“A gold Buddha?” Miriam’s surprise seemed real and Fermín’s silence in keeping with his style.
The Count averted his gaze, and lit up.
“You didn’t know? A Buddha more than a thousand years old weighing in at thirty pounds of gold? A statue worth several million dollars?”
“I didn’t know, no, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she denied, her eyelashes fluttering for a reason the Count couldn’t pin down: fear, confusion, or disappointment, perhaps. The policeman tried to be credulous and believe the woman to be in nervous shock at the confiscated fortune he’d told her about. But he pulled the rug…
“Miriam, I can’t believe you didn’t know. Please, stop telling me lies; I can’t stand liars, and even less those who play me for a sucker.”
“But I didn’t know…” she insisted, tears about to fall from her eyes, as she tried to get her brother’s attention. “What’s this man talking about, Fermín? What Buddha is it?”
“Tell her, Fermín,” suggested the Count, and the man glared: his eyes firing classic sparks of hatred as he said, “It must be something worth a lot of money that your idiot husband wanted to take out of Cuba. But I didn’t know what it was or where it was.”
“Do you think I’m going to believe that?”
Fermín bared his fangs once again and seemed to recover some of his poise.
“You can think whatever you want, but that’s the truth: I never found out what it was or where it was… I’ve just found out from you.”
“My God, a gold Buddha, gold…” whispered Miriam, but the Count preferred to scrutinize the man and thought he might be telling the truth. It would be in keeping with his character and that of his partners if Miguel had kept his secret to the end, as the best defence against a possible betrayal that might snatch his fortune away. But any excuse was likely from those professional liars, he told himself, fearing now that neither was Miguel Forcade’s murderer and that the case might be slipping from his grasp once more. Then he decided to change tactic, hoping he might glean a grain of truth.
“Let’s see,” he suggested, looking from one to the other, until his gaze settled on Fermín. “If you didn’t know what your brother-in-law was after in Cuba and you didn’t kill him, you are free of any charges. It is no crime to plan a secret exit from the country. And as for you, Miriam, if you didn’t know about the gold Buddha either and you simply accompanied your husband to Cuba, you haven’t done anything heinous either and you can go and cry in Miami as soon as all this is cleared up. But listen for a moment: if you want me to believe this, you will need to have something really convincing to tell me and I don’t think either of you is about to spill that kind of story, or are you?”
“When Miguel stayed in Spain, the idea was that my sister and I would leave later in a boat. I was to find the money to buy the motor, the launch and everything we needed and Miguel would send a letter telling me where he had hidden something that would make the three of us rich. And although Miguel was always a tricky customer, I knew he wasn’t going to pull a fast one: we’d known each other a long time, we’d worked together and he’d trusted me enough to tell me that he was going to stay in Madrid when he came back: and that was something so serious most people wouldn’t even tell their shadow; not even Miriam could have known. But it was then I had that problem and was jailed. Afterwards Miguel told me he almost went mad when he found out, although he had no choice but to wait and what he did was to take Miriam out of Cuba with a visa he’d got from Panama. As you can imagine, the ten years I was inside felt like five hundred, because I knew that if I’d been outside, if I’d got to the United States, I could be living the life of a millionaire, because whatever Miguel wanted to get out of Cuba had to be worth millions: you can’t imagine some of the things that passed through his hands, and whatever it was must have been much more valuable than anything he had in his house. In order to resist without going mad I spent ten years doing exercises and behaving like a model prisoner, so as to earn the right to a reduction in my sentence, until they finally released me three months ago. Then I called Miguel and he told me that as soon as they gave him the humanitarian visa he’d requested he’d get on a plane and come to help me organize my departure again. And that’s what he did. When he got here we sat underneath the oleander in the patio of his house and he told me he’d brought enough money for me to buy a launch and for us to leave Cuba with whatever it was that was worth millions. I asked him what it was and he told me it was something very close by and worth at least five million dollars, but he couldn’t tell me until everything was ready. It was then I suggested we find a third person to help. I explained that as I’d been inside and because of the precautions being taken after they’d caught police involved in drug trafficking and more besides, I might not have much freedom of movement and it would be safer if someone else was responsible for getting the launch, motor and whatever else was needed. On top of that, I reminded him it was a risky business crossing the Straits of Florida alone, however good the boat. He was convinced by the argument about crossing the sea solo, and although he didn’t like the idea of involving somebody else we reached an agreement: the value of what I was going to take out would be shared out at fifty per cent for him, forty per cent for me and ten per cent for the man I contracted. If what he told me was true, I’d still be getting some two million dollars and I wasn’t bothered about giving half a million to someone else. We were agreed and I told him who I was thinking of: Adrian Riverón… I knew they’d had their quarrels a time ago; I was also sure he was the only person I could trust, because I’ve known him almost since he was born, and he was Miriam’s first boyfriend. Also, as a lad he’d been a rower and he’d lived for a while in Guanabo, he knew something about sailing and had friends on the beach who would get him a good yacht. Miguel really didn’t like the idea, because of the rivalries over Miriam, and Miguel was always jealous of Adrian. And there was also the business of the dirty tricks he played on Adrian to get him out the way when they were working in Planning. You know about that? Well, Miguel wrote a report saying Adrian was a Catholic and wasn’t to be trusted. And a statement like that, signed by him, was enough to disappear anyone in this country. They sent him off to Moa, as was the custom then, to be purified among the workingclass. And he knew Adrian hadn’t forgotten that, as he hadn’t forgotten Miriam either. Precisely for that reason I even thought if he was given the possibility of being near her, in the United States, Adrian would be up for anything, because he was head over heels in love with her and because he never got another important post despite being a respected economist… Well, it wasn’t easy, but Miguel finally accepted Adrian could be the third man in the plan and we agreed I’d talk to him. I explained to Adrian what we wanted to do and he accepted, without a moment’s hesitation. He said he knew people in Guanabo who could sell him what we needed for us to leave Cuba and we agreed to see Miguel at Adrian’s house last Thursday night… But something very strange happened: we’d agreed nine o’clock and Miguel didn’t appear then or ever. As he’d told Caruca he was going to see Gómez de la Peña, I called Gómez just after nine and the old man told me Miguel had left his house at around half past seven, saying he was off to see a relative of his about an important matter. Although it was late, we thought he’d arrive any minute, but he still hadn’t appeared at ten thirty and that was when I rang Caruca again and she told me Miguel hadn’t come home. You know, it was as if the earth had swallowed him up… although later we discovered it was the sea that had devoured him. Are you convinced by my story? Or do you still think that I killed him because I already knew about the Buddha and was such a stupid shit that I left it where he’d hidden it, in spite of the risk you or someone like you would end up finding it? Just think for a moment, Lieutenant, because I don’t consider myself a sucker either…”