Deadly Business

by Quintin Jardine

  I have to record here my appreciation for the way the beach people rallied around. As far as I could see, everyone who didn’t have children of their own to look after had volunteered to join the search. The Mossos had an inflatable, crewed by divers; their job was to probe the little green river with poles, and investigate anything solid they detected. The rest of us were split into teams to cover the ground behind the beach, and to trawl through the adjoining campsites. Liam and I stayed together, searching the fields. They were uncultivated and that made it worse, for the grass was waist high and tangled, hampering our progress. There was one very scary moment when a woman, no more than twenty metres away from us, screamed and put her hands over her face. We rushed across, to find her standing over the rotting carcass of what had been a large dog. We spent an hour combing our assigned area then another retracing out steps, but in the end it was all fruitless.

  Finally a whistle was blown, and we all gathered back at the starting point, where Alex thanked us for our efforts, and stood us down.

  ‘What do we do?’ Liam asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I confessed.

  Alex came across to us. He shook Liam’s hand, and gave me a quick hug. ‘Keep your phone charged and switched on,’ he told me. ‘When I know something, you will too.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think,’ he replied instantly, ‘that the fact that we haven’t found him makes it likely that Mr Kent was right, that the child has been taken. Has anyone been in touch with his mother? She’s in America, you told me, Primavera, yes?’

  ‘Yes, but she’s probably started the journey home by now. I could probably get in touch with her, but what would be the point, with nothing positive to tell her? She’s a very sick woman, Alex.’

  ‘Then I leave that judgement to you. For now, you go home, you wait and you pray, if that will help.’

  I nodded, and he left. I looked at Liam, and he looked at me; we must have made a distinctly uncool pair, in our crushed and sweaty beach gear. Suddenly I felt exhausted. ‘I need some time,’ I murmured. ‘Let’s go to your hotel.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He slipped his arm around my waist and half carried me there. It wasn’t far, only a few metres along the path. He picked up his key from reception and led the way up to his room. As soon as he closed the door behind us, I collapsed into his only chair, and did something very un-Primavera-like. I burst into tears. He knelt beside me and hugged me as I cried it out, and I loved him for it. I couldn’t have done that in front of Tom and certainly not with Janet around.

  When I’d composed myself, I patted his arm, to let him know I was all right. ‘I need to get back,’ I said, ‘but God, I’m filthy. Can I have a shower?’

  ‘Of course.’

  I pushed myself out of the chair and stripped naked where I stood. He’d seen everything else, so there was no point in being coy about the rest. I went into the bathroom and stood under a barely warm spray for five minutes, flushing the grime, sand and sweat off me and shampooing it from my hair. When I was done, I wrapped myself in one of the robes that hung behind the door, and let Liam take my place. I was still wearing it when he came out in the other one, but I’d put my shorts back on. My bikini was definitely done for the day, maybe for ever. ‘Do you have a top I can borrow?’ I asked.

  He smiled. ‘Sure.’ He opened a drawer and took out another of those GWA merchandise shirts from way back. ‘I brought this along with Tom in mind,’ he said as he handed it to me. ‘You can give it to him when you’re done with it.’

  I raised myself up on my toes and kissed him again, running my fingers through his damp hair. ‘You’re a lovely man,’ I told him. ‘When we’ve got wee Jonathan back safe …’

  ‘Let’s just concentrate on that part,’ he whispered.

  ‘I need to get back home now,’ I said. ‘Come with me. I want you near me while this plays out. Bring your toothbrush.’ I rubbed his chin, and grinned. ‘And your razor too. And your pyjamas, if you’re bashful.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘Yes. I’m getting more sure by the minute.’

  He put some stuff in a small bag and we walked back to the village. When we got there I didn’t go up into the square, because I didn’t want to run into anyone I knew and face the inevitable quiz; instead I let us in through the garage. It’s alarmed all the time and there’s a buzzer that sounds upstairs whenever someone comes in that way, until they cancel it.

  Conrad was waiting for us at the top of the stairs when we reached them. If he was surprised to see Liam with me he didn’t show it, but his eyebrows did rise a little when he clocked my replacement T-shirt. I left him to draw his own conclusions.

