Chapter 14

IVAN Hepworth, looking as confident as ever, sure of his welcome, stepped out of his car into the garden of Daniel and Ana’s house.

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Ana saw repressed anger in Daniel’s face as Ivan apologised for arriving without telephoning first. “After the chat with the police chaps, Carole and I needed a cheer up. We knew you guys would be just the job.”  Through gritted teeth, Daniel said they were welcome, as he invited them up to the terrace and went to fetch beer, wine and water from the kitchen.  Carole smiled as she gave Ana a hug, but said nothing. 

Ana found it difficult to understand why the Hepworths had found the police visit to their house so uncomfortable. So uncomfortable they needed to talk about it. She suspected they might each have a different reason. According to Ivan, he had done most of the talking in his interview and had told the police much the same story as the others. Ana squirmed as Ivan asked why Sarah had singled him out in her attack during the beach party; but before she could speak he explained that he had squashed any ideas the police might have of bigamous marriages and the Russian mafia, not to mention spies. 

“I asked that Camps chap if he knows the Spanish Minister for Internal Affairs because he’s an old school chum of mine. The police got the hint fast and Camps wasn’t so high and mighty after that. I doubt there will be any more talk on that subject. They know which side their bread is buttered. They don’t want to annoy influential foreigners, especially now things are looking dodgy on the financial front. By the way, Daniel, if I were you, I’d look at my investments in banks, especially American ones. Mark my words, there is trouble brewing.”  Sensing trouble, Ana suggested Daniel should refill everyone’s glasses. He left the terrace, taking her hint they needed to change the subject. 

“The other thing they asked about,” continued Ivan, “was whether either of us had noticed anything unusual early that morning; people passing on their way to the cross, for example. Funny thing was, I thought there was a car, early on. But Carole heard nothing, did you, darling? So maybe I was mistaken. The funny thing is I remember wondering why the dogs didn’t bark, but  perhaps it was in a dream  or more likely the noise of those ghastly fireworks.”  

Carole said nothing about her interview but she asked Ana how the other interviews had gone. Ivan was full of how pleasant and helpful he found the police, once he told them who he was. Carole agreed with him, but Ana was unconvinced;  maybe she preferred not to talk about it in front of Ivan. Were there things she wanted to say in private, to Ana perhaps? As she wondered whether to take Carole into the kitchen, on the pretext of making snacks, Daniel returned and Ivan dominated the conversation again.

Although it was a reasonable question, Ana felt surprisingly angry when Ivan said “I suppose that if the police consider Sarah’s death accidental, which I am sure they will, then they will give the go-ahead for a funeral soon. Has anyone talked to Mark yet? I imagine the first time they could hold a funeral will be on Monday; they do these things quickly here.”

“Well, do you know, Ivan, I don’t suppose Mark has thought about it yet. After all, it’s barely been a day since they found Sarah’s body and in any case, before Mark can make any arrangements, the police must release the body for burial. I don’t think they will do that until they are clear about the cause of death. Daniel and I are still in shock, so I can’t imagine how Mark must feel.” 

Ana saw no signs of grief in him, he was full of himself. Carole though was a picture of quiet misery; she only looked at Ivan when he spoke, otherwise she looked down at the floor, hand covering her mouth.
 

“I suppose it sounds selfish but to be honest, I have to go to Moscow on Sunday at the latest, so I would be glad if the funeral was later in the week. Of course, I want to pay my respects to Sarah, she was a lovely woman.”

Ana saw that his trip was news to Carole, and guessed Ivan had chosen to tell her here because she would not like to argue in front of other people.  “Well, you’re right, Ivan,” said Daniel, “we need to discuss it with Mark. We must do as much as we can of the organising, take away some of the strain. I wonder what he wants to do. It’s not something we think about,, is it? I suppose it will be in the crematorium. Most foreigners’ funerals are, I think. I mean, it’s not as if any of us are religious at all or go to church, as far as I know, anyway. And I wouldn’t worry if  you must go away, Ivan, I am sure Mark will understand.”  

Ana realised that Daniel had taken away any real possibility of Carole objecting to Ivan’s travel plans. “How long will you go for?” Carole asked her determination not to cry so obvious that Ana wanted to give her a hug. “I didn’t realise it was quite that urgent?”

