‘So she’s not with you now?’
‘No, we split up. Best that way. No one deserves to be near me right now.’
‘But the two of you were so close.’
‘Life can be messy. When we think we’ve figured it all out – it comes back and slaps you in the face.’
‘How did you know where to find me?’
‘I helped you buy this place, remember?’ Ernesto looked around the room with a single bulb hanging from the ceiling and the plaster blistering on the walls. ‘I must say, I think you were taken advantage of.’
‘Want a beer?’
‘As long as you don’t serve it warm, the English way.’
When he came back with the beers, he was facing a 9mm in Ernesto’s hand.
‘Sit down,’ said Ernesto. ‘And remain calm.’
Harry did what he was told and put the beers on the coffee table between them. He sat back on the edge of the bed again and said, ‘I was always curious about that day at your country house. You were going to kill me then, weren’t you?’
Ernesto nodded. ‘You were lucky that I was shot first by the hired hands of the mines.’
‘We were going to drive up into the hills for a meal.’
‘Subterfuge to get you out of the house; it seemed more humane that way.’
‘It all came to me when I looked at Angela Linehan’s passport. The one you gave her to replace the passport we made for her in London. When I saw you, you never let on about it. Pretended you didn’t know that I’d escaped from the UK; when you knew all along because Angela Linehan had told you.’
‘I suppose it was the name on the passport that gave it all away?’ Ernesto dropped the smouldering cigarette stub into the glass by his foot.
Harry nodded. ‘Corina’s mother’s.’
‘An old lady, housebound, going nowhere.’
‘You made Corina help you?’
‘She’s a devoted maid; her family has worked for mine for generations. She does everything I ask of her.’ Ernesto stopped to catch his breath. He began to cough violently but kept the gun pointing at Harry as he bent forward, his lungs wheezing like a shisha pipe. He pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and mopped his mouth.
‘I think you should quit smoking.’
Ernesto ignored Harry and continued, sitting upright again. ‘I had no choice using Corina’s mother, we were in a rush to conjure up Angela a new passport while she was holidaying in Mexico with that friend of hers. The alterations were relatively simple.’ He returned the handkerchief back to his pocket. ‘As for the boy, we stole a passport from a crackhead backpacker.’
‘Why did you want me dead?’
‘Once I heard you’d escaped from the police in London, I guessed you’d come running to me for help. You were the only link between Angela Linehan and me. No one but you would be able to track her down. The Marottas had read all about you in the papers. I was worried you’d lead them straight to me as I knew where the money was hidden.’
‘You could have just told them.’
‘That would have been a really crazy thing to do. They’re not the forgiving type. I should know, because they’re my clients too.’
Harry’s eyebrows dropped, his face became tense. ‘You have dealings with them?’
‘For years. Once you get involved with the Marottas, there’s no way out. I couldn’t allow them to find out I’d whisked away Cobar’s money. I had no idea what Angela had done at the time.’
‘I always looked up to you,’ said Harry. ‘I saw you as the last of the honourable men.’
The gun was getting heavy in Ernesto’s hand and it was no longer pointing at Harry’s heart. ‘Well, I’m not a good person and I don’t like good people, if you want to know the truth. What can I say? I have a gift for covering up who I really am.’ A smile.
‘I still don’t get why you need to kill me now, when the money has been returned.’
‘I’m afraid it’s not that easy. I would like to say that this is all about collecting the money that is still owed to them.’
‘I told them a year and a half ago, the rest was spent. Went on the egg-shaped house in St Lucia. Sell it and get your money back.’
‘After what happened there, it would not be a good idea. The cops are just waiting.’
Harry waved a dismissive hand and said, ‘What’s this really about?’
‘It’s about settling a score, plain and simple.’
‘But I told you, I wasn’t working for Angela.’
‘They think you were. They can’t have anyone stealing money from their investors and not paying for it. You have to understand, the Marottas have an obligation to protect their partners and can’t afford to lose face in front of them. The Cobar cartel just couldn’t comprehend that sort of weakness. It’s not part of their culture.’
‘But why you?’
‘One of my ex-clients discovered I’d returned to Guate after being missing for so long and found that information a good currency in the city. The Marottas somehow knew early on about my involvement with Angela. Perhaps not that surprising as I’ve done similar things for them. They recognised my handiwork. So when they got to hear that I was still alive, they tracked me down. Made an offer to overlook my misdemeanours, providing I find the woman and her boy – and of course you.’
‘Give me a head start and tell them you lost me. For old times’ sake?’
Ernesto tried to get into a more comfortable position in the armchair. He rested the gun on his knee as he shifted in his seat with discomfort. ‘You don’t understand,’ he continued, raising the gun once more at Harry. ‘I pay back my life by taking yours. Apparently I make the ideal assassin. A well respected lawyer that can travel anywhere in the world, and whose targets trust him enough to allow him to come close. I’m not much of a good shot, you know. They usually use more qualified men to settle such accounts, but who am I to argue with their methods. Angela was so pleased to see me, the boy too. It took me a while to find them, but as she still had some money left in her deposit accounts, it was just a question of waiting until she made a mistake.’
‘Where?’
‘Buenos Aires. They had a nice little flat in a leafy suburb there. She had such good taste.’
‘Had?’
‘Yes, they’re both dead.’
‘You killed the boy?’ asked Harry in disbelief.
‘His name was on the contract.’
‘You didn’t have to.’
‘But I had no choice.’
