The Number 8 (9 page)

Dante left the driver’s side and joined the line of people that were making their way back to their seats. He was almost the last to sit down. Asmir gave him a look that screamed “What the hell just happened?” But he couldn’t give him an answer. The truth is he had no idea what was going to happen.

“D, you think they’ll let us carry on?” Asmir asked.

“No idea. Police and questioning I think.”

“Police? What for? It was clearly an accident, everybody saw that.”

There was a pause. Asmir didn’t take his eyes off Dante. He was looking for any kind of agreement. But Dante didn’t know what to say. Eventually Asmir got sick of waiting and had a second bite at the cherry.

“It was an accident, right?”

Again a pause. But this time Dante spoke. “I’m not so sure.”

Asmir pushed himself upright and stared at Dante with an intense, almost threatening look. “D, what are you saying right now? You think somebody did this to him?”

“Shhhh, keep your voice down,” Dante said punching him in the arm hard.

Asmir lowered his tone to a whisper. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s probably nothing…” Dante whispered.

“If it’s got you this wound up, it’s something. Something big.”

“I saw something.”

“Like…?” Asmir dragged out the word as long as he could.

“As I came out on the other side of the hole, I saw ripples in the far corner where the exit to that section was.”

“Ripples? Really? That’s your big news? Of course there were ripples. Viktor was drowning and the older guy was fighting to get him out. That’s gonna cause some serious ripples.”

“No, you don’t understand. It wasn’t ripples caused by the commotion in the main part of the cave, it was something else.”

“Then what?”

Another long pause followed. Dante didn’t want to say what he had seen. He had been replaying the memory in his mind and it seemed entirely ridiculous.

“Dante, this is serious. Tell me…” Asmir urged.

“Fine… I saw…I saw a leg. I saw someone leaving that cave just after I reached Viktor and the old guy.” There was another short pause and Dante turned to Asmir and whispered very quietly, “Az, I don’t think was an accident at all.”

Chapter 17

“You think somebody did this to Viktor?” Asmir was listening intently now, his eyes wide with a strange mixture of excitement and fear.

“All I know is what I saw. It was a trailing leg. Before you ask, I don’t know who. Just that like the rest of us, they had a wetsuit on.”

Asmir rolled his eyes, “Real helpful, D. Male or female?”

“I just told you, I have no idea. It was dark and there was a guy drowning right in front of me. What do you want from me?”

“A little bit more than that, mate. How are you gonna take that to Mel and the police?” Asmir asked, frustrated.

“Wow… We can’t, Az, I don’t have any evidence. All it’s going to do is make sure the police do a thorough investigation which will probably mean no more bus, no more holiday and a flight home.”

Asmir rubbed his forehead. “I can’t believe I actually have to say this, but I think someone being killed is a little bit more important than our holiday.”

“I know that, Az, but what do you want from me?” Dante asked, exasperated.

“I think you need to tell the police what you saw…” Asmir stopped.

“Exactly,” Dante interrupted, “I didn’t actually see anything that it makes sense to mention! Just a combination of things that are not even clear in my own mind.”

Asmir pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “Isn’t it usually you who tries to talk me out of doing dangerous, irrational things?”

“Yes, but this time it’s different. There is no upside to telling them what I saw. We will have to undergo serious questioning, the old man and his son will never have another customer and our holiday is done. Finished. You get that, right?”

“Yeah, but what about the poor guy’s family…”

“He’s an orphan. He was in foster care all his life. He doesn’t have a family, Az. It’s awful to say but apart from our friend over there,” Dante said pointing to Viktor’s huge friend at the front, “no one is going to miss him.”

“And you don’t feel bad about covering up what could have potentially been a murder?” Asmir whispered the last couple of words.

“Of course I do, but telling them I saw a leg and a ripple is not going to break their investigation wide open is it?”

Asmir hadn’t even heard his response, he was rubbing his chin. “Wait, wait, wait. Something is off here. How come the old guy didn’t see anything? He was right in front of you, he would have seen something surely?”

