Where the Rain Gets In (20 page)

“You don’t say,” said Katie. “Once again
the banking world is in the hands of Mike Maguire – it’s a terrifying thought.”

“Aren’t you ever tempted to do just one
last fraud?” asked Mike. “Surely it’d be easy for you to transfer huge amounts
into a private account somewhere?”

Katie thought for a moment that might be
why Mike was here – to suggest some crazy scheme to steal a load of money.

“That’s just the point,” she said. “It
would be one final fraud, and then they’d put me in jail. I think we did enough
of that for one lifetime, don’t you?”

Maybe so,” said Mike, “maybe so.”

Once again, they were both quiet;
neither wanted to get on to Vegas just yet.

“Did you ever get married?” asked Katie
after a while.

Mike nodded.

“Yes, I did,” he said. “I got married
just after I moved back to Manchester.”

“So it didn’t take you that long to get
over me?” asked Katie, and smiled.

“I guess not,” said Mike. “Not when you
look at it like that.”

“What’s her name? And are you still
married?”

“Her name’s Margaret and yes, we’re
still married.”

“And you knew her before you met me,
yes?”

“Was it that obvious?” asked Mike.

“Well, it figures,” said Katie. “You
never really chased after anyone else in Manchester, and that’s a pretty short
time to meet someone and get married – that would have been some rebound. Do
you love her?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

“That’s good then,” said Katie.

“And you – did you ever meet anyone? Did
you ever get married?”

Katie looked at Mike.

“No,” she said, “I never met anyone. I
spent my life yearning after some guy I knew in college, but I let him slip
through my fingers. And now I find after all these years that he was two-timing
me all along – can you believe that?”

“Now that’s not fair – ” began Mike.

“Don’t worry,” said Katie, “I’m only winding
you up. I’m still on my own and you know that’s the way I like it, so it looks
as though we both got what we were looking for, yes?”

“I guess so,” he said, and reached for
his drink. Mike noticed that Katie had finished her vodka and orange. “Would
you like another?”

“No, no thanks,” she said. “Another one
of those and I’ll be in bits. That hit the spot, though, thank you.”

Katie waited a moment, and then asked
Mike what she’d come to find out.

“So,” she said, “are you going to tell
me why you needed to call me? Why you had to break our agreement after all
these years?”

“I owe you an explanation,” said Mike,
“I know. And I’m sorry I had to do this, especially if it disrupts what you
have going here, but I’ll say what I have to say and then I’ll be gone, I
promise. And I really do need your help.”

“Go on,” said Katie, coolly.

“Bruno never collected on his money,”
said Mike.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Katie.
“Is that the thing that’s bugging you?”

“The thing that’s bugging me is I can’t
understand why. Whatever he decided to do, he was going to need that money at
some point, but he never did.”

“Well, he was an adult,” said Katie,
“even if he didn’t always behave like one. I can’t imagine he ever rationally
decided what to do; he just did what he did without ever thinking. He knew how
to get hold of his money; he just had to be sober enough to get around to it.”

“Did you ever see him again?” asked
Mike. “Once you’d left me in Vegas?”

“No, thank God! I flew home alone and
was all the happier for it. Remember that stunt he pulled with the fork? That
was only a part of it – he’d tried it on with me back at the hotel, and it
wasn’t very pleasant.”

“So what happened to him, then?” asked
Mike.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care, and I
can’t believe that after twenty years you’re still feeling responsible for
Bruno.”

“I don’t feel responsible – I just want
to know what happened to him.”

“Because you think it’s going to come up
when they go after you?”

“Partly, yes.”

“And how do you know he never touched
it?” asked Katie. “Does that mean you were keeping track of my money too?”

“I obviously knew where I’d put Bruno’s
money,” said Mike, “so it was easy enough to check. I wanted to make sure he
was okay. I knew you’d move your money right away, so there was little point in
checking up on you. But the fact that Bruno’s stash remained untouched was more
worrying than if he’d blown it all within a month – in fact, I expected him to
blow it all in a month.”

“All that money must be worth a fair bit
by now,” said Katie.

“Well, yes,” said Mike, “although not as
much as if it had been managed from day one. I had to leave it where it was for
a long while, just in case Bruno ever reappeared to claim it; after several
years though, it became obvious he wasn’t coming back. I didn’t like the idea
of it just sitting there, easily traceable back to me and the Halibro share
deal.”

“So you hid it?”

“Yes, I hid it and started investing it,
so it would keep its value – just as you did with yours, I presume.”

“So, what’s your problem?” asked Katie.
“If they can’t trace your money, you’ll get to keep it regardless of what they
throw at you.”

“Bruno’s money,” corrected Mike.

“Whatever,” said Katie. “We both know
he’s not going to come looking for it now.”

“Do we?” asked Mike. “I know he won’t be
able to find his money, but that won’t stop him trying to find me.”

“Just like you found me?”

“I told you, that didn’t take so much –
I only had to open the newspaper.”

“And you read the Irish
Sunday
Independent
at home, do you?” asked Katie. “Bruno’s not coming back, Mike,
you know that. He’ll have got into some scrape or other – you saw the state he
was in that night. You knew he wouldn’t last two minutes and he didn’t; he was
out of his depth in Vegas, and it’s not the kind of place to suffer fools – or
losers.”

“So what do you think happened to him?”

“Anything could have happened to him –
what does it matter? He’ll have been looking for drugs or something – why
should we care?”

“I don’t know how you can be so callous,”
said Mike. “He was our friend.”

