Ascension Day

his phone messages. He’d switched his cell-phone off immediately after Coultaine’s call and hadn’t used it since, worried that with the APB out, the police might be able to zone-track where he was. He risked turning it on now briefly. Only one call: Bob Stratton. New Orleans was one hour behind: 5.31 a.m. He’d call him back in a couple of hours.

Jac finished his coffee and ordered another, his body suddenly craving more caffeine to combat his over- tiredness, kick some life back into it.

Realizing, as he finally got on the road at 7.09 a.m., squinting at road-signs as he sped across a dawn-lit Havana, that he’d have risked falling asleep on the drive without the caffeine. And, having chosen the car-rental company’s most powerful option, an Audi A6, hoping that he could make up the time. The caffeine didn’t help his already wire-taut nerves, his stomach jittery and his hands trembling on the steering wheel, but at least he was alert.

Cienfuegos… Trinidad… Sancti Spiritus… Jac’s route was by now indelibly implanted on his mind. As Jac swung on to Highway A1 and he saw the first sign for Cienfuegos, he put his foot down hard. Six and a half hours driving time, they said. Maybe he could cut that to six or even five and a half hours.

The car-rental companies were already open when Nel-M landed, but he lost time through having to buy a gun in Havana’s old town, an old Browning 9mm, before he could get on the road again.

He was just under four hours behind Ayliss as he hit the start of the A1 highway towards Cienfuegos.

With the call from Glenn Bateson while he was at Miami International waiting for his flight to Nassau — ‘It didn’t work. My guy only managed to injure him… and not that seriously’ — everything hinged more than ever on catching up with Truelle as soon as possible.

If Bateson’s man had been successful, it would have stopped Ayliss dead in his tracks, he’d have probably just slumped his head on his steering wheel in the middle of Cuba as soon as he heard the news. With Durrant already dead, what would have been the point in continuing?

But right now Truelle was like a powder-keg, and if Ayliss had enough time to light the right match, Nel-M had little doubt that he’d explode and tell all. And if so, Nel-M doubted that Roche’s one remaining contingency plan could contain that explosion.

He glanced at the gun on his passenger seat. As so often had happened in his long association with Roche, while Roche troubled himself with fringe details, the core of every problem was left for him to deal with; just as with Roche’s wife twelve years ago that had started it all. Nothing had really changed.

Mack Elliott had drifted out of the Ninth Ward into Bywater because there was a bar on North Rampart that had one of the largest screens around, always tuned to sports, usually football. He’d missed the big Saints game the night before, but there was an early afternoon highlights re-run that he knew they’d have on.

And that’s where he was, cold Beck’s in hand, watching the over sized screen among a lively throng shouting support or derision with the ebb and flow of the Saints’ performance, when the thought suddenly hit him. Highlights! That’s what he’d been watching that night!

It hadn’t been a full game, because the Saints had been playing away in Philadelphia and there was some charity telethon on — but he’d been keen to watch the condensed highlights when they’d come on later. That’s why he’d told the chicken guy to pipe-down!

Mack left his half-finished beer on the counter, went out the back to a pay-phone, got the number of the Times-Picayune from 411, and asked to be put through.

‘Do you have a sporting archives section, perhaps?’

‘We’ve got a general archives section, sir — which would include sport. They should be able to help.’

The girl that looked up the information used a keyword search on the Times- Picayune data-bank, but she could just as easily have found it on the internet. ‘Here it is… Saints v Philadelphia Eagles game. Eighteenth of February, 1992.’

‘Thanks.’ Mack banged a fist on the wall by the phone, closing his eyes for a second. It was that same night! Larry couldn’t have been at the Roche house.

He took the piece of paper from his pocket, Darrell Ayliss’s number, and dialled… but it rang unobtainable, a service provider message telling him to try again later. He tried again, just in case, but it did the same.

He started to panic, beads of sweat popping on his forehead as he checked the time: less than four hours left. He had to get the message through somehow!

He got hold of 411 again and asked to be put through to Libreville prison.

But the woman that answered said that Warden Haveling wasn’t available because of final preparations that day with Lawrence Durrant ‘…and his assistant Mr Folley is right now handling a media conference call regarding the same. But I…’

‘It’s actually about Larry Durrant that I’m phonin’ now!’

‘Yes, sir, and I… I have someone that I believe can still help.’

Some top-dog guard or other, Mack didn’t catch the name. But when after the transfer his voice answered, Mack ran too quickly at first, had to calm himself to get the information across clearly.

Mack Elliott. Bayou Brew bar of twelve years ago with Larry Durrant. Sessions with Darrell Ayliss and Greg Ormdern to try and find out what happened that night. ‘But I wasn’t able to remember what I was watchin’ until just now — and I just checked it out a minute ago with the Times- Picayune. That game was the same night that Larry Durrant was mean’a be at the Roche house. He couldn’t have been there! It wasn’t him!’

‘I understand, sir… and I’m glad you’ve come through to us now with this information.’

‘You gotta stop the execution! Larry didn’t do it! Get hold of the Warden or Governor or whatever it takes to stop it.’ Mack realized he was speaking too excitably again, almost garbling. He took a fresh breath to calm himself, his voice lower, more purposeful. ‘You’ll make sure t’do that? Get hold of the powers that be to stop this now wit’ Larry?’

‘Don’t worry. As soon as I get off the phone, I’ll pass your message directly to Warden Haveling. Get him to phone the Governor or whatever he needs to do to action it.’

‘Thanks… and thank God too that I remembered before it was too late.’

‘Yeah. Thank God you did.’

And as soon as he hung up his end, Glenn Bateson screwed up the piece of paper he’d written on and threw it in the bin a yard away.

‘Good to speak to you, Governor Candaret. Been a while.’

‘You too, Mr Roche. Always good to speak to the more illustrious among my constituents. Especially if they still support and vote for me.’

‘Oh, I do, Governor Candaret. I do. More than you can imagine.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ Both of them were old hats at this, thought Candaret. Both of them knowing that these smooth introductory gambits often meant almost the opposite of what was said. From the heart, Roche would have been more likely to say, ‘You’re a slimy, jumped-up toad whose station in life has risen far above your God-given ability,’ and, in truth, Candaret would probably have said much the same about Roche. But that would have got neither of them what they wanted from this conversation now, which brought Candaret sharply back to wondering what Roche did want by calling him now, the very day of Larry Durrant’s execution. He kept prodding with the niceties, as if he was keeping a rattlesnake at bay with a long stick. ‘Good indeed to hear. And what, pray, might I be able to do for you today, Mr Roche? Or is this just a social call?’

‘The latter, mostly. Though if I’d called earlier, it might have seemed otherwise.’ Roche swallowed, getting his breathing even. Getting the right words in place. ‘You see, if I’d called you before you made your recent clemency decision, it might have looked as if I was trying to pressure you to do the right thing regarding the murderer of my dear wife. But now that you’ve actually made that decision, I felt it only right to thank you for what I consider to be a good and true decision and not shirking from your duty. Making this call now when there’s no longer danger of it being misread — it can finally be taken in the spirit it’s intended. No more, no less than an honest thank you.’