The Blame (15 page)

David checked his wristwatch and saw that it was almost time for the school bus. He got off the bed carefully so as not to awaken Laura, and shut the door behind him. He’d keep Vanessa entertained till Laura woke up; there was no need for her to get up yet.

He trotted down the driveway, the dogs hot on his heels. Despite his troubles, David couldn’t help admiring the riot of colour that had taken over the garden. It seemed every single shrub and plant had obediently observed the arrival of spring.  The cornflower blue sky was cloudless, allowing the bright sunshine to invade every nook and cranny below. A smidgeon of optimism filled his spirit, daring him to hope for better days in the not too distant future.

He played catch with the girls till the school bus pulled up at the gate. Vanessa hopped off, and the remaining children waved and yelled as the bus continued on its way. David waved back. It was a real treat being home at this time of the day.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed, her pleasure obvious. “What are you doing here?” she echoed her mother.

“I live here, silly.”

Vanessa giggled. “Silly daddy. I mean why are you home so early,” she clarified.

“Oh, I see,” replied David, taking her school bag. “Well, I decided I work too much and so I took the afternoon off so we can all spend some time together.”

“Hurray! Can you stay home tomorrow as well?”

“No,
querida
, that might be pushing it a bit.”

“Oh, that’s a pity. And where’s mom?”

“She’s resting, so we’ll play by ourselves till she wakes up, all right?”

“Resting? In the middle of the day? But she never does that,” Vanessa frowned. 

“Yes, but she’s still recovering from the accident she had, remember?”

“But she’s going to be all right, isn’t she?” Apprehension tinged her voice.

“Of course she is,” David reassured her. “And we’re going to have some fun. We’ll leave your homework till later and now we’re going to watch TV and have an ice cream. What do you think of that?”

Vanessa shrieked in delight and clapped her hands.

“I love it, but I don’t think mommy will approve.”

“Well, today is a special day so we’ll make an exception to the house rules. I’m sure mommy will understand.”

“Shh, daddy, don’t laugh so loud. You’ll wake mommy up,” Vanessa admonished her dad.

“Oops,” said David, as he munched the last of his ice cream cone. “These Rabbids kill me, I love the expressions on their faces.”

“They’re not that funny,” said Vanessa, who had watched each episode at least twice.

Just then they heard the dogs bark and run down the driveway.
There’s someone at the gate
, thought David; just then the doorbell rang. 
I wonder who it is.

“Yes?” He inquired into the intercom. A face peered at him on the monitor. The man stood so close to the camera that David could see the blackheads on his nose.

“
Boa tarde. Guarda Nacional
.”

David felt his heart lurch.

The police! What did they want?

“Just a moment, please,” said David into the handset.

“Who is it, daddy?” called Vanessa from the sitting room.

“Nobody. Just some business I have to take care of. Stay here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He grabbed the gate opener off the hall table and let himself out the front door. His mouth felt like cotton and his heart raced painfully in his chest.

Shit! This couldn’t be good. It was too much of a coincidence. He’d never so much as seen them drive by before.

As he neared the gate, he saw the bottle- green Nissan jeep of the National Republican Guard parked across it. It looked dusty from patrolling the dirt tracks in the rural civil parishes. Two uniformed cops, dressed in grey trousers and crisp pale blue shirts, stood beside their vehicle.

The dogs leapt up against the gate, furious that the intruders wouldn’t leave. David shoed them back and opened the gate a crack to let himself out.

“Are you the owner of this property, sir?”

“Yes, I’m David Cruz,” said David, holding out his hand. The officers gave him a brief salute before shaking his hand and introducing themselves.

David moistened his lips with the tip of his tongue. “So what can I do for you, officers?” He hoped his voice sounded steadier to them than it did to him. He folded his arms across his chest, and then promptly dropped them to his side. Body language, he reminded himself. Look cool. They can’t know anything.

“Nice dogs you have here, sir.”

“Thank you,” said David cautiously. Where was this going? Had someone complained about them maybe?

“Sir, have you noticed the vehicle that is parked round the side of your property? Down that little lane over there?” asked the officer, pointing towards the short cut that led to the village.

“No, I haven’t,” answered David frowning. “We never use that lane because of the potholes. It’s little more than a track now.”

“So you don’t know how long it’s been there?” asked the other officer.

“No, I don’t know anything about it. Why? Is something wrong?”

David’s blood pressure slowly returned to normal. At least they hadn’t waved a search warrant in his face; they hadn’t demanded to come in and question his wife.

“We’ve run the plates. It was stolen in a nearby town three days ago, and we wondered if you’d seen anyone or anything suspicious.”

David’s blood pressure started to soar again, as the alarm bells went off.

He pursed his lips and shook his head. “Can’t say that I have. As I said, we haven’t driven down that lane for ages, and it isn’t visible from the garden because of all the vegetation.”

“That’s all right, sir. He’s probably long gone.”

“He? Who’s he? Are we in any danger here?”

“No, I shouldn’t think so, but it never hurts to keep an eye open.”

“But what happened? Was it serious?” asked David.

“The owner of the car, an elderly lady, was forced to make substantial withdrawals from an ATM on Saturday.”

“Then the man, whom we think is a foreigner, shoved her onto the ground and drove off in her car,” his partner added. “He must then have teamed up with a mate, dumped the car here and driven off in another one. Probably a stolen one, too.”

“That’s terrible. I certainly hope they’re far away by now.”

“Well, if you think of anything, or see anyone…”

“Yes, we’ll certainly go down to the station if we notice anything,” David replied.

