Richard House - The Kills

‘And he is safe?’

‘He is staying at a hotel. I think the hotel is very safe.’

‘And the man he is looking after?’

‘I think he is safe also. Now.’

‘Is he very ill?’

‘Yes, he is seriously ill.’

‘And they don’t know who he is?’

‘They have an idea, which makes his recovery important.’

‘Who do they think he is?’

‘They think he is a contractor from Iraq. A man called Stephen Sutler.’

Tomas admits he’s heard the name. He looks puzzled. ‘There was news recently, I think?’

Rike nods and admits it’s confusing. ‘There are Sutlers everywhere. Henning doesn’t see how it’s possible.’ She explains to Tomas how the man is supposed to have walked across the desert, from Iraq to Syria, and how he’s responsible for millions in lost money, for absconding with reconstruction funds. The internet sings with ideas. There are fan sites, and sites which condemn him. Others see him as part of a global anti-capitalist struggle. While everyone argues over his identity, none, yet, know that he will shortly be brought to Cyprus.

Rike stops herself. ‘I didn’t say that. I’m not supposed to know.’

Tomas says it doesn’t matter. He won’t mention it to anyone. There isn’t anyone he could tell. ‘So I think the information is technically still a secret.’

Rike has embarrassed herself.

Tomas assures her. ‘I didn’t hear a thing.’ Information like this will pass around quickly. Too many people are involved. She shouldn’t worry.

‘Henning is sceptical. One man can’t be responsible for such a thing.’ Once you know the name, she says, you’ll find it everywhere. Henning met the man who was killed by a train in Rome. He met him in Istanbul. So Henning is involved in all of this, tangentially of course.

Tomas isn’t to say a word. He must promise. Not one word.

* * *

Once the lesson is complete Rike again has the feeling that Tomas would like her to leave as quickly as possible.

His vocabulary, she says, is exemplary. Today he has managed to switch between tenses and had no difficulty expressing complex and conditional ideas. In three sessions he has become infinitely more confident. In fact — if she’s honest — she’s not entirely sure why he needs these lessons.

Tomas smiles at the question and says that he’s mostly interested in conversation.

Rike, uncertain that he has completely understood her, states carefully, ‘It would help if you could tell me what you want from these sessions. Rosaria said that you asked for me directly?’

Tomas shakes his head. ‘No. I asked for a new teacher. I think she misunderstood me.’ He opens his hands, a little apologetic. ‘My problem isn’t vocabulary, but practice. Conversation.’

And there it is, a simple misunderstanding. The answer is disappointing. Rike sits a little forward and asks if she can look at his notebook. She senses Tomas’s reluctance, but he hands over the small notebook. She finds the pages he was referring to, the notes on his neighbours are almost word for word what he has told her. The discussion is anticipated, studied, rehearsed. Aware that she is being watched she tries not to react and becomes unconfident about her expression. Her face is a little flushed. ‘See. What you are doing is good, but I’m not sure what you want from me exactly?’

‘I want you to correct what I’m saying.’

Rike holds the pages open.

‘You’re managing this by yourself. Is there something specific you want me to help with?’

‘I need to practise speaking.’

She closes the book and hands it back. Still unclear. ‘But you speak very well. Very little of what you say needs to be corrected. What you need is practice with a variety of people so you can gain confidence, pick up small details, colloquialisms.’ Rike points to the balcony. ‘Everything you’re asking for you’d get from an advanced class, from being around native speakers. I’m very happy with the sessions,’ she says, ‘I only want to be sure that you are as well.’

Tomas shakes his head and becomes silent.

Rike apologizes, she can’t read his response, not sure what the issue is she picks up her bag and says that she should go, and maybe he should think about what he wants.

Tomas walks with her to the door. ‘Unless I have something specific to do, something I can’t avoid, I don’t go out,’ he says.

His expression, flat, matter of fact, surprises her, and she realizes that this is the crux of the matter.

‘You don’t go out?’

‘Unless there is something specific I have to do.’

Can’t or don’t — there are different intentions behind these words. She wants to know how he manages the café, how he speaks with Christos?

‘I don’t like to go out.’ Tomas closes his eyes for a moment.

Rike suddenly understands that what she had taken for a holiday isn’t a holiday at all, but some kind of recuperation. Now embarrassed, she bows her head and apologizes. ‘I’m sorry. You don’t need to explain anything.’

Tomas opens his hands. The gesture is genuine, intimate. ‘I have to decide the kind of work I want to do. I have to decide if I should continue or if I should change. And if I decide to change then I need to think about what that change might be.’ Tomas folds his arms, his face up and expression open. ‘I know that what I’m doing right now doesn’t work. But I don’t know anything else.’ The man straightens up. ‘Most of what I do, I do because I have to. Not because I choose to. And if you do that for long enough then you get to an age where you think there isn’t anything else you can do. I have to give this a lot of thought. I’m thinking seriously that this is the right time to make a change.’

‘How can you decide if you can’t go out?’

‘It isn’t that I can’t go out. I choose not to. I need a reason. Something to do.’

‘If I set you an assignment, to go to a museum for example?’

‘Then I would go.’ If this is what she wants, Tomas agrees, he’ll do this. ‘I had another story for you today. I meant to tell you about what happened here. They had something happen here a couple of years ago. An incident which involves the basement.’

They agree to take this up later. Rike wants to go, and is happy to leave now the subject has changed. This is an easier place to stop.

4.2

Rike walks back to the apartment with two things on her mind: cats and Tomas Berens. Cats because she has to walk along the small street beside the hotel development, and Tomas because she wants to challenge him, or help him, but has no idea for the moment how she might achieve this. The sun is pleasantly warm. She walks through the narrow street, a little ashamed of her clumsiness during the session. Tomas, in his way, has let her know that he is managing some kind of problem — who knows what — and she’s trying hard not to think of him as someone damaged or vulnerable.

Rike checks the road to make sure there are no dead cats, and finds, happily, no cat, but a new bag of cat food. Again, the bag is slit open. She picks it up, thinking this is another plan to lure cats out into the open, and comes into the apartment through the back entrance, and notices a smell, which could, just might be, jasmine.

Isa stands at the kitchen counter. Legs braced slightly apart. In front of her a spread of oranges. Rike’s job is to keep her busy until Henning returns. And for god’s sake keep her away from the television. Don’t let her watch the news.