  ‘Any news?’ I asked him. He shook his head. ‘Me neither. Where are Tom and Janet?’

  ‘In the TV room. They’re watching the local station. It’s been running live coverage of the search.’

  ‘They haven’t named him, have they?’ I didn’t want that, no way.

  ‘No, but they did run the photograph that you sent Alex.’

  ‘Could he be recognised from that?’ Liam asked.

  ‘By a local, he probably could,’ Conrad replied. ‘We’ve been here long enough for him to become known as Tom’s half-brother. Let’s hope no reporter has the wit to ask.’

  ‘I’d like to think,’ I observed, ‘that my friends would realise that we don’t need that.’

  ‘I thought you said this place runs on gossip,’ Liam murmured.

  He had a point, and I conceded it. ‘As soon as his identity becomes known,’ I said, ‘this will stop being a local story and go international.’

  I remembered how I’d heard that Oz had died; I was in Jimmy Buffett’s bar in Las Vegas, when his face popped up on the big screen telly and I knew instantly that he hadn’t won an Oscar. ‘I hadn’t wanted to tell Susie, not until we had some good news, and then maybe not ever, but now, I’m thinking we have to, just in case.’

  Conrad glanced at his watch. ‘Not for a while, we can’t. They were scheduled to take off from Phoenix ten minutes ago for Charlotte. That’s a long flight.’

  ‘Is it on time? Could they still be sitting in the airport?’

  ‘No. Audrey called me an hour ago to say they were boarding.’ He held up a hand. ‘And before you ask, I didn’t say anything to her.’

  ‘How’s Susie, physically? Did she say?’

  ‘Not much, but I don’t think she could. She said she was okay, but I wasn’t convinced. I don’t think she could speak freely; I reckon Duncan was too close.’

  I walked through to the office where the second television is, and found the kids there. Janet looked up at me; her face was drawn beneath the tan and her eyes were anxious. ‘They haven’t found him, Auntie Primavera,’ she said.

  ‘I know, love,’ I replied. ‘Liam and I were among the people looking. That isn’t bad news, you know.’

  ‘But there were men looking in the river.’ She was on the edge of tears

  ‘Just in case,’ Tom told her. ‘Wee Jonathan wouldn’t go near the river; it’s green and smelly. He doesn’t even like the sea much.’

  ‘Well, where is he?’ she wailed, and the tears did come.

  Tom put an arm around her shoulders. ‘I don’t know,’ he murmured. He didn’t look too sound himself emotionally, a worried little guy in contrast to the strong kid who had taken charge earlier.

  I might have cracked too, but Liam appeared in the doorway just in time. He read the situation, took me in his arms and held me fast, making me feel protected, for the first time in longer than I could remember. ‘It’ll be all right,’ he said, to all of us.

  Tom looked him in the eye, via the mirror on the wall. ‘How do you know?’ he challenged.

  ‘I do, that’s all; I have faith. Do you know what that is?’

  ‘Religion,’ my son replied.

  ‘Yes, but it’s more than that; it’s when you have an absolute belief, even when there’s absolutely no evidence to sup
port it. I have faith that the little boy is all right.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘If I didn’t, what else would there be? Only despair. Come here,’ he said, ‘both of you.’

  They did and we had a hug-in, feeling Liam’s certainty spread to us all, making us all feel warm and safe.

  That’s not to say that we switched on the party music. No, we sat there and waited. As soon as I left that room, nagging doubts and awful visions came back to me. I joined Conrad in the kitchen and had a beer with him.

  ‘If you’re right,’ I asked him, ‘what will happen?’

  ‘We’ll have a message, once they feel secure; there’ll be a ransom demand.’

  ‘What do we do then?’

  He stared at me. ‘Pay it. Whatever the cops say.’

  ‘But will they let him go then?’

  ‘We can only hope they do.’

  ‘No,’ I contradicted him. ‘First and foremost we can hope you’re wrong.’

  ‘There is that. But if I’m not, I promise you, Primavera, I will find whoever’s responsible, and that will be that for them.’

  ‘Don’t say that.’

  ‘This is Oz’s son we’re talking about. He’d demand it of me.’

