The Dog & The Eagle
(part one of the Trilogy - The Virtue of Dishonesty)
Issue Three - 36 Red
The following day, Tuesday, was stunning. Beautiful blue skies, warm sunshine and a little breeze made for the perfect walking day.
Charlie did what he invariably did in the morning; he walked the twenty minutes into town, up the hill, to Place de Massillon, heading for his favourite café, to indulge in a coffee, a cigarette and Sudoku. You could chart his trek through life by the cafés he frequented - and he always found one that suited him wherever he was. It bolstered his confidence; that little daily familiarity - be it Karl and Julian’s in Les Halles, Teddy’s in Queensway, the one near the office where he used to work in at Russell Square where his friend Angie worked, or the coffee shop in Soho run by Yvonne.
She was there, at the place that sold the crepes, and now he was in a quandary. Did he join her? He didn’t want to forego his favourite spot in the sunshine by joining her under the awning. Little did he know that her choice was dictated by the vantage points that the seat afforded her.
He sat down; he looked over; she looked up, and they smiled and left each other to their respective ponderings and mental wanderings. He knew she needed to be alone, so he left her alone and went about his Sudoku business as if he were in that salon in Paris already, about to start the puzzle; it even had a name - L’Escargot.
A little time later, after Charlie had finished his first puzzle and while he was deciding whether or not he wanted more coffee, a stranger entered the Square. He guessed Italian - youngish, well-dressed, muscular and wearing the style of dark glasses so characteristic of the Italians in Hyeres, who were usually to be seen at the Casino. Not until it was obvious that he was walking over to Hannah did Charlie pay any real attention. The man sat down at a nearby table. When Charlie noticed that Hannah was shaking her head, only then was it apparent that the man was saying something.
Intrigued, Charlie’s interest peaked when the guy got up and moved closer to her table. When the man put his hand inside his jacket, he was sure that Hannah had jumped. The man withdrew a business card, which he handed to her; she took it and then he left.
“She’s in trouble,” he concluded, not having any real clue why he thought that but something didn’t add up. He decided to do something very un-Charlie-like. He paid his tab, packed up and went over to her table, where he sat down and said very plainly, “If you’re in trouble, please tell me; I may be able to help ...” He could not have looked more earnest, or she, more dumbfounded.
At which point, Hannah did something very un-Hannah-like and burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. Gallantly, he moved to her side of the table and put his arm around her shoulders; she buried her head in his chest for what must have been five minutes.
Eventually, she pulled herself away although not abruptly or rudely.
She composed herself and dried her eyes and said, “I’m going to tell you something and I am telling you because I trust you ... I am in trouble and I need your help ...”
Over the next hour, fuelled by plenty of coffee and cigarettes, she told Charlie everything about herself and how it was that she had arrived in Hyeres. This ended with what the man had said as he had given her his business card, and she passed Charlie the card:
Matteo Ferrari
Attorney
Rome
“What did you say to him about the violin?”
“Nothing; I feigned complete ignorance and took the card out of politeness.”
“But why didn’t you hand it over to him if he knew something?”
“I don’t know him, and what happens if a bigger fish comes looking - having the violin is my only protection, and I am very quickly coming to the conclusion that there is more to the violin than meets the eye.”
“You have to know who he’s working for - that’s the key,” offered Charlie.
“I agree, but if I engage with him, he’ll know I know something and it might just confirm everything.”
“Uhm ... We need to think this one through. Did he say where he was staying?”
“At the Casino.”
“We need to perk ourselves up a bit. We’re off to the Casino tonight - for dinner and a game or two. It’s what tourists and visitors do here ... We might learn something.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get involved, Charlie.”
“Too late now, isn’t it?”
“Why? You could just walk away. This isn’t like changing a flat tyre.”
“But you confided in me; I can’t walk away.”
Dumbfounded and somewhat spellbound, she asked, “How are we going to play it then? Do we go together - as a couple?”
“No - I’ll see you at the bar. I’ll come up and start chatting to you and invite you to dinner, and we’ll take it from there.”
“Oh, very Bond!”
He smiled broadly; his eyes almost totally closed and lost in the crow’s feet. A long lavish guttural and infectious laugh followed on.
“See you there at 7.30 tonight,” he wheezed.
“Okay ... Thank you.”
They parted company and walked off in separate directions; Charlie to the castle, and Hannah to the pharmacy on Avenue Gambetta.
