by CA Sole
‘Si.’
‘Well I have a confession to make, and I hope that what I have to say will make you feel more at ease. You told me how you disguised Carlos’ death as suicide. It was a clever and well thought out plan that worked, and you haven’t been discovered.’
‘Si, yes.’ There was a remarkable intensity in his black eyes.
‘At first I wanted to copy that idea and kill the woman that had organised the attack on my friend. It almost certainly left him brain damaged. Then I thought of what I’d told you, and my own words to you stopped me. I realised that I didn’t want to kill her.’
Then I told Felipe how I had built the kit to gas Sandra with nitrous oxide. ‘I climbed into her second floor flat with the absolute intention of holding that mask over her mouth and nose until she collapsed into unconsciousness. First though, I wanted her to tell me where she’d hidden the money, but she was incapable of doing that. Then I thought she might tell me if I gassed her to the extent that she wasn’t in full control of her mind. To do that, I was going to hold the mask on her face for a few minutes more. That would have damaged her brain, but would not have killed her. I reckoned it would give me retribution for Giles as well as a lead to the money.’
He was still staring raptly at me, riveted by this revelation from his mentor.
‘When I reached her, though,’ I went on, ‘she was dead. She’d been murdered already by, as it turned out, her school friend and lover, another woman. That’s not the point of my story. The point is, Felipe, that I fully intended to reduce her to a cabbage to live out her life ever regretting her actions, if she could remember them. Can you imagine such a horrible existence?’
‘But you did not do it. She was dead, you said.’
‘Yes, but I was going to do it. I can’t escape that fact. I was so angry at the hurt she’d caused. It clouded my judgement, I suppose, but I should never have let it. I should have remained cold and calm and let the police handle it. I now have to live with the knowledge that I’m capable of immense cruelty, and I thought I was a reasonable, kind and ordinary man. I can’t disguise it with the fact that she was already dead.’
‘Hey. So we are not different really, are we Alastair?’
I smiled at him, ‘Huh! We’re human, Felipe. There are hidden failings to all of us that may never come to the surface except under extreme provocation. I hereby withdraw my opinion of your actions, because I have no right to pass any judgement. I tried only to inflict a head injury for a head injury, but I’m not sure that killing her rather than letting her suffer would not have been a kinder option. I couldn’t kill her though, that was a step too far. I just don’t know, Felipe. Is there another beer?
‘Sure.’ He turned from the window and crossed the room to the fridge.
‘However, when I go to see my friend in a coma, I look at him and worry about his future. I get so angry at the waste of the valuable life of a man who not only meant so much to me, but also was so kind and philanthropic towards others. When I go home and my dog doesn’t come to greet me, I get sad and then angry. When I saw the bruise on Juliet’s face, I got angry; the burnt barn, the wrecked cars ... Then I feel justified. But deep down I know what I was going to do was not right. And, to make it worse, Felipe, I’m not sure she was the one to take all the blame. I could have damaged the servant and not the master.’
Felipe was lost in thought. ‘Phila..? Ah, filántropo.’
We sat in silence for a while before he said quietly, ‘Me too, Alastair, I also ask myself if I was right to do what I did. Then I look at my sister and get angry again.’
‘Salud,’ I raised my bottle, ‘For your idea Felipe, gracias.’
When we returned home, the first thing we did was to go and see Giles. The staff were buoyant. Two days previously he had opened his eyes for a brief while then again later for a longer period, and he responded to the stimulus of mild pain. Progress at last. When we entered his room, he was staring at the ceiling. Although the monitors were all there behind his bandaged head, there were no tubes attached to him.
I just looked at him, but Juliet took his hand and said, ‘Hello Giles?’ It was more of a question, really, attempting to see if he was capable of recognising us. He turned his head, but there was no reaction in his vacant gaze.
I tried, ‘Giles, it’s us, Juliet and Alastair. It’s so good to see you again.’
His eyes tracked slowly over to me, but again there was no recognition. We stood and talked to him for a while until he closed his eyes once more. The same small middle aged ward sister was there with us. She said quietly, ‘Don’t worry, it takes a long time, but he’ll recognise you eventually, I’m sure.’
As I write this, it has been eleven months since Giles was attacked, and his future still remains uncertain. Home with us in my house until we are confident of his ability to attend to his own basic needs, he walks with us and greets us and we think that our images are slowly coming back to him as the friends he used to have, rather than kind people who have appeared out of nowhere.
Mrs Potter and Henry are keeping his house in order and are looking forward to having him back permanently. He sleeps at our house, but we take him home almost every day, and on the first occasion his dogs were terribly excited to see him. Oddly, I think he recognised them immediately.
We don’t feel insulted by that at all. Both of us are grateful that his memory is returning, no matter what shape that progress takes. And we are also very grateful that Giles has enough money for his full recuperation, even if it lasts a lifetime.
On the way home from the hospital once, Juliet asked me to go via Hamstead Marshall. ‘There’s someone I want you to meet,’ she said as we turned in at the entrance to the Dog’s Trust.
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Thanks for reading A Fitting Revenge. I hope you enjoyed the book.
Before you go, do please visit the author’s website at CA Sole - Author and leave a comment, and to leave a review with your favourite retailer would help enormously.
Thank you.
And do look out for CA Sole’s next novel – CJ
About the Author
Born in England, Colin was brought up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia). On leaving school, a year studying to become an electrical engineer back in England cured him of any desire for a sedentary life. Wondering what to do, he enjoyed a spell as a groom in Sussex before joining the army, eventually becoming a helicopter pilot, in which role he flew for the 10th Gurkha Rifles in Hong Kong and Malaya.
Colin has spent 43 years living and working in 30 countries in Africa, North, South, East and West. His extensive flying experience earned in military, air ambulance, oil and gas support and other helicopter activities led to a subsequent career as an aviation safety consultant, which has taken him all over the world. From Siberia to Chile, from Myanmar to North America, China, Europe and Africa, he has travelled extensively. Now back home in England for good, he shuns cities, walks the dog and concentrates on writing. Sadly, previous pastimes of rock climbing, mountaineering (much of it above 16,000 ft), riding and sailing have had to be dropped, although adventurous trekking holidays are still a passion.
There is far too much of the less trodden world left to see.
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A Fitting Revenge
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