Fumero Raids the Sempere Home in Search of Fermin

Javier Fumero’s raid on the Sempere home turns the search for Fermín into an immediate threat against Daniel and his father. Fumero arrives with two officers, forces his way inside, and makes clear that he intends to capture Fermín without regard for courts or hospitals.

The Raid

The confrontation begins with pounding footsteps on the stairs and an order from outside: “Police! Open up!” Daniel recognizes Fumero’s voice. His father opens the door, and Fumero pushes past him into the dining room, demanding to know where Fermín is. One officer restrains Daniel’s father against the wall while the other helps cover the inspector’s entry. Daniel recognizes the officer as the same man who had followed him and Fermín, held Daniel while Fumero beat Fermín outside the Hospice of Santa Lucia, and kept watch on Daniel a few nights earlier.

Threats and the Search

Fumero turns the unanswered question into a physical threat. He shakes his head as if muttering to himself, then raises a revolver and smashes its butt against a vase of withered flowers. The vase breaks across the table, scattering water and shriveled stems; Daniel shivers as Fumero presses the gun barrel into his cheek. From the entrance hall, his father shouts while the officers hold him. Daniel can make out little beyond the pressure of the weapon and the smell of gunpowder.

Fumero warns Daniel that if Fermín is found in the house, his father will pay for it. Daniel insists that his father knows nothing and asks Fumero to leave him alone. The inspector answers with a promise of vengeance: once he catches Fermín, he will put him out of circulation without judges or hospitals, take his time doing it, and search every stone in the city if necessary. He also tells Daniel that he will be next. The threat makes the raid more than a search for a fugitive: Fumero uses Daniel’s family as leverage and presents his pursuit of Fermín as a personal campaign beyond legal restraint.

The Raid’s Limits and Aftermath

The search ends without Fumero finding Fermín. Officer Lerma returns to the dining room and gives a slight shake of his head; Fumero loosens his grip on the hammer and removes the revolver. His brief verdict, “Pity,” leaves the threat unresolved rather than dispelled. The officers have not established that Fermín is inside, but Fumero has made clear that he will keep pursuing him—and that Daniel and his father may be made to suffer for standing in the way. The raid thus closes on a failed search and an open-ended menace, with the inspector’s unchecked violence extending the danger beyond the house.

The raid’s failure does not bring relief. When Officer Lerma returns and signals that Fermín is not there, Fumero loosens his grip on the hammer, takes the revolver away from Daniel’s cheek, and says only, “Pity.” The search has found nothing, but the inspector leaves the family with a threat that reaches beyond the house: he has vowed to find Fermín by turning over every stone in the city, and Daniel is next on his list. The abrupt, almost casual ending turns the empty search into an unfinished pursuit, with the danger to Daniel and his father still in force.