As they parted, the man took a series of pictures with his phone, from his vantage point behind the first-floor window of an apartment on the opposite side of the square that was being advertised for rental.
ooOOoo
Charlie got ready and uncharacteristically, he took hours over it. Karl knew something was up but Charlie evaded his questions; Julian just chuckled. He left in good time and walked up to town, reckoning a drink at his favourite little bar would do him good - and it was a chance to see Carol.
“James Bond indeed!” he said to himself and only to himself, admitting that he had recently abandoned Bond for Largo Winch, and Daniel Craig for Tomer Sisley in his ‘Boy’s Own’ fantasies.
He was very early. Carol made him an iced coffee and poured him a double vodka.
“What are you all dressed up for?” she asked in that plain and simple way of hers that usually meant Charlie spilled more beans than was sometimes wise
“I’m meeting someone for dinner and we are going to the Casino,” he replied, avoiding direct eye contact.
She looked amazed and raised both eyebrows because she knew Jean was not due back until the following day.
“Don’t look at me like that! It’s a young woman. I said I would escort her tonight because she didn’t want to go alone. She knows I’m gay.”
Carol was the only person in Hyeres he had told he was gay and she didn’t mind; she liked Jean and had once covered for them to avoid some embarrassment.
“Fine; you don’t have to explain, and I was more surprised you said the Casino actually.”
“Well; I thought I might try and win enough to enter the competition again.”
“You may not need to.”
“That’s sweet of you to say but we both know it’s going to be very, very hard, if not impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible. Anyway; don’t lose what you can’t afford.”
Carol knew about the Sudoku prize and was very supportive although she didn’t really have much clue about it but knew enough to know it was important to Charlie. She loved him to bits - probably more than she cared to say - and often thought how cruel life was and how God or maybe the Devil taunted you.
After Carol had straightened his tie, he left the bar fuelled by the very strong coffee and the very large vodka, and strolled to the Casino. It was 7.15. He reckoned Hannah would be ten minutes late.
She was precisely ten minutes late, which pleased him - he liked punctuality.
They played their parts to perfection; champagne cocktails at the bar; looking at the dinner menu; chit-chat; quiet laughter - all that first date stuff. It simply masked a more serious matter that neither of them felt ready to discuss yet.
Once dinner was over, they moved into the Casino’s main room - the tables were not overly busy but there were enough people in the room to mask their presence, and they made their way to the centre of the room to the bar and the lounge area.
“Why did you start - stealing, I mean?”
“I’m good at it - it excites me - when I’m working, it consumes me. I love the intrigue, the risk, the planning, the adrenalin rush when it’s pulled off - it’s always been pulled off until now. I can’t imagine doing anything else - being happy doing anything else - I have freedom.”
“That could end tomorrow if you’re caught.”
“It’s always a risk - as is taking the train and crossing the road and eating shellfish ... Something will bring you down eventually ... it’s a law, an inescapable truth - change, death and taxes are inevitable ... I embrace one, respect the second and evade the third!”
They smiled and laughed a little.
“Right! Let’s play a game or two and then see what’s what, shall we? Hannah ...”
He took her arm and guided her to the innermost roulette table. It wasn’t crowded; only three people playing. Charlie had 100 euros of chips - 20, five euro chips. Hannah had a 1000 - 20, fifty euro chips. It was exactly as much as he could afford to lose. From what he had gathered, Hannah could afford to lose considerably more.
“Let the games begin!” he announced quietly, more to himself, and added; “good luck!”
They played for an hour; the sway of the game sometimes in Charlie’s favour, sometimes in Hannah’s, but because she was playing with higher stakes, her winnings mounted and pretty soon, she had trebled her money. Charlie was wavering around the break-even point when a run of luck came his way. He always played the same numbers; 0, 2, 8, 10, 15, 18, 25 and 35. After the third winning spin, he found that he had won about 1,800 euros.
“Stop now!” he told himself although he could never do it in the past.
“If you quit now, you’ll have enough to …“ Hannah paused because she had seen the young Italian walk through the room and into the private gaming suite area.
He followed her gaze. “We have one chance and this is it - we can’t go back. We have nearly 5,000 euros between us, which enough to make it look like we have more. We have to follow him into the back rooms ... If we don’t, how will we know who or what we’re up against?”
“You’re right!” Hannah’s resolve had momentarily wavered and now she found strength in the fact that Charlie’s had not buckled, which if she was honest she had expected.