“I’m not being callous, “ said Katie.
“I’m being honest. He was your friend and I didn’t like him. I hated having him
around. I could never understand what you saw in his company, and I can’t
believe you still care.”

“You two were more alike than you chose
to admit,” said Mike.

“Maybe so,” said Katie, “and maybe that
was the problem, but I don’t care. I just don’t care what happened to him,
Mike, and if that’s all you’ve come here to find out then I’m sorry, but I can’t
help you.”

“But if something had happened to him,
there’d be a report of it somewhere. I know he never left the States – to this
day he’s still listed as being illegally in the country – but how could he
survive without money?”

“Jesus, Mike! How many times do I have
to say it? I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care!”

Katie had raised her voice and was
attracting the attention of some people at the next table; she stared them down
when they looked over.

“And what about me?” asked Mike. “Do you
care about me?”

“Of course I care about you,” said
Katie, “but I’m only just getting used to the idea that you’re here. I’ve spent
twenty years on my own, Mike; you can’t just walk right back in and expect to
pick up where we left off way back then.”

“I know and I’m sorry and as I said, I
didn’t do it lightly – ”

“Stop saying that! I don’t care how
lightly you did it – it’s fucking with my head, that’s all I know. I don’t know
what you think I might be able to do to help and, in fact, these were the very
circumstances in which you said we shouldn’t get in touch. All the lengths we
went to – that you went to – to make sure there was no connection from me to
the money from Halibro. Why bother, if at the first hint of trouble you come
running to me?”

“There is no trouble,” said Mike.

“What?”

“There is no trouble. There’s no FBI
letter or a subpoena or an investigation. I just made that up to get you to
meet me.”

“What?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t – ”

“You fucking bastard, Mike! You fucking
bastard.”

“Katie, I – ”

“No, fuck off, Mike!” said Katie, and
stood up. “That’s too much – you can’t do that. What the fuck are you looking
at?” she snapped at the couple on the next table. “Is your own life so boring,
you have to listen in on mine?”

The couple looked away again, not wanting
to get involved.

“Katie,” said Mike.

“You’ve no right doing that, Mike, no
right at all.”

“But you wouldn’t have seen me
otherwise.”

“And now I’m leaving,” said Katie. “What
difference does it make?”

“Please,” said Mike. “I need to talk to
you.”

“Tough!” said Katie. “I’ve got
absolutely no interest in anything you have to say – it’ll all be lies,
anyway.” She picked up her bag from the table. “Don’t contact me again, do you
hear?”

“Katie,” said Mike again, but Katie was
already walking away, putting on her coat as she made her way to the door. Mike
stood up and went after her.

“Katie, please listen,” he said. “I
really do need your help – I don’t know how else to put it, but I need your
help.” He had to raise his voice to be heard across the foyer. “Please.”

Katie stopped and turned around. There
were more than just a couple of people watching and listening now but she
didn’t care. You don’t choose the time or the place when your life becomes an
entertainment for others; it was here and now in the foyer of the Gresham for
Katie.

“You’re a fucking bastard, Mike. You
have no idea – ”

“Yes I do,” said Mike. “I do have an
idea and I’m sorry, but I needed to see you and I need your help.”

“How can you need my help?” asked Katie.
“And don’t spin me another line – in fact, how can I believe a single word you
say?”

“Please don’t go, Katie,” said Mike.
“Please – and I’m sorry I had to do it this way – but please . . . just don’t
go until you hear what I’ve got to say.”

“You’ll lie to me.”

“I won’t, I promise. That was a stupid
thing to tell you this morning, but I was desperate and I didn’t know how else
to make sure you’d come.”

“You could have told me the truth.”

“I could,” said Mike, “but you wouldn’t
have come. I promise I’ll be straight with you now; I have to be because I need
– ”

“Because you need my help – you said
that already.”

Katie looked at Mike. She breathed
deeply, but it wasn’t a controlled breathing – more an attempt to cover her
feelings.

“You’ve hurt me,” she said.

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

Nobody got close to Katie McGuire – so
what was happening here?

Katie looked away to her left, towards
the reception desk, and then back to her right, towards the bar. She looked
back at Mike.

“If what we had means anything to you –
” he began.

“Don’t you dare!” said Katie, “Don’t you
fucking dare try to use what happened back then as a bargaining tool. You know
I owe you everything; I owe my life to you and there’s not a day goes by when I
don’t think of that so don’t you dare try to tell me how much I’m in your
debt.”

“Then listen to me now,” said Mike,
“because I need you.”

“How can you need me?” asked Katie.

“I need you and I’m begging you, please,
not to go.”

The life of the foyer had begun to move
on; they weren’t quite the spectacle they had been a moment ago.

“Please, Katie.”

“You’ve hurt me,” said Katie again.

“I know,” said Mike, “but that’s not why
I’m here. I don’t want to upset you, but I do need to see you.”

“You hurt me just by being here.”

Katie felt herself unravelling – she felt
the years being stripped away – and she didn’t want to do this in public. She
either walked or she stayed, but she had to decide quickly what to do.

Mike stepped towards her, but Katie
stepped back.

“Don’t!” she said, and Mike stopped.
“You’re a fucking bastard, Mike.”

“Yes, you said.”

“A fucking bastard.”

“Got it,” said Mike.

“A fucking, fucking, bastard.”

“But you love me, right?”

“I owe you,” said Katie. “I owe you
enough to listen to you, that’s all.”