Page 126 of Catch a Kiwi
Roman
I whistled.
“Yeah,” Summer said. “That’s whatIthought.”
“How much did he still owe?” I asked. “It was seventy million in taxes and fines, something like that, but you already paid some of it, selling those houses and all.”
“You looked it up,” she said. “I didn’t tell you that.”
“I did. So how much?”
“What he still owes? Forty-six million, two hundred sixty-three thousand. That’s accumulated some interest, too. Which leaves eighty-one million, eight hundred fourteen … oh, the heck with it. Eighty-two million dollars. But of course, even once the Crown takes the money he owes, that won’t reduce his sentence. I can’t believe I married somebody so stupid,” she burst out. “I’ve accepted everything else. That he wasn’t a grown-up. That he was scared of the future. That he was so gifted on the field and so flawed off it. But how could he be sostupid?”
“It’s a mystery,” I said, feeling so much lighter. When I’dseen her face today … “And this has brought your world crashing down around you because …”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” she said. “I think I may know the answer. I could cry again, so be warned.”
I held up the roll of toilet paper I brought in from the loo. “I’m ready.”
She smiled, so that was better. “It’s that …” She took a breath. “That he was willing to put me through that when he could have avoided it for both of us. That he didn’t even care about me enough to keep me out of prison. OK, I’m not going to cry. I guess I’ve faced that one. And I don’t know for sure, but I think I’ve figured out why he didn’t just pay up, too.”
“I’m fascinated to hear.” I was sorry the bastard wasn’t here where I could get at him, but I was probably glad, too, becauseI’dbe the one in prison then.
“I think,” she said, “that, first, he was sure he’d get off. He was almost … jaunty about it. He really thought he was that special, that nothing that bad could happen to him. That, and he had this sort of … pit of need that he couldn’t face. If he admitted what he’d done, it would pierce the bubble. That’s a lot of metaphors. Heneededto think he’d get away with it. Also, there’s something he said at the end.”
“What?” I asked.
“He said, when I was figuring out the bankruptcy and all that, when he was already in prison, that he couldn’t have played much longer anyway. He was almost thirty, and he’d peaked a few years back. He’d started not being quite such a star, which, coincidentally, was also when the fraud got much worse. See, that’s pretty late to peak, but people peak at different ages. Because it happened so late for him, though, he somehow thought itwouldn’thappen. He was terrified of soccer being over, I think—he could still have done modeling, I guess, and still been a celebrity, but that didn’t reallycount—and he didn’t want to think about it and definitely didn’t want to talk about it, but on some level, he knew it. I guess this was his Plan B. His reallystupidPlan B.”
“His Plan B was tax fraud? That’s one hell of a Plan B.”
Somehow, she was smiling. Summer, bouncing back. “Right? Of course, he spent everything else he made, somehow or other, so you could think of it as a savings plan. He couldn’t take the money out, but nobody else could, either.”
“Did this man have an accountant?” I asked. My own accountant would’ve made short work of that lame idea. And fired me as a client.
“Excellent question,” Summer said. “That’s why they thought I must’ve been part of it—because he couldn’t have figured it all out on his own. Yes, he had an accountant. I heard he was facing disciplinary action, but I didn’t really follow it. I didn’t care.”
“So even though he’d done it deliberately,” Roman said, “and been found out, he kept lying. Makes no sense.”
“It does if you know Felipe,” she said. “He hadn’t thought he’d go to prison for it, of course, and even when it looked like he would, he thought the sentence would be short. He told me that when he got out, we could go live in some tropical paradise, or go back to Argentina, where he’d always be a star, or both. As if I’d go for that. I’m a rule follower! How could he still not have known that about me? But then, he was surprised when I filed for divorce, too.”
“They’d still have been looking for the money, though,” I said. “‘For jealousy is cruel as the grave, and the coals thereof are coals of fire.’ That’s the Bible, and it’s nothing compared to the tax authorities. Jealous for their money, eh.”
“Yes,” Summer said, “but you see—even if they found it, most countries outside of Europe and the States and so forth don’t extradite unless it’s for something really bad. Murder,kidnapping, things like that, so he probablycouldhave gone back to Argentina with the money, or to … to Costa Rica or wherever, some Spanish-speaking tropical place, and been just fine.”
“Crime does pay, then,” I said.
“If he’d been quicker to take the money and run,” she said. “If he’d realized they’d find out. I’m sure there’s a Bible quote about that, too. The love of money is the root of all evil, right?”
“‘But they that will be rich,’” I said, “‘fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.’”
“I concede to the quotation master,” she said. “Makes you think twice about the swimming pool and the pizza oven, maybe.”
“Nah,” I said. “I don’t need the Catlins place. I like it, but I don’t need it. That’s not my snare.”
“I like this place,” she said. “I didn’t really look at it before, but … it’s nice.”
“Cozy,” I said. “Comfortable. First house I ever bought. Two bedrooms, one of them an attic without much head room, one bath, tiny kitchen, and a million-dollar view. We done talking about Moyano, then? Good.”
