Trash - Andy Mulligan [41]
‘Of course you don’t. How could you? I’m explaining nothing, Olivia – the boy must have my Bible, and I think it will … oh God. I can’t … It might reveal where the seeds have been placed. If he is serious, and he must be serious! He would not … trifle – he wouldn’t write in that way unless it was true.’ The guard walked towards us. The old man didn’t notice. ‘It is accomplished was the phrase we used – it’s the words of Christ, yes? – the best translation. You read your Bible? In St John, at the crucifixion: It is finished – accomplished – and we used it, flippantly perhaps, referring to the finding of … the restoration of all that had been stolen. That is what we spent our lives hoping to accomplish. Do you see now?’
A light was dawning, even on me. I said: ‘Are you saying that José found some money—?’
He cut me off and turned to the guard. ‘I need my Bible, sir. It’s by my bed.’
The guard said, ‘It is the end of the visit, sir.’
‘I need my Bible, though,’ he repeated.
The guard nodded, but did not move. He said something in his own language again.
The old man said, ‘Please, I have to give my friends something. They have come all this way.’ He spoke in his own language, and the guard looked at him steadily. When the guard spoke again, it was brief and terse.
The old man looked at me. ‘He cannot help us now,’ he said. ‘He says that the visit is over, and nothing must leave the prison. But he says that he will help us. His name is Marco, and he says you have to go.’
‘Can’t we take the Bible?’ I said to the guard. ‘Where is it?’
‘He says he will give it to you later. His name is Marco, and I have told him that it’s important. He has promised. You have promised, haven’t you?’
The guard nodded, and ten minutes later I was outside the prison gate, with Gardo by my side. We waited, but nobody appeared with a Bible, and the guard had gone. He had spoken in a low voice to Gardo, and Gardo had spoken earnestly back, and they had shaken hands.
‘He said it is impossible to give it now,’ Gardo told me as we looked for a taxi. ‘But he says he will bring it to Behala.’
‘When?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You didn’t ask? What did you say to him? Is this … I don’t understand what’s going on. Will he bring it?’
‘He will want money,’ said Gardo softly. ‘I think he will want a lot of money, but he will bring it. This is very dangerous now, for you also. He could betray us.’
The following morning, many things happened, and this is the end of my story.
Gabriel Olondriz died peacefully in the prison hospital. His death was reported in many newspapers. I assume the prison guard – the one who had the old man’s Bible – realized at once that he had in his possession a precious relic of a famous old political soldier. That meant the price of the Bible could only go up. Perhaps he had overheard the old man, and understood part of the story. Perhaps he had simply seen the light in the gentleman’s eyes, and knew by instinct that there was a fortune to be made.
I never saw the guard again, because I finish here – things moved fast and I have never been so frightened.
When I got home, I went out to dinner as planned, and despite everything I’d seen, I slept well. In the early morning, however, three policemen came to my hostel, and I was asked to accompany them to a police station. My friend Mr Oliva had faxed everything to his security chief, and someone efficient put Gardo and me into some computer. I had given our Behala address, and that address must have tripped the alarm. Of course, Behala was under surveillance, and any activity from the dumpsite – anything strange – was going to ring bells and alert people.
They were there on my doorstep, three of them. I was terrified – I had no idea what to do. I got a message to Father Juilliard and he came straight away, thank God, and contacted my father. The police warned me that they would find out everything: I protected the boys as best I could, hoping to God they wouldn’t be taken again. I guess I was lucky that I had understood so little. I did not mention a Bible, and I said that Gardo