An Unremarkable Man (4/4)

I lay on the cot in my cell staring at the ceiling. I could not imagine how I was going to get out of this one. I thought about what that lawyer had said, that I was going to be the fall guy so the mega mafia wouldn’t be compromised. The embassy had forsaken me; I was on my own. Soon I’d be locked up for god knew how long…I didn’t know what an Italian prison would be like. I kept thinking of ‘foreign prisons’ movies I’d seen: Midnight Express, Bangkok Hilton, In the Name of the Father. Tears sprang to my eyes. I was too young to die!

I heard footsteps in the corridor and listlessly wondered what the guard was doing pacing at this time of night. Suddenly, my door burst open and I instinctively closed my eyes, believing that I was going to go the way of Byron Gray: assassinated, alone.

“Get up! Come on!”

“Kelly?” I squeaked in disbelief.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” She hissed.

Bemused, I jumped up and followed her out the door, down the corridor, through an office—she paused to throw a set of keys on a desk, she she slipped through an open door, across a gravel path toward an open gate. I did not see one single guard.

“How did you do that?” I asked as we got in a car parked outside the massive walls.

“Tell you later,” she grinned. She’d got into the driver’s seat and was frantically texting.

A few seconds later two more figures appeared through the gate, which now started to close. It was Clarence and Sophie.

They jumped into the car and Kelly sped away, into the night.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this man,” I said to Clarence.

He smiled weakly. He looked worse than I felt.

Sophie pulled a balaclava off, so her peroxide locks spilled out like corn silk.

“So how the hell did you pull that off?” I asked her.

“Let’s just say I’m skilled in the Art of Negotiation,” she smiled grimly.

“You paid them off?” I asked. “How much?”

“A lot,” she admitted. “But it wasn’t as crude as that. It pays to be well-connected, you know.”

“Sure,” I said, though I had no idea what she meant. Kelly had said she was a baroness. I didn’t think that went so far in 2023, especially not after Brexit.

I sank back into my seat and let the moonlit landscape whizz by. Each one of us was simultaneously keyed up and exhausted. After about a half hour, I looked out at the sea and was struck by its familiar aspect.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “We’re not going back to Thetis are we?”

“Well…” said Kelly.

“Yes we are,” Sophie snapped.

“What the—Why? The place will be crawling with cops at this point!” My voice was verging on a whine but I couldn’t help it.

“We have unfinished business down there,” Sophie said coolly.

“This is crazy,” I muttered to myself. I brooded over it for a few minutes.

“Look, I appreciate you getting me out of the holding cell and all, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not go back to the crime scene. I’ve been arrested for his murder once already and I don’t want to repeat the experience.”

“Sorry Nate,” said Kelly. “We need you in on this.”

“What is this?” I spluttered. “Will someone please tell me what is going on? Clarence?”

He shrugged. His face was ashy and his whole demeanor seemed that of a man who was resigned to the labor camp.

“We’re planning to solve the murder,” said Kelly cheerfully. “We found some clues on the scene.”

“You were poking around the crime scene?” I said, stunned. “So your DNA will be everywhere? Perfect, that’s perfect,” I muttered.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t leave anything there,” said Kelly blithely.

“The reason we need you, my love,” said Sophie, “Is because you were parked outside the door for so long. You can help us reconstruct what happened.”

I groaned in irritation.

“Where’s my gun?” I said suddenly.

“At the station,” said Sophie. “Want me to go back and get it?”

I scowled.

“Come on Nate, this will be good for you, if we can prove your innocent.”

“Why can’t you leave it to the cops?” I asked.

Sophie and Kelly exchanged a look.

“They’ve decided that for sure it’s us, and you were in on it too. It’s a done deal. They’re not even bothering to interview anyone,” Kelly explained. “Sophie overheard the detective talking to one of his subordinates.”

“Shit,” I said.

“Yeah,” said Sophie, “Shit. And, see, for us it’s a matter of principle. We absolutely bar executions or even violence against people in the furtherance of our cause. If the execution is attributed to us, the media is going to have an absolute field day discrediting our movement, saying we’re dangerous killers. And that’s exactly what we’re not. We need to be ready to show the world the truth.”

“What is your movement anyway?” I asked. “You might as well tell me at this point.”

“We are the International Bonobo Front,” said Kelly. “Bonobos are peaceful primates, you see. Pan paniscus.”

“Hence the monkey tattoos,” I rolled my eyes.

“Funny,” said Sophie. I could see her eyes narrow in the rear-view mirror. “You work for one of the most corrupt, murderous institutions on the face of the earth (which, by the way, is totally willing to throw you under the bus) and yet somehow you’re superior to us?”

“OK, OK, I didn’t mean anything, OK? I haven’t had a lot of sleep in the last two days.”

