Chapter 28 Karakarai Falls - 6

This was three weeks ago. Georges Tarras left for Marseilles via Paris after finishing a shipping business in London with Tony Petridis and a Scottish lawyer.A seaplane was there waiting for him, as the telegram said.After an hour and a half of flight, the plane slowly landed on the water only a few hundred meters away from the coast. The rather irregular and reddish coastline is very beautiful.After a while, there was no movement.Then a motorboat emerged from the reef, with Diego Haas at the wheel and no one else. "You have come just in time," Perlas told him. "I'm already thinking of imitating the Count of Monte Cristo."

"Monte Cristo is not on this side of Corsica," Diego said, "but on the other side of Corsica. Besides, what do you plan to do with the treasures you have unearthed?" "That makes sense. Let's go, sailor." Unlike Setiniaz, Taras liked Diego quite a bit. "A man with so much humor and so much cynicism can't be good for nothing." Besides, Leiber wanted this interesting Argentine to be at his side all the time, and no one else could do anything about it. "Diego, do you know that W. C. Fields once said something like this: 'A man who hates children and dogs is not worthless'! "

"I don't know anyone." Diego laughed. "Where's Reb 7" "In Ajaccio. He's coming back for lunch." "Then where the hell are we going now?" Diego responded by shifting the gears of the twin engines.It was eleven o'clock in the morning, and the Corsican spring sun was already blazing red.Taras looked back: the seaplane was leaving the water with unexpected grace, and their motorboat was also rounding a small headland at this time.Then, the wide and beautiful Piana Bay unfolds in front of you. Some of the jagged reefs in the bay are like needlepoints, and some are like sawtooth...

... Then I saw a yacht painted in black and white parked. "Reb's? I didn't know he bought a yacht." Diego didn't answer.But there was a strange look in his yellow eyes. Taras had to shout so hard that his voice would not be completely drowned out by the roar of the engine. "I don't understand: Reber was so anxious to get me here from London, and now you're telling me he's not even on board." "The yacht is not his," said Diego in his normal voice, having just turned off the engine. "And he wasn't the one who sent the seaplane to pick you up." He steered the motorboat deftly to the edge of the yacht's gangway. "It's not Reb. It's her. She wants to talk to you."

As soon as Taras boarded the yacht, a beautiful black girl greeted her with a smile-her brown skin was golden.Without saying a word, the girl led him towards the stern of the boat.Aestivation Page sat at a breakfast table there.Beside her were two other black girls, all wrapped in blue veils with only their faces exposed. She held out her hand to Taras, and asked him if he would like a cup of coffee, but he declined; then she offered him tea, and Taras said yes. "The last time we met," she said, "was at a dinner David gave to some of his old Harvard classmates. You were the guest of honor at the dinner, and you made a particularly dazzling impression."

"If that's the case, it's very likely that our meeting today will completely disappoint you," Taalas said. "No matter how hard I try, I can't dazzle twice in a row. I'm really trying to do my best." He couldn't help turning his eyes to those girls wrapped in blue gauze, and he didn't hide his curiosity. "They are from Danakil." Xia Mian explained from the side. "Do you know Ethiopia? No? You should go there and see. It's a wonderful country, thousands of years old. These girls are from Asmara, they're Christian, and they all speak French. I miss you Also speaks French. Reber told me you speak an incredible number of languages..."

"There are five of them. And they're all bad." He felt a little embarrassed.He knew very little about Aestivation Page.Taras had seen her two or three times, and had heard about her from David Setiniaz.Taras knew that Aestivation was rich, extremely rich, independent, and smart. In addition, according to Setiniaz, she had a "very bad temper."Of course she was very pretty, even among these fine-browed and charming Ethiopian girls. She went on to say that in recent months she has been to many places along the Red Sea coast: Yemen, Aden, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Egypt.Two weeks ago, her yacht in black and white passed through the Suez Canal.Then to Alexandria, Crete, Malta, also through the Straits of Messina and Bonifacio.

