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I head along the path that takes me down to the dock. At the last minute I take a left along an old rabbit trail. Something occurs to me that makes me go that way. There used to be great fossils sticking out of the cliff down there.
I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening fossil hunting. It distracts me from my churning mind.
I lose myself in uncovering specimens that I remember well from my vacations here. Several of them are wedged into the rock too deep. Maybe I could come back down here with a chisel, if there’s one in the house.
I’m still on the beach when the helicopter flies over my head, vanishing over the cliff top above me, heading for the house.
I make my way back up, my hands filled with samples for me to examine when I get inside. I wonder if he’s got a magnifying glass I could use, get a proper look at the belemnites and ammonites that make up the bulk of my finds.
I feel a tug of something as I approach the house. What is that? Am I glad he’s back?
Did I miss him while he was gone? Is that possible?
I walk into the house and he’s in the middle of a conversation on the phone, his back to me in the middle of the corridor ahead. “Don’t let up until he hands it over. Call me as soon as he talks.”
He hangs up, spinning around and staring straight at me.
I let out a gasp. His shirt is covered in blood. “What happened?” I ask, walking over to him. “Did you get hurt?”
“It’s not my blood,” he replies, turning away and heading off down the corridor.
“Don’t walk away from me, Leo.”
He stops dead, spinning to face me once more. “Did you just give me an order?”
“Whose blood is that?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I thought you were trusting me. I’m your wife, Leo. Whose blood is that?”
“Your father’s.”
“What?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Did you kill him?”
“He’s not dead. Should be but he isn’t.”
“What the hell happened?”
“I went to see him to get Giorgio Amato’s address. He didn’t want to give it to me.”
“So you tortured him?”
“I questioned him. Made sure he knew what would happen if he continued to stonewall me. Got my people working on him now.”
“You sick bastard.”
His face turns icy cold, like the human inside him was never there. “This is my world,” he says. “I told you that you didn’t want to know the answer but you kept asking.” He tugs at his shirt. “This is what happens to the curious, Anna. The truth is nasty and unpleasant, like the world outside this island.”
“You tell yourself that. You’re the one torturing people, not me.”
He steps forward, towering over me, looking like he’s about to slap me. “Listen to me, Anna. I need that address so I can deal with Amato before he steals you. Mark my words, if he gets to you before I get to him, your world goes to shit. I need him dead before he can hurt you. That is a fact. The only man who knows where he lives is your father. He’s already arranged a handover point for you to go to Amato as his latest acquisition.
“If he doesn’t talk, I can’t get to Amato. That means you can never go back to your dig. Never have a career. Never leave the island. If you’re happy staying here forever, fine. If you ever want your career or your life back, I need that address and this is how I get answers.”
He storms off down the corridor. I stand still for a moment, feeling like that was a boxing match and I lost, badly. I feel like he smacked me even though he only used words.
Is this what his world is like? What he is like?
