Page 89 of Someone in the Water
My cousin’s only child. So first I had Luca’s blood on my hands. And then I stood by while his daughter died too. I felt numb after that. Too guilty to even allow myself to feel.
It ruined your father too. Your mother worked to save the hotel – a generosity I’m finally able to compensate her for – and Raphael never worked with his cousins again. But it was all much too late for redemption. I gave Jack half the vineyard to assuage my own guilt, but Raphael needs to pay for his crimes.
I am asking you to take revenge against your father for me, Patrick. But without bloodshed – I know you’re clever enough to find a way. Then get away from your Corsican family. Make the choices Pascal made, go to England, find a British bride. You are half British after all.
And one last thing before I sign off forever. I am bequeathing you the thing I have loved most in my lifetime. It came to me in the embers of my life, but I have treasured it ever since, and I know you will too.
Your loving grandfather, Salvo
Patrick
1st August
Patrick can hear his dad’s voice. Muffled and distant. Speaking French. ‘Oh mon fils, qu'ai-je fait!’ Oh my son, what have I done.
You’ve killed your only son, Dad. That’s what you’ve done.Because Patrick can feel his life ebbing away.
But it wasn’t supposed to end like this. Lola’s mother should be dead. And Raphael should be in handcuffs, arrested for her murder – one anonymous phone call to the police would have ensured that. And it’s exactly the kind of revenge that Salvo had wished for in his letter.
A wish that can’t come true now.
And the worst thing is, that mazzeri witch surviving means that Lola is still in danger.
Salvo was right that Patrick had picked up on the tension between his father and grandfather. But there was tension everywhere, and he hadn’t questioned what caused it. So reading Salvo’s letter had been a shock – discovering the extent of his mafia heritage was bad enough, but finding out that the suicide of their windsurf instructor twenty years ago had been murder, and at his father’s hand. And also that he was related to the girl who drowned.
And it was so much worse because he’d met Lola by the time he read it.
The daughter of the woman his father tried to have killed.
At first, he felt terrible for them both, especially when Lola explained how tough the last twenty years had been for her mum. Just as Salvo asked for in his letter, Patrick was determined to find a way to get justice for them both. As he got closer to Lola, he even began dreaming of following another one of Salvo’s wishes and making her his British wife. Maybe. One day.
Then Lola told him about her mum’s dream.
And it sparked a memory. Patrick sat on a cold plastic chair in the corridor of the local police station, leaning on his grandfather, his father on the other side, the air thick with something invisible that made him want to cry. Then Frankie walked out of a room, and his mood suddenly made sense because she’d been crying too.
You had a mazzeri dream about Izzy dying.That’s what his grandfather said to Frankie that morning, and her wild stare was enough to answer the question without words.
And Izzy did die.
The mazzeri power is real, Patrick. Please never forget that.
Salvo’s letter warned him too. And how could he trust his grandfather’s words, that his own father had killed Archie, and not trust his other warning? Yes, his grandfather described the mazzeri as prophets, not killers. And by that logic, Lola’s fate was already sealed. But how could Patrick ever forgive himself if Lola died and he’d done nothing to try to stop it? Surely if the mazzera is extinguished, then so is her power?
That’s when the idea formed. A chance to keep Lola alive and make his father pay for killing Archie and letting Izzy die. But it couldn’t happen in the hotel – too many witnesses, his mother over everything.
He always hoped that Lola would go to Salvo’s gathering with him, but he couldn’t leave it to chance anymore. So he took Lola’s travel documents from the pile of post and kept talking about how special it would be for Lola to begin her birthday in both their grandfathers’ hometown.
And things started well tonight too. Lola agreed to go to the vineyard with him, meaning that he could keep her far away from any crime scene. And when he phoned his father and pretended that Lola had accused the older man of killing Archie, Raphael took the bait. But that’s when things started to go wrong. Raphael was supposed to take Frankie down one of Sartène’s medieval stone alleyways, the perfect setting for an undetected murder. But he was too slow, or she was too protective a mother perhaps.
But as soon as Raphael told him that Frankie had left the bar, he knew where she was headed. So he adjusted his plan, locking Lola in the cellar to make sure she didn’t witness her mum being killed. He didn’t know how Lola would react when she found out her mum was dead – he has no strong bond with either of his parents, so he’s got no point of reference – but when he allowed himself to dream, he saw her turning to him in her grief.
Now he’ll never know.
Why did he get so close to the scene? He didn’t need to be right there. But he couldn’t miss seeing his plan succeed. So in the end, it was his thirst for retribution that killed him. Perhaps he’s more like his father than he thought.
The pain was agonising when the bullet ripped through his stomach. He knew instantly that it was a pain he wouldn’t survive. He’s only grateful that it doesn’t hurt anymore. He’s just cold. Bitterly, freezing cold.
Something soft lands on top of him, his father’s jumper maybe, and he wonders if it might warm him up. He thinks perhaps that it does too. Just a little.
