On a rainy walk back to the Sempere bookshop, Daniel notices the police surveillance still in place. Don Federico Flaviá beckons him into the watchmaker’s shop and, under the guise of returning a repair, secretly hands Daniel a bag containing Fermín’s leather-bound missal, warning him to leave quickly because the watcher across the street is observing them.

Inside the bookshop, Daniel slips into the back toilet to examine the missal. A tiny cigarette-paper note falls out: Fermín insists the newspaper story about Nuria Monfort’s murder is a lie, says he is safely hidden, orders Daniel not to look for him, and promises he will make contact through intermediaries. Fermín also asks Daniel to discreetly transmit the essence of the message “in code” to Fermín’s beloved.

While Daniel is rereading, the plainclothes policeman from outside knocks and asks to use the toilet. Panicking, Daniel crumples the note, puts it in his mouth, flushes, and swallows it before opening the door. The policeman, eyeing Daniel and the missal, jokes about needing something to read; Daniel deflects him and retreats to his father, who grudgingly allowed the man inside because he claimed an urgent need.

Daniel goes upstairs to the apartment to get warm and dry, noting a second sentinel stationed near Santa Ana. Exhausted, he falls asleep and dreams of Death riding over Barcelona, trailing white coffins labeled with Nuria Monfort’s name.

At dawn Daniel buys the first edition of the paper, finds Nuria Monfort’s obituary, and learns her funeral will be that afternoon at Montjuïc Cemetery. Back home, he tries to write something for Nuria with his Meisterstück pen but cannot; he feels only the terror of her absence and the certainty that her memory will haunt him in the future.