The spot they chose to get rid of the body was far enough from the route they would have taken during a regular fishing campaign. That was also away from every other fishing route because of the less favorable condition and fish availability.
The crew worked incessantly and hard for three hours, when they could finally resume their journey. All the lights and signals should be turned off, relying only on a maritime compass; nobody else had to spot their presence, nor the fact that they were returning from an unusual route.
At half past four in the morning, they reached Alec’s motorboat, and never before had Aldo been more relieved, as that marked the last time he would ever have to see Irina again.
“So, this is the time to greet each other,” Irina’s voice was grave as if he never heard her before, as she handed the due money for the service. “We will be in touch if I need your services to reach Italy.”
Shaking his head, knowing the gazes of the rest of the crew were upon him, he replied, “Alec can find you another contact from now on. We’ll all resume our old fishing activity. This money is not enough for the nightmares we all will continue to have for the rest of our lives, and we would prefer to keep ourselves far from each other.”
Flaring her nostrils in anger, she wished to also kill Aldo. Nevertheless, she understood that it was the time she had to accept a defeat and get on with her life. After all, after this one, I won’t need him anymore, she considered.
Trying to keep the beast at bay, she smiled. “So it shall be, this is then a goodbye. It is a pity, though.”
Without waiting for any reply, she turned and walked away, climbing down from their boat to Alec’s motorboat, which would safely smuggle her inside the French territory from where she entered regularly. He knew perfectly how to avoid the national coastal guard, and also in the unfavorable case of being spotted, he had all the cards to avoid troubles.
***
It was a fair March morning, when Luciano was awakened by the ringing of his mobile phone. In his half-sleep, almost mechanically, he grabbed the phone lying on his bedside table, and without caring to check who was calling him, his eyes still closed, he answered.
“Hello,” his voice hardly a mumble.
“Bonjour!” the chirping voice of Irina reached his ears, causing him to fully wake and sit up in bed.
“Well, I thought you weren’t supposed to call me for some time,” surprise filled his voice, as his eyes made contact with the alarm clock.
“I know, but we were able to reach the coast of Corsica a couple of days ago. From there, I could arrive in Paris yesterday evening, so according to the immigration, I haven’t moved from here since I arrived in December. I’m calling you from a telephone in a cafeteria. The owner was very kind, when I told him my mobile went off and I needed to make an emergency call. This also means I might call you again, but our conversations need to be very casual from now on,” she warned, glancing around her, to make sure there weren’t other indiscreet ears listening to what she was saying.
A smile brightened his face and like a stone that fell from his heart, he stood from his bed like he had no more weight. “I love you, Irina, and I can’t wait until the time comes when we can live together. Soon we’ll be free to live our lives the way we always wanted to, no interferences from anyone— just you and me.”
“I love you too. It has been a difficult period, but we will go over it. I promise. I will call you once again from my mobile whenever possible. I plan to return back to Hungary and remain there until the situation is cleared; then we will plan our life in more detail,” she proposed.
A sigh, followed by a long pause alerted Irina, as she sensed some troubles were still on their horizon— the kind of trouble she wasn’t hoping for. “Is there anything wrong? Why, all of a sudden have you become silent?”
As his attention focused on the reflection of the sunrays, filtering through the shutters against the wall, he tried to recollect his thoughts and find a good way to explain his concerns. “I went back to the apartment.” His voice turned lower as if he didn’t want to be heard by anyone.
“Did they give you back the keys? Is the data collection over?” She wondered, glancing around to check whether someone was coming to the little room where the landline telephone was located.
“No, not yet. The problem was more connected to a doubt I had,” he began to explain, hoping there was nothing to be afraid for. “As you know, last week, Detective Scala and one of his coworkers from the forensic department came to ask some questions about us. They were supposed to return the keys by the end of this week. Yet, when they left, a thousand thoughts started swirling in my mind, and the doubts of having left something important there started to become more and more obsessive. I tried to think about every possibility until one thing came to my mind. That was perhaps the most important one and I couldn’t recall whether it was destroyed, if I brought it with me, or I gave it to you.”
“Stop changing the topic. You’re driving me crazy!” she hissed. “What
