The Darkest Heart (19 page)

Daniella accepted a cigarette from Raul, took a light and dragged on it. She held the smoke for a long time before she let it drift from her nose, the smell of it coming to me in the hot, still air. I didn't smoke, but I liked the smell of it in the air like that.

Leonardo watched us, suspecting a conspiracy, then shook his head and took the cigarette from behind his ear. He put it in the corner of his mouth and popped a match alight with his thumbnail. He flicked the match into the river and lifted his hand, forming the finger and thumb into a make-believe pistol.

‘We leave at first light,' he said, pointing at Raul. ‘And keep that fucking dog away from me.' He moved his arm so he was aiming at Rocky, and he pulled the trigger.

26

‘He's getting worse,' Daniella said. ‘I'm worried about him.'

The old man was asleep on the sand, with nothing more than a thin sheet to cover him. The night was cold and there was a light wind blowing in over the water, carrying the scent of the river. Somewhere in the darkness, a
boto
surfaced to take a breath. The way it sounded, it was as if someone was out there. It was no wonder people believed the river dolphins could take human shape.

Beside us, the fire crackled, sawing in the breeze. Raul had come close to it because it kept the insects away, but it also added to the heat of his fever. His body was damp with perspiration and he turned and fretted as he slept.

Rocky was anxious, as if she knew something was wrong with her friend. She wouldn't settle and had sulked when we moved her away from him. She tried to curl up beside him, but we were worried her heat would make him worse, so had chased her away. Now she was lying against a piece of driftwood with her chin on her paws, watching.

I put a hand to the old man's neck and he shifted and moaned as if it caused him pain.

‘He's so hot.' I looked at Daniella, seeing how kind the firelight was to her. The orange glow reflected on her skin and the shadows danced around her cheekbones. Her eyes glittered. Strands of her hair had come loose and framed her face, twisting in the breeze.

‘He's going to die,' Leonardo said. He hadn't wanted to leave his cargo unguarded, but when he saw the rest of us coming
ashore, he followed. I guessed he was afraid the boat would break its mooring and float away into the darkness.

He had sat apart from us, doing nothing while Daniella and I gathered firewood, but when we cooked rice and beans over the fire he was happy to share it while the day fell behind the trees. Red and orange ripples had streaked the sky above the forest, glowing in the wisps of cloud that hung there.

‘He's not going to die,' I said. ‘He just needs to rest.'

Leonardo was standing behind me now, poking the fire with a long stick. ‘You want me to make it quick for him?' he asked. ‘You can have the money for yourself that way.'

‘Don't be such an animal,' Daniella told him, but it only made him smirk.

‘This man is my friend,' I said, looking back at him. ‘Keep your gun tucked away and your mouth shut.'

‘Doesn't have to be my gun. I could hold him under the water if you—'

‘You won't touch him,' I said, getting to my feet and facing him. ‘You don't even need to come near him.'

Leonardo threw the stick down in a shower of sparks and turned to face me. He held up both hands. ‘I'm joking,' he said. ‘Just joking, that's all.'

I shook my head at him. ‘Just keep away from him.'

Leonardo thought about it, then shrugged. He moved to the other side of the fire and sat down facing the river. He took the pistol from his waistband and turned it over in his hands, removing the magazine and checking the load.

‘I need to get that weapon off him,' I whispered once I had sat down again. ‘I don't trust him.'

‘Is there anything I can do?' Daniella asked. ‘I could try to—'

‘No.' Just the thought of it made my stomach turn to ice. ‘Don't do anything. He's even more dangerous than you think. Promise you won't do anything.'

‘OK,' she said. ‘I won't.'

I hoped she meant it. Daniella was fiery and headstrong, two things I most liked about her, but also two things that could get
her into trouble. I was afraid that if she saw an opportunity to do something, she might take it. I would have to keep her and Leonardo apart.

‘We need to get the old man home,' I said, keeping my voice quiet. ‘When we get back on the river, we have to head for Piratinga first.'

