Hider/Seeker (14 page)

Ernesto Paiz lived in a modern white house surrounded by trees and manicured lawns in the Lomas Del Bosque district, an affluent part of the city south east of the airport. Harry knew the place well as he'd stayed there many times as a guest of Ernesto and his wife, Gabriela. The gated property was protected by a high wall that went around the two acre estate. He pressed the intercom at the gate to see if anyone was home.

Corina, the maid, was so happy to hear Harry's voice after so many years that she buzzed open the gate repeatedly and only stopped when she caught sight of him from the window sauntering down the pathway. By the time he reached the entrance she was already standing there with open arms. She was dressed in a powder blue uniform and white flat shoes that made her look more like a nurse than a maid. They hugged for almost a full minute before going inside to a cool foyer with steps leading down to the living area. Corina spoke too fast in Spanish for him to pick up everything she was saying. He understood that Mister Harry looked well and that he had put on a good kilo since they last met. Her children had all grown up and moved, leaving her to look after her housebound mother singlehandedly. Had Mister Harry found a wife? He shook his head that he hadn't and she hit him playfully on his chest for not making an effort to get re-married.

Gabriela Paiz appeared from the lounge in a cashmere sweater and denim jeans. She was a handsome woman in her early fifties with dark swept back hair and a tanned face. They embraced without saying a word and when Corina left them to their privacy, Gabriela kissed Harry on the lips. It took him by surprise as there had never been any intimacy between them. She then took hold of his hand and led him into a lounge that overlooked a landscaped garden with neat striped lawns, bordered by azaleas, cyclamen and bougainvilleas.

They sat opposite each other on sofas and made small talk about the tranquillity of the garden which to Harry resembled more of a park – a magical park that hid them from one of the most violent cities in the world.

A smile filled her face and her eyes glinted as she stared at him. ‘Are you here for pleasure or business,' she asked in English with hardly a trace of accent.

‘I need Ernesto's help.'

‘Everybody needs his help. But I don't think he can do much for you at the moment as he's away on business.'

Harry was anxious to find out where he was. There was no reason to think he was visiting Angela Linehan as Ernesto had hundreds of clients. He could be with any one of them, Harry convinced himself. ‘That's going to complicate things for me.'

‘Can I help?'

‘Not really. When will he be back?'

‘Who knows with my husband. He can't phone me from where he is as it would be too dangerous.'

She told him that he was visiting the diocese in San Marcos in the east of the country. Harry realised from her tone she was trusting him with information she shouldn't be telling anyone. While she spoke it occurred to him that if she couldn't contact Ernesto then nor could Angela Linehan. He suddenly relaxed in the armchair as Gabriela recounted the jam that her husband had found himself in. Ernesto was under a lot of pressure from the mining ministry as it didn't want him to sit on a government commission looking into water quality issues in the mining region in the San Marcos municipality.

‘Why don't they want him?'

‘Because Ernesto won't let it be another whitewash. Despite all my husband's faults, he does occasionally know the difference between right and wrong. He's against the government issuing exploration licences to miners until they make an effort to clean up their act. You'd think a government would act decisively to stop its people drinking water poisoned with arsenic, mercury and lead.'

‘Why did they invite him to be on the commission in the first place?'

‘To keep the church happy. They didn't think he would accept the post. But he did.'

She stopped talking as Corina entered the room holding a silver tray with two small china cups filled with black coffee. When she left, Gabriela continued.

‘The local diocese wants something to be done about the water; it's been going on too long. Land is being taken from people and paramilitary groups are terrorising them.'

There was a brief pause while they drank the bitter coffee.

‘How did Ernesto's name come up?' asked Harry, returning the empty cup to the coffee table in between them.

‘He's a good Catholic and a good friend of Cardinal Pedro Pardo de Córdoba.' She put her empty cup next to his.

Gabriela continued to explain that people high up in the ministry were trying to bribe Ernesto not to take a place on the commission by offering him the job as dean at the law faculty, which had become mysteriously vacant. She added they wouldn't be paying Ernesto a paltry university stipend either.

‘What's he going to do?'

She gestured with both hands that she didn't know. ‘Ernesto knows how the government works when they want to get someone out of the way. First they try bribery, if that fails then they look at killing him, but if that's not an option because it would create too much of a stink, they have a go at destroying his reputation.'

‘Aren't you frightened?'

‘I live in a country that's ungovernable, what's the point of worrying? Our judiciary keeps the state in power. Unfortunately we have a failed state that's been screwing its people for decades. Who can you turn to? Everybody is corrupt, from the magistrates down to the prosecutors, the commissioners and the police officers.'