  ‘But he isn’t here to do any demanding, so, who owns your loyalty now? Tom and Janet, I’d suggest. If you try to make them murderers by association, you’ll cross me.’

  The phone rang an hour later, ten minutes before the time at which I’d determined that I’d call Susie to let her know what had happened. Tom had tracked her flight on the internet and had given me its scheduled arrival time. Fifteen minutes later, I reckoned, she was bound to be in the transit lounge, and if her mobile wasn’t switched on, Audrey’s would be for sure.

  We were all in the living room when the call came in. I’d made the kids switch off the news, and given Janet her choice of replacement. She’d opted for Spanish MTV which seemed entirely harmless, so I’d let them watch it on the big set.

  Conrad sprang out of his chair, but I forestalled him. ‘I’m taking this,’ I told him, inviting no protest as I rose from the couch I’d been sharing with Liam. I picked it up, fearful that the next words I heard would change my life, but with no idea what they would be or even in what language they’d be put.

  ‘He’s safe,’ Alex Guinart said, in Catalan.

  All the breath rushed from me in a great sigh, and I slumped back on to the sofa. ‘Oh, thank God, Alex,’ I exclaimed, in English, so that everyone in the room could share the good news. ‘Now tell me what happened,’ I continued, switching back to his language.

  ‘He ran away, Primavera, simple as that. There was a pickup, parked down the road beside the river; windsurfers. The child climbed into the back and hid under a tarpaulin. When the owners, two gay men,’ he didn’t actually say gay men, but that’s how I choose to translate it, ‘came back, they put their boards in there and didn’t notice him at all. They drove away, and went straight home, all the way to Badalona. Why they come north to surf, God alone knows, but they do.’

  ‘Go on,’ I said, impatiently. I wasn’t in the mood for a discourse on the merits of beaches.

  ‘Sorry, of course. The boy was in the back of the truck all the time; they only found him when they unloaded it. By then he was cold, and he was terrified. Neither of the men speaks English, but fortunately one of them is fluent in French. They’re good guys; they fed him soup to warm him while they worked out what to do. Then one of them switched on the television, they saw the news and it was their turn to be scared. They phoned my colleagues straight away, and told them what had happened. Our guys went there, and the boy confirmed their story. They’re bringing him home now, blue lights. He should be with you in an hour, no more. I’m about to release a statement that he’s been found alive and well.’

  ‘Will there be consequences?’

  ‘For the two men?’ he exclaimed. ‘I can’t see why.’

  ‘Of course not, Alex; for wee Jonathan?’

  ‘Good God, no. He’s nine years old, and he’s a sad, frightened child; if it was anyone else, I’d be holding him until I knew why. I’m only returning him because I trust you to make whatever it is right. What is happening in his family?’

  I couldn’t explain in any detail, for Tom would have understood everything I said and Janet would probably have picked up most of it too. I stalled him by telling him that I would explain everything next time I saw him, and that the problem would be leaving his patch next morning.

  ‘It won’t stop me worrying about the kid,’ he said.

  ‘I know, me neither, but his mother will make it right, I’m sure. He’s worried about her; that’s the heart of it.’

  ‘So why run away?’

  ‘As I said, I’ll tell you later. Thanks, Alex.’

  I hung up. Everyone else in the room, Tom, Janet, Liam, Conrad, even bloody Charlie was gazing at me intently. I told them what had happened, just as Alex had explained it. I hadn’t got far before I saw that Janet was furious, but I hushed her until I was finished.

  She had her say as soon as I was through. ‘He did that to us, Auntie Primavera,’ she snapped. ‘It was cruel. I was terrified; so was Tom, so was Conrad even. I thought he was dead. If Mum had known about it … Wait till I see him.’

  ‘What will you do, Janet?’ Liam asked her quietly.

  ‘What’s it got to do with you?’ she shouted at him.

  ‘Nothing,’ he replied, with a smile. ‘You hardly know me. But I was here when it happened, and I helped look for him, and I was just as scared as the rest of you. So I’m asking you, what are you going to do when he comes back?’

  ‘I’m going to …’ She struggled for the words, but couldn’t find them.

