He didn’t know how to end the call. The website said something about sending a hidden message to turn it off. He sure as hell couldn’t see what he was meant to do. He dropped the phone back in his pocket. He’d have to do it later when he had time to go back to the website. He just hoped his pocket muffled their conversation.
He looked back at the house, saw Crow standing in the doorway, a smile on his lips. Was it relief at having unburdened himself after fifty years. Or was it benign amusement as he contemplated a nosy young man he’d caught out—twice. It suddenly struck Evan that instead of creeping around upstairs looking for Lord knows what, he should have listened at the door. Shame he couldn’t have installed the app on Narvaez’ phone before he went in.
Evan raised a hand and Crow returned the salute then closed the door.
Would he ever see the other side of that door again?
‘Did you get what you wanted?’
Narvaez didn’t answer immediately. He rubbed his jaw with his palm, filled the car with the scratch of bristles against rough flesh. Evan gave him time. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to finally get something you’ve waited fifty years for.
‘And then some.’
‘You were right? He killed him?’
Narvaez nodded slowly.
‘For fun? Or was there a good reason?’
Narvaez turned to look at him. He didn’t look as if he’d found any release in the answers he’d finally got. Maybe that would take time.
‘There was good reason. Very good.’
Evan didn’t expect him to volunteer it, gave him time anyway, just in case.
‘But you’re not allowed to say.’
‘No. Elwood wants to tell you himself—if you’re interested.’
Evan didn’t miss the new-found familiarity, although it was the second part of the sentence that gave him pause for thought. Crow was playing with him. For some reason Crow wanted to be a part of his life—the offer to help find Sarah and now this carrot dangled in front of him. He knew then he wouldn’t be able to stay away forever. He bet Crow knew it too.
‘He said something else. You reap what you sow.’
‘That doesn’t tell me much. You get what you deserve.’
‘Just telling you what he said.’
‘Did you see the wife, I mean bird?’
Narvaez laughed, the first proper laugh Evan had heard come out his mouth.
‘I can see why Elwood is so interested in you. You want to know what I think it is?’
Evan was about to say he didn’t know Crow was interested in him. That would’ve been a lie. He just didn’t know how interested.
‘I think you remind him of how he was as a young man.’
Evan rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hand and blew a rush of air out of his mouth at the idea.
‘I’m not sure how to take that. Seeing as he just finished telling you how he killed a man with his bare hands when he was my age.’
Narvaez shrugged.
‘Just an observation. And it wasn’t with his bare hands.’
‘That’s okay then.’
If he asked the next question it would be as good as admitting Crow had him in his clutches as firmly as his namesake gripped the wooden bar in its cage.
‘Is the story worth hearing?’
‘I think so. I’m glad I heard it. You’d have to make up your own mind.’
Evan went to speak. Narvaez put a hand on his arm to stop him.
‘It might put your mind at rest if you have any doubts about your client.’
‘You’re not saying he had anything to do with Crow—’
‘No. He didn’t ask Crow to kill Thompson, if that’s what you’re thinking. But I think it’s fair to say he didn’t know what Thompson did.’
Evan studied Narvaez for a long moment.
‘You’ve changed your mind about him?’
‘No.’
It was a very emphatic no, reinforced with a very loud slap on the dash.
‘He still got my sister pregnant and left her to deal with it alone. He will always be a coward. And I will always blame him for what she did. But I am prepared to help you now. Elwood has given me a new perspective on things. I will tell you what you want to know.’
He caught sight of Evan’s face.
‘Don’t look so pleased with yourself until you hear what I’ve got to say.’
Chapter 34
NARVAEZ INSISTED ON TAKING him to a Mexican restaurant, said he wanted to celebrate in some small way. After listening to Hanna’s frying bacon, he couldn’t have said anything Evan wanted to hear more. He was going to take a bite out of the steering wheel if he didn’t get something to eat soon.
As soon as they got to the restaurant, Evan went to the men’s room. He got his own phone out and found the app company website, found the manual. He got McIntyre’s phone out and followed the instructions step by step, turned off the eavesdropping.
Then he called Hanna using his own phone.
There was a stunned silence as he explained what McIntyre had done, followed by a heartfelt exclamation that wouldn’t be welcome on the church steps.
‘He knows.’
‘Looks like it.’
Hanna started to say something and stopped. There was a long silence.
‘You still there?’ Evan said.
‘Yes, I’m still here.’
His voice was tinged with a resignation that Evan hadn’t heard before. Despite his imminent demise he’d always stayed up-beat. Evan heard him blow smoke into the receiver.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah. But it suddenly occurred to me how McIntyre managed to get that thing onto my phone.’
The same thing had been bugging Evan. Hanna’s deflated tone of voice confirmed the only explanation he’d been able to come up with.
‘Your daughter.’
A long drawn out sigh filled the void between them.
‘Last time I went over, I supposedly forgot my phone, left it at her house.’
‘She took it.’
‘I thought it was strange at the time. I never forget it, leave it anywhere. She must have taken it when I went to the bathroom.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’m not surprised. Doesn’t make it any easier though. Is there anything else I need to know?’
