by Rennie Airth
‘Bela who?’
‘Oh, come on, Uncle Matt.’ Addy put her head on one side. Playing the role she’d chosen was even tougher than she’d thought. It was a battle just to keep her breathing in check. The fluttering bird in her chest wouldn’t stay still. ‘You don’t have to pretend with me. I know you and Rose were in it together. I didn’t come here to accuse you. So you stole some money from a bunch of Russian crooks. That’s cool in my book. I just want to know how Rose ended up dead, that’s all. What went wrong?’
He gave her a long look. Though she couldn’t see his eyes from where she was standing, she remembered them: they were hazel and flecked with gold.
‘Are you serious, Addy?’ He might have been asking himself the same question. ‘Do you mean to say you’re not even shocked? I don’t know what Rose would say if she could hear you now.’
‘Maybe not much.’ Addy shrugged. ‘She was great to me when I was little. But we’ve kind of drifted apart since then. The last time I saw her was six months ago, and then only for a couple of days in New York. I think she preferred it when I was a kid and dependent on her. She helped for a while with my fees at drama school, but that was it. To tell the truth we’d pretty much lost touch, so I was really surprised to get that letter. It was the last thing I expected. But hey – a free trip to London! I couldn’t turn that down.’
He shook his head. ‘Do you know it pains me to hear you talking this way?’ While she was speaking he had seated himself on one of the chairs, shrugging off the city coat he was wearing and draping it over the back along with a white silk scarf that hung from his neck. ‘Somehow I thought you two would always stay close.’
He didn’t mean it. They were just words. She could feel the weight of his gaze on her: probing, weighing; wondering what to make of her.
‘Well, that’s life, I guess.’ She made a gesture with her hands. ‘All the same, I’d like to know why things turned out the way they did. I feel I owe it to Rose. Past favours and all that.’
‘Well, if it’s so important to you …’
He wasn’t buying what she was selling – not yet. But she’d piqued his curiosity: he’d want to know now how much she knew. She was counting on that.
‘The full story, you said. Then why not come over and join me here?’ He patted the empty chair beside him.
‘If it’s all the same to you, Uncle Matt, I’d prefer to keep moving. I’m just too cold to sit still.’
She began to pace back and forth on the stage in front of him, rubbing her hands together.
‘Where shall I begin then?’ He settled back in his chair, legs crossed. She remembered now – he’d always had the gift of seeming to be at home wherever he was.
‘How about that letter I got from Rose inviting me over for Christmas? Except it wasn’t from Rose, was it?’
‘Good guess. It was by another hand.’
‘Not Bela Horvath’s, by any chance?’
‘So you figured that out too?’ He looked at her admiringly. She could see he was starting to enjoy himself, but she couldn’t relax, not for a moment. He’d be listening for any wrong note.
‘It wasn’t hard. He had to be part of it. I couldn’t understand why he took so much trouble to locate Rose after she disappeared, getting Ryker on to that plane just so he could keep tabs on me in London. She was only another client, after all. There had to be more to it than that. Then I learned from what Horvath told the cops that you two knew each other, you’d both worked for the CIA. Did you tell her Horvath was working for a security firm now and she should go to him if she needed help?’
He gave the faintest of nods.
‘Then Rose must have guessed. Maybe at some point she realized she’d been suckered and that the two of you were in it together – maybe Horvath was just too helpful – and she knew she had to escape from you both. What happened, Uncle Matt? What went wrong between you and her?’
‘I only wish I knew.’ He sighed heavily. ‘It’s something I don’t understand myself. You’re right – I was looking for her. But it was only to discover what the trouble was. If I had to make a guess, I’d say it was the fact that we’d been separated for so long. I think she lost her nerve. You must have guessed by now that that plane crash I died in wasn’t quite what it seemed.’ He pursed his lips. ‘Without going into details, I can tell you that the work I’d been doing for the CIA took me into some dark places and I’d made some dangerous enemies. I had no choice. I had to disappear.’
