After the Execution (20 page)

I
RECOGNIZED THE
vehicle as it drew nearer. It was the Dodge that had pursued me through the city after the failed attempt on my life outside the restaurant.

I was crouched down behind the Honda next to Vance, peering through the front windows. I had the gun in one hand and held onto the cuffs with the other.

‘If for any reason this doesn’t go smoothly I swear I will put a bullet in you,’ I said to Vance. ‘Do you understand?’

He nodded.

The Dodge moved slowly towards us across the parking area. I couldn’t see who was inside because of the tinted windows.

‘Now just stay calm and don’t try anything stupid,’ I said. ‘This could all be over in less than a minute and you’ll get to see another day.’

The Dodge came to a stop. When nothing happened immediately I felt my whole body go stiff. The thought struck me suddenly that maybe Kate wasn’t even inside.

But then the driver’s door opened and a man stepped out. It was Daniels. I recognized him instantly. He opened the rear door and helped Kate out. She was holding Anna.

Seeing them caused an intense wave of relief to surge through me. Vance acknowledged their arrival with a curt nod. Daniels raised a hand in response. Then he took Kate by the arm and walked her towards the Honda.

When I jumped up I took them completely by surprise. Daniels stopped dead and glared at me. I aimed the gun at him and he looked from me to Vance.

‘Just stay where you are,’ I shouted. ‘Don’t move a muscle.’

But Daniels did what I feared he might do. He pulled Kate in front of him and whipped out his pistol. I couldn’t risk taking a shot. So now there was a stand-off, and just to make things worse, the baby started to cry.

‘Put your weapon down and step out from behind the vehicle,’ Daniels yelled.

My response was to step behind Vance and hold the gun to his right temple.

‘I suggest you talk some sense into your man,’ I said to Vance. ‘Before there’s a bloodbath.’

Vance spoke with calm authority. He ordered Daniels to drop his pistol and let Kate go, explaining that they had no choice.

Daniels took a long time to do as he was instructed. His eyes kept shifting nervously between me and his boss. And all the time Anna kept crying. Finally he stepped away from Kate and tossed his gun onto the ground.

I shoved Vance forward and moved around the Honda. I asked Kate if she was OK. She looked petrified, but she nodded and started patting Anna on the back.

‘What’s going on?’ she said.

I ignored her and told Daniels to get his cuffs out and warned him that if he resisted I’d shoot him.

‘It’s not an idle threat,’ I said. ‘I’ve got nothing to lose here.’

He didn’t resist and a minute later his hands were cuffed and he was standing alongside Vance.

I stepped back from them and turned to Kate. Anna had stopped crying and was looking around curiously at her surroundings. When she saw me she smiled and I couldn’t help but smile back.

‘Please explain to me what’s happening,’ Kate said, her voice fragile.

‘I couldn’t let them kill you,’ I said.

She was shocked. ‘But they wouldn’t do that.’

‘So why do you think he brought you here?’

She looked at Daniels. ‘He said he was taking me to a hotel.’

‘Well there are no hotels here. You were brought here to be killed along with Anna.’

She looked at Vance and waited for him to tell her that I was lying. But he held his tongue and looked sheepishly down at the ground.

‘Oh my God,’ Kate said.

‘They killed Larson,’ I said. ‘And they killed my sister. You’ll be next
if you don’t let me take you away from here.’

‘The police,’ she said. ‘We have to go to the police.’

‘If that’s what you want to do then do it,’ I said. ‘But I can’t. And be aware that without me to back up your claims they’re unlikely to believe you. And there’s a fair chance that while you’re trying to
convince
them that your story is true you’ll mysteriously disappear.’

She looked at me and I felt a smothering weight of guilt.

‘I’m sorry I got you into this,’ I said. ‘But you’ve got to trust me now. You need to get away from here. I can help you start again.’

Her uncertain gaze lingered on me for a while longer and then she came to a decision.

‘Very well,’ she said in a tearful voice.