‘You could go places where they’d never find you. I’ll help you.’
‘If I vanish into thin air, they’ll go straight around to Gabriela’s house and shoot her, next my brother, his wife, their children. There’s no way out of this for me.’
‘What happened to fighting liberty and caring for the supressed? You and Gabriela once wanted to change everything and create a fairer society. And don’t bullshit me with that spiel again about not being nice.’
Ernesto laughed. ‘Maybe that has been our greatest achievement in life – remaining idealistic. I have never been one to join political parties as they only want power, not justice. Now things are different; I’m only interested in the road that is less travelled.’
‘Christ I don’t know who you are anymore. You grew fat off the cartels, and now you’re doing their killing.’
Ernesto looked at him with no emotion.
‘What sort of life can you expect after this?’ asked Harry.
‘I’ve lost my wife, my home, my sanity. The Marottas will dispose of me once I’ve served their purpose. What life can a man expect when he has lost all control of it?’
‘But you still have time to do something about it, Ernesto. Phone Gabriela, talk to her once more. You love her, you know you do. The two of you could start all over again.’
‘You’re not talking to one of your idiotic clients. No one can run for ever from these people. They measure revenge in decades.’
‘So the answe
r is to just wait for them to turn up one night?’
Ernesto wasn’t listening, his thoughts were elsewhere. ‘I do regret killing the boy. But that was the deal they were offering me.’
‘When did you stop believing in God?’
‘When I shot Peter. There was no divine intervention to save him. I was expecting it to go wrong. Really I did. I thought this was so evil, someone would come to the boy’s rescue or the gun would jam. But nothing like that happened. I just squeezed the trigger as he struggled to open the window, and took his life away from him like the Lord almighty. It was so easy, how could that be?’
‘You stopped believing, just like that?’
‘It’s the mystery of faith they never talk about – the falling out. True belief asks you to accept everything that happens to you in blind faith and to love your enemies. You think I can do that after what has happened to me? I can assure you, losing God is a lot faster than finding him.’
‘Who knows I’m here?’
‘Just me.’
‘So what are you planning on doing?’
‘First, I would like to know why you didn’t go back to London when the police dropped all the charges?’
‘How do you know about me being let off the hook? It wasn’t exactly in the papers.’
‘Angela told me before I shot her. She had made some enquiries of her own.’ Then Ernesto gave Harry a quizzical look. ‘There was nothing stopping you going back home to your sweetheart. Maybe, she would have taken you back this time. You could have started a family you always spoke about. Become the man you wanted to be. More like your father who had an obsession for truth. Wasn’t that what you really wanted to be? A great man of principle? So why didn’t you go back?’
‘Maybe I could have.’
‘And?’
‘They always find you, as you say.’
‘And you are ready to approach death, just like that?’
‘Let’s get this over with,’ said Harry. ‘But I need to know Bethany and the baby will be left alone.’
‘Rest assured, their names are not on the contract,’ replied Ernesto, becoming lost in thought again. There was confusion in his eyes and then the mist lifted. ‘Can you throw me your pillow?’
Harry tossed it over to Ernesto who placed it on his knees as he edged forward in the armchair.
‘I don’t have, what do you call it? To stop the bang.’
‘Suppressor.’
‘Suppressor,’ he repeated with a thoughtful nod. His breathing became erratic again and the wheezing returned. He couldn’t hold his grip on the gun and it fell to the floor.
Harry could have sent the automatic spinning across the floor with just one kick. But instead, he watched Ernesto bend down to recover the gun, coughing and spluttering.
The old man sat straight again, recovering his composure. ‘Why didn’t you take the gun from me when you had a chance?’ he asked with a look of mystification while pointing the automatic at Harry again. Then the answer came to him. ‘Wait, wait, wait; you’re doing this to save her?’
No reply.
‘But I’ve already told you,’ continued Ernesto, ‘their names aren’t on the contract.’ He began to ponder and then it came to him. ‘While you’re around, she’s never going to be safe. That’s it, isn’t it?’ he said, his hand shaking as he held the gun.
No reply.
The silence between them grew while Ernesto considered what he had to do next. He wrapped the pillow around the gun and held it tight. Conflict was stirring inside of him as his finger put pressure on the trigger. He couldn’t miss at that range. But then something came to him, and his eyes grew slowly brighter as if he’d finally found peace within himself. ‘I still love Gabriela,’ he said, loosening his trigger finger. ‘You were right about that. But it’s too late to make her understand what she really means to me. I gave her my love, my way, and she always accepted it. It’s too late to make it right; too late,’ said Ernesto, pausing a moment to gather himself. ‘I hope you understand that this is now the only way out for me.’
There was no response from Harry.
‘Turn over on your stomach,’ said Ernesto, ‘I don’t want to look at your eyes anymore.’
Harry rolled over, thinking his last vision on earth would be of the candy coloured stripes of the cotton sheets. His last smell, his own musky body and sweat. Then, he thought of Bethany and their first kiss alongside the River Taff, her lips of salt and vinegar. They ate and sung their hearts out that happy cold night. The first kiss is immortal.
BANG.
Ernesto dropped the gun to the floor as he remained bolt upright in the armchair, his good eye wide open with surprise, his brain tissue on the wall opposite.
Harry turned around and saw his friend staring at him, lifeless. If he didn’t know Ernesto better, it looked as if his face had a smile, one he would later describe to Bethany in great detail.
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