Page 68 of Under His Sheets
Lara came to see me next, letting me know she’d spoken with Fermín and was making sure everything was repaired at my flat. She was so grateful to me for saving Pere, saving her school…
“And Alonso?” I asked her, hoping she might know something.
She shook her head. “The man from the task force said he’d been arrested and wouldn’t tell me anything else. I’m sorry. I don’t know what else I can do.”
I nodded.
All I wanted to do was go home and go to bed until it was time to return to school, if I could. Lara had offered to go with me to the school before classes started in case I was too shaken up to handle being there. Traumatic experience and all that.
“Randall, if you need to speak to someone, I will make sure you have everything you need. You are our hero.”
Cecilia called. Fermín let her and Felip know what happened to me. She said she’d be on a flight as soon as her school was out that afternoon, but I told her not to come. Josette and Sasha had already said they would take care of me when I was out of the hospital.
“I’m coming to Spain anyway, so I’ll be over there to give you a gentle hug. Felip needs to go. In addition to what happened to you, his brother is missing. No one has heard from him and the family is worried. He usually tells them when he’s been deployed.”
I didn’t know if I could say anything, but I hated for the Seguras to be worried.Iwas worried. I had no idea if he was okay. I knew there had been people he’d said that he thought were compromised, that he didn’t trust. Could he be in trouble for real? What if he was being held because he’d gone against orders to save me? What if he was hurt? If he hadn’t surfaced by the time I got out of the hospital, I would tell…someone. At the very least I’d tell his family. Maybe Mr. Segura could do something as his parent. I was no one to him. He’d called me his boyfriend in front of his friends, but would that even matter?
“Senyor Sutter!”
As I hung up with Cecilia, Pere came running into my room. He started to hurl himself into my arms, but then he noticed the bandages and his eyes grew wide. He settled for putting a tentative hand on my lower leg.
“Hey little man,” I said, trying to smile. I needed to push myself up a little, but I was stuck. I couldn’t use either of my arms.
“No cansis al senyor Sutter, Pere. He needs to rest.”
Paolo Ferrer came in without any of the swagger he’d had before. He stood next to the bed, struggling to make eye contact.
“We brought you those flowers. I picked them out myself,” Pere said, pointing at a large vase full of gold-colored roses and assorted flowers.
“They are beautiful,” I said. “The biggest bunch of them all. That was very sweet of you.”
Paolo patted Pere’s head. “Wait in the hallway for a moment, Pere, so I may speak with senyor Sutter.”
Pere lost his smile and gazed at me with watery eyes. “Thank you for helping us,” Pere said. “I am looking forward to going back to class. I have a new song picked out for us to learn.”
I smiled at him, wishing I could ruffle his hair. I shifted in the bed, which sent a wave of pain through me. I tried not to let it show.
He waved to me and slunk out of the room.
“Senyor Sutter,” Paolo started, his chin quivering. His eyes were red and glassy, his hair a little unkempt. “Randall…I owe you a huge debt?—”
“It’s okay?—”
“Si us plau. Please, let me explain.”
I waited for him to continue.
“I was born and raised in a small town outside of Barcelona. Catalunya is my home. I have watched us grow and expand, becoming an important part of all of España. My parents instilled in me the importance of preserving our language and culture, hence my love of music. I’ve been very successful, and I know the most important part of success is to give back to your community. It was in that vein that I agreed to help some local Catalans who wanted to support our jailed politicians. What Madrid did in twenty-seventeen was wrong and sentiment among the people in my circle is that more of us needed to step up and ensure that Catalunya remains autonomous and gains back what we have lost. No more can they take away from us.”
He stopped speaking and took a couple of shaky breaths.
“When they approached me to gather a group of likeminded people in Castelldefels, to embark on a fundraising campaign, I was honored to help. Only, it turned into something ugly, and I am ashamed of my part in what happened, especially what happened to you.”
“Senyor Ferrer?—”
“I had no idea that…that this would become violent. I was so full of myself, so self-absorbed, I didn’t see how it was affecting Pere.Hewas the one who discovered that Camille Durand was the go-between with the men here and her grandfather. Pere was in her classroom before school that day before the party. Vidal came to the door and Pere saw him give the key to Camille. He heard him tell her in French to keep it safe, that if it fell into the wrong hands, everyone in our group would be ruined. Vidal had been to my house on many occasions so Pere thought he meant me, too. Pere saw where she hid it in a jar on her desk, and at lunch, he snuck in there and grabbed it.” Paolo rubbed his mouth. “The key was to a cabinet in her room. Vidal had hidden a file there with names of everyone who’d given money, all of the meetings… I had no idea what he had done with the money we raised, or that he was threatening people. Bribing officials with that money.”
He rubbed at his eyes. “Pere thought ifhetook the key, if he hid it, then no one would get hurt. Pere trustedyouabove anyone, and that is why he put the key in your pocket. He didn’t want me to get in trouble and he knew you would do the right thing.”