“We’re all on edge,” said Kelly, attempting to make peace. “You know what might help? If we went over that night together…pooling our information.”

What follows is my memory of what each one of us remembered.

Clarence

I was working the afternoon shift, from two to ten. I started working in the bar, then waited tables for the dinner period (seven to nine), then went back to the bar and served drinks.

Byron Gray came into the bar before dinner, at about six o’clock. He and the short Italian guy met and talked together for about forty minutes. I couldn’t hear what they were saying exactly—they were wary. But I did catch a couple of words. It sounded like they were talking business.

Dinner started at seven o’clock. The first person to come in was the American woman, Carol.

She asked my opinion on a good local red wine so I recommended the rosso primitivo. Then Kelly and Sophie arrived. I seated the Italian and his family party, it took a while to get everyone’s orders. When I finally got it all down, I saw that Byron and his wife and son were at the entrance, pissed off that they’d been waiting for so long. I led them to a table, sat them down and brought some champagne on the house.

It was after that that Nathan arrived and I was thrown off balance because I didn’t know he was going to be here and he was giving off strong spook vibes. I wrote a quick note for Sophie, since she’s our team leader, and she told me to keep an eye on him.

I became aware that there was a disturbance at the Gray table. The son knocked over a chair. I went to pick it up. Then, a few minutes later, I overheard an argument between him and his wife. When she left, I took a quick look to see where she went. Interestingly, she went out into the lobby and sat down in the corner out there.

A minute later, I saw Enzo the Italian go out, to go to the bathroom, but he went straight over to Aisha Gray and had a quick word to her. He saw me looking at him and frowned. Gave me the creeps.

Anyway, the dinner period passed relatively calmly after that. Byron Gray went out onto the terrace for a cigar and an after-dinner drink. Nathan was sitting there too, obviously keeping tabs on Gray.

Kelly came out to feel Nate out. I saw that Nate was focusing on her tattoo and I was worried she’d give the International Bonobo Front away.

While they were talking, Gray got up and went to his room—as far as I know—he took the lift anyway.

I talked to Nate a bit, then he went after Gray. I finished my shift and met up with Kelly and Soph. in the laundry room at ten.

We could see Nate on the security camera, camping out outside Gray’s door. This was going to be problem for us so Soph. said if he was still there at eleven, then I should deal with him.

From ten to eleven I was chillin’, listening to music and smoking. I checked the camera at eleven and saw our boy was still there, so got the chloroform and did my thing. Thank god I didn’t see his gun or I’d have wet my pants. I took him to the laundry room. One of the guests—Carol—saw me with him but I said he was drunk and I was helping him to his room.

I got him into the laundry room, tied him up in case he woke up and hung out there until about one thirty, which is when he come to.

Nate

I walked into the restaurant and Clarence led me to a table near enough to eavesdrop on Gray and his family.

I overheard the argument Duke Gray had with his father. It sounded like he was putting a business together and his dad refused to fund it. Duke got mad and Byron was vicious, basically calling Duke a loser and a dunce. Duke stormed out.

Aisha tried to smooth things over but then Byron got nasty to her. It sounded like she was being blackmailed for some past indiscretions. Byron was refusing to pay the blackmailers and she was mad about that. He went nuclear by hinting that he was totally ready to drop her over the scandal, and she left the dining room.

I finished my eggplant parmigiana and followed Gray out onto the terrace where he was smoking a cigar.

Kelly came over and I got distracted. She accused me of being a spook.

When she left, I noticed that Gray had gone. I talked to Clarence, who called himself ‘Deng’ from South Sudan and he said Gray had gone up to his room. I realized I had to stay on his trail. I was worried something might have happened to him and didn’t want to be held responsible for letting him slip away. At that point I was afraid he was planning an escape or something.

I went up to the third floor and took a seat outside his room. Unfortunately, Carol was there, reading a book. I still don’t know what she was doing there—she claimed to be waiting for a friend but after about ten minutes she left before any friend showed up. It seemed sketchy to me. While we were sitting there, we could clearly hear that Byron and his wife were in the room fighting and throwing things.

Carol left suddenly. I decided to turn my chair around so I wouldn’t be seen so easily. Aisha left the room soon after I did that. Byron told her she had to contact him through his lawyer from then on. Once he closed the door, I heard her say she’d kill him. Then she took the elevator away.

Well, I didn’t want my man to get murdered so I decided it was time to get my gun. I rushed down the stairs to my room, where I had my Glock. I took that and an energy drink. I was about to go out, when I heard a voice come from the stairwell. It was Sophie. She was saying something about 2 o’clock. I checked my watch and saw it was 10.35. I waited until she finished talking and passed by my door, then I went back upstairs.

At about eleven o’clock someone else went into Byron Gray’s room. It was the Italian guy—Enzo. It was while he was in there that fireworks started going off. He must have spent about fifteen minutes in there. And then he left quietly. His phone rang as he left and he answered it by saying it was him, Enzo. He didn’t seem suspicious in the least.