There was no fear in Gabriela's dark eyes, just bitterness. She didn't worry about Ernesto as he served counsel to some of the richest men in the land. They would protect him, they had to because Ernesto knew everyone's secrets – they're were all locked away in a safe in Florida. The day Ernesto is killed by an assassin's bullet is the day those documents get released, she said calmly, almost resigned to the fact that that was how it would end for her husband and probably herself.

‘What kind of stuff does Ernesto have on them?'

‘Names of their offshore banks, deals done with politicians, the women they slept with and the bodies they buried.'

‘Why don't you both leave?'

‘You know Ernesto, he thinks he can outsmart all of them. As for me, I can't abandon the work I do here. I'm in the middle of defending three street children that tried to rob a night school. My life is about these kids and the charity I work for.'

‘But your life is in danger?'

‘I have to tell myself that Ernesto's files will protect me and him; they might. They could bring down some powerful people right up to the president.'

She looked at him with a smile and patted the empty seat next to her. It was an invitation he could not refuse. As he sat next to her, she rested her hand on his knee and said, ‘Poor Harry you've come all this way to hear our problems. Stay until Ernesto turns up.'

‘How long will that be?'

‘Who knows? Anyway, it will give us more time together – alone.' Another smile.

‘Are you flirting with me?'

‘Of course I am. A woman's never too old to do that, I hope? Don't be so British,' she laughed.

Harry wasn't. He'd always found her dark eyes and charm seductive. But she was still Ernesto's wife.

‘It's only hormones and chemicals,' she said. ‘Quite harmless stuff, if you don't think about it too much.'

‘I thought you and Ernesto were the perfect married couple.'

‘What's that got to do with anything?' She began to laugh and laugh.

Harry couldn't understand what was so amusing until she gathered her breath to speak.

‘You should see your face,' she said. ‘I'm playing, Harry, just playing with you. I'm allowed to have some fun at your expense. Now you're blushing.' She laughed again, but not so long this time. There was a pause while she thought about what she was going to say next. ‘You won't understand this yet but the hardest challenge in life is not having a career or making money or even bringing up a family; it's how you deal with growing old. Well, doing it gracefully, I mean. Tonight I just want to stare across a dinner table at a handsome young man and talk about anything other than the judiciary and politics. I want to drink and say stupid things that young people say.'

‘And after dinner?'

‘I shall go to bed and dream about my misspent youth. You promise you will behave like a true gentleman tonight?'

She was making fun of him again and he laughed first this time. ‘Okay, I promise,' he said, putting his right hand over his heart. ‘I'll stay on one condition.'

Her eyes waited in anticipation as Harry continued.

‘You don't tell Ernesto, I am here.'

‘Why ever not?'

‘Because I want it to be a surprise.'

Corina had made up the spare room so that Harry could enjoy a siesta. When he woke up at around eight in the evening, he found his clothes had been cleaned and folded neatly on a chair by the bedroom window. He put them on and went downstairs where the smell of simmering broth drew him to the kitchen. Gabriela was stirring a pot on the stove, unaware he was by the door admiring her. She'd changed into a white dress and had donned a bib apron to keep it clean.

‘Where's Corina tonight?' he finally asked, making her jump.

‘How long have you been standing there?'

‘Long enough.'

‘I gave Corina the night off.'

‘That's a shame, I wanted to thank her for cleaning my clothes.'

‘No need to because I washed them. I hope I didn't wake you when I put them in your room.'

Harry was about to thank her when she ordered him to pour the wine in the dining room. She followed him through to make a final check that the table had been laid correctly for two.

Gabriela had gone to a lot of trouble; there was white linen, silver cutlery and flowers on the table. The cut crystal glasses were her mother's and the red wine Harry was pouring, was from her brother's vineyards in Chile. She returned to the kitchen while he tasted the wine, bringing back memories of his time spent picking grapes for her brother. Gabriela reappeared with two bowls of turkey soup. She was no longer wearing an apron and her dress clung to her body.

‘Are you trying to get me drunk?' she said glancing at her full glass before sitting down and unfolding a napkin on her lap. She raised her glass and said, ‘Salud.'

While they dined she began to tell Harry about the case she was working on. Five street kids high on shoe glue and armed with machetes had entered a night school with the intention of robbing students of their money. But it wasn't their night as the place was packed with police studying for a law exam to further their careers. Two of the kids, only thirteen years old, were shot dead by officers in one of the classrooms, and the remaining three were beaten to an inch of their lives while in police custody.

‘The kids here have no rights,' she said. ‘No one can find justice through the law anymore; crimes go unpunished.'

