Page 61 of Savage Redemption

“Because everyone said I should. They were all convinced, and I was confused. I didn’t know what else to do. I told that other man, the day I arrived.”

“What other man?”

“He came with Casey. Her husband, I think.”

“You mean Jed O’Neill?”

“Is that his name? He was interested, said he’d make enquiries and let me know what he could find out, but I never heard anything more from him.”

I make a mental note to have a chat with Jed. In the meantime, I need to make some sort of sense out of all this. I know Kaminski, for some reason, didn’t kill San Antonio as he originally intended. For reasons I’ve yet to fathom, he decided to release him. Why set him free when he apparently knew his ex-prisoner was out for revenge and presented a danger to Rosie and her child? I could be convinced he didn’t care about that, except that Janey, his wife and previously a member of my household, begged me to offer protection. I did it, for Janey. It’s beginning to sound as though I was conned.

“Why did Kristian let San Antonio go?”

“For the ransom,” Rosie replies. “Adan’s family wouldn’t pay it. They wanted him killed. But Adan said he’d pay it himself.”

Ah, right, the mysterious payments to the Cayman Islands.“How much was it?”

“I’m not sure, but Adan said he’d paid it in full and the debt was now honoured. He wanted out of the deal. He was going to go to Tenerife to tell Kaminski that. He left me down on the beach, came back up the cliff path and?—”

“And spotted the fire.”

“Yes. He must have. He obviously stopped to help.”

I look to Jack, who simply shrugs. Rosie’s account could be true, but still doesn’t explain why San Antonio came here in the first place. I ask Rosie if she can shed any light on that.

“To see me, and Erin. He wanted to be sure we were safe, and having seen the setup here, he thought we were. He told me to stay put until he’d settled things with Kaminski, and that he, Kaminski, was the one who meant us harm.”

“Kristian did? Why would he…?”

“That’s what he told Aidan. It was a threat, to keep Adan in line. He said if Adan didn’t make the payments as agreed, he’d hurt us. Adan was trying to protect me, and Erin. He had kept his side of the deal and now he wanted Kaminski to back off. But until he did, Adan felt I was safer here, that Kaminski couldn’t get to me even if he wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this? I know you recognised him, there in the clinic.”

“And at the fire. I was there when they dragged him out.”

“Okay.”

“I was scared, for Adan. I thought you might… kill him. If you believed what Kaminski had told you.”

She’s not wrong there. I still might.

“Please, let him go. Let him go back to Tenerife to see Kaminski.”

“Why would I do that? And why would you care anyway?”

“I… because I love him.”

I don’t know who is the more startled, but Nathan Darke probably has the edge on me. “That’s fucking ridiculous,” is his contribution to the discussion. “The man’s a monster, a violent child abductor. He… he raped you, for fuck’s sake.”

Rosie shakes her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. “He isn’t, he didn’t. I’ve told you, over and over. He wasgoodto me.”

Nathan turns on me. “He’s brainwashed her. It’s obvious. I expect you to put an end to this madness. My daughter needs to be free of that man.”

“Dad, stop it. Why won’t you justlisten?”

I don’t have a daughter myself, but I admit to a certain sympathy for Nathan’s position. Even so, there’s something in Rosie’s apparent desperation that has the ring of truth to it. By no stretch of the imagination could San Antonio’s treatment of Rosie be deemed to be right, but I’d be the first to agree that there are degrees of wrong. I swing my gaze from one to the other, but I’m spared the need to arrive at any decision right now by the bleep of my phone signifying an incoming call.

I check the screen. Megan. I hit the green button. “Megan? Okay, thanks. I’ll be down soon.” I end the call and survey my audience.

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