Erik points at the phone. “It’s possible he might give in, now that he knows how serious the situation really is. Joanna, don’t throw away your chance of safety because of spite. Or our chance, even.”
I understand Erik’s thought process, but he doesn’t understand my father’s. Giving in just wasn’t in his programming. Not at any price. “Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” I say. “If he’s worried about me, he’ll unblock the accounts, right? That’s what any other loving father would do in his position. But I’ll bet anything that he won’t.”
I let the phone fall onto the bed. The feeling I had a few moments ago, of having won the battle, even if it had been an empty victory, has now disappeared. “We’ll somehow have to manage without money. I’ve no idea how, but—”
“No, we don’t have to do,” Erik interrupts me. “You have money, don’t you remember? You threw it at my head the day before yesterday. Almost.”
My God, of course. The tapas cookbook. The twenty thousand euros. We had that much, except …
I look at Erik. “How are we going to get it?”
44
Yes, how are we going to get to the money?
The irony of the whole situation is hard to beat. Twenty thousand euros that could make the difference between life and death, just lying around in our house, in our very own kitchen. But the money might as well be lying around somewhere on the moon, for we have no chance whatsoever of getting our hands on it.
By now, Gabor’s people know that Joanna was in the house and that she isn’t there anymore. And they must assume she’s not going to be coming back, because she’s scared. Because she knows someone broke in. Are they still going to be lying in wait there? Or have they taken off?
In any case, there’s no way she can risk going there. The danger is far too great. And I’m dead, in their eyes, and need to stay that way if possible.
“I don’t know,” I say with frustration. “There’s absolutely no way we can go back to the house.”
Joanna starts chewing her lower lip. She always does that when there’s an important problem needing to be solved. There’s so much familiarity within that little quirk that, for a brief moment, it makes everything around us seem completely unreal.
But then her eyes widen, and I know she’s had an idea. “You’re right. There’s no way we can go back to the house. But what about if somebody else went to pick up the money for us?”
“Somebody else?” I echo, to give myself a bit of time to think. “That could work, maybe, but who did you have in mind? Besides, there’s still a risk Gabor’s people might be hanging around.”
“Ela.”
Ela. Of course. But a thought makes my euphoria evaporate the very next moment.
“It’s just that Ela thinks I’m dead.”
Joanna shrugs. “So we’ll have to fill her in. Or you can hide when she gets here.”
I don’t even need to consider that option. “No. If she’s going to be putting herself in danger for us, we’re not going to lie to her on top of it all. I already felt bad about doing that anyway.”
“Yes, you’re right. Once we explain the situation to her, she’ll understand that we had no other option. I’ll call her and tell her you’re still alive. And then—”
“No. Call her and tell her you’re in trouble and need the money. When she brings it here, I’ll be here as well and we can explain it to her together. OK?”
“OK. That’s probably best.” With one swift motion, Joanna leans forward and kisses me on the mouth. “Everything’s going to be all right. You’ll see, everything will be all right in the end.”
She already has her phone in her hand when something else comes to my mind. “Wait.” Joanna stops midmotion and looks at me with confusion.
“We have to think of something to make sure Gabor’s guys don’t intercept Ela when she arrives. I don’t really figure they’ll still be there, but you never know.”
Joanna quickly thinks. “The police?”
“What?”
“Just before Ela gets there, I’ll call the police for help saying I think someone’s breaking into my house. Ela will wait until after the officers have been in the house. Gabor’s people should have cleared off by then at the latest.”
That does sound like a good plan, but Joanna has overlooked something. “That’s not going to work. If you make a distress call saying someone’s breaking into your house, you’ll have to be there yourself. But if they ring the bell and nobody opens the door, they’re going to assume something happened to you. What are they going to do then?”
“Damn.” The disappointment is written all over her face. “They’ll break open the door and turn the whole house upside down. And then it’ll take them forever to leave again.”
“Exactly. Unless…” I’ve had another thought while she was echoing my misgivings. Something that could be the solution. “Unless you’re in another city, at a friend’s place. Say you got a call from an acquaintance of yours who drove past our house and saw some men hanging around. You’re worried; after all, I’ve been missing ever since the bomb attack, and you already spoke to the police a few days ago and told them you were scared.”
She thinks for a few seconds. “Right, that sounds plausible. And the story checks out, too.”
“And if Gabor’s people really are still hanging around the house, the police will pay them a nice, friendly visit.”
“OK. But I’m calling Ela first.”
“Please tell her to be careful. If she sees anyone she thinks is strange or suspect, she should leave at once.”
Joanna doesn’t turn the phone on speaker, but from her reactions and replies I can more or less figure out what Ela’s saying. The conversation only lasts a few minutes. At the end of the call, Joanna explains where we hid the spare key, then hangs up. “She’s seriously worried about me, and about you as well. And yes, she said of course she’ll get the money. It’s going to be a real shock for her when she sees you here.”
“Yes, but she’ll understand we didn’t lie to her without good reason.” I try to pass off my hope as conviction.
Joanna calls the police ten minutes later. She sounds confused and anxious, afraid and distraught. The act she puts on is so convincing that my thoughts briefly stray in an unwelcome direction. Only for a few seconds, then it stops. I know I can trust her, and that’s that.
When Joanna puts away the phone, a smile flashes over her face. “They’re going to check it out right away. My goodness, the poor guy on the phone was so worried about me, he wanted to deploy a hundred uniformed officers around my hou—around our house.”
“I’m still a bit worried about Ela. Hopefully everything will go well.”
Everything does go well. After about an hour, Ela calls back and lets Joanna know that she has the money and is on her way to Munich. Apparently the policemen only walked around the house for ten minutes and then left again. She didn’t notice anyone else. Another ninety minutes later, there’s a knock on the door of our room.