half-gloves on her hands. Her jeans seemed a couple of sizes too big for her and she had on a short T-shirt that left her pierced navel exposed.
She didn’t seem surprised to find her mother in the company of two strangers. She looked smugly at the strangers, then at her mother.
‘You didn’t have to call the cops. You know I always come back.’
‘They aren’t-’
‘They have cop written all over their faces,’ the girl said, more bored than upset, and looking away as she put her key in her bag. ‘You think I was born yesterday?’ Then she looked at her mother again. ‘Anyway, the bad girl’s come home again, so your two bloodhounds can go back where they came from. And tell them if they don’t have a search warrant, they can’t take anything from this house, not even a tablecloth.’
Carmen saw a shadow descend over Vivien’s eyes. As if she already knew this situation, as if she had already lived through it before.
‘We aren’t here for you,’ Vivien said to Allison, forcing herself to be patient. ‘We’re here because we had some news for your mother.’
But Allison had already turned her back on them, as if the conversation didn’t interest her. She disappeared round the corner, leaving only the sound of her voice.
‘Who the hell cares?’ she said, as she climbed the stairs to her room. Before too long, cutting through their silence and embarrassment, the noise of a door being slammed came from upstairs.
Carmen didn’t know what to say. It was Vivien who spoke first. The scene she had just witnessed seemed to inspire a new familiarity in her.
‘Carmen, can I go up and say a few words to your daughter?’
Carmen was startled for a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘I’m afraid they may be rather rough words,’ Vivien added.
‘I see. Well, I don’t think they’ll do her any harm.’
Vivien stood up.
Carmen gave her a small, knowing smile. ‘First room on the right, at the top of the stairs.’
Vivien disappeared behind a corner, knowing that what she was about to say was something it was right to say to that person at that moment.
The man who had introduced himself as Russell assumed an expression of slightly forced irony. Up until now he had remained silent but when he spoke, his voice was exactly as Carmen had expected it to be.
‘Vivien is a very determined woman.’
‘So I see.’
‘And also very direct, when she wants to be.’
With a touch of self-satisfaction, Carmen agreed. ‘I’m sure she is.’
They sat there in silence until Vivien returned. She had not been gone for long. Calmly, she sat down again on the couch.
‘It’s done. She’ll have slightly red cheeks for the next few hours, but she ought to have understood the way things are.’
She took out her business card and placed it on top of the Sudoku magazine. Carmen saw her pick up the felt-tip that was next to it and write something on the back. Then she leaned towards her and held out the card.
‘This is my number. On the back is my cell number. If you remember anything connected with your husband, or have any more problems with your daughter, call me.’
Vivien took the frame and stood up, and Russell immediately did the same, a sign that their visit was over. Carmen walked them to the door. As they were about to leave, she placed a hand on Vivien’s arm.
‘Vivien.’
‘Yes?’
‘Thank you. It’s something I should have done myself a long time ago, but thanks all the same.’
Vivien smiled and shrugged, downplaying what had happened. But at the same time there was a tiny gleam in her eyes. ‘Don’t mention it. Goodbye, Carmen.’
Carmen waited until they were at the foot of the steps and then closed the door. She walked back to the living room, thinking over the whole story.
She knew that the difficult part would come that night, when she had turned out the lights and found herself alone with her ghosts. For the moment she decided to switch on the TV and ask the world to keep her company.
When the screen lit up, there was a news item about Saturday’s explosion on 10th Street in Manhattan. The images of destruction reminded her of something. She leaped to her feet, ran to the door and opened it. Russell and Vivien were still outside on the sidewalk opposite, standing by a car, as if they had stopped to discuss the outcome of the visit.
She waved at them to attract their attention, and called out, ‘Vivien!’
The detective and her partner turned their heads in her direction.
‘What is it, Carmen?’
‘I just remembered something. It was a long time ago, and my memory-’
An excitable Vivien interrupted her with a touch of impatience in her voice. ‘Go on.’
Carmen was embarrassed. For the first time in her life she was playing a role in a police investigation, and she was afraid of looking foolish or saying something they would think was stupid.
‘I don’t know if this is important at all, but I just remembered that a long time ago the company Mitch worked for, Newborn Brothers, renovated a house on North Shore, Long Island. The house of an ex- soldier, I seem to remember. A major or a colonel, something like that.’
Vivien pressed her. ‘And?’
Carmen paused again, then at last came out with what she had to say. ‘About a year after the end of the work, the house blew up.’
Even though it was dusk and the light was dimming, Carmen saw, as clear as if it was day, the young detective’s face turn pale.
CHAPTER 23
Through the car window Russell and Vivien saw Carmen Montesa slowly close the house door, a lonely desolate figure trying in vain to keep outside the door something that would surely get in through the window. At night and with teeth bared. A moment later Vivien had already picked up the car phone and was punching in the captain’s number. Sitting beside her, Russell counted three rings before the answer came.
‘Bellew.’
Vivien came straight to the point. ‘Alan, we have something.’
The question that followed took Vivien by surprise. ‘Is Wade there with you?’
Vivien instinctively turned to look at Russell. ‘Sure.’
‘Can you put me on speakerphone?’
‘Sure.’
‘Good. Both of you need to hear what I have to say.’
Vivien was bewildered. She found this procedure highly unusual. Though of course this whole business was unusual. Even crazy. Then she told herself that, in line with the promise he had made, the
