‘I don’t want to tell you,’ Pearl said.
She was his sister; they had been together through most of their childhood. Perhaps she almost could read his mind. Ethan decided to give her a moment or two to explain, after all, before disconnecting.
‘It’s embarrassing,’ she said at last.
‘Does it have anything to do with Alvaro Tomasi?’
‘Ethan! Of course not. I know better than to make the same mistake twice. And I said it was embarrassing. Not stupid. Not bloody evil.’
‘So how did you get here?’
‘I hitched a lift with a truck driver.’
She must have heard his rapid intake of breath.
‘No,’ she said. ‘He didn’t try to molest me. Not every man is an animal. Did you say “here”? Are you inside the villa? Let me in!’
Ethan walked towards the front door.
‘I’m coming outside. I’m going to pat you down,’ he said. ‘I swear, Pearl, if you’re bugged —’
‘Hurry up! I’m suffering out here. I need to lie down, I need water—’
He swung the door open. Pearl stood there before him. She was thinner than ever and seemed to have lost weight even in the past two days. Her hair was stuck to her head and apparently hadn’t been washed. He remembered that she had been wearing a scarf over it when they first saw her in Naples. Back then, she must have been coming down from a drug-induced high. She would have been suffering for a few days by now.
She fell into his arms. Through her thin dress, he could tell that there were no wires. No one shot at him, as he had feared, when he opened the door.
He pulled her through and locked it behind him again.
‘I’ve stopped with the drugs,’ Pearl said. ‘This time, I absolutely swear. When I realised that Katy was in danger because of what I had done, I knew I’d never forgive myself. It’s time for me to grow up.’
She fell into his arms again and slipped halfway to the floor. There were footsteps behind him as well and Ethan turned to see Hayley coming down the stairs. She was holding her bag, and looking very determined, until she saw the brother and sister in the foyer before her.
‘Let me help you!’ Hayley cried, running towards them and looping one of Pearl’s flaccid arms around her shoulder.
Ethan realised that, although small, Hayley was very strong. She seemed to take half his sister’s weight as, together, they guided the nearly-unconscious woman into his sitting room.
They laid her out on one of the sofas, and Ethan retrieved a wool throw from one of the cupboards, draping it softly over her.
‘She should be in bed,’ he said.
Hayley nodded. ‘But she does look comfortable there,’ she said. ‘Perhaps she can rest here for a few minutes. Gather some strength.’
‘Will you look after her for a while?’ Ethan asked, standing. ‘I have to make a phone call.’
His boss still hadn’t returned the call he had made from his new mobile phone. But if Ethan called from his home phone, surely the caller ID that would show up at Ryan’s end would register with Ryan as something important? He recalled something David, his partner, once suggested. That Ryan was somewhat jealous of the way the company had not just continued along but actually prospered under Ethan’s leadership.
This time, Ryan answered the phone first ring. ‘Yes?’ he said.
‘Ethan MacDonald here. I’ve been waiting for your call.’
‘Waiting?’ repeated Ryan, obviously confused. ‘I have no message of a call from you.’
‘I made it from a new mobile phone,’ Ethan said, and waited while his boss explained, once again, the importance of keeping their mobile phones for business purposes.
‘It was an emergency,’ Ethan began.
‘You still haven’t worked out the business with Alvaro Tomasi?’ Ryan guessed.
Ethan sighed. He knew his boss wanted him back at work as soon as possible. The truth was that Ryan had been very generous in letting him have so much time off, even if unpaid — Ethan didn’t need the money, fortunately — and in holding his job open until he came back.
‘Things have taken a bit of a bad turn, actually,’ Ethan said, and briefly explained what had been going on over the past few days.
Ryan made a couple of shocked sounds on the other end of the line.
‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ he asked, when Ethan got to the end of his story.
‘That’s why I called,’ Ethan began. ‘Thing is, we’re more or less surrounded at the moment.’
‘State of siege,’ Ryan surmised.
‘Yes, I suppose it is a siege. I’ve checked my cameras and had a look at all the roads in and out. Tomasi has blocked everything.’
‘He’s an expert at this sort of thing.’ Ryan seemed thoughtful. ‘Any chance you can just wait it out? Tomasi will have other things he has to do eventually. An open attack seems unlikely.’
‘But it’s possible. And I can’t risk it. Katy is with me,’ Ethan said.
Ryan let out a long, low breath. He must understand now why the situation had become so critical.
‘I think I’m safe here for a little while,’ Ethan said. ‘But, now that Tomasi is sure about where she is, that safety isn’t going to last.’
‘In a couple of days you’ll need food,’ Ryan said.
‘Exactly. Also, my sister is here. Remember I told you Tomasi had her hooked on drugs? She’s trying to dry out. I have to help her. But she’s got an uphill battle ahead.’
‘You can’t book her into rehab?’
‘Not this time. Not until Tomasi is out of the way.’
‘What will you do instead?’
‘I’ll have to hire a private nurse.’
‘Have a stranger in the villa, you mean?’
