She took in what he’d said, feeling cheated and angry, thinking Lucas had used Brodsky as an excuse. She realized then that he’d acted on principle, and that was harder to take. Hers was a just cause and yet she was being shunned by a man whose life had been littered with unimaginable violence.
‘What’s the problem with Lucas?’
‘He’s run his course, that’s all. He wants out.’
The waiter came with the drinks. Dan put his nose into the glass and breathed in deeply, looking intoxicated by the smell alone when he surfaced. He took a sip then and said, ‘Wanna hear a story about how good Lucas was in his day?’
‘Okay.’
‘Right. About six years ago, Lucas got a contract on a guy called Cheval, or Chavanne. Chavanne, that’s it. Now he’d done a bit of work with Chavanne, liked him, so he called to say he was on his way, give him a chance to put his house in order. Chavanne asked if there was any way out, Lucas told him there wasn’t, Chavanne thanks him for the call. Then he takes a bucket-load of pills.’
‘Why didn’t he run?’
‘Because he knew Lucas would find him. And Lucas, cocky bastard, knew that too—that’s why he called.’ He took another sip of his drink. ‘Here’s the best bit, though. Whether Chavanne didn’t wanna do Lucas out of his fee, who knows, but he left a note saying something along the lines of, ‘L is coming. I’m a dead man. This is the better way out,’ that kind of thing. The French papers got a hold of it and loved it. Who was this mysterious L who could instill so much fear that a man would kill himself rather than face him? That was how good Lucas was—so good he didn’t even have to do anything. No wonder he turned so bloody existential.’
‘That’s an interesting story.’ She wondered if it was just that—a story, like the ones that Brodsky and Lucas had told her.
She didn’t have any way of knowing what was true, who could be trusted, who were her enemies. But she had to put her faith in someone and now that person was Dan, who’d been chosen by Lucas, who’d been chosen by her father, and even his whole life had been a lie to her. ‘What have you found out?’
‘Nothing much yet but I’m tracking a couple of potential contacts. That’s the problem for companies like Larsen Grohl: they have to employ people, and people are bloody unreliable. Give me another week or two and I’ll have something.’
‘Okay.’ She took a token sip from her drink and got up to leave. He looked taken aback that she was going already but she didn’t want to get to know him, not even as well as she’d known Lucas. ‘Please, stay and finish your drink.’
She signed the bill and walked back out into the lobby. She’d almost reached the elevator when she heard her name called behind her. It startled her, a flashback, but even when she identified the voice she felt uneasy. She turned to see him walking towards her.
‘Simon. What brings you here?’
‘Oh, just thought I’d stop by. Haven’t seen you in a few days.’
She glanced over to the entrance of the bar, smiling as she said, ‘Good. Shall we have coffee in the Thames Foyer? I’m growing tired of the bar.’
He laughed and as they walked, he said, ‘Are you okay? You look . . . I don’t know.’
‘I’m fine. You calling my name like that spooked me, that’s all. The gunman in Florence, he called out my name.’
‘Oh, God, I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be silly.’ They sat and had coffee and as they talked, she became more convinced that he had to be innocent, and was even tempted to ask him about Larsen Grohl, backing off only because she didn’t want him to think she’d been snooping around behind his back.
Even so, he seemed to pick up that something was wrong and asked her a couple of times if she was sure she was okay, saying finally, ‘You know, you’ve been living in a hotel for too long, that’s what it is. Bound to get you down, living in a place like this.’
‘Simon, there’s nothing wrong with me, honestly. And believe me, this is a great place to live.’
‘I’d still be happier if you came home and lived with us, just until you get a place of your own.’ He stood to leave, but said casually, ‘I called by on . . . Was it Tuesday? Thursday? They said you’d gone away for a couple of days.’
A silent alarm sounded but it was too late. She was panicked because she hadn’t covered her tracks, and more so because she couldn’t work out whether his inquiry was innocuous or a trap. Caught out in the open, she smiled a little and told him the truth.
‘I went to Budapest.’ Simon’s smile dropped and she seized the initiative, saying, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?’
‘No, not at all. Did you go alone?’
‘Yeah. Chris and I were gonna go there during the summer. I just decided to go on a whim. To be honest, I shouldn’t have bothered.’
He nodded, but in some subtle way she sensed that he didn’t believe her.