Lost (23 page)

Stuart drove Santini’s Saab up the hill to Santarosa. The rain was hanging in swathes on the road. The wipers could not move fast enough and it clung to the windscreen like a caul. Alice sat beside him, the only one in the car wearing a seat belt.

‘How’s she handling?’ Coco asked him.

Stuart glanced at him in the mirror. He was sitting behind Alice with his hands cuffed behind his back. Next to him was Joachim, the youth from La Rochelle.

‘Good,’ Stuart said, for he could not deny it; there was some pleasure in driving a good car.

Santini’s Saab was from another world, a long way north from here, in another Europe where people wore seat belts and drank decaffeinated coffee and only rarely killed each other. The idea that he should have chosen a car from such a place amused Stuart. He guessed it was Evelyne’s idea. Evelyne, Santini’s longest-standing mistress, whom he treated like dirt and who gave unswerving loyalty. She was the kind of woman the island produced: a cold heart capable of blind devotion.

They drove past the entrance to the cemetery.

‘Madame Aron?’ Coco said. ‘Can I ask you to move forward a little? The lever is under your seat.’

Alice obeyed in silence. Stuart could feel her hatred of Santini coming off her like heat.

Santini had relaxed a little since they had left the villa. Stuart had made the call to Lasserre from the car while they were still parked in the lay-by. When he told her the search had produced nothing there had been a prolonged silence. For a moment he had thought that he had lost her support.

‘Are you with Santini now?’ she had asked.

‘I am,’ he had answered. ‘I’m going back up to the Colonna house. I’ll call you from there,’ and he had hung up quickly.

The rain thinned as they drove past the petrol station into the village. Paul was behind them in his own car. Sitting beside him was the blonde cop, Muriel or Mireille. Gérard, who was driving Alice’s Mercedes, was with the spotty youth. With Fabrice there were seven of them and four cars; it was not enough. No matter how invincible he felt, it was not enough.

When he drove up the narrow alley to the Colonna property the rain had stopped. Beneath the asphalt sky the lawn and the cedar glowed with their own light. He turned off the engine and watched Alice open her door. He hoped that she would turn and look at him before climbing out, but she did not.

Alice stood in the kitchen with Dan in her arms and hugged him hard while Babette waited patiently for her to return him to her. Babette carried Dan everywhere. Alice realised she was not in a position to object.

‘Little Dan. My man,’ she said. But he was not hers; he could be taken from her at any time. ‘Mummy loves you,’ she said, correcting herself.

He clung to her when she tried to hand him to Babette.

‘Dan, Mummy has to go into the room with the policemen. They’re going to get Sam back for us.’

‘I want to come.’

She hugged him again and kissed the top of his head.

‘I want you to wait here, Dan the Man. I want you to be here when I come back. I want to know that you’re safe here, with Babette, waiting for me. I’ll have something to look forward to then. Do you understand?’

Dan relaxed his hold on her and she delivered him to Babette’s arms. Then she brushed his cheek with her hand and left.

Alice stopped in the doorway of the Colonna sitting room. In the golden light that was now coming through the windows, they looked like characters overacting the drama of waiting. Paul and Gérard were sitting side by side on the undersized sofa. Paul was leaning forward, inspecting his hands, and Gérard sat bolt upright, his arms crossed over his military raincoat. Santini was sitting on the edge of Stuart’s bed between two policemen, one of whom was the fat one who had barred her way the other night. They had both changed out of their uniforms into tracksuits. Santini’s hands were still cuffed behind his back. Stuart, who was standing by the fireplace talking into a mobile phone, seemed to be the only one not trapped by the languor.

She stayed by the door, repeating in her head fragments of what she had been told: they knew what area Sam was in; there would be a transmitting device in the bag of money; there would be four cars, all in radio contact. But the old anxiety had filled her, leaving no room for thought. Her body was cold with panic again and her mind slid off the facts.

She watched Stuart put his hand into the pocket of his trousers and take the weight off his right foot. He was wearing a clean shirt. Alice noted the shift in her perception of him and how her mind had covered its tracks, masking the way back. She was aware that she had placed all her hope in him, that this man who had been worthy of pity had somehow become heroic to her.

Stuart was punching out another number.

Santini shouted from the bed.

‘Hang up. I said hang up. We said no calls, otherwise there’s no deal. Hang up, Stuart!’

