Act Three - The Angel’s Game — Chapter 5

David spends days retracing old haunts and Vidal’s usual venues, showing Cristina’s photograph, but no one has seen her for weeks. A hotel lead at the España yields nothing; the manager says others from Vidal’s circle asked earlier with the same result. David feels Cristina may have vanished the morning he left to buy train tickets.

Inside the España dining room, David unexpectedly encounters Corelli, who is without his angel brooch. Corelli presses him about their project, and David claims it is nearly finished. Corelli proposes dinner on Friday, January 23, to celebrate and read the manuscript; David agrees, effectively accepting a firm deadline.

Leaving for the Ramblas and the Liceo, David wonders if Vidal is attending the opera. He finds Vidal’s chauffeur, Pep, who reveals Cristina has been missing for weeks and that Vidal and his family even engaged police to find her.

Pep recounts that Cristina argued with Vidal, kept to herself, wrote letters daily and mailed them, struggled to sleep, and was prescribed laudanum. She asked after David and cried, saying she missed her father, Manuel. These details lead David to a sudden realization of where she might be, and he slips away before Vidal can spot him.