“He’s the prime suspect.”
“So it seems. I hope he got out of France.”
“Do you really think he did it?” Hob asked.
“Don’t you?”
“Let’s go back a few steps,” Hob said. “There’s pretty good evidence that Henry killed Kelly. There’s evidence pointing to Kelly having traced Henry through his Paris synagogue. I think Kelly figured out that Henry was working for an Arab organization.”
Aurora said, “It’s difficult to imagine Henry as a terrorist.”
“Oh, I don’t think he was a terrorist at all. I think he was using the Arabs to help him hijack Max’s coke.”
“What a terrible thing to do,” Aurora said.
“It must be distressing,” Hob said, “to find a family member up to his neck in crime like that. I’ll bet you didn’t like it one little bit.”
She looked at him wide-eyed. “What are you trying to say?”
“This is guesswork,” Hob said, “but Kelly had some papers showing that Henry Smith’s real name was Etienne Hidalgo-Bravo, born in Jamaica, naturalized in New York, age forty-four, occupation cook.”
“Well … so what?”
“Aurora,” Hob said, “Jamaica isn’t far from San Isidro. I think if anyone cared to check it out, they could find that your family name was Hidalgo-Bravo, and that Henry was related to you. He wasn’t your father by any chance, was he?”
Aurora hesitated for a moment, then said, “I guess you can find out if you want to. Henry was my uncle, my father’s brother.”
“And Max didn’t know it?”
“No. I said he was a family friend from San Isidro.”
“You helped him get his job?”
“Yes. But I had no idea he was going to—do anything like this! I had nothing to do with the hijacking! I swear it!”
“I believe you,” Hob said. “But let’s go on. Henry set up the hijacking, with Khalil’s help. Khalil was an agent of an Islamic terrorist organization. According to Fauchon, he had a string of bombings to his credit. He was probably planning more.”
Aurora nodded. “Then it’s logical to think that he set the bomb that blew up Emilio.”
“It’s logical, but I don’t think he did it.”
She looked at him wide-eyed, waiting.
“I have to assume that Henry was in charge of the operation. The dope wasn’t found in Khalil’s apartment. I think Henry put it somewhere, a safer place. As long as he was doing that, I think he might also have hidden any bomb Khalil had in the apartment. I don’t think Henry wanted anything to be left in the apartment, just in case something went wrong.”
“It’s very iffy,” Aurora said.
“It was Henry’s first time in Paris, apparently. Where would he hide the dope, and, if my supposition is correct, the bomb? I think he would call up his niece, the person who had found him the job with Max and had kept his secrets. I think he telephoned her and gave her the stuff to hold.”
“Are you accusing me?” Aurora asked.
“I’m spinning a story,” Hob said. “I’m just trying to satisfy myself as to what happened. I think that Emilio found you, wasn’t going to let you get away from him. I think you saw how it was, told him you’d meet him in his apartment. I suppose he gave you a key. You went there, set up the bomb, then telephoned him and told him to meet you there. Then you put the kilo in your handbag and got out of Paris. Am I right?”
“Oh, Hob,” Aurora said.
“I know it’s unpleasant,” Hob said. “But I wish you’d tell me.
“You’re pretty close,” Aurora said. “Except that I didn’t take the kilo out of Paris. I got it back to Max, and he sold it like he’d been planning to do. My walkout on him was staged for your benefit. So you wouldn’t think we were working together. He paid me fifty percent of what he got. And I came down here and paid off your traspaso. Max put up half the money and I put up the other half. So now what?”
“Now,” Hob said, “I think it’s time for a drink. And then some dinner.”
“And then?”
“Ibiza is a lovely island,” Hob said, “and I have the finest finca on it. I suggest you spend the summer here with me. You haven’t lived until you’ve spent a summer in Ibiza.”
Aurora laughed, a relieved laugh. “Hob, I’m afraid I can’t spend the summer. But I’d like to spend a week with you. After that, I have to get to Rome. There’s work to be done setting up my fall fashion show.”
“And Max will be there?”
“Of course. He set up the deal with Maintenon.”
“A week in Ibiza is better than a lifetime anywhere else,” Hob said.
“I’ll have to judge that for myself,” Aurora said. “You’re not going to mention this to Fauchon, are you?”
“Blowing up Emilio is no crime in my book,” Hob said.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1996 by Robert Sheckley
ISBN 978-1-4976-2495-5
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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Draconian New York (Hob Draconian Book 1) Page 19