Stuart looked at Santini while he yelled, but did not hang up.

‘Mesguish, please,’ Stuart said into the phone. He kept his eye on Santini, who did not move. ‘It’s me. I’m at the Colonna house. I need back-up. We have a lead to pick up the child. Lasserre knows. Call her.’ There was a pause. Stuart
kept looking at Santini. ‘I can’t go into details … I have four cars here. There’s a technician on his way with the tracking equipment. It’s beyond that, Mesguish. We’re moving to pick up the child. I need you to get everyone on standby. When I give the signal, you go in and get the child.’ There was another pause. Santini tried to stand up and the policeman with the crew-cut gripped his arm and held him down. The policewoman stepped closer in case she was needed. She had taken off her jacket and tie and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt. ‘I don’t know that yet,’ Stuart was saying. ‘I hope I’ll be covering the drop-off. Do you have Cesari’s map? He eliminated the valleys. Yes, they’re on high ground. It’s about an hour and a half from you. Get two opaque vans. Take your men if you have to but take Cesari with you. He knows the terrain.’ There was a pause. ‘No. We need men, not cars. They’re in the middle of nowhere. Just take one car with a decent radio. Call Morin and ask him for his dogs. Not trackers, Alsatians. Mesguish. This is your rescue operation, all right? It’s yours. Do you understand?’

He hung up and put the phone in his jacket pocket.

‘I’m not joking, Stuart.’

Stuart glanced over at Santini.

‘Can we have some light?’ he said.

The policewoman turned on a standing lamp beside her.

‘If you want my help, Stuart, you’re going to have to play straight.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Stuart said. ‘You got what you wanted. I’m here with you. I’m not digging up your villa, am I? Let’s see you play straight.’ He looked at Alice for the first time. ‘This woman trusted you. You boasted you could get her son back for her.’

Coco did not answer. He looked at Alice as though suddenly acknowledging that she was the real audience. She looked down and he turned back to Stuart.

‘What makes people sick about you is that you pretend to be a good man when what you are is a coward. There aren’t
any good men on this island. They don’t survive,’ said Coco.

‘They don’t survive because you kill them,’ Stuart said.

‘They don’t survive,’ Coco said. ‘Full stop.’

‘There’s the difference between us. You think people here are born corrupt. I think they just follow a leader. But you agree with me,’ Stuart added. ‘Otherwise you wouldn’t have killed Titi.’

‘It sticks in your throat that, doesn’t it?’

‘It sticks in everyone’s throat.’

Santini glanced again at Alice. This time she faced him. The effect of the handcuffs behind his back thickened his neck, forcing his head forward.

Stuart looked at his watch.

‘It’s two-fifteen. We’re going to call Karim.’ He looked over at Santini. ‘Ready?’

‘First let me out of these,’ he said to Stuart.

Stuart nodded at Joachim. The youth unlocked the handcuffs and delivered them over to Stuart, who then turned to Gérard and Paul.

‘Wait in the kitchen, will you? When the technician comes, make him wait with you.’

Alice sensed that Stuart and Santini were preparing to act out their own private drama, that she would have to fight for a place in it. Santini was sitting with his ankle resting on the opposite thigh. The memory of their first meeting returned, filling her with disgust.

She stepped aside while the others left the room. She was afraid for a moment that Stuart would ask her to leave with them, but he did not. She stood by the door and watched him cross the room to Coco.

‘You can use my phone,’ he said, holding it out. Santini looked at it but did not move. ‘Come on, Santini. For God’s sake.’

Coco reached out and knocked the phone from Stuart’s hand, sending it sliding across the parquet and spilling its battery.

‘I’m not making any calls until I get some guarantees.’

Alice watched Stuart retrieve the phone and replace the battery.

‘It’s not broken,’ Stuart said. ‘You’re lucky.’ He walked over to Santini. With his left hand he reached down and gripped his wrist. Santini went rigid. He seemed mostly to be struggling against the indignity of resisting. With his right hand Stuart took the handcuffs from his jacket pocket. Alice heard the clicking as the handcuff bit several notches deeper and the chime of metal as Stuart hooked Santini’s right hand to the bar at the end of the bed.

‘This is illegal,’ Santini said.

