusively professional one; Don Luis never made me his confidant.""You saw him last Friday.Was he upset, worried? Did you notice anything unusual about his behavior?""Nothing that struck me.""And on the days before that?""Perhaps, I didn't notice.I can't really remember.Besides, so many people are on edge at the moment, I probably wouldn't have noticed it anyway.""Did you talk about politics at all?""In my view, Don Luis kept himself apart from all that.He used to say that he liked to observe it from afar; it was a sort of hobby."The chief of police made a doubtful face."A hobby? Hm, I see.Nevertheless, as you no doubt know, the late marquis once occupied an important post in the Ministry of the Interior.He was nominated by the minister himself, who just happened to be his maternal uncle, the late JoaquÃn VallespÃn." Campillo smiled sarcastically, making it clear that he had his own views on nepotism among the Spanish aristocracy."That was some time ago, but such things tend to create enemies.I'm a case in point.When he was minister, VallespÃn blocked my promotion to superintendent for six months." He clicked his tongue, remembering."How things change!""Maybe, but I don't think I'm the right person to enlighten you on the subject."Campillo had finished his cigar and was holding the butt between his fingers, not knowing what to do with it."There is another, perhaps more frivolous, angle from which we can consider the matter." He opted for throwing the cigar butt into a Chinese porcelain vase."The marquis was quite a ladies' man, you know what I mean.Perhaps some jealous husband.You see what I'm driving at.Besmirched honor and all that."Don Jaime blinked.That remark seemed to him in the worst possible taste."I'm afraid, Señor Campillo, that I can't be of any help to you on that point either.I will only say that in my opinion Don Luis de Ayala was a complete gentleman." He looked at the policeman's watery eyes and then at his wig, which was somewhat awry.That gave him the courage to raise his voice a little."And as regards myself, I hope that I merit exactly the same opinion from you; I would therefore prefer to hear no farther sordid gossip on the subject."Campillo immediately apologized, somewhat embarrassed, slyly adjusting his wig.Of course.Don Jaime mustn't misinterpret his words.It was a mere formality.He would never have dared to insinuate.Don Jaime was barely listening.A silent battle was being waged within himself, because he was knowingly withholding valuable information that could perhaps point to the motive for the murder.He realized that he was trying to protect a certain person whose troubling image had come to mind the moment he saw the body in the room.Protect? If his deductions were right, this wasn't just protection, it was blatant concealment, an act that not only violated the law but also went against all the ethical principles underpinning his life.He didn't want to rush into anything, he thought; he needed time to analyze the situation.Campillo was staring at him now, frowning slightly, drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair.At that moment, for the first time, Don Jaime thought that he too might be considered a suspect in the eyes of the authorities.After all, Luis de Ayala had been killed with a foil.That was when the policeman uttered the words Don Jaime had been dreading throughout the whole of this conversation: "Do you know a certain Adela de Otero?"The fencing master's heart stopped for a moment, then started beating wildly.He swallowed hard before replying."Yes," he said with all the sangfroid he could muster."She was one of my clients."Campillo bent toward him, extremely interested."I didn't know that.Is she still?""No.She dispensed with my services some weeks ago.""How many weeks?""I don't know.About a month and a half.""Why?""I don't know."The policeman leaned back in his chair and took another cigar from his pocket, all the time looking at Don Jaime as if in deep thought.This time he didn't pierce the cigar with a toothpick, he merely gnawed distractedly at one end."Did you know about her.friendship with the marquis?"Don Jaime nodded."Only very superficially," he said."As far as I know, the relationship began after she stopped attending my classes.I never"—he hesitated for a moment before finishing the phrase—"I never again saw the lady."Campillo lit his cigar amid a cloud of smoke that irritated Don Jaime's nose.Tiny beads of sweat shone on Don Jaime's forehead."We've questioned the servants," said the policeman after a while."Thanks to them we know that Señora de Otero often visited the house
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