Cocaine Nights

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‘Now and then.’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t tell Father. How is the old chap?’

‘We’ve moved him to a smaller nursing home. He doesn’t recognize me now. When you get out of here you must see him. I think he’d remember you.’

‘I never liked him, you know.’

‘He’s a child, Frank. He’s forgotten everything. All he does is dribble and doze.’

Frank leaned back, smiling at the ceiling as his memories played across the grey distemper. ‘We used to steal – do you remember? Strange that – it all started in Riyadh when Mother fell ill. I was snatching anything I could lay my hands on. You joined in to make me feel better.’

‘Frank, it was a phase. Everyone understood.’

‘Except Father. He couldn’t cope when Mother lost control. He started that weird affair with his middle-aged secretary.’

‘The poor man was desperate.’

‘He blamed you for my stealing. He’d find my pockets full of candy I’d pinched from the Riyadh Hilton and then accuse you.’

‘I was older. He thought I could have stopped you. He knew I envied you.’

‘Mother was drinking herself to death and no one was doing anything about it. Stealing was the only way I could make sense of how guilty I felt. Then she started those long walks in the middle of the night and you’d go with her. Where exactly? I always wondered.’

‘Nowhere. We just walked around the tennis court. Rather like my life now.’

‘Probably gave you a taste for it. That’s why you’re nervous of putting down roots. You know, Estrella de Mar is as close to Saudi as you can get. Maybe that’s why I came here

He stared bleakly at the table, for the moment depressed by all these memories. Ignoring the policeman, I reached across the table and held his shoulders, trying to calm the trembling collarbones. He met my eyes, glad to see me, his smile stripped of irony.

‘Frank …?’

‘It’s all right.’ He sat up, brightening himself. ‘How is Esther, by the way? I should have asked.’

‘She’s fine. We split up three months ago.’

‘I’m sorry. I always liked her. Rather high-minded in an unusual way. She once asked me a lot of strange questions about pornography. Nothing to do with you.’

‘She took up gliding last summer, spent her weekends soaring over the South Downs. A sign, I guess, that she wanted to leave me. Now she and her women friends fly to competitions in Australia and New Mexico. I think of her up there, alone with all that silence.’

‘You’ll meet someone else.’

‘Maybe …’

The policeman opened the door and stood with his back to us, calling across the corridor to an officer sitting at a desk. I leaned over the table, speaking quickly. ‘Frank, listen. If Danvila can get you out on bail there’s a chance I can arrange something.’

‘What exactly? Charles?’

‘I’m thinking of Gibraltar …’ The policeman had resumed his watch over us. ‘You know the special skills there. This whole business is preposterous. It’s obvious you didn’t kill the Hollingers.’

‘That’s not quite true.’ Frank drew away from me, the defensive smile on his lips again. ‘It’s hard to believe, but I am guilty.’

‘Don’t talk like that!’ Impatient with him, I knocked his cigarettes to the floor, where they lay beside the policeman’s feet. ‘Say nothing to Danvila about the Gibraltar thing. Once we get you back to England you’ll be able to clear yourself.’

‘Charles … I can only clear myself here.’

‘But at least you’ll be out of jail and safe somewhere.’

‘Somewhere with no extradition treaty for murder?’ Frank stood up and pushed his chair against the table. ‘You’ll have to take me with you on your trips. We’ll travel the world together. I’d like that …’

The policeman waited for me to leave, carrying my chair to the wall. Frank embraced me and stood back, still smiling his quirky smile. He picked up his cigarettes and nodded to me.

‘Believe me, Charles, I belong here.’