Thus bidden, Bob stood up, slipped off his shirt and the shorts which he wore over his trunks, sauntered around to the side of the house, and plunged into the small pool. He swam its short length, backward and forward, until he lost count, then floated for a while on his back in the sun. 'This time next year, maybe Jazz'll be in here with me.' They had decided that the baby would be taught to swim naturally, even before he could walk. Already, Sarah, a college swimming blue, had introduced him to the pool, and he had reacted with delight, taking his own buoyancy for granted, and splashing and kicking like a cygnet trying to fly.
Sarah broke into his daydream with her shout. 'Copper! Get back here!'
He hauled himself out of the pool at the deep end, and rejoined her at the table where she sat, hands clasped together on the closed notebook. There was an expression of satisfaction on her face which fell only a few points short of smugness.
`I think I've got it. Think I've built you something you can fly in. Sit down. I'll be back:, She disappeared into the house, and returned a few seconds later carrying a ball of string.
`Those marks on his arms could have been made by a rope.'
`How?'
`Like this. Stand up again. Ohh, you're still dripping!' She stepped round behind him with the string. The two guys; let's say they're waiting in the garage with their rope — which Gloria said she'd never seen before. She leaves. Santi comes out. They hear him turning on the lawn sprinkler. Then one of them makes a noise, maybe accidentally, probably deliberately. Santi goes into the garage. They grab him, and before he can do anything, they do this.'
She took the string and slipped it under and around Skinner's left arm, then across behind his back and around the right arm. She pulled sharply on the string, and he found that his arms were pinioned to his side.
`Okay, so far,' she continued. 'He's helpless, and they frog shy;march him over to beneath the maintenance pulley, where they've already set up the hanging rope and the chair. With this rope, they hoist him up on to the chair. He realises what's going to happen by now, and he's probably screaming bloody murder, but the villa is empty and isolated and there's only the dog to hear him. One of the guys holds him helpless; the other one slips the noose over his head, and kicks the chair away. They pull the other rope out from behind his back, then stand back and watch the poor man claw at the noose until he blacks out and dies. They take the other rope and they leave. Bingo.'
`How did they get there? How do they leave?'
`Very early, across the field behind the villa. They'd leave by the same way. Well?'
Skinner smiled at his wife. 'God, you're clever. With an instinct for planning like that, I hope you never get mad at me.' He nodded 'Yes, I'll buy it, all right. I want another word with Gloria. I'll do that this evening, then I'll take it to Arturo in the morning.'
`You'd better buy it. It's all you're gonna get.' She grinned at him wickedly. 'You could say your whole case is hanging on it!'
Forty
There was no answer to Bob's ring on the doorbell. A car, this time a battered Renault 5, stood in the driveway. The lawn sprinkler was on. A momentary shiver of apprehension rippled through him.
He walked around to the back of the house, treading softly. `Gloria?' he called.
The area around the pool was neat and tidy, a far cry from the shambles which Bob had found on his first visit six days earlier. A single empty glass lay on the poolside table.
And then he saw it: a dark shape submerged below the sunlit shimmers of the pool, near the deep-end ladder. He took three long steps forward and readied himself to dive. . only to pull himself up sharp as Gloria's head and shoulders broke the surface. She trod water and shook her hair loose from the side of her head, sending spray across Skinner's feet. Her eyes, previously squeezed tight together, opened first, then widened in surprise.
`Bob, how good to see you.' She caught hold of the poolside ledge with both hands, bracing her feet against the tiles beneath the surface. 'Would you like to swim?'
He smiled and shook his head. 'No, thank you. I've had some of that today. No, I just wanted another word about Santi. Come on out and I'll explain.' Suddenly he realised that she
was wearing only a bikini bottom. 'Oh, I'm sorry. Look, I'll.
She smiled at his momentary confusion. 'Bob, this is Spain. Just imagine that you're on the beach.' She swam over to the ladder and climbed out. 'Sit down, please. Would you like a drink?'
He nodded. 'Beer would be nice.' He looked after her as she walked towards the house. Dark-skinned, high-breasted, slim-waisted, moving with a natural elegance. Yes, he thought, a man's mind would have to be seriously unbalanced to leave a woman like that behind. He took a seat beside the table.
When she returned, she was wearing a short, pink towelling robe. Her wet black hair was pulled back and tied in a pony shy;tail. In her left hand she carried a bottle of Blanc Pescador, opened, and in the other a litre bottle of Damm Xibeca beer, glistening from the fridge, with a long glass upside down over its neck.
She handed the beer to Bob and refilled her glass on the table, as he unscrewed the Xibeca and poured himself a drink.
`So,' she said, settling into her chair. 'What was it that you wanted to ask me?'
He was about to answer, when a thought struck him. 'Hey, where's the dog?'
She smiled. Was that it? My father took Romario back to Tarragona with him. He likes dogs, too; he'll give him a good home.'
`That's fine. But, no, that wasn't my worry. Gloria, without being critical of my friends in the Guardia, because I understand the reasons for it, I'm still a bit concerned at the speed with which this whole thing has been put to rest.'
She nodded vigorously. `So am I. Santi didn't kill himself and, however it looks, I can't believe he was a thief. That money in the safe, that Ainscow has been allowed to keep. Can anyone say that it ever came from InterCosta? Could I not have said that it was mine, that I had won it in the Casino?'
`Not if you didn't. In any case, that's history now. The Guardia have given the cash to Ainscow, and you won't see it again. What d'you think of Ainscow?'
`I have nothing against him. Santi always got on well with him, in business. Officially they were partners, but Ainscow was the boss. A few times we went to dinner with him, and once or twice he had ladies here, from Scotland. Except I did not think they were ladies. I thought they were more like putas. . what would you say?'
`Tarts,' said Skinner. She nodded.
`Si, that is the word. Then I did not like Paul. . But, no, with InterCosta they had no problems that Santi ever spoke of, although he never spoke to me much of InterCosta — or any of his other business.'
Did he have other business?'
`Well, that may be too big a description for it. There were one or two friends that he would help, or advise. Not buyers, not holiday people.' She paused. 'You do not take offence at that, Bob?'
He smiled. 'Not at all. I am a holiday person, and for a while longer, too. What sort of friends?'
`Local people looking for homes, looking for places to rent. Tony and Maria who were here a week ago, they were two of them. Santi found them an apartment when they were getting married. There are people who come here and buy property, then prefer to rent it out long-term, through local agents to local families, rather than to put it on the holiday market. Okay, the weekly rent for holidays is high in the summer, but in the winter there is nothing. Overall, renting to local people is more solid income. They take better care of your property, too. Santi knew many of these owners, and people used to come to him. He never took money for helping them. But if they owned a bar, then there would be free drinks; or if someone's father owned a restaurant, then there would be a big piece off the bill; or if someone was an electrician. . A favour for a favour, you would say.'