‘He's
not going to like it.' She tilted her head in Leonardo's direction and I looked over my shoulder to watch him.

‘I'II work something out,' I said. ‘I don't think the old man will make it to Mina dos Santos. If we try to get there with him like this ...' I shook my head and looked over at Leonardo.

I thought about killing him.

I could probably do it now.

I could draw my revolver, turn, point and shoot. It was dark, but I was a good shot and didn't think it would take more than one bullet. I would be able to take Daniella and the old man home without Leonardo getting in the way.

But then Daniella would see the shadow that cloaked me.

She would see the ugly side of me that I didn't want her to see.

There was the old man's money to think about, too. His dream of moving to Imperatriz and buying a better boat. If Leonardo was dead, I could try taking the guns on to Mina dos Santos, but there was a strong chance I wouldn't leave that place alive. The old man would lose his money and I would lose my life.

I also wondered if Daniella would be any safer in Piratinga with Luis and Wilson than she was here with Leonardo.

I rubbed my face and clenched my jaw with frustration. Whatever I did, whichever way I turned, there was no way out. I was trapped on this course of events and there was no way for me to escape. Daniella had to stay with me and Leonardo had to stay alive. The only two things I might be able to gain some control over were taking the old man home and disarming Leonardo. But I didn't know how I was going to arrange either of those things.

After a while, we lay on our backs and stared at the stars, listening to the old man groaning in his sleep. Rocky forgave us for sending
her away and came to lie between us, pressing her back against me. From the water's edge, the night stretched out across the river and into the eternity of the forest. Behind us, it crawled over the shrubs and molasses grass, encircling the
buriti
palms that stood sentinel on the bank, and it flowed on through the savannah, wrapping everything in its darkness.

We were a hundred kilometres from the nearest town, a thousand from the nearest city, and my best friend was fading away. There was nowhere I could take him. Nothing I could do to help him.

Daniella's breathing grew deeper as the night pressed on, but I tried to keep awake. I checked on the old man, soaking a cloth in river water and putting it to his head in a weak attempt to keep him cool.

Leonardo remained in his spot, sitting up and watching. I wasn't sure if he was afraid of me or the night, but he kept his pistol in one hand and a torch in the other. He flicked it on from time to time, scanning the bank behind us and playing its light across the ripples in the river. I ignored him, tending to my friend, wishing there was more I could do for him.

‘There's something out there,' Leonardo said.

I stopped, one hand pressing the cloth against the old man's forehead.

‘Out there.' He stood up. ‘On the water.'

‘There's nothing there,' I told him.

‘You think I'm lying? Come and look.' He lowered his voice, as if whatever was out there was going to hear him.

I paused, dropped the cloth in the pan of water and went over to where Leonardo was standing.

He shone the torch onto the river, moving it back and forth until he caught them in the beam. There were a dozen of them. Eyes. All staring back at him.

‘What the fuck is it?' His voice heightened and he raised his pistol at them.

‘Maybe it's Iara,' I said.

‘What?'

‘You don't know about Iara? She lives under the water.'

‘What are you talking about?'

‘The fishermen talk about her all the time. She sits on the bank and sings to them, but if she really likes you, she casts a spell on you with her song. She makes you go to her, and when you do, she takes you down into the river and drowns you.'

‘And that's her out there?'

‘No. That's the
jacaré
watching you. This is their beach and maybe they want it back. Maybe they have eggs here.
Jacaré
are much worse than Iara,' I said. ‘She sings to you; they eat you.'

Going back to the old man's side, I sat close to the fire and reached into my shirt pocket to remove the newspaper cutting.

There was more on my mind than what was here on the beach.

The old man's sickness, Leonardo's threat, and Daniella's company had all been more immediate, but there was another presence on the boat; a woman who was not here in person, but whose existence still played on my mind.

I opened out the cutting and looked at the photograph of Sister Dolores Beckett. A spattering of grey and black dots that shifted in the flickering firelight as if they were alive. ‘Just one more job,' Costa had said, but I heard
Just one more life.