"Next stop, I don't know where yet. Maybe Switzerland? Or Paris? What do you think?" She looked at Taras with two violet eyes, and anyone who was not blind could see that a strange madness was burning in those eyes.Taras was growing uneasy.She mentioned Reb Klimrod only once. "What does she want from me?" Bellas wondered. "I don't even quite know what the relationship between them is..." "Why don't you go to Bramazu or Manchester??" He suggested to Aestivation, trying to sound light-hearted, although he already had a premonition of what was going to happen.

"Maybe one day you and your lovely lady will be my guests!" "Shirley will be more than happy to oblige. She's been asking me for a yacht for thirty years." There was a silence, which was what Taras feared. Xia Shun said to the Ethiopian girls in French: "You step down..." The girls left.The weather was getting hotter, and from the nearby shore there was an intoxicating aroma of the Corsican bushes. "I want to talk to you, Monsieur Taras. About Reber, of course." She lit another cigarette with the butt she had just smoked. "How long have you known him?"

Taras hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to answer, but Xia Mian immediately interrupted his hesitation. "Oh, my God?" she exclaimed. "I asked David that question too, but he didn't answer either. He babbled and stammered as if my curiosity was a shame. Mister Taras, I've been Reber's mistress for . . . for more than four years. I even went to his dreadful house in Greenwich Village. I lived with him there, and in fact I could have bought the whole neighborhood there. I don't know anything about his past. No, I don't know what he's doing, what he wants to do, or where he's going. He never talks about those things. I'm always waiting for him, sometimes months before he reappears and I don't know where he's coming from Come. Money... Money seemed worthless to him. But he had money. He gave me many expensive presents, and I'm sure if I asked him--I don't know what to say, if I asked him, for example, He wants a chateau in France, or an island, and he'll give me anything. But who is he, Monsieur Taras?"