  ‘We’re going to ask him why he did it,’ Tom told her. ‘He’s our brother, and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you and me. He’s sad, Janet, and he’s lonely. He didn’t do that just to be bad. He isn’t bad; he isn’t like that. So we’re going to ask him what’s wrong, you and me, and whatever it is, we’re going to make it better.’ He looked at Liam. ‘Isn’t that right?’ he asked. ‘Isn’t that what we should do?’

  He nodded. ‘It’s what I would do, for what that’s worth. I think Tom’s right, Janet, that he’s sad and he’s lonely, but I believe he’s angry as well, and you don’t take someone’s anger away by throwing more of the same at it. That’s what your other brother’s learned from his wing chun, and what I’ve come to understand from my own studies.’

  ‘Don’t get mad. Get even,’ Conrad muttered.

  ‘You’re only half right. Usually there’s nothing to get even for.’

  ‘Mmm.’ The kids’ minder stood and walked from the room, without a backward look.

  ‘He’s old school,’ I told Liam.

  ‘So would I be if something had actually happened to wee Jonathan. There’s nothing in my philosophy, or Tom’s, that says “Don’t punish the guilty”, but there is no guilt here.’ He looked at Janet, my ward, I suppose, to use an old-fashioned term. ‘Agreed?’ he asked.

  She allowed him a quick smile, and nodded. ‘Yes, Liam. Sorry I was rude.’

  ‘You weren’t, you were upset. What does he like, wee Jonathan? What really floats his boat?’

  ‘Magnum ice creams,’ she replied instantly. ‘The white chocolate kind.’

  ‘Then how about you and Tom going and getting him one, hell on, two, and sticking them in the freezer for when he gets back?’

  Tom looked at me for confirmation; I nodded. They left, Charlie following behind, heading for the nearest supply of ice-cream treats on sticks. I turned to Liam. ‘You gorgeous man,’ I murmured. I took his hand and tugged it. There was no doubt about what I had in mind, but he shook his head.

  ‘No,’ he said, softly. ‘I want you too, but this is not the time. You’re worth more than the half-hour we’d have before the cops get here with wee Jonathan. When he does there’s going to be a lot of emotion in here, and you’re the best person to hand
le it.’

  ‘Then afterwards.’

  He grinned. ‘Sure. And what time do you have to be at the airport tomorrow?’

  ‘Early,’ I admitted.

  ‘What I thought. So you and Tom get up and bugger off, leaving me to share an awkward breakfast with Conrad, the kids and Charlie.’

  I laughed, then gasped. ‘Charlie,’ I exclaimed. ‘I’d forgotten, we have to give him to Ben Simmers this evening, and he’ll be closing his shop soon.’

  ‘You make my case,’ he said. ‘Primavera, tough as it may be to tear myself away from you, and your remarkable body … don’t think I didn’t take a good look … I’m going to kiss you farewell now and then I’m going back to the hotel. When you come back, you’ll have had almost a week to think about me. If you haven’t thought better of everything we both have in mind right now, we’ll see where that takes us.’

  I wanted to tell him, no way was he going anywhere, but I’d learned even in only a couple of days’ reacquaintance that he had an annoying tendency to be right all the time. So we kissed each other farewell, I gave him a quick squeeze for luck, hard enough to make his eyes widen, and I let him go on his way.

  Eleven

  I took Charlie down to Ben’s as soon as Liam had gone. An hour later I’d have been glad of his distracting presence, for it was pretty emotional when the Mossos people, a man and a woman, arrived with wee runaway Jonathan.

  They parked their car outside the village and wore plain clothes when they walked him up to the door. They may have been under orders from Alex, but whether they were or not, I was grateful to them for their sensitivity. The square was Sunday busy and being hauled out of a police car in full view would have dissolved what was left of the kid’s self-esteem.

  As it was, he was the picture of misery when I opened the front door to them, and he wrapped himself around me, tight as a small python. He was wearing what I can best describe as a long shirt, stretching down past his knees. The female officer explained that he had wet himself in the back of the truck and that his beach clothes were in his little bag, which he still carried slung over his shoulder. If he’d been planning to run away, I knew what I’d find in there when I looked: his favourite toy, a stuffed green dinosaur that he’s had from infancy, and a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in French.