Evan mentally flipped a coin—good news first or bad?
‘It’s not just McIntyre now,’ he said and told him about Vasiliev and the incident in the diner. ‘You need to be very careful.’
Hanna was thoughtful for a while. When he spoke again, Evan got the feeling a decision had been made. The disappointment of a minute ago was gone. He was more like his usual self.
‘Any good news?’
‘Well ... I’m just about to have lunch with Jesús Narvaez.’
The silence was almost as profound as when he’d told him about the phone—without the expletives. And it was different this time. A palpable buzz of excitement came down the line. It wasn’t the time to share Narvaez’ last remark.
Don’t look so pleased with yourself until you hear what I’ve got to say.
‘I’ll call you as soon as I’ve finished. Would you ...’
He hesitated, the idea that had crossed his mind seeming stupid now.
‘Would I what?’
‘Would you meet with Narvaez if he wants to?’
Evan pictured Hanna’s mouth opening and closing as he tried to get some words together.
‘He’s very keen to get answers. From the horse’s mouth. He might make it a condition.’
‘Whatever it takes.’
‘Good. How was the bacon by the way?’
‘Bacon?’
Evan laughed, told him what he’d heard.
‘I almost shouted save some for me down the line.’
‘You should have done that. It was excellent.’
They ended the call. Evan hoped they’d all be in such good humor when he finished talking to Narva
ez. If he’d known it at the time, he’d have been pleased he ended the call on such an upbeat note, sharing a joke, because it was the last time he ever spoke to Frank Hanna.
***
‘I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU had gone out the back door,’ Narvaez said. ‘I ordered for both of us already.’
Two bottles of Dos Equis beer sat on the table, Narvaez’ already half-empty. Evan took a long swallow of his, watching Narvaez over the end of the bottle. He felt as if he hadn’t had a beer for a month.
‘Who would have thought it would come to this?’
Narvaez raised his bottle in a salute.
‘I’m grateful you are so persistent.’
‘Tell me about Francisco.’
Narvaez put his beer down, spread his hands on the table.
‘As you guessed, he took the name of the family I took him to.’
‘Grajales.’
Narvaez nodded.
‘They had a lot of children of their own. One more didn’t make much difference. You never knew when one of your own might die. Nobody worried about paperwork, that sort of thing, back then.’
‘Did he know he wasn’t theirs?’
‘Not at first, no.’
‘You told him?’
Narvaez laughed, shook his head.
‘No. I was back in the U.S. by the time he was old enough to ask questions. It was much simpler than that anyway—he wasn’t as brown as everybody else.’
‘Did the Grajales family know his history?’
‘Not all of it. They knew what ...’
He looked down at his fingers splayed on the table. Had his recent catharsis at the hands of Elwood Crow caused him to question the things he had done?
‘They knew what I did. They didn’t know any details.’
‘So they couldn’t tell him very much.’
‘No. Which is why he turned up on my doorstep sixteen years after I took him away.’
‘Looking for answers.’
Narvaez waited as the waitress arrived with their food—a selection of enchiladas with tortillas and salad on the side, plus two more beers. Evan watched Narvaez finish his first one and take a second. The man was growing on him. As soon as the waitress had left, he took off his dark glasses. To get a better look at his food, no doubt. He placed them on the table, looked back at Evan.
‘Answers and—’
There was something in Narvaez’ one good eye that made Evan know exactly what he was going to say.
‘A better life?’
Narvaez smiled, a small acknowledgement. He held up one finger.
‘Don’t think you can tell me I told you so, just yet.’
‘Okay.’
‘But that’s what he thought at the time.’
‘It must have been an interesting meeting’—Narvaez smiled again at his choice of words—‘to come in search of a better life and the first person you meet is the person who took you away from it in the first place.’
‘We had that to get over, yes.’
‘Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?’
Narvaez nodded to himself. Maybe that wasn’t quite how he’d have put it, but it sure summed it up. He picked up his bottle and held it bottom first towards Evan. They clinked bottles and sealed it with a mouthful of cold beer. There were worse ways to bond.
‘He had a lot of anger and resentment. So I made up a story. He saw what my face was like. I told him I had no choice, he had been in danger from the men who did this to me. He accepted that at least.’
‘Did you give him the answers he wanted?’
Narvaez started on his food to give himself a little time. Evan knew he’d get there in the end, he wasn’t worried the old man was being evasive.
‘Not all of them.’
‘You didn’t tell him who his father was.’
Narvaez put down his fork, gave Evan a look, his good eye as hard as the glass one. It hadn’t been meant as an accusation, but it had been taken as one. He jutted his chin at Evan.
‘What would you have done?’
Evan shrugged.
‘This isn’t about me.’
‘What good would it have done? To have Francisco confront the man who abandoned him. Who drove his mother to suicide. I couldn’t see one good thing that would come of it. I still can’t.’
How might the meeting have gone back then? Hanna wouldn’t have been dying of cancer. Would he have been so desperate to learn he had an illegitimate Mexican half-breed heir? There was no point arguing about it now with Narvaez.
‘What happened next?’
