whatever the truth might be I want to know. Tell me now if this thing will endanger the lives of our children.’
‘No,’ I said quietly, and I shook my head once more. ‘It will not.’
‘Okay,’ she said, and her very being communicated her relief. ‘So, what does it mean for us?’
‘It means we will have to move soon,’ I said. ‘We will have to go to another city and make our home all over again.’
Angelina did not say anything for some time, and then once again she squeezed my hand. I looked up and there were tears in her eyes. ‘I married you because I loved you,’ she said. ‘I knew who you were, I knew enough about the people you worked with to know how this life would be, and if we have to move then I will come with you, but I will ask one thing of you and I want you to give me your word.’
‘Ask it, Angel, ask it.’
‘I want you to promise me that nothing will ever happen to Victor and Lucia… that is the only thing I ask of you, and I want you to promise me that.’
I reached out and took both her hands. I held them for a moment, and then I touched her cheek, with my fingers, wiped away the streaked tears that were trailing down it.
‘I promise,’ I said. ‘I promise on my life that nothing will ever happen to them.’
She smiled. She bowed her head, and when she looked up she was smiling. ‘I wanted to stay here, Ernesto… in California. I wanted the children to feel sunshine on their faces and swim in the sea-’
She stifled her tears and was quiet for some moments.
She looked up at me again.
I felt my heart like a dead fist in my chest.
‘How long do we have?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know. They will tell me when they have a place for us.’
‘Not New York again, Ernesto… anywhere but New York, okay?’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Okay.’
We waited three months. The worst three months of my life. There was nothing for me to do. I was told to stay home, to be ‘a family man’, and Ten Cent would call me to make arrangements when things were in place.
Three times, seated there at the window in the front of the house, I saw squad cars pass by slowly. I imagined they knew who I was, where they could find me, and they were just waiting for me to leave the house so they could follow me and make their arrest.
They never did. I left the house very infrequently, and by the time November arrived, by the time Ten Cent finally called and told me where we were going, I believed that I could not have stood another day in that place.
Angelina was the soul of patience. She became the perfect mother, investing every ounce of her attention, every second of her time, in the children. I watched her, I envied her ability to lose herself entirely in what she was doing, but I also realized that this was the only way she could cope with the situation I had created. I could have given her such a life, but I brought her to this. I felt bad for that, guilty, and I cursed the day I had been so eager to please Don Calligaris. He had said to kill one, but I had killed them both. That was my mistake, and I paid for it dearly.
‘Chicago,’ the voice said at the end of the line. ‘Don Calligaris is moving to Chicago and taking a large part of our operation there. He wants you to be there with him, you understand?’
‘I understand.’
‘You leave the day after tomorrow. Make your way out to O’Hare and I will meet you there.’
I said nothing.
‘Ernesto?’
‘Yes?’
Ten Cent smiled; I could hear it in his voice. ‘Tell Angelina to pack some warm things for the kids… Chicago is a fucking icebox this time of year.’ He laughed and hung up the phone. I stood there with the burring sound in my ear and a cold stone inside my heart.
TWENTY
‘We have nothing on the wife,’ Schaeffer said. ‘Not a single fucking thing.’
‘It’s been twenty-four hours,’ Hartmann replied. ‘Even you guys can’t expect miracles.’
‘And now we have two kids to find, not one. I cannot believe that with the most advanced, state-of-the-art security database systems in the world we cannot find any evidence of this woman having existed.’
‘But you’re going off one name,’ Hartmann said. ‘And who’s to say that the name he’s using is actually his real name?’
Schaeffer didn’t reply. He looked awkward for a moment. The most complex and advanced security database in the world was only as effective as the information given to it. Bullshit in, bullshit out – wasn’t that the technical phrase?
Woodroffe stood up from the table in the main office. It was five of seven. Perez had been returned to the Royal Sonesta a little after six. Hartmann was aware of the fact that he had an appointment to keep with the man.
‘So we get our answer tonight,’ Schaeffer said, and in his voice was a tone of philosophical resignation. Though it had not been discussed further, there was no doubt in Hartmann’s mind that they were all fully aware of what that answer would be. Perez was not interested in a trade-off, and that had never been his purpose. It was that simple. Perez was here to make himself heard, and right now it seemed the whole world was listening.
‘You guys are now looking into Ducane’s involvement in these things, right?’ Hartmann asked, and – truth be known – he believed he was asking it merely to stir up dissent.
Schaeffer shook his head. ‘Transcripts of everything Perez has said have been passed directly to the attorney general and the director of the FBI. It’s their decision, not ours. Like I said before, and I’ll say again, we are here to get the girl, not to involve ourselves in the comings and goings of corrupt politicians.’
‘Allegedly corrupt politicians,’ Hartmann said, his tone a little sarcastic.
Schaeffer nodded. ‘
‘Whaddya reckon?’ Hartmann asked.
‘About Ducane?’ Schaeffer shook his head. ‘I’ve been too long in the FBI to be surprised about anything, Mr Hartmann… and that’s all I’m gonna say on the matter.’
‘So where from here?’ Woodroffe asked.
‘I go have some dinner with Perez,’ Hartmann said. ‘I hear him tell me how we can go stick our proposal up our collective asses, and then I go back to my hotel and get some sleep. I got a busy day tomorrow.’
Woodroffe shook his head and sighed.
‘Let’s get it done then,’ Schaeffer said, and rose from his chair.
‘Filet mignon,’ Perez said, and indicated a chair at the table in his room at the Sonesta. ‘It appears they have done a serviceable job. I shall perhaps recommend this hotel to some of my friends.’
Hartmann removed his jacket and took a seat at the table. A cloth had been laid, there were candles, warm plates already in place and on a trolley beside them covered dishes emitted a number of very pleasant aromas.
Perez remained standing as he served dinner, as he offered vegetables, as he poured the wine, and when he too was seated he unfolded a napkin and laid it across his lap.
‘I have considered your proposal,’ he said quietly, ‘and though I am in no way ungrateful for the concern of the attorney general and the director of the FBI about my welfare, I have decided, after long consideration, that I shall decline their offer.’
‘Long consideration?’ Hartmann asked. He smiled knowingly. ‘You knew the answer to the question before it was even asked.’
Perez shrugged, ‘Perhaps my consideration of the proposal served no other purpose than to enable us to spend a little time together this evening, Mr Hartmann. We are both in the best company we can find at this
