‘Jesús Narvaez told me he planned to kill Thompson. Somebody beat him to it.’
Crow shrugged.
‘Hardly surprising with a man like that.’
Evan studied him. It was impossible to say, looking at his shrunken body inside the too-big shirt, what he might have been capable of in his prime. The short time he’d spent in his company told him one thing—he wouldn’t put anything past him. He also wouldn’t get anything out of him the old man didn’t want to come out.
‘Where were we?’ Crow said, the meaning as clear as if he’d held up his hand and said Enough. ‘When Anthony called me and told me a private investigator wanted to talk to me about Jesús Narvaez, I did a quick search on the internet. I discovered that Frank Hanna is alive and well’—he paused and raised an eyebrow at Evan who ignored it—‘with a net worth in the hundreds of millions.’
He gave Evan a chance to say something, which he passed on, then continued.
‘One thing sixty years in this business—and eighty plus years on the planet—has taught me is that guilt is a powerful motivator.’
Evan saw no harm in admitting who his client was, told Crow he’d guessed right, waited for him to put the rest of the pieces into place.
He didn’t have to wait long.
‘So now Frank Hanna is searching for an heir. I assume he’s recently discovered he’s not got long to live. Don’t worry, Mr Buckley, you’ve not given anything away or betrayed a confidence, it’s just not that unusual. I spent half my life on similar cases.’
Yes, but had the added complications of third parties like McIntyre, intent on him not succeeding, been an integral part of those cases?
‘Doesn’t he have any children?’ Crow said.
Evan hesitated. Every time he gave up one small piece of information, Crow managed to put together the rest of it.
‘He’s got a daughter.’
Crow smiled, jumping to a conclusion someone of his generation would understand.
‘He’s a bit of a dinosaur, eh? Doesn’t think a woman is fit to run his business empire.’
‘Something like that.’
Crow might have been a dinosaur himself, but, as Anthony Fox had warned, his mind was as sharp as ever. And Evan hadn’t been positive enough in his confirmation. The smile widened into a grin.
‘Something else too?’
Crow shifted in his seat, leaned forward, his leathery face more animated than Evan had seen it. He’d be rubbing his hands together next.
‘It makes me wish I could still get out there, get stuck into the nitty gritty. The internet is ... fascinating, incredibly useful, it’s just not very exciting. Let me guess.’
He sat back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. He angled his head towards the ceiling, his fingers steepled. The only sound in the room was his pet crow scratching around in the bottom of its cage.
‘Hanna doesn’t like his daughter’s husband,’ Crow said, his head snapping downwards.
‘He’d dead.’
Crow’s forehead creased in a frown, at least Evan thought he saw the existing creases deepen, as Crow did the math. To Evan’s relief he dismissed it.
‘He doesn’t approve of ... the man she’s with now.’
He looked at Evan, knowing he was right. Evan reckoned he was on the verge of getting up and going back to his laptop. He’d find out sooner or later, and one thing had become abundantly clear—Evan wasn’t going to get any answers until the old man had sucked him dry.
So he told him all about McIntyre and Stanton and once he’d started, there was no stopping him. Crow peered at his ear when he got to the part about McIntyre taking a bite out of it.
‘I assume that’s what you meant when you said exciting earlier.’
Crow’s hand went to his face, a similar involuntary gesture to the one Evan made when someone mentioned his ear. Evan studied his face, made out a long scar running across his cheek. He hadn’t noticed it before, hidden amongst the wrinkles.
The point of the story wasn’t lost on Crow.
‘This McIntyre has a vested interest in making sure you don’t find an heir.’
‘And the people he owes money to.’
Crow nodded.
‘Exciting, yes. That’s exactly what I miss.’
‘Tell me about Mexico.’
Chapter 27
CROW GOT OUT OF his chair and went over to the bird’s cage.
‘You don’t mind if I let Plenty out? I only put him in when I have visitors.’