The men shook hands again.

“Good job you’ve got those big dogs,” said the younger officer. “Help you sleep better at night.”

You have no idea
, thought David.

Laura nodded at Vanessa without hearing a word her daughter was saying. Her back was rigid, her face as stiff as if she had lockjaw.

She turned when she heard David come in, her demeanour that of a cornered animal.

“You’re up already,” said David.

“Yes, I heard the doorbell.” Her jaw moved up and down like a wooden puppet.

“I see. Let’s talk in the office while Vanessa finishes watching her show,” David suggested.

She got shakily to her feet and followed her husband down the hallway.

“What did they want, David? I listened in on the intercom but I couldn’t catch everything.”

“It’s okay. They don’t know anything. We’re all right,” said David, shutting the door behind them.

He paced the room as he recounted what the officers had told him. “Nobody is going to miss that nasty piece of work. I doubt anyone will report him missing, and even if they did, there’d always be the possibility that he’d gone back home, wherever that may be.”

Laura sank down onto the soft brown leather sofa; her legs felt too weak to sustain her any longer.

“I got such a fright when I saw the police at the gate. I almost threw up,” she said dolefully. “I don’t want to live in fear.”

“It won’t be like this forever. It’ll start to fade till it’s just a distant memory, like a dream,” said David, sitting down next to her. “Anyhow, even in the worst case scenario, nobody could prove that we were the ones that buried him there. Our toll gate records can prove we were out all day. Anyone could have come in and done it.”

“I suppose so. But what if they identify him from fingerprints in the car?”

David scoffed. “Fat chance of that happening. Even if he is in a database somewhere, I very much doubt the police will process the car. Not a small case like this.”

“Well, for once I’m grateful police resources aren’t what they should be,” replied Laura, getting up. “I have to help Vanessa with her homework now. But first I need a drink.”

David raised his eyebrows in surprise as Laura downed a glass of Muscatel wine, and then poured herself a second.

“What?” she asked, seeing the disapproving look on his face. “I think I’m entitled to something to steady my nerves, under the circumstances.”

David held out his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I didn’t say a word. But this isn’t your first today, is it? I smelt it on your breath when I arrived.”

“So what? You’re my father now?”

“I’m just concerned, that’s all. It isn’t like you.”

“Yes, well, normally my nerves aren’t shot to pieces.”

“Why don’t you hit the cross-trainer when you’re feeling tense? Or the punch bag? A good long workout will do your body and your mind more good than the booze.”

“Yeah, just as soon as this stiffness in my neck goes away,” she grumbled. “Anyhow,” she said, changing the subject, “are you going in to work tomorrow?”

“Yes, I don’t have much of a choice. And anyway we have to start going back to normal now. We have to put this behind us.” 

“Yeah, good luck on that then. It’s Mariana’s birthday next week and I can’t even bear the thought of having to make small talk all evening.”

“We don’t have to go. Isn’t Mariana having a sleepover for her friends? We could have a weekend away then—just the two of us. In the mountains or at the coast. How does that sound?”

“Wonderful,” she replied wistfully, “but I’m not so sure about leaving Vanessa behind. It’s one thing for us to be down the road from her, and quite another to be miles away. What if she needed us?”

“She won’t need us. Sara and Miguel are perfectly capable of looking after her for a weekend.”

“Yes, of course they are. In fact, it’d probably be best for Vanessa. I’m sure she picks up on my anxiety.”

“That’s settled then. I’ll talk to Sara tomorrow.”

***

Laura procrastinated over her bedtime bathroom routine. David was already in bed but she was reluctant to join him. The bedroom was too dark, too airless. The walls seemed to press in on her. She needed more space, more air. Her breathing became more erratic, more shallow.

“Laura? You coming to bed? I have to get up early tomorrow.”

“Coming,” she managed.

She picked up a couple of cushions off her chaise longue and stacked them on her pillow. That should make it easier to breathe. She lay down, trying to quiet her racing heart.

What if she had another panic attack?

This thought was enough to trigger the very thing she feared. She threw back the covers and jumped out of bed, hands tearing at her pyjama top.

“Laura! What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t breathe. I need to go outside,” she croaked.

She opened the French windows, threw back the shutters and stepped out onto the walled balcony. Alarmed, David leapt out of bed and followed her.

Laura looked like a trapped animal, caged in and desperate to escape. Her eyes darted wildly about, her hands clutched at her throat.

Shit! This was scary stuff! This was not the Laura he knew. His wife was as tough as they came. She didn’t scare easily, and she was sensible and down to earth…

He held her by the shoulders and made her look at him.

“Laura,” he spoke firmly, yet calmly, “It’s okay. It’ll pass. There’s plenty of space, plenty of air. Just look out over the garden. See all those stars twinkling in the distance?  See that endless sky? Okay, good, now breathe in… slowly, deeply…. good ... now let it all out. That’s it. Good. Now again. Breathe with me.”  He inhaled and exhaled slowly and loudly, as though showing her an intricate procedure.

When the worst had passed, he led her back to the bed and closed the window, leaving the shutters open. He pulled her pyjama top off over her head and rolled her onto her stomach. Then he straddled her back and began to knead her neck and shoulders, pinching and pressing until the muscles relaxed beneath his touch. Then he moved down her back, working his hands in slow sensuous circles, his fingers brushing her breasts and the swell of her buttocks.

Her breathing relaxed and her body went limp. David felt her drift off, but sleep was now the last thing on his mind.