I stared at the picture until I couldn't see it any more. It became a blur as my eyes lost their focus and I wondered what it was that Sister Beckett had done to make her life worth five thousand dollars to a man like me. Costa had said that she deserved it, but that didn't mean anything and when I remembered how the boys in the
favela
had killed Father Tomás, just as Costa wanted me to kill Sister Beckett, I still felt the loss of his death. I felt the guilt and shame of it as surely as if I had killed him myself.

I had to think about the money, though. I had to think about Daniella and the old man. Taking one life was a small price to pay for the safety of theirs.

In the newspaper cutting, Sister Beckett was wearing trousers and a T-shirt and didn't look much like a nun. I tried to imagine her wearing a habit, sandaled toes poking from beneath the hem, but somehow it didn't look as if it would suit her. She was coming
out of a building that might have been mentioned in the words, but their undecipherable meaning was lost to me. She was surrounded by people and everyone's focus was on her, as if they were intent on knowing her thoughts.

Only one person who was close to her was looking away. A woman who was striking because of both her height and her posture.

Costa had said that Sister Beckett would not have any security, but seeing the tall woman made me think he might be wrong. The woman looked as if she were there to protect Sister Beckett and I suspected there might be someone standing between me and my money, after all.

I returned the clipping to my pocket and lay back, closing my eyes and wishing life wasn't so complicated. Close by, the old man grumbled in his fever while Rocky had slinked back to press against him and fall asleep. Beside me, Daniella breathed heavily.

Eventually, sleep took me, too, but it was broken and troubled and filled with disturbing images. Flashes of me standing over Sofia while she begged me not to kill her. Leonardo leering over Daniella. The old man slipping away to a fevered death.

And in the early hours of the morning, I woke to the sound of chaos.

27

Rocky was barking. But this was no ordinary warning bark. It was a savage and primal sound that turned my blood cold. She was snarling and growling like a wild animal.

My muscles ached from lying on the beach, and my head was woozy with half-sleep, so the effect of her vicious noise was multiplied a thousand times, and it took a moment to remember where I was.

Opening my eyes, I sat upright and grabbed the pistol tucked into the pack beside me.

Close to my feet, Rocky was moving from side to side, continuing to produce that dreadful sound. The hair on her neck bristled, her tail sprung out behind her and her eyes rolled up. Her lips were pulled back to bare her teeth, and saliva hung from her mouth.

There was another sound breaking into the dawn air. Leonardo.

His voice was shrill but there were no words, just a scream full of fear and pain.

Beyond the corpse of last night's fire, Leonardo writhed in the sand, screaming for my help. It was hard to tell exactly what was happening, the day was still only preparing itself, and the sun had not yet begun to rise over the trees. The grey light gave a strange hue to everything, and all I could see of Leonardo was his frantic movement and the commotion of the sand.

He shrieked, his voice rising in desperation.

Rocky continued to snarl and bare her teeth like a forest devil.

Pulling my revolver free, I jumped to my feet, but stopped
myself from rushing to Leonardo's aid. I didn't know what was happening and I would be a fool to hurry into the fray. It was better to know what I was dealing with. The commotion had shocked me, my heart thumped hard, my breathing was erratic and my whole body trembled.

‘Get it off!' Leonardo finally managed to shout, and once the words had formed, he repeated them over and over, desperate for my help. ‘Get it off! Get it off!'

I moved closer, squinting in the grainy light, seeing Leonardo twisting and kicking in the sand. With one hand, he was hitting at his leg, raising his arm over and over again, pounding at something. A dark shape that shouldn't be there.

A young
jacaré
, maybe a metre and a half long, had sunk its teeth into Leonardo's right calf and was trying to drag him to the water. The creature's teeth were not designed for much more than grabbing, and its prey would usually be small enough to swallow whole, but as they grew bigger, these river monsters would take larger and larger prey, which they would drag into the river and drown. Twisting and rolling, they would disorientate their victims, fill their lungs with water, then wedge them somewhere beneath the surface until the flesh was rotten enough to eat.