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“Shouldn’t be more than two days, darling. With luck I can be back on Tuesday night. I need to see people in Moscow, on my way to Kiev. Sort out the problems with the bloody Italians. Then I should be on my way back. I will check direct flights back from Kiev, which would make it quicker. Anyway, you know I’ll be back at the first moment I can. Believe you me…” he looked at Ana and Daniel, then back at Carole, “… I wouldn’t go at all if it wasn’t essential. It has been one of those jobs you end up wishing you hadn’t started. I am not sure whom I find more trouble; the Ukrainian bureaucrats, whose ideas are Stalinist, to say the least, or the Italian firm buying the gas. Do gangsters today have a mafia connection? Is the Pope a Catholic?”

Normally Ana would have laughed, and expressed sympathy for Ivan, but this evening she gave him a rare look of contempt, which Daniel saw and, she thought, approved of.  Perhaps sensing their welcome was less than wholehearted, after the second drink Ivan said: “well, darling, we must get back to the dogs and leave these good people in peace.”

As neither Daniel nor Ana pressed them to stay, Ivan and Carol stood up and with hugs between the women and formal kisses for the women from the men they left.

“Well, that visit has just completed one of the most disagreeable days I can remember”. Daniel looked more careworn than she had ever seen him, and, she reflected wistfully, nearer his age than usual /His normal energy had gone. She thought about the trouble they had got themselves into and wondered how she might lighten the moment.

“Why don’t we have a swim?” she looked for his reaction, “it was such fun the other evening. We can  snacks and drinks to the pool.”

She knew at once there would be no frolicking tonight.

“I need to go on working on the files on Sarah’s laptop, and check whether I need to do anything more to the article I sent earlier. And sorry, my love, I don’t want to talk about anything at all and I am not in the mood for fun tonight. Why don’t you go to the pool?  I’ll carry on working and then let’s have an early night. I will feel more sociable tomorrow.” Feeling a little hurt, Ana agreed and left Daniel to clear the glasses from the terrace. 

She slipped into the water with a sigh of pleasure and floated towards the deep end of the pool. It was a perfect evening, the light fading softly, the moon rising from the sea and the last birds snapping up a nocturnal insect feast before making their way to bed. She heard the squeak of bats and the rustling in the ivy hedge that might one of the hedgehog family who lived there, on a late food prowl.  
 

She would let her mind roam at random and see what thoughts rose to the top. This technique, given to her by a psychologist friend, had sometimes worked in the past when she had been worried. But she had never faced problems of this gravity. Where to even start? She stopped that train of thought and let impressions pass freely across her mind.  

As she lazily swam up and down the pool, her thoughts turned to secrets – those actions that people felt they must hide from others. Everyone has them. For the second time that day, she hugged her own secret to her heart.  When she came home after university, before setting off for Argentina and work in a bank in Buenos Aires, Maite had given her one piece of advice. It was the last evening before the journey and a couple of rare glasses of wine had made the two friends philosophical. How would their lives turn out? Would they meet the men of their dreams and live happily after, like in Hollywood films?

“Just one thing, cielo,” Maite had said, with quite a serious face, Ana now remembered. ” Never fall in love with a man who isn’t free.” She had taken little notice except to wonder fleetingly if Maite had. Ana had not thought about this advice for a second when she met Max. Ana had jumped joyfully into a relationship with a man she knew to be married and who would never leave his family. Max had been honest that she was not his first affair and she knew she would not be the last. Ana had surprised herself, a girl from a small Spanish town, with a mother who still attended mass, because she did not regret a single minute of the time they spent together. She had learned more about herself and her capacity for giving and taking sexual pleasure in those six months than ever before or, and she winced,  since. 

But she told no one about him. The Commission had been a great place for discreet liaisons and she was sure a few of her colleagues had guessed. But she had never confided in Maite and, more important, nor had she shared with Daniel even a small hint of what had been a special time in her life.   So, if she were ashamed of sharing pleasure, how much more difficult must it be to share the shame of terrible pain? She remembered Sarah’s wry humour which she now knew was hiding an unimaginable hurt. And her voice on the telephone, the last words she would ever hear Sarah say, returned to her. Sarah's wistful talk of family echoed in Ana’s heart and she decided to leave the pool and seek out Daniel.

I must be strong tomorrow, she thought, when she would go with Mark to the police station, to check out his statement, and those of the others. She wondered what surprises the next day might bring, what new secrets would be revealed. After tonight, if there is one person in this group I might have suspicions about, it is most definitely Ivan Hepworth. 

Ana wrapped herself in a towel and went indoors.