The Darkest Heart by Dan Smith Page B

boat.
    â€˜I know him,’ she said, thinking for a second. ‘Yeah. That’s the guy Manuela met at Kaiana’s the other night.’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Seemed all right to me,’ she said. ‘And Manuela liked him. In fact, she liked him a lot. He’s actually quite good-looking, in a rough way. Doesn’t look like a killer.’
    â€˜And what does a killer look like?’ I asked her.
    â€˜Like you, maybe.’ She let her eyes linger on mine for a moment, speaking without words.
    â€˜Zico, we need to go,’ Raul said, coming over. I could see he didn’t want to interrupt, but he knew better than I did how long it was going to take us to get to the place where we were meeting the plane. And if we weren’t there at the right time, Leonardo had made it clear the plane would leave without us.
    â€˜It’s OK,’ I said to him. ‘Daniella’s—’
    â€˜I’m coming with you,’ she interrupted.
    Raul threw me a questioning look and I shook my head at him. ‘No. I already told her it’s not a good idea.’
    â€˜You’re right,’ he agreed. ‘Zico’s right, Daniella, this is no place for a woman.’
    Immediately I touched a hand to my forehead. Of all the things Raul could have said.
    â€˜No place for a woman?’ Daniella turned on him, making him take a step back and hold up his hands. ‘You saying I’m not strong enough?’
    â€˜And your parents will worry,’ Raul back-pedalled. ‘They don’t know where you are.’
    â€˜Let them worry.’
    â€˜You don’t mean that. That’s not like you.’ Raul looked to me for help, but I gave none. I was glad that she had turned on him for a moment, giving me space to breathe. Daniella’s passion wasone of the things I most liked about her, but when her temper was changing like this, I always found it best to step away.
    â€˜Carolina can tell them where I am. And what exactly did you mean “no place for a woman”? I can fish. I can lift. I can probably even shoot a rifle straighter than you can.’
    Raul held up his hands. ‘All I’m saying is that ... Oh, you know what, Daniella? If you want to come, you can come. We haven’t got time for this.’ He looked tired. The bags under his eyes were fleshy half moons of dark, wrinkled skin. His eyes were red like he’d been drinking. ‘It’s your call, Zico. But either way, we’ve got to go now. You stay here if it makes it easier. I can manage without you.’ He wiped moisture from his eyes and yawned.
    â€˜No, old man, you’re sick. You’re not going anywhere without me. In fact, maybe you should be the one staying here.’
    â€˜You’re sick?’ Daniella looked concerned.
    Raul shook his head. ‘Tired is all.’ He started walking back to the boat, seeing Leonardo becoming agitated, tapping his finger on his watch, saying something I couldn’t hear.
    â€˜Take me with you, Zico,’ Daniella persisted. ‘I can keep an eye on Raul for you. And I might be able to make your journey more exciting.’ She reached forward with her right hand and pressed it against my crotch.
    I backed away, looking over to see if the others had spotted it. Carolina was hanging washing again and Raul had his back to me, but Leonardo had seen. He raised a hand and waved his fingers at me.
    â€˜You don’t want to leave me alone over the weekend, do you?’ she said. ‘I’d have to find someone else to take me to the festa.’
    â€˜That’s cheap.’
    â€˜I can be as cheap as you like.’
    I turned around and walked away from Daniella. I took off my cap and ran a hand over my head, looking up at the bank and seeing something that made the decision for me.
    The trip would be dangerous and I had no idea what kind of cargo we would be carrying. There was something about Leonardo that made me