‘That plane crash, yeah …’ Addy nodded wisely. ‘I was wondering about that.’
‘Rose knew I had to lie low. It can’t have been easy for her to play the grieving widow, but she managed it somehow, for a while at least. What I didn’t realize was how scared she must have been, how lonely. It was difficult for us to keep in touch. I was afraid she was being watched, that her calls were being traced. We went for weeks without any contact between us.’ He bit his lip. ‘No matter what you think of me, Addy, I can’t tell you how distressed I was to hear of her death. I can’t begin to describe the pain it has caused me. And the worst of it is it should never have happened. I blame myself. I should never have put her in that position.’
‘That’s OK, Uncle Matt. I understand.’ Addy did her best to sound consoling. ‘I can’t believe you meant her any harm. So after the crash you had to disappear. And I guess it was then you got hold of the memory stick? Being dead must have been an advantage. You were the one person the Russians would never have suspected.’
‘Right again.’ He chuckled. ‘I’m really impressed, Addy. You’ve thought it all through.’
‘And you left the stick with Rose – right? Because you had to keep your head down, stay out of sight. What was she supposed to do with it?’
‘Place it in a safe deposit box in a bank in Zurich.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s true I had a partner at the time, but I didn’t trust him for a moment, so it seemed the most sensible course to take. I meant to leave it there until things calmed down, until the trail had gone cold.’
‘This partner of yours – was he the guy who stabbed her?’
‘I fear so. He was a Russian called Klepkin, an agent gone rogue, a degenerate, an alcoholic. I needed his help to get hold of the memory stick. But I can never forgive myself for what happened afterwards. He was supposed to watch you in the hope that you would lead us to Rose. I knew if I could just talk to her, I would put things right between us. But I never got the chance. He’s dead by the way – Klepkin, that is. He took his own life this morning. I think he knew he’d reached the end of the line.’
‘And if he couldn’t locate Rose, you had Molly for backup.’ Addy threw him her curve ball and saw him blink. ‘Isn’t that so?’
‘Now how on earth did you guess that?’ She’d surprised him. ‘I had no idea you were so smart, neither did Rose: so smart and so hard. To tell you the truth, I’m a little shocked listening to you, Addy. How did you get this way?’
‘I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe I just grew up. About Molly, though … all that crap about Philip Moreau and how he and Rose met in Paris and, gee, wouldn’t you know it – he looked a lot like that guy, whoever he was, whose photo Bela Horvath gave to the cops, the one who was supposed to be Charon. But you’re Charon, aren’t you?’
She waited for his reply, eyebrows raised, but he offered no response, simply smiled.
‘Anyway, what I wanted to say was it was all a bit too staged, Uncle Matt, like a bad movie plot. And incidentally, your Irish accent isn’t bad, but it could do with a little work. I thought you should know.’
‘You leave me speechless.’ His chuckle was unfeigned. ‘I never knew you had it in you. And thank you for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind for future reference. As for Molly, you’re right – she was in it from the start. I needed her to keep an eye on Rose.’
‘And to collect me when I arrived in London, so she could watch me as well. I might as well tell you, I never liked her but she was Rose’s friend, and I to
ok her as such, and I guess Rose did too. We were both fooled. She’s quite an operator.’
‘The trouble was I was starting to have my doubts about your aunt, Addy.’ He sighed. ‘I thought we understood each other. I’d told her I had to disappear, and that the condition would be permanent. I needed a new life, a new identity. I had to cut my ties with the past, though not with her, of course.’ He held up his hand like a cop. The very notion! ‘Once I was settled we’d be together again. I made that clear. And when I explained to her about the memory stick and how I planned to get hold of it, she seemed to accept the idea.’
‘So what went wrong?’
‘To be blunt, Rose was happy enough with the idea of the money, but … how shall I put it? Some of the side effects proved hard for her to swallow.’