I got Vance and Daniels to give me their cellphones. I then flipped open the trunks of both vehicles and told them to climb in – Vance in the Honda and Daniels in the Dodge.

‘Don’t panic,’ I said. ‘As soon as we’re away from here I’ll put in a call to the cops to tell them where you are.’

‘What about the dossier?’ Vance said.

‘It’ll be under the Honda.’

He gave a slight nod. ‘Thanks.’

A thought struck me and I said, ‘I want you to make sure my sister is buried near our parents. The Green Pastures Cemetery in Houston.’

‘Consider it done,’ he said, before climbing into the trunk.

A few minutes later I stopped the Mercedes next to the Honda and slid Garcia’s briefcase under the vehicle along with their cellphones and car keys.

I asked Kate to give me her cellphone and then tossed it in the lake.

‘We’ll get you a new one so that it can’t be traced,’ I said.

Then I drove away from the lake with Kate and her baby in the back seat.

K
ATE STARTED TO
cry a few minutes after leaving the lake. Her sobs were pitiful and they reached deep inside me.

I said nothing because I knew she had to get it out of her system. She’d just discovered that she was going to have to embark on a new life and lose contact with her family and friends. Her name would have to change and she’d have to find somewhere else to live. It was
devastating
for her.

But I found a small crumb of comfort in the fact that her life had been shit before I arrived on the scene. She had told me so herself. And she’d been looking for a fresh start away from Texas and the man who had been violent towards her.

I could only hope that this new life would be a better one. And that one day she might even thank me for turning her world upside down.

It wasn’t long before Anna was crying too, upset and confused by her mother’s tears. I tried not to let it distract me as I drove east towards the interstate.

‘Where are you taking me?’

‘Houston,’ I said. ‘I’ll check you into a hotel for the night. You can think about where you want to go. Then tomorrow I’ll buy a car and take you there.’

‘Can’t we just keep driving? Put as much distance between us and Texas as we can?’

I shook my head. ‘For one thing the car’s stolen and the Feds will be looking for it. For another there’s something I have to do tonight. It’s why we’re going to Houston.’

‘What is it?’

‘You don’t need to know.’

She thought about that and thankfully chose not to press me.

‘So how come you can buy a car?’ she asked after a moment. ‘I didn’t think you had any money.’

‘I got lucky,’ I said. ‘I’ve now got plenty of cash to help you get settled.’

‘Why are you bothering,’ she said. ‘You could have been in Mexico by now. I didn’t expect to ever see you again.’

I shrugged. ‘You’re in trouble because of me. It wouldn’t be fair to leave you.’

She was silent for a spell, then said, ‘I need things for the baby. I left everything back at the house.’

‘No problem. We’ll stop at a mall on the way. You can load up on essentials.’

Kate began whispering to Anna and then started humming a tune to try to get her to sleep. I felt tears pressing behind my eyes and I had to blink to keep them back.

‘You’ll be OK,’ I said after a couple of beats. ‘Things will work out.’

She stopped humming and said, ‘I wish I could believe that.’

I wanted to say more to reassure her, but I wasn’t convinced it would work so I said nothing and focused on the road ahead.

We stopped at a shopping mall just outside Houston. I called the cops from a pay phone and said I’d seen a man being forced into the trunk of a car at the lake close to the municipal airport in San Antonio. I hung up when they asked me for my name.

Then Kate went into a grocery store with $200 cash that I gave her. She came back out twenty minutes later with two bags filled with baby stuff.

We then drove to an upmarket hotel near the city centre, which had a large parking lot at the rear. I checked in under Garcia’s name. I showed his driving license – which the desk clerk barely looked at – and then paid for a double room up front in cash.

The room was bigger and far more comfortable than the one we’d stayed in the previous night. There were two Queen-size beds, a plush en-suite bathroom and a large flat-screen TV. The hotel also supplied a crib for the baby and after Kate fed her she put her down for the night. We dimmed the lights and sat facing each other across a small occasional table with a fruit bowl on top. Kate looked gaunt and tired and her mouth was downcast.

