Lies, Lies, Lies

by David A Max

  Emilio shook his head and walked back into the room, and saw Jake grabbing Carlito by the throat and shouting at him, “You have a girlfriend Andreiá and you are also sleeping with my girl, you are going to pay for it!” Emilio grabbed Jake and pulled him away from Carlito. Gina was screaming, “I seduced him Jake, it is not entirely his fault.” Gina quickly grabbed her clothes and put them on. Tears dropped from Jake’s eyes, Carlito just wore his boxers and didn’t utter a word.

  “I am really disappointed in you,” Emilio shook his head as he looked at Carlito, “please calm down, Jake, let’s talk about this.”

  “There is nothing to talk about,” Jake removed Emilio’s hand and left the room.

  Carlito shook his head, with guilt written all over his face, “Please don’t tell Andreiá, she will be heartbroken.” Emilio sighed and left the room.

  Carlito put his clothes on and looked at Gina, “What are we going to do? I hope things don’t get out of hand.” Gina sat on the edge of the bed, “I will try and talk to Jake, I hope he understands.” Carlito leaned over on the bed towards Gina and kissed her on the cheek, “I need to go and talk to Emilio.” Gina pulled him closer and kissed him on the lips, Carlito got up and left the room, Gina lay back on the bed and closed her eyes.

  Carlito entered his room and saw Andreiá, watching TV. “How was the farm today?” Andreiá asked Carlito.

  “It was fine,” he answered, “You should join us sometime, you’ll like it,”

  Andreiá shook her head, “Maybe one day, I’m not a farm girl.” They both laughed. Andreiá leaned over and kissed Carlito, “I have missed you all day, I have been lonely and waiting for you to get back.”

  “I have missed you too Andreiá,” Carlito replied, “I think about you so much when I’m at work.”

  “You need a shower,” Andreiá smiled looking at Carlito.

  “But I’m tired,” Carlito replied.

  “I’ll join you in the shower, will that help?”

  “If you insist,” Carlito replied, so they both got up and went to have a shower…

  “That was a lovely shower,” Andreiá said later, kissing Carlito as they walked to the bed.

  “It was the best,” Carlito said, with a grin on his face. They got under the duvet and Andreiá lay on Carlito’s chest, and he stroked her hair, “I really love you,” Carlito said as he stroked her hair, “you mean the world to me and I will never do anything to hurt you.”

  Andreiá kissed his chest, “I know you wouldn’t hurt me, I love you too.” Carlito smiled and they both fell asleep.

  The next morning Carlito woke up early and walked to Emilio’s room, he knocked on the door. “Who is it?” Emilio said, sounding grumpy.

  “It’s me Carlito.”

  “What do you want?” Emilio asked.

  “Please, I need to talk to you, you are like my brother.”

  Emilio got up from his bed and reluctantly opened the door, Carlito walked in and Emilio went back to bed to lie down.

  “I’m going to the farm soon and I came to talk to you about what you saw yesterday,” Carlito sighed.

  “I’m listening,” Emilio replied.

  “I work on the same part of the farm with Gina while Jake handles a different section; there are several workers on the grape farm but we enjoy helping out, we ferment the grapes and turn them into alcohol at the section where we work. Jake on the other hand manages the accounts of the farm which is in an office in the field about fifteen minutes’ walk from where myself and Gina work—”

  “Why are you telling me all this? I thought you wanted to talk about what I saw yesterday,” Emilio interrupted.

  “I’m just telling you how it all began,” Carlito replied.

  “So how long have you and Gina been having an affair?” Emilio asked.

  “It’s been about three weeks now,” Carlito replied, “we come back about an hour earlier than Jake does, and we make love in their room before we let you and Andreiá know we are back. Like I was saying, it all began on the farm, we used to flirt harmlessly initially, I used to tell her how good she looked and that her figure was amazing and she would smile and tell me I look good and I should take good care of Andreiá. We drink a lot of the wine when we are relaxing and we both had a little too much to drink the first time we slept together. We had the urge before then but because we respected each other’s relationships we kept away from each other, but we were both tipsy the first time we slept together and used that as an excuse to start an affair.”