"How should I answer?" Taras thought. She stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette, and mechanically lit another. "As far as I know," she said, "there are three people who must know more about him than I do. One is Diego, and maybe Reber will tell him to kill him, and he will do it. If anyone asks him, then What a fool, and it's bound to turn out to be nothing, and besides, I'm a little afraid of him... The other is David, my own brother-in-law, but if I ask him, he turns red and talks incoherently like a man with a long face. Middle school students with acne...there is you." She stared at him intently, and what Taras saw in her dilated pupils was a desperate longing, and he couldn't help turning away, ashamed of himself. It's cold again. "I knew it was going to be like this," she finally said, her tone infinitely sentimental. Taras dared not look at her again.Then she continued in a very soft, slightly trembling voice: "I'm young, I'm probably pretty, I'm rich, I love Reber, I don't think it's possible to love someone like that, and I love him like that. But it's obviously not enough. I asked He married me, or let me live with him permanently; it was all the same to me. I begged him. I would have a child with him. Is that too much to ask?" "You make me feel extremely embarrassed," Taras's voice could tell that his heart was heavy. "I understand, I'm so sorry. Once in a while, Reber told me something about his past. He mentioned your name and said you were his most trusted friend." "Don't dare," Taras said bitterly. Suddenly, she cried without moving, not even trying to wipe her tears away. "Mr. Taras, every time he came back to me, he was always very gentle. He was very considerate..." She was sobbing, and though her whole body was shaking at the moment, she sat there with her outstretched hands limply on the arms of the chair. Taras jumped up from his seat, almost angry, and at the same time deeply moved, which he had never felt before.He cursed inwardly: "To hell with this Klimrod and his inhuman egoism!" He went up to the side of the boat, grabbed the railing with all his might, and waited until he finally turned to speak. At that time, I felt that there was another person on my right.He turned his head and saw Diego quietly appearing a few meters away from him, with a smile on his face, flashing a pair of devilish and cunning eyes. "You never know when Reb will come," he said. They had lunch on the aft deck, the three men and the lady, surrounded by a group of graceful Ethiopian sisters-in-law who moved like a dance.Leiber talks the most, especially at the beginning of the meal, (note: half a page is missing here) "I've talked too much!" He was startled at last to realize that he was the only one talking. "But it's very exciting." When Xia Mian said, there was no trace of tears on her face, and she seemed to have completely controlled her emotions. Although it is only April, the sea is already very warm.Aestivation and Leiber go swimming together.The Ethiopian maids were also in the water, their sarong-like bathing suits clinging to their plump bodies, with more exposed than covered, which Taras thought was a good one.Diego tweeted that he only swam when the temperature was above thirty-five degrees Celsius and the water was above thirty degrees, so he was still sitting in a wicker chair painted emerald green, smoking that disgusting cigar.Taras suddenly remembered something. "Every time he comes back to me, he is always very gentle," this is what Xia Mian said when talking about Leiber just now.And here's the thing, absolutely true: Leiber displays a bewildering tenderness toward aestivation.Two or three times Taras noticed some unmistakable movements, and Reb gently stroked her shoulders or the nape of her neck with his palm or fingers.When Reb stared at her, those gray eyes were always absorbed in the same way.Taras thought: "If this was not Reb Klimrod but someone else, I would have thought that he was madly in love with this woman." Night came quickly, bringing with it some coolness—a normal part of the season.Taras returned to his stateroom and began dressing for dinner.Just at this time, the yacht set off.He remembered the careful and thoughtful behavior of the six Greek crew members on the yacht.Taras was out of the shower and was putting on his shirt when he heard a knock on the door.Reb's tall figure appeared at the door. "Is it any inconvenience to you to spend the night at sea?" "not at all." "We'll be in Marseilles tomorrow morning." The gray eyes looked around the cabin slowly, and returned to Perras.It suddenly occurred to Taras: "He must already know it all. This smarter than the devil may be able to reconstruct the words that Xia Mian said to me, even the most subtle No hesitation, not even the help of Diego, who presumably overheard our conversation." "George, I do have something to tell you, which is, in a sense, what brought you here from London. I'm going to go away for a while." "Hidden?" "There's a place where I'll need to go every once in a while. Now it's time." He Wuer smiled. "Now you can keep your mouth shut. That kind of stupefaction is not appropriate for a former Harvard professor whose wit and eloquence are well-recognized. There is no drama in this, George. I just I want to meet some friends, I haven't seen them for a long time, I miss them." "in Europe?" "No." Klimrod replied simply. "Why did you forget again, you fool!" Taras scolded himself secretly. "He won't tell you." "So how long are you going?" Taras asked. "A few months, maybe longer. I don't know yet." "Can we get in