He looked as if he were trying to object to this, but it was sensible and practical. Still, he seemed skeptical.
“I’ll have you know you can’t possibly outwit me. Don’t try anything funny. Best be sure I have a letter for your aunt outlining how you’ve wronged her, and the number for that detective is in my office. And if you should even think of cheating me: Right between the eyes, my girl. Right between the eyes.”
“I understand,” she said, and did not have to pretend to look fearful.
He pinched her ass harder than usual and guided her back toward the café.
—
“For fuck’s sake,” Ulises whispered. It was the second time he’d said the same thing.
They were huddled together in the sitting room while the house slept. In a corner, the old porcelain clock ticked and marked the hour with a groan, making them turn around in surprise, then, seeing it was nothing to be concerned about, they shook their heads and resumed their muttering.
“Fuck, what are we going to do?”
“Kill him, of course.”
“You’re one bloodthirsty creature, aren’t you.”
“I’m not going to sleep with him, if that’s what you’re thinking. I said that to buy us time. We must kill him. Otherwise, he’ll call the cops on you, and he’ll tell my aunt everything. Don’t you see? We have to do it,” she insisted.
“Yes, yes, yes, I know we have to. But I don’t know how.”
“What do you want? To go to jail? And I’ll be homeless. She’ll toss me out. After all of this, we’ll end up with nothing. He might even kill both of us, you know? He has that pistol and he’s always showing it off.”
“I’ll be fucked if I’m going to die in this shit town,” he said, his voice rising in his anger.
He paused, looked around, cautious, yet there was no danger. The house remained dark and quiet.
“I can drug him,” she suggested. “I can give him something to drink from a hip flask, and we can put him to sleep. Then we drive the car off a cliff.”
“The ravines hereareawfully deep.”
He walked from the spot where he’d been standing, by the piano, moving toward a window. A feeble moonlight trickling in through the curtains illuminated his pensive face and he glanced outside. There was nothing to see. The fog had begun to curl around the town, dampening its sounds and veiling its sights.
“We can throw him off the Devil’s Chair,” she continued, the idea becoming more vivid and firm in her mind. “They’d never be able to retrieve the vehicle from there. It’s that funny rock formation when you’re headed up toward Consagrado, you know? They’ll think he simply lost control of the car.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
“You’d have to drive, though. I don’t know how.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how to drive?” he replied, sounding suddenly affronted.
“My aunt never let me handle her car.”
“There’s no way to do it, then.”
“You wait in the shadows. I get him to drink from the hip flask. One for the road, you know? And then he’ll slump over, and you can get in the car and drive.”
“Will he fall unconscious that quickly?” Ulises asked, sounding skeptical.
“I think so.”
“You think so.” He tapped his foot impatiently, fidgeting and muttering under his breath.
“Or I can get chloroform from the pharmacist. Maybe I’ll do both things. Give him a drink and shove a soaked handkerchief against his face.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “How effective is that?”
