Aínsa is associated with Doctor Takchenko, a forensic specialist who met Amaia Salazar there and carried out parallel analyses for the investigation. Though the novel supplies little description of the place itself, it gives Aínsa a practical role in the case: it is a point of contact for independent forensic work, and a link in the chain of events that exposes that work to danger.

Connection to Doctor Takchenko

Amaia recalls having met Doctor Takchenko in Aínsa. When she tells Fermín Montes that the doctor has suffered a serious road accident, he remembers her as an extraordinary woman and expresses concern for her. Amaia clarifies that Takchenko has suffered striking fractures but no life-threatening injuries.

Role in the investigation

Doctor Takchenko was someone the investigators used for parallel analyses. After finding fibers in Jonan Etxaide’s apartment, Amaia gave her a sample for testing. The sample connected Aínsa to a separate strand of the inquiry: forensic work conducted outside the immediate discovery scene and entrusted to a specialist the team already knew.

Threats surrounding the evidence

While Doctor Takchenko was on her way home, someone forced her off the road and searched her car. Amaia later found that her own home had also been entered; the intruder took an empty pen drive. These incidents do not establish that the attack happened in Aínsa, but they show how the investigative chain associated with the place became entangled with efforts to reach or disrupt the evidence. Aínsa’s significance is therefore functional rather than scenic: it marks a connection to independent analysis and to a case in which even the handling of evidence carried risk.