‘That’s just it.’ Ethan banged his fist against the wall in frustration. ‘There’s no one I can trust. The Tomasis have spies everywhere. And I don’t know who’s on Alvaro’s side.
‘I think I can see where this is going. You want me to send a helicopter, get you out of there?’
‘Exactly!’
It was a big ask. The company they worked for had access to several types of aircraft, most often used for transferring important clients around various parts of the American east coast — not Italy. But Ethan knew that if anyone could arrange this, it was Ryan.
‘Give me twenty four hours, I’ll have everyone onto it,’ Ryan said.
Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. It was clear that Pearl would need attention during that time. But as long as Hayley was around, Ethan would have the help he needed with Katy. The two of them were getting on like a house on fire.
A house on fire.
He recalled the expression that Ryan had used a few moments ago. They were living in a state of siege. Ethan wished the image of a house on fire had never occurred to him.
The most important thing, he realised now, was making sure that none of Tomasi’s men got close enough to the house to be able to burn them out. More than ever, he was glad that Hayley was with him. He could look after her here, until Alvaro was gone. And if he really was losing the support of the rest of the Tomasis, then maybe it was just one crazed man and his paid henchmen they had to get rid of. Ethan had enough experience with criminals to know that, unlike family members, guards and hired hitmen that Alvaro had to pay would lose interest as soon as Alvaro was dead and the cheques stopped coming.
‘Call David too, will you?’ Ethan asked Ryan now. Although they hadn’t worked together since Ethan had fled to the family villa with Katy, David had been Ethan’s partner for a long time. ‘Let him know what’s going on. He might be able to help and he’ll want to be involved.’
‘I’ll get him on the helicopter order too,’ Ryan promised. ‘There’s no one that will work harder for you than David.’
‘I don’t know who I would turn to without you guys,’ Ethan said. The truth of this sentiment made him choke.
‘I’ll do for you what you would do for me,
’ Ryan said, as he rang off.
When Ethan turned, Hayley was standing in the doorway. Once again, she was holding the bag she had put down to help him move Pearl into the sitting room.
‘I need to go,’ she said.
Ethan closed his eyes.
‘Haven’t we already talked about this?’ he asked. ‘You can’t leave now. Once you’re out in the open you’ll be an easy target.’
‘You could convince me to do anything,’ Hayley said. ‘That’s why I don’t want to stand here talking about it. You and Katy are safe here. Perhaps I can distract Alvaro Tomasi if I leave.’
‘It won’t work like that. Tomasi knows who he wants more. He agrees with that old maxim that revenge is a dish best served cold. He will wait to flush us out of here. And then you will be looking out for him the rest of your life.’
‘Won’t that be true whether or not I stay here for the time being?’ asked Hayley.
She looked beautiful, and vulnerable and scared, standing there, leaning into the door frame the way she was. Her blonde hair seemed to melt into the timber. The house itself seemed to sense that she belonged here.
Ethan realised in that moment how much he would miss her. That this had gone far beyond wanting to keep her safe because she was innocent. That he needed her here because in just these few emotion-packed days, she had become part of his life, part of his family.
‘It really is time for me to leave,’ Hayley said into the silence of his heart breaking.
‘Will you stay if it will make things easier for me and Katy?’
It was Ethan’s last and strongest card. He might have once been able to get her to stay by offering to pay for her father’s care, but that had already been taken care of. He had paid for three months of her father’s accommodation and she knew that. The place where the old man lived wouldn’t accept any more money in advance. Short of locking Hayley in her room, there was nothing he could do to make her stay apart from offering himself, offering Katy.
‘That’s just it,’ Hayley said.
She put her bag down and stepped into the room, one hand outstretched.
Could she be expecting him to shake her hand? Surely not. They were lovers. That meant something.
Oh dear god, he was not in the sort of place where he could deal with this now, on top of everything else. He needed to concentrate on getting Katy out of here, not on worrying about whether the woman he loved was going to leave.
He had to convince her how much Katy’s welfare depended upon her staying here with them. Because he believed that himself.
‘I’m worried about Katy’s emotions as well,’ Hayley was saying. ‘She’s getting very fond of me, Ethan.’
‘You’re fond of her too?’
‘Of course I am. She’s a great kid. But she’s been through enough, Ethan. And the longer I stay, the more she will be hurt when I have to leave.’
The time wasn’t right to ask her if she could reconsider ever leaving.
‘I need you here,’ he said, simply. ‘Pearl is going to need care. The house needs guarding. Katy needs attention. It is too much for one person to deal with on his own.’
Hayley thought about this, frowning.
‘But how long is this going to go on for?’ she demanded.
‘A couple of days at most,’ Ethan said. ‘Will you stay that long?’
‘What will change in a couple of days?’ Hayley asked. ‘The way I see it, that is just a little more hurt that Katy might feel.’
He didn’t believe that. He knew that Katy was becoming very close to Hayley, but there had to be some chance for him to convince Hayley to stay longer.
‘I’ll look after Katy and Pearl,’ he said. ‘You look after the security.’
It was not a natural division of labour. He knew far more about the security systems than she did. But he would be on hand to help and Hayley had proven that she was adaptable and completely trustworthy.