Like the guy whose body was in the plane that crashed – the man Rose had had to identify as him – and the other one in Cyprus, the banker, who was sliced up and left floating in the water. Fucking side effects.
Addy had to keep a check on her tongue. She’d been doing OK up till then, carrying him along with her, playing the part of a cold-hearted little bitch, which might just have been to his taste. But she had to be careful. It could be that he didn’t believe a word she was saying: maybe he was just amusing himself, filling in the time until he was ready to wind things up.
While she was speaking he had cocked his head to one side and now he was looking at her in a different way – more intently. His eyes were heavy-lidded and it was then she realized what those yellowish tints in the iris, those flecks of gold, made her think of: they were the eyes of a predator, some big cat. Killer’s eyes. As long as he stayed entertained she was safe, but the moment she lost her audience …
‘Thanks, Uncle Matt. I think I’ve got it now.’ She hurried on. ‘I wanted to hear the truth about Rose and I guess you’ve pretty well told me all there is to know. She was on her own when you went under cover and she lost her nerve. And she may have thought the Russians were after her as well. That could help to explain her behaviour.’
He said nothing. He was studying her in earnest now, trying to probe beneath the surface, to discover what she was up to.
‘And I’ve got to hand it to you. A billion dollars! What a coup! I just wish Rose had been alive to share it with you. But there it is. Fate moves as fate will. That’s a quote from somewhere.’ She grinned. ‘You liked quotes, I remember. You always had a whole bunch of them ready at hand.’
‘It’s a weakness of mine, I confess.’
He stirred, stretching. It looked like he was about to rise from his chair. Was he getting bored? Losing interest? Somehow she had to hold his attention.
‘Now don’t get mad, Uncle Matt, but I’ve a proposition to put to you.’
He showed a flicker of interest.
‘It’s only a suggestion, but I think it’ll appeal to you.’
‘Tell me then. What do you have in mind?’
‘A deal.’
‘A what—?’ His eyebrows shot up. She’d managed to startle him.
‘I want a cut, Uncle Matt, just a small one. What did that banker ask the Russians for – ten million bucks? I’d be happy with that. And before you blow your top, let me explain. It’ll be to your advantage.’
She’d done it – snagged his interest. This was something he had to hear. She could see it in his face.
‘I give you ten million dollars, but you’d be doing me a favour?’ He seemed tickled by the idea. ‘I must be slow. Explain that if you would, Addy. We still have a little time.’
What the fuck did that mean – a little time? As if she needed to ask. She could see the answer in his eyes: his killer’s eyes. Frantically she scanned the dark backdrop behind him. She was starting to lose hope.
‘If you give me a cut, then I’m involved, don’t you see?’ Desperation drove her on. ‘I’d be a co-conspirator – isn’t that what the law calls it? I’d never rat on you because I’d be ratting on myself. You wouldn’t have to worry. You’d be safe.’
‘Ingenious!’ He slapped his knee. ‘I’d never have thought of that. Ten million dollars! But I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you, Addy. I’m not worried, you see. I know you won’t rat on me. It’s written in the stars.’
The way he said it – Jesus! It felt like a hole had opened in the pit of her stomach. Addy shut her eyes. But when she opened them again she just stood there, stunned by what she saw – disbelieving.
‘Is something the matter?’ He managed to sound concerned.
‘No … no, just the opposite …’ She stumbled over the words. Her head was spinning. ‘I’ve been saving the best news till last. I wanted to surprise you. It’s that memory stick. I’ve got it with me.’
‘You found it?’
‘You bet.’ Addy managed a grin.
‘Where exactly?’
‘Just where Rose hid it. Isn’t that why you set up this meet? You wanted to make sure all her belongings were safe, that the cops weren’t holding on to them. It was the next thing you were going to ask me. They’ve been searching the house and going through her clothes, but they finally decided it must still be with that bank in Zurich. I wasn’t so sure. What if Rose never put it there? What if she was carrying it around with her? In that case, chances were she’d put it some place where no one would think of looking. Maybe some place where you’d told her to put it. So I checked – and bingo!’