“Charlie; you know this is it. If we’re seen together, you’ll be implicated and in just as much danger as me ... Our fates will be as one from this point.”
She gazed searchingly into that adorable child-like face for any signs that he was going to back out. There were none and his eyes said: “don’t worry; we’re in this together and I won’t let you down.”
He smiled as he got up - a smile of a unique quality - “I wouldn’t do this for just anyone you know …”
They moved off the table, ‘coloured up’ and went to the private suite entrance where a pretty young lady escorted them through security and took their order for drinks, which were free that side of the thick silk rope cordon.
They passed a couple of rooms where well-dressed older men were playing poker and dazzling younger women looked on bored - but smiled on cue.
They were shown into the roulette room; the hum briefly stopped as everyone paused to check them out. Meantime, the banker called out a number - 36 red. All bets were lost.
Charlie and Hannah made their way forward and took two places as they were vacated by a couple of weary looking bank manager types who had ancient wrinkled wives dressed up to the nines and made up like dolls.
They bought their chips; they both had 25, 100 euro chips in front of them - the minimum bet was 100 euros.
Across the table sat the young Italian and on his left, a heavy set man who must have been personal security. On his right, was the world’s most notorious and as yet uncaptured, if not uncapsizable, organised crime syndicate boss - Hannah knew this, Charlie didn’t. They played and enjoyed the thrill of the spin and at 200 euros a spin, it was very exciting and also hugely rewarding when they started to win. The Italian was losing heavily and negligently - he didn’t even notice.
More worryingly, he had given no clue that he recognised Hannah from the morning in the square.
Things felt like they might come to a head. Charlie and Hannah had won approximately 14,000 euros - a fortune in reality - but luck seemed to be heading away from the table. Hannah sensed it before Charlie did and she motioned that it was probably time to leave. Charlie had that familiar look in his eye that spelt out I’m hooked and can’t leave until I’ve lost everything, but for the first time ever, he ignored the urge and simply stood up, tipped the croupier and escorted Hannah back out into the main salon where they cashed up and left, heading back to the bar in town.
Carol was serving; she smiled as they walked in and introduced herself to Hannah, and started to make the iced coffee but Charlie asked her for a pichet of the good red wine she had for the regulars and he escorted Hannah to the back table, which couldn’t be seen from the road outside.
He looked at her and she at him and mountains of data passed between them without a single word being spoken.
“What now?“ Charlie asked.
“I’m going to phone the attorney and ask him how much he is prepared to pay for the violin - we can’t run far enough or fast enough from these people. I can’t imagine why the whole town hasn’t been ransacked or you and I kidnapped ... Something doesn’t make sense in this…” then she added, “Take this money and go back to the flat - act as normally as possible. Pack a small bag with everything you need just in case we need to head out of here very quickly. I’m going back to the hotel to do the same. I’ll meet you in the morning in the square and I’ll phone him then …”
“I don’t think you should go back to the hotel alone. Let me ask Carol if you can stay here tonight. I’ll say you are feeling unwell and just want to lie down for a bit …”
“You can be very inventive when the need arises …”
Thankfully he could, because just then, her room was being ransacked as one tired and uninterested Moroccan was looking mightily pleased with himself. When the Italian had asked if someone of her description was staying at the hotel, normally he would have told them to clear off - her coolness had done her no favours this time.
Carol was a little suspicious but her love for Charlie overruled her head and her heart won the day. She showed Hannah upstairs via the back stairs and made her comfortable on the sofa bed.
“Thank you,” Hannah said meekly, acting her part to perfection she thought.
“Don’t mention it - just don’t hurt him or get him into any trouble ... He’s special, and I for one, along with a few others here who look out for him, won’t be happy if things are dealt with in a less than satisfactory way.”
“Don’t worry about him; everything is going to be fine,” she lied.
“I hope you’re right ...”
Carol came back downstairs and spoke to Charlie before he left.
“I don’t need to know the details; just be careful and don’t do anything stupid, okay?” while giving him a hug and kiss.
He gave her 500 euros; he knew the ancient car needed repairs. He silenced her protest with a hug and kiss and he left, walking back to the apartment with 13,500 euros in his pocket.
It was very late by the time he got back. He tried to be very quiet and eventually found the sanctuary of his room where he lay down and wondered if he hadn’t dreamed the last 6 hours - the wad of notes in his pocket told him he hadn’t. He thought it highly unlikely that he would sleep but within minutes he was completely sparko, just like a child after a day on the beach.