  “You both were no longer thinking of your partners when you started the affair,” Emilio said angrily.

  “I’m really sorry, we were both selfish,” Carlito replied, “Jake wasn’t meant to come back early but he said he came back earlier than usual because he was missing Gina and wanted to surprise her.”

  “He is heartbroken, I hope you know that,” Emilio said shaking his head, “and you shouldn’t be worrying about me telling Andreiá, you should be worried about Jake.”

  “Gina said she was going to talk to him,” Carlito replied, acting really ashamed of what he had done.

  “I would advise you to stay away from Jake for some time,” Emilio warned.

  Gina woke up early and noticed Jake was not next to her, ‘where is he?’ she wondered. She got up and put on a robe, walked out of the room and started looking for Jake. “Jake, Jake,” she called gently as she walked about searching for him. She peeped into the living room area and saw him sleeping on a couch. She walked over to him, bent over and woke him up gently.

  Jake woke up still a bit drowsy, “What do you want Gina?”

  She sat down beside him, “I made a mistake, I was drunk and it led to what you saw.” Jake did not say a word and just stared at Gina. “I’m sorry,” Gina continued, “he meant nothing to me,” tears rolling down her cheeks, “I don’t know how I allowed myself to let it happen.” She sobbed for about five minutes, then Jake drew her close to himself and wiped her tears, “Promise me it will never happen again?” Jake asked. Gina kept sobbing, “It will never happen again,” Gina answered, “I love you.” Jake hugged her and kissed her and led her to the bedroom.

  One week later Kevin called Jake on the farm and told him to check if the workers were doing the shifts and hours they were meant to do, because he was getting reports that some of the workers were leaving quite early and did not complete their shifts. Jake had to go to the different sites to account for all of them, he got to Gina and Carlito’s site and had to get some documents from the site office so he could account for each of them. At the site office, when he was about to open the door he could hear like moaning noises; he thought to himself, ‘these workers might be having sex with each other in the office, they’ve been left unchecked for too long.’ He flung the door open and saw Gina on top of Carlito on a chair and they were both stark naked and were having sex. Gina and Carlito turned around and saw Jake staring at them and he looked traumatised. Gina quickly got off Carlito and started putting on her clothes which were all over the floor; Carlito hurriedly got up and started putting on his clothes. Jake couldn’t speak, he just turned around and walked out of the room.

  That night Gina went home scared; she opened the door to her room and saw Jake sleeping on the bed. She was shocked to see Jake sleeping, she had to sneak to her side of the bed. She lay down quietly and started feeling Jake’s breath on her neck, she turned around and saw Jake lying really close to her. “Why did you do it again?” Jake asked. Gina did not reply, she just kept quiet. “I trusted you when you promised me you would stop,” Jake continued, “why do you keep hurting me with that guy?” Gina just kept mute. Jake stroked her hair; “I love you so much it hurts and I’m not going to let some Brazilian nitwit take you away from me.” Gina closed her eyes, petrified, “I will stay away from him,” she muttered, and Jake moved over to his side of the bed and went to sleep.

  Gina did not go to the farm for a couple of days, she just stayed in her room to make Jake happy and s
how him she had changed. Carlito kept working on the farm on his own. One evening while Carlito was working on the farm, he was picking some berries and suddenly felt something cold and hard in his side; he lost balance, looked at his side and saw that he had been stabbed with a knife, he fell to the ground and tried to remove the knife and stop the bleeding, but he fell flat on the ground and collapsed.

  Carlito gently opened his eyes, the light shone into his eyes, the light was too bright, he had to squint his eyes, he moved his eyes around and saw Andreiá, Gina, Emilio, Kevin, and Jake. Andreiá held his hand, Carlito tried to move but felt a sharp pain by his side. “Please don’t move,” Andreiá advised Carlito. “What happened to me?” Carlito managed to ask. “You were injured,” Andreiá lied. Andreiá held Carlito’s hand, “just try and rest, the doctor said you will recover fully soon.”