touch with you?" "You can say yes or you can say no. I've made contingency arrangements. David will know. But you also know that the companies I start can work just fine without my involvement. I just Make them do it." "Does David know about this?" "Tell him about it. Tell him not to worry. He's too cautious sometimes, and that's his only real fault. George, you seem to have something to say to me, please don't say it." Taras froze for a moment, then shook his head angrily. "I can also just jump in the water and swim back to the shore. I can say whatever I want, Reb. Did you tell Aestivan about your impending departure? Did you prepare her for it? ?” "That, I think, needn't trouble you, George." "Maybe she's coming with you?" But Taras knew the answer must be no. "No," Reber said. Klimrod's clear eyes cast an uncompromising stern gaze. Taras gasped involuntarily.Still, he said: "Tell her, Reb. Please tell her. I beg you...or take her with you..." silence.The gray eyes were once again covered with a veil of mist, making it difficult to see through his mind.The cabin door was opened and closed.Taras sat down on the bed, feeling utterly helpless, and an indescribable sorrow took possession of him. He didn't hear the gunshot at all, but the sound of footsteps in the corridor woke him up.He looked at his watch habitually, it was one forty-three in the morning.He put on a dressing gown and went out.It so happened that an Ethiopian girl passed by in a hurry, and there was a puddle of blood on the white tight-fitting gown she was wearing. "Monsieur, please come," she said in French. Taras followed her.When they came to the door of the living room at the end of the cabin, Taras stepped ahead and passed her into the spacious and comfortable cabin under the aft deck.Taras saw Aestivation Peggy standing there, staring straight ahead with wide-eyed eyes, with long disheveled hair draped over his shoulders, holding a small pistol in his right hand, pointing the muzzle at the black carpet.She was wearing a baggy pajamas, almost sheer, with nothing on underneath. Leiber seemed to be sitting on the ground three or four meters away, with his left leg bent and pressed under him, and his shoulders and neck resting on a white sofa.He was naked from the upper body, although the blood kept coming out, but the two holes in his chest that the bullet hit could be seen clearly.Another Ethiopian girl was bending over trying to move him onto the couch. Reber's voice was quite calm. He said, "George, please help me." Taras took three steps forward, and he still remembers his mood at that time: it can be said that he was the fruit of resentment and anger towards Reber during the buffet night. "It happened because you asked Reb to tell her..." He blamed himself in his heart. He didn't have time to think about it, and saw a person rushing into the cabin like crazy, that person immediately understood what happened, and then rushed towards Aestivation like a raging beast. "Diego!" Reber's voice sounded like the cracking of a whip. "Diego! Leave her alone! Don't touch her! Diego! Stay away from her, Diego!" For a while there was complete silence in the cabin. And then Reber said, "George, please take the gun out of her hand, very lightly. Very lightly. Diego, come here and give me a..." A cough shook him and pink froth rose from the corners of his mouth.But he opened his eyes again. "Aestivation, please give George the gun...give him the gun, honey..." Taras stood before the lady.Xia Mian didn't seem to see him, but was a little out of breath.Taking her wrists between his fingers, Taras removed the gun and stuffed it into the pocket of his dressing gown.When he turned around, he saw that Diego was crying and struggling to pull the tall Reber to the white sofa, whispering something hurriedly in Spanish, completely hysterical.Leiber also answered him in Spanish, but very briefly, only one or two words. Taras returned to the wounded.Of the two bullets that entered his chest, one was positioned higher, at the same level as the heart, but to the left, and missed the heart; the other was positioned lower, and it was later found that it almost hit the pancreas. "George!" "Shut up, Reb." "George, please take good care of her. I entrusted her to you. You have to follow..." Another cough made his face turn pale, "...do as Diego said." After a few minutes, the sound of the engine suddenly changed.Apparently, the ship was headed for the French coast at full speed.Aestivation is under the care of Ethiopian girls.They made her lie down, and perhaps gave her some medicine, for when Taras came to visit, she was found soundly asleep. He walked out of the cabin and saw Diego waiting for him. "I'll tell you what happened and see if there's anything unclear," Diego said. "I shot Reb. It was an accident, of course. You didn't see anything. You were sleeping when it happened. She was sleeping too. Neither of you was there. We were drinking, just Reb and The two of me. We had fun shooting what we thought were flying fish through the porthole. All of a sudden, I stumbled and missed two rounds in Reb's chest. That's all you know." "Where are those Ethiopian girls?" "They're sleeping too, and they don't know much more. As for the sailors, they don't know much more. Everything has been thought out. Mr. Taras, that's what Reber meant, so let's answer that, every day. Everyone has to do it, without exception. Now, please hand me the gun." Reber was admitted to a naval hospital in Toulon.The doctor said: His life is not in danger; he is in good health and cannot die; in addition, the bullet has a small