Charlie did what he invariably did in the morning; he walked the twenty minutes into town, up the hill, to Place de Massillon, heading for his favourite café, to indulge in a coffee, a cigarette and Sudoku. You could chart his trek through life by the cafés he frequented - and he always found one that suited him wherever he was. It bolstered his confidence; that little daily familiarity - be it Karl and Julian’s in Les Halles, Teddy’s in Queensway, the one near the office where he used to work in at Russell Square where his friend Angie worked, or the coffee shop in Soho run by Yvonne.
She was there, at the place that sold the crepes, and now he was in a quandary. Did he join her? He didn’t want to forego his favourite spot in the sunshine by joining her under the awning. Little did he know that her choice was dictated by the vantage points that the seat afforded her.
He sat down; he looked over; she looked up, and they smiled and left each other to their respective ponderings and mental wanderings. He knew she needed to be alone, so he left her alone and went about his Sudoku business as if he were in that salon in Paris already, about to start the puzzle; it even had a name - L’Escargot.
A little time later, after Charlie had finished his first puzzle and while he was deciding whether or not he wanted more coffee, a stranger entered the Square. He guessed Italian - youngish, well-dressed, muscular and wearing the style of dark glasses so characteristic of the Italians in Hyeres, who were usually to be seen at the Casino. Not until it was obvious that he was walking over to Hannah did Charlie pay any real attention. The man sat down at a nearby table. When Charlie noticed that Hannah was shaking her head, only then was it apparent that the man was saying something.
Intrigued, Charlie’s interest peaked when the guy got up and moved closer to her table. When the man put his hand inside his jacket, he was sure that Hannah had jumped. The man withdrew a business card, which he handed to her; she took it and then he left.
“She’s in trouble,” he concluded, not having any real clue why he thought that but something didn’t add up. He decided to do something very un-Charlie-like. He paid his tab, packed up and went over to her table, where he sat down and said very plainly, “If you’re in trouble, please tell me; I may be able to help ...” He could not have looked more earnest, or she, more dumbfounded.
At which point, Hannah did something very un-Hannah-like and burst into tears and sobbed uncontrollably. Gallantly, he moved to her side of the table and put his arm around her shoulders; she buried her head in his chest for what must have been five minutes.
Eventually, she pulled herself away although not abruptly or rudely.
She composed herself and dried her eyes and said, “I’m going to tell you something and I am telling you because I trust you ... I am in trouble and I need your help ...”
Over the next hour, fuelled by plenty of coffee and cigarettes, she told Charlie everything about herself and how it was that she had arrived in Hyeres. This ended with what the man had said as he had given her his business card, and she passed Charlie the card:
Matteo Ferrari
Attorney
Rome
“What did you say to him about the violin?”
“Nothing; I feigned complete ignorance and took the card out of politeness.”
“But why didn’t you hand it over to him if he knew something?”
“I don’t know him, and what happens if a bigger fish comes looking - having the violin is my only protection, and I am very quickly coming to the conclusion that there is more to the violin than meets the eye.”
“You have to know who he’s working for - that’s the key,” offered Charlie.
“I agree, but if I engage with him, he’ll know I know something and it might just confirm everything.”
“Uhm ... We need to think this one through. Did he say where he was staying?”
“At the Casino.”
“We need to perk ourselves up a bit. We’re off to the Casino tonight - for dinner and a game or two. It’s what tourists and visitors do here ... We might learn something.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get involved, Charlie.”
“Too late now, isn’t it?”
“Why? You could just walk away. This isn’t like changing a flat tyre.”
“But you confided in me; I can’t walk away.”
Dumbfounded and somewhat spellbound, she asked, “How are we going to play it then? Do we go together - as a couple?”
“No - I’ll see you at the bar. I’ll come up and start chatting to you and invite you to dinner, and we’ll take it from there.”
“Oh, very Bond!”
He smiled broadly; his eyes almost totally closed and lost in the crow’s feet. A long lavish guttural and infectious laugh followed on.
“See you there at 7.30 tonight,” he wheezed.
“Okay ... Thank you.”
They parted company and walked off in separate directions; Charlie to the castle, and Hannah to the pharmacy on Avenue Gambetta.