  Two men dressed in slightly over-sized black suits entered the room, “I am Detective Louis and this is Detective Adam, the hospital called us about your friend that was stabbed.”

  Kevin walked forward and shook the detectives’ hands, “I am Kevin and I’m friends with the police commissioner Antoine.”

  “We know you sir,” Louis replied, “we just want to ask the victim and his friends some questions so we can determine what happened.”

  “That’s good, please go ahead, we are here to help,” Kevin said showing the detectives the victim lying on the bed. Louis sat next to Carlito on the bed, Carlito was sleeping and the detective woke him up gently, then Carlito opened his eyes. “I am Detective Louis, I want to ask you some questions, please just say what you are able to, it will help us a lot. Do you know who stabbed you?” Louis asked Carlito.

  “No I don’t,” Carlito managed to talk, “when I turned back the person was gone.”

  “Where were you when it happened?” the detective asked further.

  “I was picking berries on Kevin’s farm where I normally work every day, just to keep myself busy—”

  “So you just felt something hit your side?” Louis interrupted.

  “Yes I did,” Carlito answered.

  “How did you get to the hospital?” Louis asked, looking at Carlito.

  “I don’t know, I only opened my eyes and saw myself lying down with a bandage on my side and a drip attached to my hand.”

  “That will be all for now,” Louis said. He got up from the chair and told his colleague they should leave. At the door, Louis turned back, “None of you should travel for some time, we might have questions for you,” he handed his card over to Kevin, “please call me if you remember anything, thank you.” Kevin took the card and nodded as he watched the detectives walk out of the room.

  A couple of days later, Carlito opened his eyes and saw Andreiá, “You will be discharged tomorrow,” Andreiá told him, “the doctor said we should take good care of you when you get home.” Andreiá leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, “I have been here all day watching you sleep, but our visiting time is over, I will come tomorrow morning with the driver to take you home,” Andreiá whispered in his ear, “Sleep well darling,” and she left the room. Carlito closed his eyes and went to sleep.

  That night as Carlito slept, a masked man snuck into his room, removed a pillow from the next bed and walked over to Carlito and covered Carlito’s face with the pillow and pressed hard on Carlito’s face. Carlito struggled and tried to remove the pillow from off his face; he kept struggling and got weaker because he couldn’t breathe. A nurse walked in and screamed, the masked man turned back and quickly ran out of the room, the nurse ran after him and screamed, “Stop that man! Security, stop him!” The man ran out through the back entrance and disappeared, the nurse ran back into the room and removed the pillow from Carlito’s face and checked his pulse, she sighed, “He is alive.” Carlito opened his eyes gently, “Someone tried to choke me,” Carlito said gently.

  “I saw him and he ran out of the room as I screamed,” the nurse replied. The nurse called one of the security men to stay in the room with Carlito until the morning.

  The detectives, Andreiá, Emilio, Gina, Kevin and Jake arrived early the next morning. “It’s time to take him home,” Detective Louis said looking at everybody, “somebody really wants Carlito dead and we must find out who is behind the attacks,” Louis continued, “it is getting more dangerous for Carlito to be on his own.” That afternoon Carlito was discharged from the hospital.

  At 3:30 p.m., they all arrived back at Kevin’s mansion. Detective Louis and his partner told Andreiá to take Carlito to his room. “I would like all of you to gather in the living area, including you Andreiá after you take Carlito to his room,” Louis said. They all sat down in the living area and after about ten minutes, Louis looked round at each of them, “We have been asking each and every one of you questions about who might want Carlito dead; according to what we have gathered so far from each of you and the workers here, it might be one of you who wants Carlito dead,” Louis theorised, “because the attacks on Carlito started after Jake caught Carlito having sex with Gina,” Louis said looking at Jake.

  “I don’t know anything about the attacks, and why would I want a friend like Carlito dead,” Jake protested. Andreiá just stared directly at Gina.