Evan waved a hand, no problem.
‘He might sit on your head, that’s all. You’re sitting in his chair.’
He opened the door to the cage and the bird hopped onto the back of his hand, then flew lazily across the room and settled on the table next to the laptop. Crow sat back down.
Evan smiled to himself.
Got your story ready now?
‘There’s not a lot to tell. I learned the girl’s family were from Ciudad Juárez.’
‘Why would they tell you that? They must have known you were working for the adoptive parents.’
‘I was very persuasive.’ He saw the look on Evan’s face. ‘No, not like that.’ He rubbed his fingers and thumb together, the universal sign for cash.
‘Something must have changed. They didn’t want Hanna’s money. Narvaez gave it back to me when I met him.’
‘Maybe it was the way it was offered. Did Narvaez tell you the whole story?’
Evan nodded.
‘You can understand then. There was something else as well. They’d made the effort to come to the United States, were prepared to risk being deported and everything else that goes with being an illegal, all for a chance at a better life. Maybe they didn’t want their grandson back at square one in some filthy shithole in Ciudad Juárez.’
‘Is it really as bad as they say?’
‘Worse. They called it the most violent city on Earth. I hear it’s improved now the drug cartels have settled their differences. It was pretty bad back then. It’s still the sort of place where you have to stand in line to commit a crime.’
‘So Jesús was acting on his own when he took the child,’ Evan said, then paused. ‘We’re assuming he did snatch him.’
Crow nodded, the loose skin under his chin bouncing up and down.
‘I don’t think there’s much doubt about it.’
‘You didn’t find him?’
‘No. I tracked Jesús down. It wasn’t difficult finding a man whose face looked like ... well, I’m sure you know what I mean. Even in a place like Ciudad Juárez, he stuck out like a sore thumb.’
There was a sudden flapping of wings from the other side of the room as the pet crow launched itself into the air. It flew a slow lap of the room and settled on the back of Evan’s chair. He was sure this time the two crows were working together like some double act.
‘Didn’t you stick out too? A tall American in a place like that.’
Crow nodded and smiled, his eyes losing focus again, as memories of more exciting times came back to him.
‘I followed Narvaez to the place he was staying. He was living with a family, part of his own extended family I think. I wanted to find out if the baby, Francisco, was there with him, that’s all. I wasn’t there to snatch the child back again.’
‘But that’s what he thought.’
‘Yes. I’d been watching him come and go. He never had the child with him, of course. Which meant it had to be in the apartment, if it was there at all. I waited until he was out one time. Then I went up to the apartment, knocked on the door. Remember, all I wanted to do was find out if the child was there. Then the Foxes could decide what they wanted to do. A young woman answered the door. She was pregnant. I don’t know how many other children were in there. It sounded like hundreds. In the background, over the noise of all the other children, I heard a baby crying.’
Evan held up his hand to stop him. The pet crow hopped off the back of his chair and landed on his ha
nd, flapping its wings in his face to steady itself, it’s claws digging into his flesh.
‘You’re honored.’
He didn’t feel honored. He felt ridiculous.
‘If the woman was pregnant, the baby you heard couldn’t have been hers. It must have been Francisco.’
Crow gave a small shrug.
‘Perhaps. I didn’t see it. I’m not an expert on crying babies. It might have been a year old.’
‘You didn’t try to get a look?’
Crow’s hand went to his face again and Evan knew what was coming. The bird on his hand felt it too, lifted off and landed on its namesake’s knee.
‘That was my plan. I was standing in the hallway, my mind racing, trying to think of a way to get in, to get a look—’
‘When Narvaez came back.’
‘Yes. There was so much noise coming out of that apartment, I didn’t hear him coming. Maybe somebody told him about the Anglo visitor in his apartment block and he snuck up, who knows. Suddenly, there he was, with his ruined face and his one good eye full of so much hate my blood ran cold.’
‘On his own?’