‘I suppose I ought to thank you for saving me,’ she said. ‘Seems like you’re making a habit of it.’

‘I’m sorry about Frank Larson,’ I said. ‘It wasn’t good to see him like that.’

She looked up at the ceiling, her sad eyes glistening.

‘Are you sure that he was killed by the FBI?’ she said.

I nodded. ‘Vance didn’t deny it when I accused him. I can only assume that Larson recognized me and told them so, which was a big mistake.’

She thought about that and said, ‘So how did you come to be at the lake with Vance?’

I filled her in then on everything that had happened to me since we had been separated and everything I’d learned from Garcia and Cruz. She listened without speaking and when I was finished I picked up the holdall and emptied the money on one of the beds.

Her eyes went saucer-wide.

‘There’s about eighty thousand dollars there,’ I said. ‘It’ll make it possible for both of us to buy new identities and solve a lot of other problems.’

She stared at the money in stunned silence, her face pale and drawn, her eyes heavy and swollen. And then a tear trickled down her left cheek.

She got up suddenly and rushed into the bathroom where she broke down. She left the door open so I followed her in. She was leaning over the sink, crying.

I reached out, put a hand on her shoulder and found it impossible to suppress a shimmer of desire.
God, this woman would be easy to love,
I thought.

The next thing I knew she was in my arms and I was holding her close to me as she wept against my chest. The wave of emotion that swept through me was both powerful and unexpected. It made me realize that I cared for Kate even though we had only just met and I knew nothing about her. It was a strange yet exhilarating feeling. And scary too because it gave rise to the absurd idea that maybe fate had brought us together for a purpose.

She stopped crying and took a step back. I still had my hands on her shoulders and could feel the sweetness of her breath on my face. She gazed up at me and her sad eyes drew me in. Something passed between us then but I wasn’t sure what it was or if it meant anything.

But I did know that I suddenly wanted to kiss her, to feel the taste of her lips against mine. I resisted, fearing that she would pull away or cringe at the prospect of kissing a convicted murderer.

Things were going to be tough enough in the days ahead, I thought. I didn’t want her to suddenly become suspicious of my motives.

‘I’m sorry about the tears,’ she said. ‘It’s just too much to take in.’

I dropped my hands away from her shoulders and smiled.

‘No need to apologize,’ I said. ‘I know this can’t be easy.’

She turned to look at herself in the mirror above the sink and
grimaced
at her reflection. Then she pulled a tissue from the box beside it to wipe her eyes.

I had to fight the urge to take her in my arms again. It was so strong that I backed out of the bathroom so as not to make a fool of myself. I went straight to the mini-bar and took out a miniature whisky. I downed it in one long swallow and felt it burn its way through my gullet.

Kate emerged from the bathroom, her cheeks red and slightly puffy. She fixed me with a penetrating gaze and then walked over to me and took my face in her hands.

‘I want you to know that I’m grateful for what you’re doing, Lee,’ she said. ‘I know it would be easier for you if you just took off and didn’t concern yourself with Anna and me. But you’ve chosen not to and it says a lot about you.

‘And you can’t blame yourself for what’s happened. You’ve been an unwilling pawn in a dangerous game and we’ve both been swept along by a chain of events. But at least we’re still alive and I’m beginning to think that maybe we should look at this as an opportunity. Not many people get the chance to start their lives all over again from scratch.’

I don’t know who moved first, whether it was Kate or me, but
suddenly
we were locked in a tight embrace.

What happened next took me completely by surprise.

H
ER KISS WAS
subtle at first, the merest brush of her lips against mine. But it set my body on fire and stole my breath away. Her tongue eased my lips apart, the kiss widening, growing, becoming more intense.

I felt a surge of testosterone as she ran her fingers through my hair. Her breath was coming in fast, high-pitched gasps and the heat from her body was making me dizzy. I could barely control my excitement as I realized where this was going.

