Poor Castillo -- his life never meant him to have anything like a secret agent. When the war started he'd been a curator at the Prado -- Spain's national art museum -- a curator of nineteenth-century paining, the modern era as far as the museum was concerned."
-- Narration (The Paris Front)

Importance: Throughout "Midnight in Europe," many of the main characters who are involved in war and intelligence efforts are not military personnel but instead normal civilians. Some of these civilians, such as the lawyer Ferrar, continue to work in their regular jobs at the same time they "volunteer" to do intelligence work on the side. In the case of Castillo, who is quickly flipped around by a double agent, this lack of cunning and know-how is literally lethal.

From somewhere above the sub-basement, perhaps just outside the service entry, came the sound of a single pistol shot. The officer seemed not to notice. When...
-- Narration (The Paris Front)