‘Yes, just him, that was enough. You have to remember what happened the last time an Anglo had turned up uninvited at Jesús Narvaez’ place.’
‘He lost an eye and had his face shredded.’
‘Exactly. And here was another one, nosing around for the same reason. His sister’s baby. Only there was a difference this time ...’
He let Evan put it together.
‘You were on his turf.’
‘There was a fight, more of a scuffle really. I was a lot bigger than him, he had a knife.’
‘He cut your face.’
Crow fingered the scar.
‘I was lucky I didn’t lose an eye like him. I think that was what was in his mind. An eye for an eye, literally. Even if I wasn’t the man who did it to him, I was good enough in the circumstances.’
‘What happened?’
There was a loud banging on the front door before he got the chance to answer. How the hell had he managed to engineer that distraction as well? He waited for Crow to get up. The old man stayed where he was. His pet bird hadn’t moved either at the sudden sound.
‘Aren’t you going to see who it is?’
Crow shook his head.
‘I know who it is. Local kids. They like to play pranks on the scary old man in the creepy house. They dare each other to knock on the door.’
Evan could believe it. He’d felt a shudder himself as he stood on the step waiting for Crow to answer the door. He waited for Crow to collect his thoughts.
‘The noise brought everyone out of their apartments. A couple of guys pulled him off, held him, while I got the hell out of there.’
Evan grinned at him.
‘That’s the sort of excitement you miss, is it.’
Crow grinned back, the skin of his face looking like a strange rock formation, and rocked his hand back and forth.
‘Maybe not quite that exciting.’
‘And all for nothing.’
‘Not nothing.’
‘You found out there was a baby there—you didn’t find out if it was Francisco. Pretty close to nothing.’
Evan knew, from the look on Crow’s face, even as the words were coming out of his mouth, that he’d missed the point.
‘Tell me.’
And don’t even think of getting up or playing with your damn bird.
‘I saw a name, that’s all. A name on the wall, next to the apartment door—the name of the family who lived there.’
‘It wasn’t Narvaez?’
Crow shook his head.
‘No. I told you, they weren’t immediate family.’
Just tell me the damn name.
‘It’s lucky for you it wasn’t Garcia or Hernandez.’
Evan let the old man play his game, drag it out, make him squirm. He was on the verge of a major breakthrough. He could afford to wait. Crow started to tap his foot impatiently as if he was the one waiting for Evan to answer.
‘Grajales.’
Evan leapt from the chair, did a couple of cartwheels around the room and finished off with a back flip, a cry of Hallelujah on his lips. In his mind, at least. As far as Crow could see, it was as if he’d gazed upon the face of Medusa and been turned to stone, he sat so still in the chair, hardly daring to breathe. He now had Frank Hanna’s son’s full name—if Crow’s guess was right. And every fiber of his body screamed that he was. He concentrated, kept his voice level.
‘You think Francisco took the name Grajales?’
‘Why not? New life, new name. Especially after Narvaez caught me there. He must have thought the Foxes weren’t just going to give up.’
‘Didn’t you look into it?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because the Foxes did give up. Anthony is a very pragmatic man. It would have been almost impossible to get the baby back into the United States. Impossible physically and bureaucratically. And even if they’d somehow succeeded, would Narvaez give up?’ He shook his head emphatically. ‘They made the right decision. They got on with their lives.’
‘Like Frank Hanna.’
‘It’s what people do—until they’re clearing the decks, getting ready to meet their maker.’
Crow stroked the back of the pet bird’s head gently with one finger, his face looking as if he was contemplating the prospect of meeting his own maker in the near future. And the preparations that would require.
‘You knew Narvaez came back?’
Crow nodded.
‘I saw him on the street one day. It wasn’t as if I was looking out for him.’
‘Did he see you?’
‘Oh yes. Although it wasn’t like we stopped and compared scars.’
‘You didn’t try to find out if he brought Francisco back with him.’
