  Complexities in the X-ray spectrum of the nearby Seyfert 1.2 galaxy
MCG-6-30-15 are commonly interpreted in terms of a broad iron line and the
associated Compton reflection hump from the innermost relativistic regions of
an accretion disk around a rapidly spinning black hole. However, an alternative
model has recently been proposed in which these spectral features are caused
entirely by complex (ionized and partial-covering) absorption. By considering
the fluorescent emission that must accompany photoelectric absorption, we show
that the absorption-dominated model over-predicts the 6.4keV iron line flux
unless the marginally Compton-thick absorber responsible for the hard X-ray
hump satisfies very restrictive geometric constraints. In the absence of a
specific model that both obeys these geometrical constraints and is
physically-plausible, the relativistic-reflection model is favoured.