“I doubt it, Az. He was a little preoccupied what with the drowning kid just feet from him.” Dante swatted at the air, frustrated. “That doesn’t even matter because even if he did, there is no chance he is ever coming forward. A kid dying in a tragic accident under his supervision is bad, but a kid being murdered under his supervision is the end of his business. There is no coming back from that.”

“So what? We forget about it?” Asmir asked, annoyed.

“Az, it’s up to you what you do, but I’m not ruining this trip with something I’m not even sure about. But if you say something to the police, I’ve got your back. If you think that my information is important enough, I’m happy to tell them what I know.”

“Wow. No, no, no. You’re not putting this on me, D.”

Dante shrugged.

“That’s not fair. You know I’m gonna be seen as the villain if I do this.”

“So it’s fair for me to be?” Their whispered argument had gotten loud and was now attracting attention from the others close by. Dante and Asmir realized this and tried to reign it in again.

“Look,” Asmir finally said. “I’m not gonna tell them, but I want you to know that I’m pissed. This is wrong. He may have been a bit of an ass but if he was murdered, he deserves justice and you know it.”

Dante did know it, but he was standing firm. There was no upside to telling them what he knew. But all the same he could tell Asmir was truly angry because his vein was popping. They had always joked about it. Asmir had a vein that throbbed by his temple whenever he was livid. Right now it was bulging out horribly.

“You can be mad at me for as long as you want, Az, it’s not going to change how I feel about this.”

Asmir had a flair for the dramatic and showed it as he turned away from Dante with an exaggerated grunt. Dante didn’t say anything. Talking to Asmir when he was angry was not a good idea. It was the only time Dante had known him to be violent.

They sat there in silence for nearly twenty minutes. Mel wasn’t back and the conversation outside had ended and the old guy and his son had left. Most of the bus were still sat in their drenched wetsuits and were beginning to get frustrated that they hadn’t moved. Dante had been watching James for the last few minutes and he had noticed that he hadn’t moved at all. In fact, he was sure he hadn’t even seen him blink. But everyone else was shuffling uncomfortably in their seats and some conversations were becoming audible.

Half the bus had gone in the group before Dante and Asmir. James had been placed in the first group but he was the only one that had been informed due to it being his friend. The rest were in the dark. And they had begun to bicker.

“Why won’t you lot tell us what’s happened?” one of the girls asked.

“We’ve been asked not to,” Carl replied. He had been in Dante’s group.

“I bet he decided to jump off the bit at the beginning without his rubber ring and broke his leg,” one of the guys said before being shut down by the first girl.

“Nah, bet he decided to go off on his own and got trapped.”

This went on for a few minutes. Dante had his eyes fixed on James. If it had been him that was having to listen to this he would’ve snapped. James had immense patience. It was painful to even watch it happen.

Instead he decided to close his eyes and recount the moments before it all got crazy in the cave. He was standing in the dark, up to his knees in frigid water and in the corner he saw Viktor squeeze through the hole to the next cave. There was a splash. Then silence for a beat. Finally Dante recalled the thrashing. At the time he had just put it down to Viktor swimming to one side but now it seemed pretty clear. That sound was Viktor being held under water. After that, he remembered the silence.

Chapter 18

Mel was standing at the front holding her satchel and a cell phone and looking like she had aged ten years. Her diminutive frame sagged as if a weight was pressing hard against her shoulders.

“All right, everyone, I am very sad to have to tell you that Viktor was pronounced dead twenty minutes ago.”

There was an audible gasp. Two of the girls in the first group squealed like they had been branded with a red hot poker.

“So what’s going to happen is that we will go back to the hostel now and one by one the members of the second group into the cave will sit down with the police for questioning.”

Silence.

“I know you’ll be nervous. But we have to help in any way we can.”

A guy from the front yelled, “But we don’t know anything. It was too dark to see how it all happened.”

“So then tell them that. You all are witnesses to this tragic accident,” she said pointing to each one of the people in the front row. “Just tell them what you told me and it should all be over quickly.”

James had had enough by this point. He had spent the last half hour unmoved but he had had enough. He rocketed to his feet and let out a deep, guttural howl. “Shut up!”

