The Darkest Heart (11 page)

‘Let them worry.'

‘You don't mean that. That's not like you.' Raul looked to me for help, but I gave none. I was glad that she had turned on him for a moment, giving me space to breathe. Daniella's passion was
one of the things I most liked about her, but when her temper was changing like this, I always found it best to step away.

‘Carolina can tell them where I am. And what exactly did you mean “no place for a woman”? I can fish. I can lift. I can probably even shoot a rifle straighter than you can.'

Raul held up his hands. ‘All I'm saying is that ... Oh, you know what, Daniella? If you want to come, you can come. We haven't got time for this.' He looked tired. The bags under his eyes were fleshy half moons of dark, wrinkled skin. His eyes were red like he'd been drinking. ‘It's your call, Zico. But either way, we've got to go now. You stay here if it makes it easier. I can manage without you.' He wiped moisture from his eyes and yawned.

‘No, old man, you're sick. You're not going anywhere without me. In fact, maybe
you
should be the one staying here.'

‘You're sick?' Daniella looked concerned.

Raul shook his head. ‘Tired is all.' He started walking back to the boat, seeing Leonardo becoming agitated, tapping his finger on his watch, saying something I couldn't hear.

‘Take me with you, Zico,' Daniella persisted. ‘I can keep an eye on Raul for you. And I might be able to make your journey more exciting.' She reached forward with her right hand and pressed it against my crotch.

I backed away, looking over to see if the others had spotted it. Carolina was hanging washing again and Raul had his back to me, but Leonardo had seen. He raised a hand and waved his fingers at me.

‘You don't want to leave me alone over the weekend, do you?' she said. ‘I'd have to find someone else to take me to the
festa.'

‘That's cheap.'

‘I can be as cheap as you like.'

I turned around and walked away from Daniella. I took off my cap and ran a hand over my head, looking up at the bank and seeing something that made the decision for me.

The trip would be dangerous and I had no idea what kind of cargo we would be carrying. There was something about Leonardo that made me nervous and I didn't want him on board. Daniella
would see a different side to me, too. When I was on the river with the old man, I had to be focused – I was his protection. There was Costa's job to think about too.

So many reasons for her not to come.

But up there, on the bank, standing in the wide-leaved carpet grass, there were two reasons for me to take her with us.

‘OK.' I turned back to her. ‘OK. But you have to promise to do whatever I tell you, OK? No matter how pissed off it makes you.'

She nodded.

‘And stay away from him.' I looked across at Leonardo.

Daniella stepped back and saluted.
‘Sim capitan.'

I nodded and glanced up at the two men standing on the bank.

It would be dangerous on the river, but at least Daniella would be safe from Luis and Wilson.

‘Come on,' I said. ‘Let's get you in the boat.'

But as we headed back to the water, Luis kicked off his flip-flops and began to make his way down onto the beach.

‘Wait here,' I told Daniella and turned to meet him halfway.

‘What do you think you're doing?' Luis said as he came closer. ‘She's not going anywhere. And who the hell is that other guy?'

‘Have you got nothing better to do than follow me around?'

‘A job is a job.' He squared up to me and I glanced over his shoulder at Wilson, still on the ridge of the bank. His hand was under his shirt, no doubt gripping the handle of a pistol.

‘Is that what Antonio was?' I moved closer to him so our noses were almost touching. ‘A job?'

Luis grinned. ‘No, that was just fun.' He reached up and put a hand on my chest to push me away.

I stepped back and worked hard to control my urge to hurt him, reminding myself what Costa had said. When I came back, Luis and Wilson were mine. I couldn't help Antonio, but I would avenge him.

‘Costa won't like this,' Luis said. ‘Other people on the boat. Taking your girlfriend and the old man with—'

‘Costa can go screw himself. I told him I'd do what he wanted.
All he has to do is wait for me to come back and have my money ready.'

‘You think you'll keep them safe if they're with you?'

‘Safer than if they're here with you.'

