Summaries

Synopsis

During a guided school visit to the Center for Experimental Archaeology(CAREX), some kids find the body of a young girl in the place where the replicaof a Neanderthal burial site should be. The young woman is Eva Santos, a girlfrom the nearby village of Atapuerca, and she is dead. Her body is naked andplaced in a fetal position. A grisly ritual crime reminiscent of another one thatoccurred six years ago in the same place.Alarm bells are ringing in the town of Atapuerca: has the "site killer", ataxidermist named Carlos Béjar who managed to escape six years ago,returned?The judge, Vázquez de Mella, assigns the case to the same police officers whowere in charge of that murder: Silvia Guzmán, now police officer, and DanielVelarde, former police officer, who returns as an advisor; in addition to theyoung Rodrigo Ajuria, an inspector expert in new technologies.This new case interrupts a decisive moment in Silvia's life: she is about to becomea mother with Juan, her current couple, through artificial insemination treatment.It took her a long time to recover psychologically from the professional andpersonal failure six years ago and now she will have to face all her ghostsagain.Daniel Velarde, on the other hand, left the police after the mistake he madein the previous case, and now works as a security manager in a major oilcompany. He does not want to return, but the judge pressures him to finish whathe left half-finished in the past.From now on, the coexistence of these two investigators will take place inAtapuerca, a mysterious and suffocating town in Burgos. The killer could beamong the archaeology students at the site, who will return to their countries intwo weeks. A countdown that will add a lot of pressure.Once in Atapuerca, the first thing that will come to their minds will be thememories from the past. Of the fleeting and intense sexual relationship thatSilvia and Daniel had there and that prevented them from concentrating enoughon the case. They will also discover that one of the students of the excavation,Galder Vinter, an imposing six-foot German boy and leader of the rest, hadalready participated in the archaeological campaign in which the previouscrime took place.Galder, fond of strange prehistoric rituals mixed with sex and extreme survivalwill be the first suspect. But also, Gabriel, the victim's brother, a withdrawn boywith mental problems with whom Eva had an unhealthy and almost incestuousrelationship.Everything goes off the rails when Galder's criminal record in Germany forperforming extreme rituals is discovered, leading to a spectacular arrest of theGerman at the Museum of Evolution.With Galder arrested and Gabriel interrogated, Silvia's whole life collapseswhen her boyfriend, Juan, shows up at Atapuerca unexpectedly to break upwith her. The cause: Silvia's inability to commit to motherhood after years ofrelationship and always with the excuse of her profession.A brutal storm explodes the accumulated tension in the atmosphere on the dayof Eva's funeral. The investigations lead Silvia to explore an abandoned cabin inthe middle of the woods while Daniel attends the victim's funeral. Silvia discoversthat the cabin is the same one where Carlos Béjar, the main suspect six yearsearlier, kept his stuffed animals. There she is attacked by a hit-and-run attacker.Is Carlos Béjar back and is he guilty of the new murder?The fact that Silvia is about to die will make Daniel react, who has had a sexualencounter, in a frivolous way, with Inés, the young coordinator of the excavation.There will be an emotional rapprochement between the two investigators andwe will discover that Silvia was pregnant in the past, and that Daniel wasunconcerned about inciting her to abort. That is the trauma they carry alongwith the trauma caused by the disappearance of their main suspect, CarlosBéjar.When the investigators are about to put all the pieces of the puzzle together bylinking Eva's brother with Carlos Béjar, a second naked corpse appears in a fetalposition: Gabriel, the victim's brother. Béjar could not have been, since his skullalso appears. Only Galder remains, who is missing. When they finally find him,they discover that he was about to perform a cannibalistic ritual.The capture and subsequent death of Galder, wounded in a spectacular chase,will make it look like the case is solved.However, Silvia is not entirely convinced and will discover something crucial in theGerman's phone that had escaped them: Inés, the site coordinator was also atAtapuerca six years ago and had hidden it from them. She was very young andwas going to be Carlos Béjar's second victim, he raped her, but she managed toescape and ended up killing him with Galder's help. This unit them forever andthat is when the origin of the violence was awakened in her, that she could notstop since then.Daniel is in danger being in her company that night. Inés is the murderer andwhen they find her, Daniel is seriously wounded. A spectacular chase betweenSilvia and Inés through the steep gorge of the Yecla will close the story and giveall the answers: Inés was jealous of the new relationship that arose betweenGalder and Eva and that is why she murdered her.Both Silvia and Daniel will not be the same when this case is over, both havesurvived, will know much more about themselves and will make peace with theirpast. Both will learn from each other that instincts, violence and empathy arewithin us, whether we accept them or not. Fundamental to all this will be thephilosophical and anthropological talks that Silvia and Daniel will have withSamuel Henares, the wise and experienced director of the excavation. Samuelwill shed light and knowledge on fascinating topics about the origin and evolutionof the human being, although he also proves to have an excessive influence onGalder's behavior.But above all, he will forever change their vision, as policemen and as humanbeings, about man's deep reasons for killing his fellow human beings