It was only a short time after that that Clarence knocked me out with the chloroform.

Sophie

Kelly and I spent the afternoon in our room going over our plans. We were going to get into Byron Gray’s room using the keycard that Clarence had prepared at reception. We knew Aisha would have to be dealt with so we had two hoods and ties for their wrists and ankles—it was important to catch them completely by surprise so we could smuggle them out of the hotel in a manageable way.

Then we went downstairs to dinner. I noticed Nate and saw ‘spook’ written all over him. Another complication. It was then that I thought we might have to neutralize him before going in to get Gray.

There were the two big, public family arguments. I admit, they worried me. They meant a disturbance. I wasn’t sure if we’d need to adjust our plans.

Kelly and I dressed to go clubbing and we actually drove away for a time, changed into black gear, then returned to the hotel a couple of hours later through the back door, where deliveries come through. Clarence let us in.

We watched the security camera outside Gray’s room and saw Nate and Carol chatting. That was when I realized Nate was definitely trailing Gray and we’d have to deal with him—I gave Clarence orders at that point. I was actually glad when Aisha stormed out because her presence would have been a complicating factor. On the security cameras, I saw that she went to Enzo’s room. Enzo’s wife invited her in, seemed to be comforting her.

At that stage I decided to go up the stairs to scope out the place. I was planning to chloroform Nate there and then but he’d suddenly disappeared. I should have known he’d still be lurking about, otherwise I wouldn’t have spoken so carelessly on the stairs.

I went to my room to have a short rest before the operation—I knew we’d be up all night and wanted to be fresh. Clarence was going to keep a look out for Nate and ‘intervene’ if necessary. I didn’t know about Enzo’s visit to Gray. One thing I did notice was that about 12.30 I heard the door of the room next door quietly open and close. At first I thought someone was coming into our room. Then I heard someone run the shower, which calmed me down a bit, though I thought it was odd anyone showering at that time of night.

I suppose I must have been a bit antsy because I couldn’t get back to sleep. I read instead, and I kept hearing weird noises from next door. Shuffling and banging—pretty quiet, they wouldn’t have woken me up at all, but noticeable at that time of night.

At 1.50, I went to Gray’s room. Kelly was already there and let me in. She was as white as a sheet. I’ll let her tell the next bit because it made me feel green to be honest.

Kelly

I have never spent a more anxious five minutes in my life between going into that apartment and waiting for Sophie.

Gray was still in bed. He’d been executed—a single shot in the forehead. Not at point-black range because there were no powder marks. He was already cold and his facial muscles were stiff with rigor mortis but the rest of his body was relatively relaxed. He must have been dead about two hours when I let myself in.

I was wearing gloves, a hat, plastic shoe wraps, so I was relatively confident that I wouldn’t leave anything at the crime scene. I took the opportunity of snooping.

There was a bottle of sleeping pills next to his bed. Very likely he’d never even woken up. Apart from that, the balcony door was open. I don’t know if anyone could have come in via the window. Maybe from the upper room if they’d had abseiling equipment! Otherwise…no—the balconies between rooms were too far apart.

There was a note in a blue envelope sitting on the table. I opened it. I didn’t want to take a photo in case it could be traced, but it was short enough to be memorized:

Justice has been served. May you never rest in peace. Your nemesis. Remember J.

This was completely confusing to me. Who was ‘J.’?

At that point Sophie came and we had to get out and discuss our next move. We called Clarence and told him to scram. We followed you guys – using a GPS tracker. We saw you get arrested and figured out a fix. Sophie talked to the head of prisons, introducing herself as the daughter of an important diplomat and promising a certain number of improvements, not to mention a personal inducement.

***

After pooling our stories, we were none the wiser, though there were a couple of suggestive details. It occurred to most of us that the sounds Sophie heard in the room next to hers that night may have belonged to the murderer. The problem was, none of us knew who was the occupant of that room.

“If we figure that out,” Clarence said, with startling naivete, “We have a chance of persuading the police.”

As it turned out, though, there was no need to persuade them of anything. When we got back to the hotel, the police were completely disinterested in us because they already knew who the murderer was.

I think I mentioned earlier that the reason Ekoil and Byron Gray were so notorious was all thanks to a single whistleblower. That whistleblower had supposedly committed suicide, but then a hidden police report emerged showing that he’d been tied to a chair, tortured and executed before being thrown from a building. The whistleblower’s name was Jason Steinberg. His mother’s name was Carol.

Carol had left another note in another blue envelope on the table in her hotel room, explaining that she’d agonized over her decision for years but that in the end she thought that if she gave her life in return for Gray’s, then there would be some balance restored. Not sane, of course, but I’m not sure I can blame her for that.