Luis thought for a moment then looked over at the old man's house. ‘His wife's ugly,' he said, leaning to one side and spitting in the sand. ‘I think we'd just burn her inside the house. We could do the same to the store. Burn your girlfriend's mother. Find her father and—'

‘I'm coming back,' I said. ‘You're not going to burn anyone.'

‘We'll be waiting.'

‘I'm looking forward to it.'

I watched him walk up the beach towards his friend and wondered what I would come back to when we returned to Piratinga. Whatever it was, I knew it wouldn't be good.

14

I rowed out to the
Deus
, nudging the hull of the larger boat, the two vessels making a hollow sound as they knocked together. The old man helped me hold us against the
Deus
while Daniella climbed aboard, then waved me away when I tried to help him. I watched him struggle over the gunwale, then passed up the few things we had with us.

‘Is she your
namorada?
' Leonardo asked as I took Rocky in both arms. ‘Not the dog. The girl.'

I ignored him and lifted Rocky up onto the deck. She was glad to be on the larger boat and immediately began rushing around, rediscovering familiar smells.

‘She's nice. Pretty. Just the right amount around the hips for me. Her friend was a bit too fat. If she's not yours, then maybe I could—'

‘Just stay away from her,' I said, looking him in the eye.

‘What's her name?'

‘Doesn't matter. All you have to do is sit and be quiet. We make the collection, we make the delivery, you pay us, and then we're done.'

‘Just trying to be friendly.'

‘We don't need to be friends.'

Leonardo stood and reached out for the
Deus
, clinging onto the tyres fixed to the hull. ‘You got something against me?'

I looked at him standing there in his wet trousers and his shirt, his cap skewed at an angle, and I wondered what it was about him that I didn't like. It wasn't the way he wore his cap. It wasn't the way he smiled or the look in his eye. It wasn't the lazy slouch
to his shoulders, nor was it that he had tried to bring a pistol on board. It wasn't a single one of those things, but it was all of those things. All of those things made him a man I knew I could not trust.

‘I bother you, don't I?' he asked.

‘I don't want you here.'

‘It's the only way you're going to get paid. I
have
to be here. We should try to get along.'

‘Just get on the boat.'

Leonardo laughed and pulled himself up onto the deck. He was young and fit, and it came in one swift movement. The larger boat didn't dip in the water like the other one had done, and the stability made him more confident.

I followed him up, keeping hold of the rope tied to the bow of the smaller vessel.

‘Leonardo,' he said, making straight for Daniella, the rolled bottoms of his sodden trousers scraping together at his ankles. ‘I remember you. You were with the girl in the club. Marisa.'

‘Manuela.'

‘Yeah.' He reached out to take her hand, kiss each cheek, but I hurried to step between them, letting him see my expression before taking Daniella to one side where the old man was organising the supplies.

‘He seems OK,' she said under her breath. ‘Nice eyes. Good-looking.'

‘He's not OK,'I told her.

‘You know him?'

‘I know people like him, and I know not to trust him. You agreed to do as I say, remember.'

‘Listen to him,' Raul said. ‘Zico has an eye for people. If he says Leonardo's bad news, then we should listen to him.'

Daniella nodded. ‘OK. Whatever you say.'

‘Your boyfriend isn't very friendly,' Leonardo said, coming to join us. ‘Not half as charming as you are.'

Daniella looked at me, then back at Leonardo, opening her mouth as if to reply.

‘Help me with these.' Raul handed her a coolbox before she could speak, and encouraged her to follow him towards the wheelhouse.

When Daniella was out of sight, I hauled the small aluminium boat from the water and used a rope to secure it to the stern of the
Deus.
Leonardo leaned against the gunwale and folded his arms as he watched me struggle with its weight.

‘You need some help?' he asked. ‘You want me to call the old man over? Or maybe your
namorada?
I'd like to see her help with something like that.'

When I'd finished tying it off, I came around the enclosed section at the stern of the vessel and onto the main deck, telling Leonardo to sit on one of the narrow benches that ran along either side.

Daniella and Raul had stowed the supplies and were standing on the prow, beyond the wheelhouse. Raul was pointing south, as if he were showing Daniella which way we'd be travelling. Rocky had her front paws up on the gunwale and her mouth was open, her tongue hanging out.