‘He lived with me. He was sixteen years old, he got a job, worked hard. He was lucky. After only a few months he got a green card in an immigration amnesty. The American dream was his to live and enjoy, despite everything evil Uncle Jesús had done to thwart him.’
It was said with a wry smile, but there was real bitterness behind the words. Evan shifted uncomfortably in his chair, Narvaez’ earlier words coming back to him.
Don’t look so pleased with yourself until you hear what I’ve got to say.
‘And then’—he banged his fist hard on the table, made his glasses bounce—‘history repeated itself all over again. He met a girl. Except it was the other way around.’
He stared straight through Evan, back twenty-five years in an instant. It seemed to Evan that he held something inside himself, holding onto his pain, punishing himself.
‘A girl from a rich Anglo family.’
Just like the Foxes. The family you stole him away from.
‘What was that phrase of yours again? Karma’s a bitch. I think I’ll have it tattooed on my ass.’
Evan did a spit take, liking Narvaez more by the minute.
‘Her name was Leighton. Her father was a retired General, something like that. In the army anyway. A long-standing family tradition. I’m sure her mother did a lot a good work on behalf of the church. You know the sort of people I’m talking about.’
Evan nodded. He knew very well indeed. It sounded a lot like Sarah’s folks, apart from the army connection. He waved his arm at the waitress, held up two fingers. Narvaez gave an appreciative grunt, put his dark glasses on as she approached the table.
‘Leighton went to the best schools, enjoyed all the advantages money and social standing bring. Eligible young men—rich, white men, of course, with names like Kingsley and Briggs—beating down her door for her favors.’
His words weren’t bitter, not like they’d been when he described the trick fate had played on him. There was an acceptance, that’s just the way things were.
Seems nobody told Francisco.
‘And she fell in love with Francisco.’
‘A poor half-breed Mexican bastard, his back still dripping from the Rio Grande. It must have turned her parents’ Martini cocktails sour. Heaven knows what might have happened if word got out at the Country Club. Their little darling with a boy they wouldn’t use as hired help.’
‘So they stopped her from seeing him.’
Narvaez shook his head and again Evan felt a premonition, way down in the pit of his stomach. That would have been too easy. An everyday tale of social and racial prejudice.
‘No. The father was an old dinosaur, but the mother, she was a good woman underneath it all, if you stripped away all the pretentious attitudes. Didn’t think they should dictate to their daughter what she should and shouldn’t do. Hoped she’d come to see the error of her ways in her own good time. So they tolerated Francisco. It’s the only word for it. He was allowed to come to the house, but, strangely enough, her father was never there when he did. And her mother was oh-so polite.’
‘Was he allowed to sit down?’
Narvaez grinned at him.
‘Not the first couple times, no.’
Evan saw his own grinning face reflected in Narvaez’ dark glasses.
‘Sounds like you know what it’s like,’ Narvaez said.
‘Not quite that bad.’
‘You know, I’d rather someone told m
e what they think of me to my face.’
‘Polite sucks,’ Evan agreed. ‘What happened?’
Narvaez stretched his arms wide, then yawned behind his fist.
‘Francisco was desperate to ingratiate himself—’
‘That’s a harsh word.’
‘It’s the only word,’ Narvaez snapped. He thought about it a moment. ‘He was desperate to get into their good books. Better?’
Evan nodded, he wasn’t that concerned either way. Narvaez studied him.
‘What would you have done in Francisco’s situation? Think about everything I’ve told you.’
Evan thought about it. Took another pull on his beer. That always helps. Lubricates the brain synapses, something like that. In the end he gave up.
‘No idea.’
‘He joined the Marine Corp. Poor stupid kid. Did he really think putting on a uniform would make all the rest of it go away? That daddy would suddenly welcome him with open arms? Fast-track his membership into the Country Club perhaps?’
He snorted in disgust, more at Francisco’s naïvety than the unfairness of the situation. He looked over at the waitress.
‘You know, if I had a needle, I’d bend over this table and ask the senorita to tattoo your phrase on my ass right now.’
Evan looked at her. She smiled back. It wasn’t such a bad idea. He waited for Narvaez to explain.
‘Francisco must have inherited all his mother’s genes. Not his father’s, that’s for damn sure. Frank Hanna did what he did to avoid going to war and lost his girl as a result. His son joined the Marine Corp to try to keep his girl. If his father had the balls his son had, none of this shit would ever have happened.’
Evan tried to ignore the tightness in his chest, the unpleasant buzz in his stomach refusing to settle. He tried pouring the last of his beer on top of it. It didn’t make a blind bit of difference.
For as long as Narvaez continued to talk about Francisco in the past tense, it wasn’t going anywhere.
‘What happened?’
‘What happened?’ His fist clenched tightly around the beer bottle in his hand, his jaw tighter still. ‘The Gulf War is what happened.’
The story wasn’t about to take a turn for the better. He’d been warned, after all.
Narvaez pushed himself to his feet, the chair tipping over behind him.
The Evan Buckley Thrillers: Books 1 - 4 (Evan Buckley Thrillers Boxsets) Page 76