John Matthews - Ascension Day

‘I understand, sir… and I’m glad you’ve come through to us now with this information.’

‘You gotta stop the execution! Larry didn’t do it! Get hold of the Warden or Governor or whatever it takes to stop it.’ Mack realized he was speaking too excitably again, almost garbling. He took a fresh breath to calm himself, his voice lower, more purposeful. ‘You’ll make sure t’do that? Get hold of the powers that be to stop this now wit’ Larry?’

‘Don’t worry. As soon as I get off the phone, I’ll pass your message directly to Warden Haveling. Get him to phone the Governor or whatever he needs to do to action it.’

‘Thanks… and thank God too that I remembered before it was too late.’

‘Yeah. Thank God you did.’

And as soon as he hung up his end, Glenn Bateson screwed up the piece of paper he’d written on and threw it in the bin a yard away.

‘Good to speak to you, Governor Candaret. Been a while.’

‘You too, Mr Roche. Always good to speak to the more illustrious among my constituents. Especially if they still support and vote for me.’

‘Oh, I do, Governor Candaret. I do. More than you can imagine.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ Both of them were old hats at this, thought Candaret. Both of them knowing that these smooth introductory gambits often meant almost the opposite of what was said. From the heart, Roche would have been more likely to say, ‘ You’re a slimy, jumped-up toad whose station in life has risen far above your God-given ability ,’ and, in truth, Candaret would probably have said much the same about Roche. But that would have got neither of them what they wanted from this conversation now, which brought Candaret sharply back to wondering what Roche did want by calling him now, the very day of Larry Durrant’s execution. He kept prodding with the niceties, as if he was keeping a rattlesnake at bay with a long stick. ‘Good indeed to hear. And what, pray, might I be able to do for you today, Mr Roche? Or is this just a social call?’

‘The latter, mostly. Though if I’d called earlier, it might have seemed otherwise.’ Roche swallowed, getting his breathing even. Getting the right words in place. ‘You see, if I’d called you before you made your recent clemency decision, it might have looked as if I was trying to pressure you to do the right thing regarding the murderer of my dear wife. But now that you’ve actually made that decision, I felt it only right to thank you for what I consider to be a good and true decision and not shirking from your duty. Making this call now when there’s no longer danger of it being misread — it can finally be taken in the spirit it’s intended. No more, no less than an honest thank you.’

‘I… I appreciate the sentiment. And thank you too — for not earlier bringing any undue pressure to bear. That was very thoughtful.’ Still prodding, though more gently now. Maybe Roche wasn’t as bad as he thought; maybe a heart did actually beat beneath that stone-dwarf shell.

‘And indeed there’s another reason, partly tied into that, why I didn’t call until now.’

‘Oh?’

‘I wondered if the names Amberley, Cleveton, Rossville and Leighgrove strike a bell with you?’

‘Yes, I… I seem to remember a couple of them from my campaign fund list.’ Candaret felt the first nervous twinge in his stomach at where this might be heading. He’d recognized the names far more than he’d made out. Four corporations that, between them, comprised almost half his Presidential campaign fund for the following year.

‘Obviously, I’ve had to go to some lengths to shield my name from being behind those corporations, for two reasons: firstly, the regulatory issues and awkward questions raised by too much funding coming from one source, and secondly, because of what I’ve already mentioned — you might have felt I was putting inadvertent pressure on you to make the right decision regarding my wife’s murderer.’

‘I… I understand.’ Though Candaret wasn’t sure any more that he did. He felt that twinge in his stomach bite deeper as he thought about what would happen if a journalist or Senate committee now uncovered the source of his funding; but, again, if Roche was now raising it as some sort of background threat or pressure, why hadn’t he done that earlier?

‘And that’s also why I didn’t tell you about my involvement in that funding until now. So that you wouldn’t misread it and see it as somehow connected with Durrant, feel unduly pressured. You could accept it with the good and honest grace with which it is intended: you have a good friend out there who would like nothing more than to see you in the White House.’

‘Why… why, thank you. I… I don’t know what to say.’ The first truth to pass Candaret’s lips since they’d started talking. He didn’t. His thoughts were still in turmoil with Roche’s revelation, in particular the timing.

And after a minute more of mutual fawning and treacly niceties as they said their goodbyes, in contrast to Candaret’s still bemused expression as he hung up, Roche beamed broadly.

He’d got exactly what he wanted from the conversation. Even if Ayliss did manage to crack Truelle and phoned at the eleventh hour, it was going to take a hell of a lot now to convince Candaret. Kiss goodbye to the White House and a truckload of regulatory problems one side; an elaborate, hard-to-believe story, the other. No contest.

Don’t pick up any hitch-hikers. Watch out for potholes. Street-lighting is poor or non-existent. And there’s a lack of signposts — particularly beyond Havana .

It was the same road all the way, but at a couple of angled junctions where the continuation was ambiguous, car-rental cautions one and four became at odds, because as soon as Jac stopped to clarify directions, he was asked for a lift. With only one in thirty owning a car and infrequent buses, it seemed that half of Cuba was waiting at street-corners and junctions for the next passing car to catch a lift.

‘ Pardone, no possible… problema urgente .’ One hand lifted apologetically as he sped away. And at the one stop he made thirty kilometres before Cienfuegos — to use the toilet and for a hastily grabbed coffee, Coke and ham roll — two dusty workmen looking for a lift took a step back when he had to be more insistent, shouting at them that a man could die unless he hurried. His bastardized Spanish scream of ‘ Muerte… muerte !’ making them worry for a second that he was threatening to kill them.

When he’d earlier tried Bob Stratton — twice at ten minute intervals — and there was no signal or dialling tone on his cell-phone, he realized that there were patches of poor reception on the open road. He finally got hold of him as he approached Cienfuegos, but it was mixed news: while Stratton had managed to get the internet cafe girl to pick out two possibles, one wasn’t at his last known address and the other, as soon as he opened his door in Long Beach, Stratton knew wasn’t the same man as on the internet cam.

‘So the only option left is to try and track down the first guy gone AWOL from his last known — Roland Cole. If I can find a credit card linked to Cole’s last address, then trace it to a new address, I might get lucky. But, you know, with only the few hours we got left now?’

‘I know.’ Crystal clear: tall order, don’t hold your breath. ‘Phone me if you get a break, or I’ll phone you. I’m suffering some connectivity problems here.’

Palms, sugar-cane, towering tobacco plants with fronds as high as two-storey houses — the scenery was spectacular, but most of it sped by in a patchwork blur as Jac’s speedo needle crept over 130 k.p.h. on every clear, flat stretch where he could get away with it, one eye peeled for traffic police.