‘You just get comfortable.' I looked down at Leonardo. We were at a good angle now for the canvas cover to provide shelter from the sun but it trapped the heat and the air smelled of the old material.

‘Is there anything else to do on this boat?' He took the cigarette from behind his ear and put it in his mouth.

‘You're a paying passenger. All you need to do is sit back and relax.'

Leonardo fished a match from his top pocket and scraped it along the empty bench seat beside him. When it flared, he cupped it with both hands and touched it to the tip of the cigarette. He took a long drag and blew it up at me, squinting against the smoke. ‘Is the old man up to this?' he asked, glancing over at Raul and Daniella. ‘He looks sick.'

‘We'll make your collection
and
your delivery,' I said. ‘Just make sure you're good for the money.'

‘A sick old man and a girl for a crew? I hope you know what
you're doing.' He looked past me at Daniella who still had her back to us. She was leaning forward, her skirt tight around her backside. Leonardo made a contented noise, low in his throat. ‘Mind you, I could get used to that view.'

‘Just stay right here,' I told him. ‘And keep away from
her.'
I knew I shouldn't have said it. I was admitting my weakness to Leonardo but everything about him put me on edge, and already he was picking at me, working his way under my skin.

Leonardo sniffed hard and leaned back to spit into the water.

I resolved not to let him bother me so much, and the only way to do it was to avoid him. So I left him where he was and went to the wheelhouse, checking I was out of his line of sight. I squatted and pulled up a loose board, reaching into the darkness to remove a wrap of black plastic containing a rifle and a revolver that belonged to Raul. I removed the wrapping and stuffed it back under the board before replacing it and ensuring it was unnoticeable.

Crouched like that, I slipped the pistol under the dash where the wheel was, then came out on deck, the rifle in one hand, the shoulder strap hanging against my thigh.

‘What's that for?' said Daniella, with a half smile. ‘You planning on shooting someone?'

I looked along the deck at Leonardo who was sitting and smoking, watching us. ‘Doesn't matter what we carry on this boat,' I said. ‘Might even be nothing at all, but there are some people, they see a boat like this on the river, they think maybe there's something worth taking. Maybe they know us; know that we carry stuff for people.'

‘Pirates,' Leonardo told her with a smile, leaning back, his arms stretched out either side of him along the top of the gunwale.

‘Call them whatever you like.' I shrugged and lifted the rifle a fraction. ‘This is for your protection.'

I went to the bow and stowed the rifle and Leonardo's pistol in a box seat with a lid that creaked and needed oil. It was my spot. The place from where I could keep watch.

‘No reason for you to go up that end of the boat,' I told Leonardo as I came back towards him. You just stay right here.'

‘And my pistol?'

‘You can have it back when this is all done.'

Raul came alongside me, slapping my shoulder. ‘What would I do without you to look after me?' He allowed a short raspy laugh to escape, then went aft and eased down to his knees where there was a hatch on the deck. It was an effort, making his breath come hard, and I could see the moisture glistening on the back of his neck.

‘I'II do that,' I said, going to him.

‘No need.' He held up a hand without looking at me. He paused to catch his breath, then took the recessed ring and lifted the hatch saying, ‘Spanner?' and waggling his fingers.

I took a rusted spanner from a box of tools and handed it to the old man who leaned into the hatch. He stayed there for a minute or two, effort showing on his face as he did something with his hands in the darkness of the boat's belly. When he eventually sat back and closed the hatch, he passed the spanner to me and wiped the palm of his hands down his trousers, adding to the grease patches that were already there.

‘You really think someone would want to steal this piece of junk?' Leonardo smirked.

‘You'd be surprised,' said Raul. He tapped the side of his nose with one finger. ‘But until I work my little bit of magic, no one else can get her started.'

I leaned over the side and pulled up the anchor.

‘She isn't much,' Raul called back as he took his place behind the wheel. ‘But she's mine, and she gets the job done.' He turned the key and the motor started first time. A raw thumping beneath our feet that made the deck vibrate and the water bubble and churn behind us.