Harry drank some more wine and listened to Gabriela who was in a talkative mood.

‘These kids are lured to the street life; they get stuck on solvents and drugs and they remain there living rough in gangs. And what does our government do? They come down on them with an iron fist, instead of finding the cause of the problem. Zero tolerance. They send armed soldiers with the police patrols. These kids are beaten and pistol-whipped by grown men because they are a public nuisance.' She thought for a second and then raised her hand sharply in anger. ‘Then there's HIV and AIDS – they're children, just children.' She stopped and sipped some more wine. Harry immediately refilled her glass.

‘Every day the papers are filled with murders, bus-jackings and robberies. So the government thinks it's justified to sweep them off the streets.' She took another drink and slammed her empty glass on the table. ‘Out of sight, out of mind.'

‘Don't you ever feel like giving up?'

‘How can I? They need me.'

‘But –'

‘It's my calling, my passion, my true purpose in life – saving these kids. It's what I have been put here to do.'

‘Worth losing your life over?'

‘Sure, if it comes to it. Without them I would be nothing, nothing. If I lived a life of mediocrity, I'd rather not have life at all. Everyone should look for their passion in the pursuit of happiness.'

‘Many of us lead a humdrum existence; things never go the way we plan, unless you have enough money to buy your destiny, and, believe me, I've seen plenty of that.'

‘You can never win when you're rich. If you don't help, you're selfish and greedy; if you do help, it's seen as just frivolous fun to pass the time.'

‘That's not what I meant. I admire everything you do, Gabriela. All I'm saying is we can't all find this passion that makes us truly happy.'

‘I feel sorry for you Harry, if nothing lifts up your heart anymore, I really do. You worry about me losing my life but it sounds like you have already lost yours.'

The silence that followed was interrupted by the sound of gunfire in the distance. She told him not to worry as it was only the police using ten-year-olds for target practice. Harry didn't know whether she was just being sarcastic or telling the truth. Either way, the sound of gunfire had put her in a worse mood as she stood up to collect the plates from the table. A few minutes later she returned with a serving dish filled with chilli peppers stuffed with rice, cheese, meat and vegetables. Harry helped himself to the food and then realised she was not joining him. Gabriela was sticking to the wine, helping herself to another glass. Her mind was brewing up a question as her fingers traced the stem of the glass.

‘Were you sent by someone to see Ernesto?' she finally asked, her dark eyes fixed on him.

Harry put down his knife and fork. ‘Whatever makes you think that?'

‘When I cleaned your clothes I found this,' she said, lifting her left hand from under the table, and holding up his silver plated Ruger between her two fingers as if it were toxic waste.

Gabriela must have found it accidently in his knapsack while looking for clothes to wash when he was asleep.

He'd been asleep a good three hours, giving her plenty of time to think. Discovering the gun had changed everything. Now he was on the wrong side of Ernesto.

‘Why did you bring this pistol into my house?' The lines on Gabriela's face were darkening. ‘Has someone paid you to kill Ernesto?'

‘Of course not.' The chilli peppers no longer felt spicy in his mouth and his tongue was starting to swell.

She placed the gun on the table and said, ‘They'd pay a lot of money, you know. Bring in a foreigner who Ernesto trusts like a son. You come here on a false passport, do the job and go back to London.'

‘Gabriela, stop it. You're sounding crazy.' His eyelids were gluing up. ‘I can explain everything to Ernesto.'

‘Why didn't you want Ernesto to know you were here? You said you wanted to surprise him.'

‘I do. If Ernesto doesn't like surprises, call him and tell him I'm here. This is ridiculous.' Harry tried to feed himself but couldn't find his mouth with his fork. After prodding his chin three times he gave up, pushing the plate away from him. He was fighting to keep his eyes open as they were sticking together.

‘Oh Harry, you disappoint me.' A mocking smile filled out her cheeks. ‘How could you do this? I thought you were my special friend. You used to look at me like a schoolboy when you lived with us, wanting me, but too shy to make a pass. I would have said yes, you know. Ernesto wouldn't have minded. He found it so amusing that you behaved so correctly towards me. We could have had such fun together. But that's not possible now.'

His eyes were closing again and her voice sounded far away. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her hard. ‘What are you talking about?'

She didn't respond.

Harry put both hands on the table and lifted himself out of the chair. He stepped towards her, keeping a hand on the table to steady himself. With every step he tried to take, she seemed further away as if he was treading water in a pool. He shook his head and tried another step forward, but he was still on the same spot. His legs were buckling under his weight, his eyes almost closed. He felt himself subsiding, his hand grabbing the tablecloth, pulling everything on the table with him as he crashed to the floor.