Nuria Monfort Is Murdered and Fermin Is Framed

Nuria Monfort Is Murdered and Fermin Is Framed concerns the false public account of Nuria Monfort’s death and its immediate consequences for Fermín. A newspaper presents him as the wanted killer, but a concealed note from Fermín tells Daniel that the report is a fabrication and that he is safe in hiding.

The Newspaper Report

The news reaches Daniel and those with him through a newspaper that is still warm and damp with ink. Its front-page evidence is a pair of photographs beneath a headline: one shows Fermín as he looked years earlier, while the other shows Nuria, whom Daniel recognizes only after a few seconds. The contrast between the printed images and the people Daniel knows gives the report an intimate force, even as its claims remain unverified.

The article names Nuria Monfort Masdedeu as the victim and says she lived in Barcelona. It reports that she was killed in the San Gervasio neighbourhood in midafternoon, near a school; pupils witnessed the attack and alerted their teachers, who called the police and an ambulance. The report says she was pronounced dead on arrival at Hospital Clinico at 18:15.

Fermín’s Public Accusation

The newspaper identifies the alleged killer as a tramp and names him as Antonio Jose Gutierrez Alcayete, a 55-year-old fugitive who, according to the report, had escaped from La Modelo Prison six years earlier and used different identities to evade the authorities. It says he was dressed as a cassock-wearing cleric and describes him as armed and dangerous. The article also suggests that the killer may have known Nuria, while admitting that the motive and the nature of any connection were unknown.

The report’s central falsehood is its association of Fermín’s photograph with the murder and its presentation of him as the wanted man. That accusation turns a private death into a public manhunt, obscuring what Daniel and his companions understand about Fermín and making the newspaper’s account a source of immediate danger.

Fermín’s Secret Message

Fermín reaches Daniel not in person but through a note hidden inside a missal. Written in minute script on nearly transparent cigarette paper, it instructs Daniel not to believe what the newspapers say about Nuria’s murder. Fermín insists that he is safe in a secure hiding place and warns Daniel not to search for him or send messages; he will make contact through his own resourcefulness and friendly intermediaries.

The note also asks Daniel to pass its essential message, in code and with discretion, to Fermín’s beloved. Fermín tells him to destroy the paper after reading it, by burning it or tearing it into small pieces. The careful concealment and instructions establish the need for secrecy, while Fermín’s signature, “the third man,” preserves the familiar bond between the two friends amid the danger.

Consequences and Narrative Significance

The episode sets two versions of events against each other: the newspaper’s confident accusation and Fermín’s private denial. The public report makes Fermín appear to be a dangerous fugitive, whereas his message presents him as alive, safe, and deliberately unreachable. The difference leaves Daniel with a limited but decisive task: protect the message and communicate its substance without exposing Fermín’s hiding place.

Nuria’s reported death and Fermín’s framing are thus linked by the gap between official publicity and private knowledge. The newspaper supplies a story that may direct the authorities and public toward Fermín; the hidden note contests that story but cannot safely correct it in public. The event shifts the immediate stakes from discovering what happened to Nuria to preserving Fermín’s safety and keeping faith with his request.