  Louis looked at Jake, “You are still under watch at this point,” then he turned to Andreiá. “Why are you staring at Gina? Emilio told us he told you from the day it happened but you pretended to Carlito like you didn’t know he was sleeping with Gina.” Louis turned to Emilio, “We know you have personal grudges against Carlito because you felt he took Andreiá from you.” Louis then turned to Gina, “We saw part of your broken bracelet close to where Carlito was stabbed.” Louis now turned and looked at Kevin, “We don’t have anything on you now sir, but you should all be available and none of you should leave town until we figure out who is trying to kill Carlito. You are all suspects at this point, except for Kevin, but we still want all of you to be available for more questions, including Kevin.” Detective Louis and his partner got up and left the room.

  Andreiá looked at Emilio, “So we are all suspects,” she said as she shook her head.

  “I guess we all have a motive according to the detective,” Emilio replied.

  Jake and Gina got up and walked towards their room, “I did not have anything to do with Carlito being stabbed,” Jake told Gina as they walked to their room.

  Kevin got up looking really angry and called one of the maids to get him a drink as he walked out of the living area.

  Detective Louis and his partner Detective Adam knocked Carlito’s door, “Who is it?” Carlito answered from inside the room. “It’s Louis and Adam.”

  “Come in,” Carlito said. The detectives went into the room and shut the door behind them. About fifteen minutes later they walked out of the room and left the house.

  Andreiá went back to the room to speak to Carlito, “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “Much better,” Carlito replied, “but can you do me a favour, I would like to be alone for some time if you don’t mind, please maybe you can sleep in another room for a while,” Carlito told Andreiá.

  “What do you mean I should leave?” Andreiá asked, as she froze and couldn’t move because of the shock, “Are you suspecting me? Because I did not do anything to you, and I am not capable of hurting you,” Andreiá said, looking shocked.

  “Detective Louis told me you found out what happened between me and Gina on that day. Emilio told you, and you kept it from me like nothing happened, that is scary,” Carlito replied, shaking his head. I even spoke to Emilio about not telling you and he pretended like everything was okay. The detectives have told me to stay alone for now until the culprit is caught.”

  “I will leave if that is what you want,” Andreiá said as she got a bag out and packed some of her clothes.

  That night Carlito locked his door, using both keys on the door, shut his windows, and left his light on before going to bed. He tried to sleep but he tossed around the bed all night,
having nightmares about what happened to him earlier.

  Emilio and Andreiá sat together on the garden bench, “I think Carlito has fully recovered,” Andreiá told Emilio, “it’s been over two weeks since he was stabbed and he has decided to isolate himself from everybody including me. I hope he comes back around and begins to trust us, we don’t want him to be harmed,” Andreiá shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “I’m sure he will come around,” Emilio consoled her and hugged her; he kept stroking her hair and holding her,” I will try and talk to him, maybe he will listen to me.”

  Andreiá looked into his eyes, “Thank you,” Emilio looked back at her and kissed her on the lips.

  Carlito peeped through the window and saw Emilio kiss Andreiá, he was taken aback by what he saw, so he quickly pulled the curtains back together.

  Andreiá pulled back from Emilio and slapped him, “How dare you kiss me, I have a boyfriend and I love him,” she said.

  “Does he love you?” Emilio replied, “I told you he was having an affair with Gina and you still love him, even after he thinks you tried to kill him.”

  “Emilio I am disappointed in you!” Andreiá shouted, “Carlito is like your brother,” Andreiá got up and walked to her room sobbing.

  Carlito sat on a couch in his room, ‘it might have been Emilio that stabbed me,’ he thought to himself, ‘he is still in love with Andreiá, or are Emilio and Andreiá trying to get rid of me because they are having an affair? Andreiá is as guilty as Emilio, I can’t trust either of them,’ so many things ran through his mind, as he panicked in the room checking if his door and windows were properly shut.

  Emilio paced around in the garden, ‘what shall I do now?’ he thought to himself, ‘I will try and talk to Andreiá and see maybe if she will forgive me,’ he sighed and sat back down on the bench.

  Gina and Jake were having an argument in their room, they were both beginning to raise their voices at each other, “Are you sure you were not responsible for stabbing Carlito?” Gina shouted at Jake, “because of what happened between me and Carlito you might be trying to get rid of him, and I sure will never be with a murderer,” Gina kept shouting.