As they parted, the man took a series of pictures with his phone, from his vantage point behind the first-floor window of an apartment on the opposite side of the square that was being advertised for rental.
ooOOoo
Charlie got ready and uncharacteristically, he took hours over it. Karl knew something was up but Charlie evaded his questions; Julian just chuckled. He left in good time and walked up to town, reckoning a drink at his favourite little bar would do him good - and it was a chance to see Carol.
“James Bond indeed!” he said to himself and only to himself, admitting that he had recently abandoned Bond for Largo Winch, and Daniel Craig for Tomer Sisley in his ‘Boy’s Own’ fantasies.
He was very early. Carol made him an iced coffee and poured him a double vodka.
“What are you all dressed up for?” she asked in that plain and simple way of hers that usually meant Charlie spilled more beans than was sometimes wise
“I’m meeting someone for dinner and we are going to the Casino,” he replied, avoiding direct eye contact.
She looked amazed and raised both eyebrows because she knew Jean was not due back until the following day.
“Don’t look at me like that! It’s a young woman. I said I would escort her tonight because she didn’t want to go alone. She knows I’m gay.”
Carol was the only person in Hyeres he had told he was gay and she didn’t mind; she liked Jean and had once covered for them to avoid some embarrassment.
“Fine; you don’t have to explain, and I was more surprised you said the Casino actually.”
“Well; I thought I might try and win enough to enter the competition again.”
“You may not need to.”
“That’s sweet of you to say but we both know it’s going to be very, very hard, if not impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible. Anyway; don’t lose what you can’t afford.”
Carol knew about the Sudoku prize and was very supportive although she didn’t really have much clue about it but knew enough to know it was important to Charlie. She loved him to bits - probably more than she cared to say - and often thought how cruel life was and how God or maybe the Devil taunted you.
After Carol had straightened his tie, he left the bar fuelled by the very strong coffee and the very large vodka, and strolled to the Casino. It was 7.15. He reckoned Hannah would be ten minutes late.
She was precisely ten minutes late, which pleased him - he liked punctuality.
They played their parts to perfection; champagne cocktails at the bar; looking at the dinner menu; chit-chat; quiet laughter - all that first date stuff. It simply masked a more serious matter that neither of them felt ready to discuss yet.
Once dinner was over, they moved into the Casino’s main room - the tables were not overly busy but there were enough people in the room to mask their presence, and they made their way to the centre of the room to the bar and the lounge area.
“Why did you start - stealing, I mean?”
“I’m good at it - it excites me - when I’m working, it consumes me. I love the intrigue, the risk, the planning, the adrenalin rush when it’s pulled off - it’s always been pulled off until now. I can’t imagine doing anything else - being happy doing anything else - I have freedom.”
“That could end tomorrow if you’re caught.”
“It’s always a risk - as is taking the train and crossing the road and eating shellfish ... Something will bring you down eventually ... it’s a law, an inescapable truth - change, death and taxes are inevitable ... I embrace one, respect the second and evade the third!”
They smiled and laughed a little.
“Right! Let’s play a game or two and then see what’s what, shall we? Hannah ...”
He took her arm and guided her to the innermost roulette table. It wasn’t crowded; only three people playing. Charlie had 100 euros of chips - 20, five euro chips. Hannah had a 1000 - 20, fifty euro chips. It was exactly as much as he could afford to lose. From what he had gathered, Hannah could afford to lose considerably more.
“Let the games begin!” he announced quietly, more to himself, and added; “good luck!”
They played for an hour; the sway of the game sometimes in Charlie’s favour, sometimes in Hannah’s, but because she was playing with higher stakes, her winnings mounted and pretty soon, she had trebled her money. Charlie was wavering around the break-even point when a run of luck came his way. He always played the same numbers; 0, 2, 8, 10, 15, 18, 25 and 35. After the third winning spin, he found that he had won about 1,800 euros.
“Stop now!” he told himself although he could never do it in the past.
“If you quit now, you’ll have enough to …“ Hannah paused because she had seen the young Italian walk through the room and into the private gaming suite area.
He followed her gaze. “We have one chance and this is it - we can’t go back. We have nearly 5,000 euros between us, which enough to make it look like we have more. We have to follow him into the back rooms ... If we don’t, how will we know who or what we’re up against?”
“You’re right!” Hannah’s resolve had momentarily wavered and now she found strength in the fact that Charlie’s had not buckled, which if she was honest she had expected.
“Charlie; you know this is it. If we’re seen together, you’ll be implicated and in just as much danger as me ... Our fates will be as one from this point.”
