The Rodriguez Affair (1970)
Page 15
Arilla himself received them in his study. He was a man of about forty, short but vigorous, with crisp black hair and bright, restless eyes. Even when still he seemed to give the impression of superabundant energy; one felt that at any moment he might spring up and dash away on some errand that had just occurred to him.
He welcomed Cade with enthusiasm. “Roberto! How good it is to see you again. It must be at least six years. Much too long.”
Cade introduced Juanita. Arilla was delighted to see her. He ushered them both to chairs upholstered in soft red leather, rather worn.
“And what have you been doing since I last saw you?”
“Working,” Cade said.
“A regrettable necessity.”
It was a large room with two tall windows looking out on to a lawn. On the lawn some children were playing under the supervision of a middle-aged woman. The sound of their laughter came in through the open windows.
“You still have as many children here?” Cade asked.
Arilla seemed to bounce in his chair. “More. We have no room, but we take them. What else can one do? Turn them away? Tell them to sleep in the streets?”
“You have a soft heart, Alonzo.”
Arilla looked fierce. “No, Roberto, I have a very hard heart. It is so hard that I would kill with my own hands anyone I found ill-treating a child. That is the kind of man I am. A villain.”
Cade laughed. Juanita laughed too. It would have been difficult to imagine a less villainous man.
Cade stopped laughing. He said: “Now let us get down to business.”
Arilla looked surprised. “Business? What business?”
Cade watched the children on the lawn; they were engaged in some intricate game that was a complete mystery to him.
“You spoke to me once about your wish to build a swimming-pool. Have you ever done so?”
Arilla smiled wryly. “Difficult enough to manage on the income we have without such projects.”
“Yet you would still like to have a pool?”
“Of course. But why talk of impossibilities?”
“Is it so impossible?”
“Without money, yes. And where would the money come from?”
“Some rich man perhaps.”
“Show me the rich man who would give so generously.”
“Look at me,” Cade said.
Arilla stared at him. “You?” He shook his head. “No, Roberto, do not joke on such a subject. It is not a thing to make jokes about.”
“I am not joking,” Cade said, and he took the parcel from his pocket.
Juanita was staring at him too. He got up and crossed the room to Arilla’s desk, a big mahogany table with a typewriter on it, some books and a pile of folders. There was a paper-knife too. Cade picked up the paper-knife and slit open the parcel. He unfastened the chamois leather bag and poured the diamonds out on to a clear space on the table. He heard Juanita gasp.
“There is your swimming-pool, Alonzo.”
Arilla stared at the diamonds. “These are genuine?”
“They were valued by a cousin of mine who is in the diamond trade. He reckoned they were worth one hundred and forty thousand pounds sterling. I’ll leave you to work that out in pesos.”
“And you are giving them to the orphanage?”
“That’s it,” Cade said.
He felt Juanita’s hand on his arm. “Roberto.” He was not sure whether she was reproving or applauding him. It could have been either.
“But why, why?” Arilla asked. He seemed unable to believe that he was not dreaming.
“In a way,” Cade said, “it’s only justice. But I won’t try to explain that now.” Perhaps he would explain it to Juanita some time. She would understand. “Just take it as so.”
He wondered what Gomara would have said. And Harry Banner. Harry would probably have laughed; he had always had a sense of humour. And Della? Maybe she would have laughed too. Maybe.
“There’s just one thing,” Cade said. “I’d like you to call it the Isabella Martinez Pool.”
Juanita’s hand on his arm was tighter; it was squeezing him hard. This time when she breathed, “Roberto!” he knew what she meant. He knew because he could see the tears glistening in her eyes. And when he looked at Arilla there were tears in Axilla’s eyes too.
“Listen,” Cade said.
“What is it?” Arilla asked. There was only the sound of the children’s laughter.
“Nothing,” Cade said. “Nothing at all. I just thought I heard some people turning in their graves.”
THE END
By the Same Author
Freedman
Soldier, Sail North
The Wheel of Fortune
Last in Convoy
The Mystery of the Gregory Kotovsky
Contact Mr Delgado
Across the Narrow Seas
Wild Justice
The Liberators
The Last Stronghold
Find the Diamonds
The Plague Makers
Whispering Death
Three Hundred Grand
Crusader’s Cross
A Real Killing
Special Delivery
Ten Million Dollar Cinch
The Deadly Shore
The Murmansk Assignment
The Sinister Stars
Watching Brief
Weed
Away With Murder
A Fortune in the Sky
Search Warrant
The Marakano Formula
Cordley’s Castle
The Haunted Sea
The Petronov Plan
Feast of the Scorpion
The Honeymoon Caper
A Walking Shadow
The No-Risk Operation
Final Run
Blind Date
Something of Value
Red Exit
The Courier Job
The Rashevski Icon
The Levantine Trade
The Spayde Conspiracy
Busman’s Holiday
The Antwerp Appointment
Stride
The Seven Sleepers
Lethal Orders
The Kavulu Lion
A Fatal Errand
The Stalking-Horse
Flight to the Sea
A Car for Mr Bradley
Precious Cargo
The Saigon Merchant
Life-Preserver
Dead of Winter
Come Home, Toby Brown
Homecoming
The Syrian Client
Poisoned Chalice
Where the Money Is
A Dream of Madness
Paradise in the Sun
Dangerous Enchantment
The Junk Run
Legatee
Killer
Dishonour Among Thieves
Operation Zenith
Dead Men Rise Up Never
The Spoilers
With Menaces
Devil Under the Skin
The Animal Gang
Steel
The Emperor Stone
Fat Man From Colombia
Bavarian Sunset
The Telephone Murders
Lady from Argentina
The Poison Traders
Squeaky Clean
Avenger of Blood
A Wind on the Heath
One-Way Ticket
The Time of Your Life
Death of a Go-Between
Some Job
The Wild One
Skeleton Island
A Passage of Arms
On Desperate Seas
Old Pals Act
Crane
The Silent Voyage
The Angry Island
Obituary for Howard Gray
The Golden Reef
Bullion
Sea Fury
The Spanish Hawk
Ocean Prize
Copyright
© James Pattinson 2006
First published in Great Britain 2006
This edition 2012
ISBN 978 0 7090 9731 0 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7090 9732 7 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7090 9733 4 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7090 8179 1 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of James Pattinson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988