‘No. I had other things to do.’
Crow contemplated him. Evan felt as if it was the other crow watching him intently, that he was a fat juicy worm about to be pulled from the safety of its hole and dissected.
‘I can see how things get under your skin,’ Crow said. ‘You’re like a dog with a bone. You have to learn how to step back or things will drive you crazy.’
Evan was right, the conversation was about to swing round again, back onto him. He’d taken a major leap forward, he had a name. It was time to go.
He got up and Crow nodded his acceptance of the end of the conversation, walked him to the front door.
It was Evan who hesitated as Crow held the door open, who couldn’t leave it alone.
‘What?’ Crow said.
‘Did Anthony Fox say anything to you about my wife?’
‘Why do you ask?’
Evan didn’t know how to explain the strange feeling he’d experienced talking to Fox.
‘He was talking about acceptance. He said don’t worry, it’ll come to you one day as well. It might have been nothing more than a comment on life in general, the sort of free lesson in life old people like to give you—it just didn’t feel that way.’
For the second time Evan felt as if he was about to be turned inside-out, his insides picked over for tasty morsels.
‘Not specifically, no. He simply said there was something. He didn’t hazard a guess at what it was, but he knew it was there. So, I dug a little deeper than I might otherwise have done when I looked you up.’
Evan nodded unhappily at the thought of how easy to read he was.
‘I might as well hang a sign around my neck.’
‘Not at all. I’ve learned to pay close attention to what Anthony Fox says over the years. My offer still stands. I can help you.’
The emphasis on the word can made Evan’s stomach turn over. It was as if he was saying he already had the answer, all he needed was for Evan to tell him he wanted to hear it. Evan’s discomfort wasn’t over yet. After listening to Crow’s cryptic comments for the past hour, he had a premonition Crow had sa
ved the best to last.
He knew it for sure when Crow put his hand on his shoulder. He flinched. Whether from the unexpected gesture, or recoiling from what was coming, who knows?
‘I have to warn you,’ Crow said, the bird in the back room cawing raucously as if on cue, ‘there are none so lost as those who will not be found.’
Chapter 28
GUILLORY STILL WASN’T ANSWERING his calls. He returned from the men’s room at the restaurant and found her gone. He couldn’t blame her. Deceitful douchebag was a phrase he imagined slipping through her perfectly painted lips if she’d bothered waiting around. The piece of paper with all the messages on it was still sitting on the table like an accusation. He was surprised she hadn’t written it on the back.
He tried calling three or four times and it went to voicemail every time. That’s why he was sitting on the steps to the police station, the Corvette parked illegally a half block away. Hopefully he’d catch her on her way out to get lunch, try to make amends. Hopefully Ryder wouldn’t come along first. Ryder was her long-term partner, and he and Evan had enjoyed a hate-hate relationship from the get go.
The door behind him opened and a couple of uniformed officers came out, sharing a joke. One of them held the door for somebody behind him. It was Ryder. Of course it was. Evan jumped to his feet, didn’t want to make it too easy for Ryder to kick him like a dog with its tail between its legs.
The smile Ryder had been giving the other cop for holding the door slipped off when he saw Evan. A scowl replaced it. Evan had seen some dirty looks on Ryder’s face in his time, but this one was like he’d got something nasty on the bottom of his shoe that wouldn’t come off.
‘Don’t bother getting up for me,’ Ryder said as he skirted around him. ‘Asshole.’
It wasn’t the time to get into it with him. He didn’t know what he’d say to refute the accusation anyway.
‘Is Kate around?’
Ryder was already past him, acting as if he hadn’t heard. Then he thought better of it. He stopped and turned to face Evan, squaring his shoulders, pulling back his head. He walked back a couple paces until they were face to face. Evan was standing on the bottom step. The top of Ryder’s head was level with his chin. He stepped down onto the sidewalk so they could really get in each other’s faces, the air between them thick with testosterone.
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