She was still frowning. ‘But in a couple of days time we will just have to go through this again,’ she said. ‘It’s going to take Pearl longer than that to start to get better.’
‘We really will all be getting out of here soon,’ Ethan told her. ‘I’ve spoken to my boss and he’s arranging a helicopter. We’ll be able to get to it from the roof.’
Hayley considered that. ‘It will be safer for me to leave in a helicopter than to walk away now,’ she mused.
‘Exactly,’ Ethan agreed.
***
Pearl’s condition was terrible and soon became even worse. Ethan was soon so busy attending to her and trying to keep Katy at once entertained and separate from the suffering of her aunt that he barely saw Hayley. It was as though she became a shadow, moving down the hall towards the computer system that centralised his CCTV cameras and moving to the various windows that gave her visual confirmation of what was going on outside.
She was a clever girl, he realised, and aware that any computerised system had the ability to be compromised. It was only the evidence of your own eyes that you could trust without fail.
After Ethan managed to ease Katy into sleep, he carried Pearl to one of the first floor bedrooms as far from the little girl as possible. Pearl’s moans of pain and distress were just about too much for him to bear. He wished he had some sort of sedative to give her to get through the worst part of her withdrawal, but when he suggested it to her, Pearl shook her head as emphatically as she could manage.
‘I need to get out of this on my own,’ she said. ‘That’s the only way I will really believe that I can stay clean.’
A moment later she was back to her hysterical raving, demanding more of the drugs that were gradually killing her and calling Ethan every name under the sun for failing to provide them.
‘I can’t survive this,’ she wailed. ‘I’ll kill myself if you don’t help.’
The next time that she was quiet, he removed from the room anything that Pearl could possibly use to harm herself. The mirror that had been hung on the wall, all the furniture save the bed, even the curtains, all these things went.
He left her with the bare essentials: Water in a plastic cup and a fresh supply of the same from a plastic jug, Her bed and its thick warm blankets — no sheets. He had read once of a man who hanged himself with a sheet.
It was one more reason to be glad that he had bars put in the windows. At least Pearl could not hurl herself out.
Next, Ethan pulled a mattress from one of the other rooms and set it up at her doorway. From here, he would hear if Katy needed him a few doors away, and he would be woken if Pearl tried to leave her room.
It would be a light sleep but he needed it. In the morning, Ryan would have news about the helicopter he had arranged. And, comforted by that thought, eventually Ethan’s eyes did drift shut.
***
Hayley woke every hour during the night to repeat her check of the grounds. It was a dark evening and she was well aware that the cover of darkness had been used for surprise ambushes forever. She could sleep for years once this was all over, she told herself.
When the sky finally started to lighten in the east, she was standing at one of the villa’s uppermost windows, elbows resting on the sill, chin in her hands. How beautiful everything was out there. It was a similar view to the one that had enchanted her the first night she had stayed here, the one that seemed more like a year ago than a few days.
It was so static and peaceful with the sun slowly warming it. The same view must have greeted women gazing through the villa windows for centuries. In the distance, the Roman theatre ruins glowed in the morning sunlight. Could the plays that had once been performed there be any more dramatic than her own life?
It seemed impossible to believe that Tomasi was out there, waiting, amassing who knew how many people to come in here and take Katy. He was mad with his plan. If he made it in here, then Hayley knew that neither she nor Ethan could survive.
‘All is quiet?’ Ethan asked, behind her.
Hayley turned.
There he was, in jeans and a crumpled t-shirt. His hair was all messed up. He looked boyish and young and tired.
‘Quiet,’ she agreed, turning back to the window.
She couldn’t afford to think about him like this.
‘How is Pearl?’ she asked.
‘I think she might be asleep. Did you hear her much during the night?’
‘A few times. She sounded very ill.’
‘She is.’
‘You have to admire her for this.’
‘I do.’
‘I wish I had a sister!’
Hayley surprised even herself with the suddenness of this outburst. Her face was wet. What was that? A tear? It couldn’t be.
Angrily, she stabbed at her cheek with her finger and wiped the evidence away before Ethan could see it.
‘Family makes you vulnerable,’ Ethan reminded her, softly.
Perhaps he wanted to make her question her assumption that she was better off on her own. Hayley wasn’t going to have that, because she didn’t believe it. If there was one thing that this crazy business with Tomasi had convinced her of, it was that everyone was safer on their own, without commitments. Safer physically, it seemed, as well as emotionally.
‘Have you heard yet from Ryan?’ asked Hayley. ‘About the helicopter?’
Ethan shook his head. ‘I’m going to go call him now,’ he said. ‘I’ve made coffee. Katy and Pearl are both sleeping. Do you want to come have a cup with me?’
She was panting for caffeine, Hayley realised now. In her own way, perhaps she was as much of an addict as Pearl. At least her own withdrawal had meant just this vague and mild headache, not the violent illness that Pearl was experiencing.
She followed Ethan back downstairs and to his study, and poured coffee from the espresso machine he had down there while he dialled the numbers for his phone call.
Trusting a Stranger Page 16