She gazed searchingly into that adorable child-like face for any signs that he was going to back out. There were none and his eyes said: “don’t worry; we’re in this together and I won’t let you down.”
He smiled as he got up - a smile of a unique quality - “I wouldn’t do this for just anyone you know …”
They moved off the table, ‘coloured up’ and went to the private suite entrance where a pretty young lady escorted them through security and took their order for drinks, which were free that side of the thick silk rope cordon.
They passed a couple of rooms where well-dressed older men were playing poker and dazzling younger women looked on bored - but smiled on cue.
They were shown into the roulette room; the hum briefly stopped as everyone paused to check them out. Meantime, the banker called out a number - 36 red. All bets were lost.
Charlie and Hannah made their way forward and took two places as they were vacated by a couple of weary looking bank manager types who had ancient wrinkled wives dressed up to the nines and made up like dolls.
They bought their chips; they both had 25, 100 euro chips in front of them - the minimum bet was 100 euros.
Across the table sat the young Italian and on his left, a heavy set man who must have been personal security. On his right, was the world’s most notorious and as yet uncaptured, if not uncapsizable, organised crime syndicate boss - Hannah knew this, Charlie didn’t. They played and enjoyed the thrill of the spin and at 200 euros a spin, it was very exciting and also hugely rewarding when they started to win. The Italian was losing heavily and negligently - he didn’t even notice.
More worryingly, he had given no clue that he recognised Hannah from the morning in the square.
Things felt like they might come to a head. Charlie and Hannah had won approximately 14,000 euros - a fortune in reality - but luck seemed to be heading away from the table. Hannah sensed it before Charlie did and she motioned that it was probably time to leave. Charlie had that familiar look in his eye that spelt out I’m hooked and can’t leave until I’ve lost everything, but for the first time ever, he ignored the urge and simply stood up, tipped the croupier and escorted Hannah back out into the main salon where they cashed up and left, heading back to the bar in town.
Carol was serving; she smiled as they walked in and introduced herself to Hannah, and started to make the iced coffee but Charlie asked her for a pichet of the good red wine she had for the regulars and he escorted Hannah to the back table, which couldn’t be seen from the road outside.
He looked at her and she at him and mountains of data passed between them without a single word being spoken.
“What now?“ Charlie asked.
“I’m going to phone the attorney and ask him how much he is prepared to pay for the violin - we can’t run far enough or fast enough from these people. I can’t imagine why the whole town hasn’t been ransacked or you and I kidnapped ... Something doesn’t make sense in this…” then she added, “Take this money and go back to the flat - act as normally as possible. Pack a small bag with everything you need just in case we need to head out of here very quickly. I’m going back to the hotel to do the same. I’ll meet you in the morning in the square and I’ll phone him then …”
“I don’t think you should go back to the hotel alone. Let me ask Carol if you can stay here tonight. I’ll say you are feeling unwell and just want to lie down for a bit …”
“You can be very inventive when the need arises …”
Thankfully he could, because just then, her room was being ransacked as one tired and uninterested Moroccan was looking mightily pleased with himself. When the Italian had asked if someone of her description was staying at the hotel, normally he would have told them to clear off - her coolness had done her no favours this time.
Carol was a little suspicious but her love for Charlie overruled her head and her heart won the day. She showed Hannah upstairs via the back stairs and made her comfortable on the sofa bed.
“Thank you,” Hannah said meekly, acting her part to perfection she thought.
“Don’t mention it - just don’t hurt him or get him into any trouble ... He’s special, and I for one, along with a few others here who look out for him, won’t be happy if things are dealt with in a less than satisfactory way.”
“Don’t worry about him; everything is going to be fine,” she lied.
“I hope you’re right ...”
Carol came back downstairs and spoke to Charlie before he left.
“I don’t need to know the details; just be careful and don’t do anything stupid, okay?” while giving him a hug and kiss.
He gave her 500 euros; he knew the ancient car needed repairs. He silenced her protest with a hug and kiss and he left, walking back to the apartment with 13,500 euros in his pocket.
It was very late by the time he got back. He tried to be very quiet and eventually found the sanctuary of his room where he lay down and wondered if he hadn’t dreamed the last 6 hours - the wad of notes in his pocket told him he hadn’t. He thought it highly unlikely that he would sleep but within minutes he was completely sparko, just like a child after a day on the beach.