The bus fell silent immediately. Every single person turned their attention to him, even those who hadn’t been paying attention to Mel, like the still-aggravated Asmir.

“You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Viktor wasn’t the nicest guy in the world but he didn’t deserve to die like that and he definitely did not deserve this. You’re all sitting here acting like talking to the police is the end of the world. Do you even realize that someone has died here today? Do you?” His voice filled with emotion, his eyes darting from one passenger to another. One tear rolled down his right cheek.

No one spoke or made any sound at all. It was clearly a rhetorical question but it seemed he was waiting for a response. Eventually, he continued.

“Now, if anybody else makes a sound about talking to the police they will have to deal with me. Understood?”

Again, crickets.

“That one is not rhetorical!” he shouted.

All at once people grunted, “Yes.”

The truth is no one wanted to deal with him. He was a beast. But to Dante, it wasn’t even that. It was the fact that he was showing genuine emotion. A lesser man would have attempted to hold back the tears but not him. Dante respected him more for that. If he hadn’t cried at the death of his best friend, then Dante would have assumed there was something wrong with him. Especially as Viktor was his foster brother. It was a whole different connection. A bond forged in adversity and change. Dante couldn’t even imagine. He had never had a sibling although he had always wished for one. Preferably a brother. He knew friends who had sisters and it seemed to cause them nothing but problems. When they were young all they wanted was their brother’s attention and affection. But then they grow up and want to be their own person. Then there’s the whole protection thing, especially for a younger sister. No, a brother comes with less drama. More bumps and bruises for sure, but almost certainly less drama.

As Viktor’s friend sat back down and morphed back into his previous position, the bus pulled away. Mel didn’t need to say any more. She eased herself back into her front row seat and urged Ben to close the doors. All the way back to the motel Dante and Asmir remained silent. But then again, so did the rest of the bus. James had put them all in their place and they were all still reeling from the experience. Luckily for them the drive was only minutes.

Dante had seen in the program that the first stop was usually to drop the wetsuits back, but because half of them were still in them, that was a little hard. Mel hadn’t announced anything but he assumed that they would just take them off back at the hostel. Right now it wasn’t clear whether they would have to stay for a couple of days or whether they could be gone by the morning. Then again, this could be the end of their trip. It definitely would be if he told them that he thought that a murderer could be aboard the bus. Dante stood by his decision. Morally, it was questionable. Maybe even entirely wrong, but he had made up his mind.

They got back to the hostel just before sunset. It would have been beautiful if not for the current situation. But it seemed no one even gave it a second look. The first one to leave was James. Then, one by one the rest got up and shuffled along the aisle, silent and uncomfortable. He waited until everyone else had left before getting up to go. He wasn’t really in the mood for chatting. Neither was anyone else it seemed. He lingered in the aisle watching as the others made their way single file back into the hostel. Asmir was the last in. Dante saw him pause for just a second, fighting the urge to turn back to check where Dante was. It worked because Dante saw him clench his jaw in defiance and march through the door. The only people left in the bus now were Dante and Ben. Mel had led the group in. The driver was waiting at the bottom of the stairs playing his keys impatiently. It was a polite way of saying, “Get the hell out!” Truthfully Dante was just relishing the little bit of peace that he had at this moment. But it didn’t last long because the driver had given up being polite.

“Oi, what are you doing in there?” His English accent was fairly strong.

“Sorry,” Dante stuttered, startled by his tone. He walked the last few steps to the door and down to the waiting driver.

“Sorry for snapping at you, kid, it’s been a pretty awful day for all of us.”

Dante nodded in agreement.

“Now go on inside and eat something, it’s time you…” But Dante was already halfway back to the door. The driver didn’t seem to take it as dismissal. He didn’t even acknowledge his rejection at all. He just locked up the bus and made a beeline straight for the side entrance. Dante carried on to the lobby. There was a smiling girl at the reception who looked like she wanted to say something. He would’ve stopped to make small talk but he wasn’t even slightly in the mood. Instead he tiredly trudged back to his room where he knew an angry Asmir would be waiting. It wasn’t a particularly exciting prospect but he decided not to put it off. He felt for the handle. It was open, so he went it.