Addy put her hand in her pocket.
‘Here, Uncle Matt – catch!’
She tossed the small object across the stage to him. Rising to his feet, he followed its path through the air and then stuck up a hand and grabbed it.
‘Is this a memory stick I see before me? Come, let me clutch thee.’ He shook his head in awe. ‘You really are a most remarkable young woman, Addy. What a pity we never got to know each other.’
‘And now we never will, huh?’ Addy smiled back at him. It was easy – she’d got over her shock. It was no trouble at all.
‘However, there is one small problem.’ He was examining the stick closely, holding it up to the light.
‘Is it the right one?’ Addy nodded. ‘I thought of that. I knew you’d want to check, so I brought along a MacBook. It’s in that shoulder bag hanging on the chair.’
Keeping his eyes on her he fished the small computer out of the leather holdall.
‘Rose’s?’ he asked as he opened the lid.
Addy nodded.
‘How appropriate.’ He pressed a button. ‘It’ll take a minute to boot up. Is there anything else you’d like to discuss while we wait?’
Like her last will and testament? She had heard the cold note in his voice.
‘No, but there’s a story I want to tell you. It’s about Rose and me and a late-night movie we used to watch together. We must have seen it three or four times. It was about these gangsters in Boston and a plan they had for robbing banks, which was pretty smart, in fact they’d pulled the same stunt a couple of times and it worked like a dream.’
‘Fascinating.’ He slipped the USB into its port, glanced at the screen, and then looked up at her again. ‘Is there a point to this story?’
‘It’s coming. Be patient. What they did was go early in the morning to the house where the bank manager lived – the one they were going to rob that day – and hold his family hostage. Then while one of them stayed behind to keep an eye on mom and the kids, the others would take the manager to the bank and get him to clean out the vault for them. So now they’re on their third bank and the leader of the gang, who’s masked like the rest of them, goes into the house where the manager lives expecting to find the family in the kitchen having breakfast, only they’re not there. Instead he comes face to face with a cop who’s pointing a shotgun at him. It’s what the cop says, that was what Rose and I loved. We’d crack up every time we heard it.’
‘And what was that, Addy?’ He smothered a yawn. ‘What did he say?’
‘Look at your screen, Uncle Matt.’
APRIL FOOL MOTHERFUCKER
‘Is this a joke?’ He looked up.
‘What do you think?’
‘Oh, Addy … and I was going to be so gentle with you.’ He laid the computer carefully down on a chair.
‘I’ll bet. But before you get started, Uncle Matt, I’ve got a couple of things I want you to hear. Rose didn’t lose her nerve. She’d got your number all right, but she couldn’t bring herself to do what she knew she had to because she loved you. Loved you and hated you and it tore her apart. Those months after you “died”, she was in agony. I know. I saw it. But in the end she did what she had to. It must have hurt like hell, but she knew the only way to get rid of you was to set you up, you murdering sonofabitch, to send you the way you’d sent those others. She tried by telling the Russians about you, but it didn’t work out, and she knew what to expect after that. All she could do was run for her life, but you had that covered too thanks to your pal Bela Horvath – the late Bela Horvath who wasn’t such a pal after all, it seems. I don’t know if there’s a special hell for people like you, Uncle Matt, but I guess you’ll find out soon enough.’
‘Touching. I’ll save it for my memoirs.’
He took the white silk scarf off the back of the chair and began to wind it slowly around his hands, first one, then the other, until he had a cord stretched tight between them.
‘And now it’s my turn, is it?’ Addy laughed. ‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, buster, but it ain’t gonna happen. Not tonight, Josephine. Take a look behind you. I brought a friend.’
He looked round then and spotted the figure that had appeared silently in the dark doorway behind him. As Kimura stepped forward into the light, Addy saw he was carrying something that glittered, and when she realized what it was her heart turned a somersault.