‘No,’ Stuart said. ‘As soon as I began that search, you were in my hands. If I want to put the cuffs on I can. No justification needed. Do you understand?’

‘There are no grounds, Stuart. The search is over. You pulled too hard and the rope’s bust.’

‘I don’t give a shit about your arms cache, Santini. I’ve got plenty to put you away. Just think of the word betrayal, Santini. That should put you straight. I don’t need a cache. I’ve got a little bird now.’

Santini glared at Stuart. ‘No deal,’ he said. Chained up he became more threatening. Alice stepped forward, forcing herself to overcome her fear of him. ‘And get that woman out of here, for Christ’s sake!’ Alice jumped at the bark of his voice. ‘What in God’s name is she doing here anyway?’

‘You didn’t mind having her around before, Santini. You didn’t mind her being there so you could play Godfather. You lent her the ransom, remember. How much did she tell you she could afford? Thirty million at the most? Then,
bam!
they ask for thirty million. You’re trapped, Santini. You trapped yourself.’

‘I offered her my help because she came asking for it. Ask her.’ He flung out his free arm. ‘She came to me because she saw straight away how fucking useless you were.’

Stuart’s face did not change.

‘You’re trapped, Santini. You can’t pull out of the deal because I’m sending you down anyway for kidnapping. I’ve got plenty. Trust me.’

‘Bullshit.’ Stuart turned his back on him and went to the fireplace. ‘Who was it?’

Santini’s face looked shockingly pale against the blue-black beard. Alice now stood in the middle of the room, afraid to move.

‘Who grassed?’ Santini asked again. ‘Tell me who it was.’

‘Why would I do that?’ Stuart said.

‘Without me, you don’t get the kid.’

‘Is that your opinion? Then you must be right.’

They stood there facing each other in silence, each waiting for the other to speak. At last Santini said, ‘Take these off.’ He nodded at his right hand.

Stuart looked at Santini. Then he crossed the room and freed him. As Stuart straightened up, Santini rubbed his wrist.

‘Who was it?’ he asked again. ‘Tell me.’

Alice could see the mechanisms working between them like a fine machine.

‘Forget it,’ Stuart said. ‘Just forget it. It won’t make you feel any better.’

‘I’ll be the judge of that. Who is it?’

Stuart fetched one of the chairs from the fireside and set it down two paces away from Santini. Alice was tired of standing, but she did not want to draw attention to her presence again.

‘Now we call Karim and you get him to take the nine million. We give them time to dream up the meeting. You’re going to take the money …’

‘No way,’ Santini said. The two men were leaning towards each other. ‘You’re not getting me to walk in there so you can book me with the others.’

‘I’m taking the money,’ Alice said. ‘No one else.’ Her ears were ringing and her voice was louder than she had intended. ‘I’m not letting anyone take any risks with my child.’ She
looked at Stuart, lowering her voice. ‘They’ll feel less threatened if I go. Santini can set up a meeting with them and I’ll take the money.’ Her heart was beating fast and her face was flushed. ‘Stuart?’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, shaking his head.

She felt dizzy.

‘I’m taking the money.’ She was using her own voice to steady herself. ‘No one else.’

‘Of course she’s got to take the money,’ Santini said. ‘If I go, they’ll know something’s wrong. I’d never do it and they’ll know I’ve been set up. All she has to do is dump the bag and leave, right? She’ll be fine.’

Stuart was staring at Alice as though he was not seeing her. She saw his fear and she saw how little in control he really was.

‘Please,’ she said, gently. ‘It must be me.’

He seemed now to be taking her in. His face was full of sadness.

‘You can’t go.’

‘Stuart.’

‘It’s too dangerous. I can’t let you. I’m sorry.’ He held out the mobile to Santini. ‘Call Karim,’ he said.

Alice closed her eyes. She felt all the strength drain from her. She heard Stuart strike a match to light his cigarette and the rain falling. She thought of Sam and saw his body. He was lying on his side with his knees brought up to his chest, fists and eyes closed. She felt Stuart taking hold of her hand. She knew the feel of his hand in hers, the size of it, the texture of the skin.

‘Please, Stuart,’ she whispered. ‘Let me go.’

He held her hand tighter, so tightly it hurt her. The pain helped to tether her to what she perceived. Santini was dialling the number. ‘Please,’ she whispered for the last time. But he did not let go.