The Cassandra Sanction

Chapter Twenty-Four

Raul blanched. ‘Madre. Why?’

Ben replied, ‘Why do you think? Did you piss off the wrong people back in Spain? Do you owe money to the mob?’

‘No. None of that. Of course not.’

‘I didn’t think so. Then there’s only one possible reason. They want you because they believe you probably have information about Catalina’s whereabouts. Twin siblings are about as close as it gets. They must reckon if she’s in contact with anybody, it’s you.’

‘You’re saying—’

Ben nodded. ‘It pretty much proves that Kazem was telling the truth. Your sister’s still alive and we’re not the only ones looking for her.’

Raul thought about it and realised what it must mean. A glow of hope, intermingled with anxiety, spread over his face. ‘Then… they don’t know where she is either?’

Ben shook his head. ‘But they’re very committed to finding out. Whoever sent these guys after you wants her pretty badly.’

‘If they don’t know where she’s gone, if they haven’t found her… it means she must be safe. She’s okay.’

‘Maybe,’ Ben said. ‘For the moment, at least. But only if we find her before someone else does.’

‘What will they do to her? No. I don’t even want to think about it.’

‘You should think about it,’ Ben said. ‘That’s what makes it so important you get to her first.’

‘Who are these people? What do they want with my sister?’

‘They’re not celebrity stalkers, that’s for sure,’ Ben said. ‘But that’s not the only question. Think about it the other way around. Who is she to them? What is it about her that they’re so interested in?’

‘The same thing that made her run from them,’ Raul said.

‘Right. And according to Kazem, she believed it was connected with her work on the sun.’

‘That’s insane,’ Raul said. ‘It’s just, I mean, it’s just… the sun.’ He looked up and spread his hands out at it, just a pale orb giving out little warmth on that cool afternoon, and gradually sinking into the clouds.

Ben had no reply to offer Raul, because as far as he was concerned, it was insane too. To them, but evidently not to everyone. He walked to the lead vehicle, the dark metallic grey BMW, and climbed behind the wheel. He fired up the engine, leaned over and pushed open the passenger door and called to Raul, ‘Get in.’

Back up at the house, Ben retrieved his green bag from the Kia. It had been nestling down low in the space behind the seats, and had only taken a couple of bullet holes. It had had worse in its time. He slung it over his shoulder and walked into the house, overstepping the dead man with the red hole where his eye used to be, and went into Catalina’s study. While the living room and the observatory either side of it were badly wrecked, the study had been barely disturbed in the attack.

Ben looked around the room, at the desk, at the shelves and the bookcase. Somewhere in here could be evidence, even just the smallest clue to guide them. Without it, and with Kazem gone, they were nowhere. He had no idea what to look for or where to start, so he decided he’d take everything he could find that looked even remotely connected to Catalina’s solar research.

He packed what he could into his bag — her laptop, the external hard drive hooked up to the desktop Mac, and as many storage discs and paper files as he could cram inside the straining canvas. Catalina was precise in her ways. Each file and container was carefully labelled in neat writing, done with a thin marker pen. Anything referring to solar research was potentially interesting. As Ben searched the shelves for more, a file fell open, scattering papers over the floor. Swearing, he crouched to gather them up. He noticed that in place of all the usual dense and incomprehensible scientific charts and graphs, the papers in the file were low on hard technical data and mostly consisted of written English. It looked like notes written for an essay, containing quotations and references dated from the mid-nineteenth century. It seemed completely out of place with the rest of the stuff.

Ben was about to leave the pages where they’d fallen, when he saw that the cover of the file was labelled HERSCHEL / SUN. Underlined in heavy bold, as if to highlight its importance.

Herschel. Ben remembered that was what she’d called the cat, named after her favourite astronomer. Who the human Herschel had been, or what singled him out as so special, he hadn’t the faintest idea. But if it was important to Catalina, then maybe it should be important to Ben, too. He shuffled the papers back inside the file and crammed them into the bag.

When he had everything he could find, Ben left the study and found Raul still outside in the yard.

‘What happens now? Do we call the police?’ Raul asked.

Ben lit another Gauloise. He only had four left after this one, which annoyed him. He blew smoke and said, ‘What for?’

Raul nodded. ‘That’s what I thought you were going to say. Then we have to bury Kazem. He was her friend. We can’t just leave him here.’

They found a shovel in the toolshed. It was old, and not up to much more than shovelling snow. By the time they’d finished digging a shallow grave in the hard ground, the blade was badly buckled. They carried Kazem out of the house and laid him in the grave. Raul folded the Iranian’s arms across his chest.

‘Muslims wash the body of the dead before burial,’ Ben said. ‘To cleanse the deceased of impurities ready for the next world.’

Raul looked down at Kazem and nodded. ‘We should respect that. It would be a sin not to. I’ll do it.’

They did it together, using jugs of water from the kitchen. As best they could, they laid Kazem’s body to rest. Infidel prayers seemed inappropriate to the occasion, either Raul’s Catholic ones or Ben’s half-remembered Anglican ones. They simply bowed their heads for a moment and then shovelled the dirt back over him and piled stones over the fresh earth.

‘That’s all we can do for him,’ Ben said. His jaw was tender. He worked it from side to side a couple of times. No clicks or catches. Nothing seemed to be broken in there. He worked his tongue around his teeth and didn’t feel anything loose, either.

‘I’m sorry I punched you,’ Raul said.

‘You certainly pack a wallop.’

‘I didn’t mean—’

‘It’s okay,’ Ben said. ‘You had your reasons this time. But if it happens again, I’ll shoot you. Deal?’

Raul gave a weak smile. He was silent for a moment, then asked, ‘What about Herschel?’

Ben realised he meant the cat. Herschel was nowhere to be seen. ‘He’s a hunter. He’ll survive and feed himself fine out here alone.’

Raul nodded. ‘What about the other bodies? Shouldn’t we bury them as well?’

Ben looked at him. ‘Rats have to eat too. You want to be here all day?’

‘No, we should probably get out of here,’ Raul said. ‘Not in that thing, though,’ he added, pointing at the Kia. ‘What’s left of it. I’ve never seen a car in a state like this.’

‘I’ve seen plenty,’ Ben said morosely.

Raul forced his smile a little wider. ‘Now I know why you’re blacklisted by the rental companies.’