‘Who was that?’
‘You have to ask? Jan, of course. She had no secrets from herself, or anyone else.’
I thought about that; she had none from me, of that I was sure. ‘And Prim?’ I asked her. ‘What about her?’
‘That, my dear, you have to find out for yourself.’
There was a bustling beside us, as the waiter arrived with our Catalan salads. I was grateful for the interruption. Susie hadn’t made me angry, but she had made me feel very uncomfortable. I’m not a great Burns student, but I do remember the line about seeing ourselves as others see us. I had a feeling that what she was saying was all too true.
We didn’t speak as we ate our starters, not until the waiter had taken away our plates. ‘I’m sorry,’ Susie began.
I held up a hand to stop her. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I feel like you’re taking me on a journey of self-discovery here. I might as well carry on till the train gets to the station.’
My mobile rang as I spoke. It was Fortunato. ‘Yes, Ramon,’ I answered, to let Susie know who was calling.
‘I have found out about your friend’s company,’ he told me. ‘It is in the official register, okay. The holders of the shares are the people you mentioned, Hickok and Chandler; there is a third also, but he has only one share; a formality, you understand.’
‘I understand. He’s a lawyer and his name’s Josep Toldo.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘We’ve been to the bank, and had a talk with the manager.’
‘Ahh. Yes, Senor Toldo is the administrator of the company. He has an office in Girona; I have heard of him before, some good, mostly bad. If you are wanting to set up a business here, it is as well that you have some Spanish involvement. If you want someone who will not ask too many questions, you want someone like him.
‘What did the manager tell you?’
‘He said that the money’s gone, and the account’s closed. It was moved on more than a month ago. You should find out whether Toldo knew that it was being transferred. If he did, he could be in trouble.’
‘Maybe. I would like that.’
‘What else did you find out about the company?’ I asked.
‘There was very little to find. I had my people ask around in the town of Ullastret, and in La Bisbal. Toldo and the two Englishmen approached a farmer last year and offered him ten million pesetas, merely to explore the possibility of building a golf course on his land. He thought they were crazy, so he said okay.
‘They brought designers along, and they brought another Englishman, a Mr Murphy, to meet him. Everything was very good, very enthusiastic, only they did not pay him the money. He had to ask Toldo for it, but eventually a transfer was made, last summer. That was the last he heard; there has been no digging, nothing; no visit from the people in the town council who approve these things, or from the Catalan government, which has a say also. This is not surprising, because no plans have ever been put forward.’
‘I get it,’ I said. ‘They showed the investors the agreement with the farmer, and the model of the project. They set up an account in a small unsophisticated bank in Barcelona and lodged the invested capital, six million sterling. Then they moved it on, and spun a story about the project being delayed by an archaeological investigation, to keep the investors at bay for a while.’
‘You are sure of all this?’
‘Yes. Someone knew that Ms Gantry, my friend, was coming out to visit the development. Last night they tried to stop her.’
‘How?’
‘That doesn’t matter right now. I’ll give you the detail another time. But it does tell me that at least one of these guys is still around.’
‘Then the sooner I pull Toldo in the better. I need your friend to make a formal complaint, Oz, but we can do that later.’
‘Sure. I’ll bring her to your office in Girona tomorrow.’
I looked across the table as I put the phone back in my pocket. ‘There you are, kid. The wheels of justice are in motion.’
‘That’s good. Did you say I get to meet the nice policeman tomorrow? That’s a dubious pleasure, after the way Prim described him when she told me about him.’
‘What d’you mean?’
She fluttered her eyelashes at me. ‘Well, dear, you know how we girls spill the beans to each other when we start. . Or maybe you don’t.
‘I got the impression that she was pretty smitten by him; I know that she was really hurt when he left her to go back to his wife. He sounded to me like a bit of an arsehole all round. I mean, the least he could have done was stick around until after the termination.’
‘You what?’ I couldn’t stop myself reacting.
‘Ahh,’ Susie exclaimed, with a hint of something I couldn’t place, ‘she didn’t tell you that bit. I guess that’s why the guy’s still your friend. Apparently, when she told him she was pregnant, he insisted that she had an abortion; he more or less arranged it, in fact. And as soon as the appointment was made, he packed up and went back to his wife.’
The whole story must have been written on my face. ‘She didn’t tell you that much, did she?’
‘No. She told me that he still doesn’t know about the kid. She also told me that he was pretty mediocre under the duvet as well,’ I added, bitterly.
‘I don’t know about that. She never told me otherwise, I promise you. And I can understand why she said what she did. She probably thought that if she’d told you the whole story you’d have filled him in.’
‘Who, me?’
‘Yes you!’ she gave a short, explosive laugh, which startled the lady at the next table again. ‘Mike told me once about the time you and your wrestler pal were attacked by a couple of hoodlums in London, and what happened to them.
‘Knowing that, if I’d been in Prim’s shoes, I’d have been worried about your reaction.’
‘Who me?’ I repeated.
‘You really don’t know yourself at all, do you?’
‘I guess not.’
I shook my head, picked up the Vina Sol, and filled my glass to the top. ‘Congratulations,’ I mumbled, ‘you’ve just earned yourself a shot at driving the Mercedes.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Susie, with no hint of remorse that I could pick up. ‘I have spoiled your lunch, haven’t I?’ She lifted up my hand from the table, and kissed it, quickly. ‘I didn’t mean to, really.’ I yanked it back from her and turned my head away, to stare out of the panoramic window of the cafeteria.
‘Enough,’ I snapped, then changed my mind. ‘No, not quite. Is there anything else you know about Prim, or about me, for that matter?’
‘I know she loves you. I know you think you love her.’
‘Think?’
‘You love you, Oz. Let’s face it, you’re a fucking egomaniac.’
I turned back towards her. ‘And you’re a fucking poison dwarf, you know that?’ I think I was probably snarling. ‘I should have let that guy bounce your head off the floor a couple more times before I came downstairs.’
She smiled at me, sweetly. ‘Yeah. But I’m really getting you hard, am I not?’
She was right.
I left my Vina Sol on the table. All of a sudden I wanted to drive back myself. And so I did: fast.
If there’s a speed record for the autopista A7, I must have broken it. There were times when I was fairly certain that the Merc’s wheels were clear of the ground. I looked at Susie’s knuckles as we swung into the exit lane at Sortida Five. Her fists were clenched tight, and they were bone white.
We hadn’t spoken all the way from Barcelona, and we stayed silent for the rest of the journey home. As I drew the car to a halt in the driveway and pulled on the brake, Susie jumped out, and ran to the front door. I was perverse enough to go to the back, and unlock that.
She followed me into the kitchen, but I kept on walking, round and up the wide stairs. Still she followed me. I stopped at her bedroom door; it was open. I picked her up, carried her inside and threw her on to the bed. She tore at my clothes, I tore at hers; we broke the speed record for getting naked as well.
Foreplay was a type of golf as far as we were concerned. I covered her and we took each other as hard and as roughly as we could, but not quickly, pulling back just in time, slowing, stopping even, until we knew we were both ready. When we did let go, it was perfect; savage, screaming, exultant; I thought I would never stop as I came into her.