“You … set the house on fire?”
“The police and the firemen would have to come. And I was pretty sure that he had all kinds of guns and ammunition—explosives—in the house. And there was so much of what seemed to be cocaine in there, Natal. No matter how corrupt some officers might be, they’ll be forced to bring him in.”
As she watched him, he felt as if he were composed of stone—as if the world stood still while he awaited her reaction.
To his amazement and relief, she smiled slowly and then laughed. “Oh, I can only imagine. Amato—he will be furious. He will be explosive himself.”
“But behind bars,” River said.
“He’ll find a way to come after you.”
“He may already be coming after me.”
She looked at him gravely. “The men in the blue suits? But I thought you believed that they were the police?”
“I have never seen a uniformed officer paying the least attention to me,” River explained. “Yes, they may be the police. But they may also be Tio Amato’s men. Whichever—I believe it’s best to be gone from Rio for a while. If Amato isn’t already after me, for stabbing his man in the restroom, then he doesn’t know who I am—by name, at least, though, of course, the goons I knocked out have seen my face. But, they don’t have a name to go with my face so it will be hard for them to know who I am and to follow me. I pay cash for everything—I can’t be traced by credit cards. I don’t use a computer and I don’t have a cell phone.”
“I have a computer.”
“But you use it to write—to express the joy and freedom of life and your thoughts. You’re not online talking about people every day.”
“I have an e-mail account,” she said, worried. “But I don’t think that means much. I don’t do Twitter.” She smiled and flicked a dismissive hand in the air. “I don’t even have Facebook.”
He chuckled a little. “Neither do I.” His laughter faded and he looked at her earnestly. “I’m so sorry, Natal. I never meant to lie to you. And, I swear, I wasn’t spying on you, and I didn’t go to the house because I had to prove that I was—or could be—tougher than Reed Amato. I just couldn’t let him get away with it. Natal, forgive me. I know that I saw his men dump one body. I couldn’t let him kill another man.”
She lifted a hand and cupped his cheek and jaw, meeting his eyes. “No, you couldn’t let him kill another man. He is all right, this man?”
“I believe so.”
“I’m sure they came to put the fire out quickly,” she said. She paused and looked at her bruised hand. “Well! We are both fugitives, right?”
“Just like Bonnie and Clyde,” he said.
The train jolted, throwing them together. He felt the soft pressure of her body against his. She giggled, steadying herself on him.
“Just like Bonnie and Clyde—except that they didn’t fall off a train.”
No, they went down in a hail of bullets, River thought, wishing he hadn’t.
No one was going to shoot them down. Reed Amato would go to jail. Whoever the men in the blue suits were, they hadn’t been on the platform. No one knew his name—and no one knew which train he’d chosen to take. Or, for that matter, if he’d take it all the way north, or get off early.
She was with him.
He allowed himself to smile.
“Let’s find a seat, then, huh?”
Taking her hand, he moved deeper into the car.
The train was crowded. He found a seat toward the front where they could sit facing forward.
There was one woman in the opposite seat, looking at them.
Natal smiled at her and brushed a lock of hair from her eyes.
The woman didn’t smile back. She looked at them both oddly, muttered something, and rose to change her seat.
River thought that she’d seen Natal’s bruised and reddened knuckles. Maybe she was afraid that Natal would pounce on her.
That was fine; he couldn’t help it if the woman wanted to sit elsewhere.
“Grouchy old woman,” Natal said.
“Well, I guess … maybe years of other people being judgmental and rude have made her old and grouchy,” River said.
“Maybe she works for a mean employer,” Natal said. “Yes, poor thing. That’s it—her husband died, leaving her with five little children. And she has to work so much … and her oldest daughter went off with the first man she met. A stranger who did not love her—but who promised her the world.”
“Then the daughter came back with a baby in her arms and the poor old woman has six people to support and she scrubs floors all day,” River suggested.
“Go on,” Natal encouraged him.
“I think she has a job in a shop during the day. And rich people come and treat her very badly and tourists take apart all the clothing on the shelves and throw it all over everywhere,” Natal said. “And then, to support everyone, she has to have another job at night—that’s when she has to scrub all the floors.”
Natal nodded. “That’s it—of course. She’s put up with wretched people all day and they are rude and careless with her. Then she has to scrub floors. And then, when she goes home, the children are all hungry—and squabbling. Terrible. We should feel sorry for her.”
“Poor, poor woman,” River said.
Natal turned to him, lacing her fingers through his. “People can behave so badly to one another.” She paused. “Would that they had taken pictures or videos of Reed Amato when the house was ablaze and the firemen and police came.”
“I’d have liked to see his face.”
“Me too.” Her smile faded slightly. “I will just be glad when some time has passed—when we don’t have to be afraid.”
“I’m sorry.”
“But it couldn’t be any other way—you couldn’t watch them kill a man.”
“No.”
They were silent for a time.
“One day, you’ll meet Beluga,” River murmured, stroking Natal’s hair. “He’s a kind man, one of the best friends I have.”
“I would like to meet him.”
“And my friend Theo. He’s a scrounger, but he’s always cheerful.”
“I’d love to meet Theo too,” Natal assured him. “In the meantime, where are we going?”
River dug through his backpack and produced his map.
Natal studied it over his shoulder. “There are so many places that I haven’t visited in my own country. At some point, we must go to Punta Negra—the beach is amazing. It’s where the surfers go. Do you surf?”
He laughed. “Um—no. But that doesn’t mean I’m not ready to try.”
She snuggled against him. “Yes, the beach at Punta Negra. We must go there.” She broke away and looked up at him. “But we are on the train headed to Natal. What made you pick Natal? Because it’s north?”
“Because it’s your name. A place called Natal has to be beautiful.”
“Perhaps I was named for Natal.”
“You don’t know?”
She shrugged. “Perhaps it was a name in our family history. I don’t know.”
Then she rested her head on his shoulder.
As the hour grew later, River realized they hadn’t slept much.
“You tired?” he asked her softly.
“Mm,” she murmured.
“Me too.”
“I like you beside me.”
“Do I make a good pillow?”