I hadn’t been with a woman for so long and if there had been time to think I’m sure I would have succumbed to an attack of anxiety. But Kate was taking the lead and it was all I could do to keep up.

She pulled off my jacket and then unbuttoned my shirt, all the time pressing her lips against mine and moaning like a hungry tigress. I fumbled with her belt and she must have sensed that I was out of
practice
because she undid it for me and then unzipped her jeans and pulled them down along with her panties. Before I knew it she was pulling at my belt and by the time I was naked from the waist down I felt I was going to explode.

I helped her off with her T-shit and marvelled at her silky-smooth skin. She had wide, dark areolas on small breasts.

We fell onto the bed farthest away from the cot and a decade of involuntary celibacy meant I couldn’t hold back. But she understood because she pushed me onto my back and lowered herself on top of me.

It was like I had died and gone to heaven. As she rode me, I clenched my eyes shut, but the tears found their way free, nonetheless.

I lasted longer than I thought was possible – maybe a whole minute – and I was pretty sure that when Kate cried out it wasn’t just for my benefit.

Afterwards we rolled onto our sides and held on to each other. We were both panting and sweating and I found it hard to believe what had just happened.

‘I’ve never made a man cry before,’ she whispered.

‘I hope it didn’t put you off,’ I said, embarrassed.

She laughed. ‘I can tell there’s a lot you’ve forgotten about women. I just had the most moving experience of my entire life.’

I wanted to tell her that I felt the same way but my throat was so thick with emotion that I couldn’t form the words. She stroked my face and kissed me softly on the lips.

‘I think we both needed that,’ she said.

I grinned. ‘I know I did. It’s been a long time.’

We snuggled up to each other and I just wanted to savour the moment. But the feelings stirred up by what had just happened sparked a riot of thoughts in my head. I wondered if this was the beginning of something real. Or was it nothing more than two desperate people seeking a brief respite from a horrible reality?

And I wondered too if what I was planning to do later tonight would turn out to be a big mistake. I didn’t have to do it, after all. And it was going to be a huge risk.

But then I was reminded of the promise I made to myself on death row – that, if I ever got released, I would seek out the person who had really murdered Kimberley Crane all those years ago. And then I’d make them suffer for what they did to her – and to me.

‘Are you always this restless after sex?’ Kate said.

‘I can’t remember,’ I answered truthfully.

She laughed. ‘What you need is another drink. And maybe some dinner.’

I kissed her on the neck and said, ‘Let’s check out the menu.’

There were hotel robes hanging on the bathroom door so we slipped them on. As I poured us each a glass of wine from the mini bar, Kate studied the room-service menu. She chose to have a pizza with a mound of trimmings and a bowl of fries. I ordered the same for me.

While we waited for the food to arrive I asked her where she wanted to begin her new life. She gave me a serious look. ‘Before I can even
contemplate
that I want to know what you plan to do when we get there. I have to think about Anna. She’s all I’ve got.’

I told her what I had in mind and explained that nothing was set
in stone. I said we’d rent apartments for a short time and I’d set about finding someone who could supply us with false ID documents.

‘It shouldn’t be that difficult,’ I said. ‘The country is sinking under the weight of forged papers by all accounts.’

Our pizzas arrived then and we got stuck in. They were hot and delicious and I washed mine down with two glasses of wine. When we were done I told Kate I was going out.

‘Do you have to?’ she asked, a worried expression on her face.

I nodded. ‘There’s something I need to do. Something that’s
important
to me. It’s why we’re here in Houston.’

‘Will you be coming back?’

I smiled reassuringly. ‘Of course I will. Later on.’

‘But what if something happens to you?’

I pointed to the money that was still piled up on the bed.

‘Then you’ve got enough cash there to get you wherever you want to go.’

She drew in a breath and said, ‘Please be careful.’

‘I will,’ I told her.