caliber and low impact, so it did not cause serious harm. Police investigations are routine.Those French policemen were obviously satisfied with the explanations provided by Klimrod and Haas, not to mention that there were too few options.Taras stuck to the confession he had been taught beforehand. Taras was not sure how Aestivation would behave in front of the police and in front of him.But since they landed in Toulon, he hasn't seen aestivation once in the next few days.The yacht was settled in a small port named Murirong, Xia Mian stayed in the cabin all the time, only those Ethiopian girls accompanied her.Two policemen had been on board, but left politely after twenty minutes; the ship was very luxuriously furnished, and one could imagine the wealth of its owner, which had an effect on them, but seeing It appears that they were not dissatisfied with the answers they received. Taras went to see Klimrod.After the first few days of emergency treatment, he was transferred to a private clinic in Murijong.When Taras saw him, he was on the phone, speaking numbers in Spanish.After giving a final series of instructions, he finally hung up the phone and leaned his head back on the pillow. "George, I'm sorry to involve you in an entanglement. Logically speaking, this matter has nothing to do with you, let alone affect you." In subsequent conversation he seemed to regard this as a small accident. He wanted Taras to go back to New York as soon as possible. "I called Nick an hour ago, and he has some issues that he needs to discuss with you..." He went on, remembering every detail of every business with his superhuman memory, including the names of the heads of the various shipyards in the United States and Japan. "George, please tell Nick that I want a detailed analysis of everything about the tanker. The Japanese adjusted the prices of certain items and I want to know why. Numata and Kameichiro proposed to us..." He slowly recited those foreign names and numbers in a deep tone, with enough accuracy to make people feel at a loss and even upset their minds.Taras stood up.Through the window he saw mountains in the distance, a mass of bare rocks against a blue sky. "George!" Taras was about to turn around, but didn't let himself do so.He doesn't want to meet Reber's eyes.But he could no longer keep silent. "Aestivation talked to me about something," he said, "about this kind of favor you have placed on me. She said I was your most reliable friend." silence. At last Taras had to turn around.Their eyes met, and Taras seemed to be on fire, but he resisted the gaze of the gray eyes.However, an incredible thing happened next: it was Leiber who looked away. "I love this woman, George. No, please let me finish...I'm not used to making confessions like this. Did she ever tell you how long she and I have been...with each other?" "About four years." Reb nodded.At this time, he looked at the Baishan Mountain outside the window. "Did she ever tell you that she wanted me to marry her, or to live together?" "yes." "And give birth to our child?" "yes." "And you think you know: Why am I so obstinately refusing her request? You think I'm callous, or an egoist, bent on my own ideals? Is that what you think, George?" "yes." There was another short silence. Then Reber said in a distant voice: "She has been in the hospital four times, George. I can give you the addresses of these hospitals and the name of the doctor who treated her for mental illness. We had two years ago. A child. But she killed it only one and a half months after birth. She strangled the child to death. At that time, the nurse heard nothing in the next room, so there was nothing we could do, even though we took protective measures. In After that, she was admitted to the hospital again; when she came out, the doctor thought she was cured. She had undergone an operation and could no longer have children. She had attempted suicide three times. Now we had to send her to the hospital again, Try to cure her again... Do you want me to go on?" "I'm going to check every single fact," Taras said hoarsely, surprised at his determination, but heartbroken. "Go and check." There was a knock on the door.Diego appeared at the door. "Just a minute, Diego," Reber said gently. "We're almost done talking." Diego closed the door, and there was another silence. Looking down, Taras was exhausted and patted his head. He saw Leiber leaning on the pillow with his eyes closed, his face was bloodless, his facial features were out of shape, and he looked even more haggard. Suddenly, Taras felt With a strong impulse of pity, shame and sorrow, tears filled my eyes. "One more thing, George. Aestivation and I are married. We were married in Reno, Nevada, on January 19, 1951. You can check that too. I want you to add Verification, like everything else. I hope..." He paused and took a deep breath, the only sign that could tell of his internal fear. "George, I want to know that this isn't really a bad dream." Taras returned to the Victorian house in Boston where he and Shirley lived whenever they were not in Maine.Before returning to Boston, he had traveled to New York to meet with Neil Petridis.But before coming to New York, he had already been to Lausanne, Zurich, London and San Francisco.Also been to Philadelphia and Reno. Throughout the verification process, he was not without a sense of shame.In fact, he had already believed that Reber was telling him the truth before he even started to check it. that's the truth. In April 1955, Aestivation Peggy Klimrod was admitted to the hospital again in Switzerland.This hospitalization was scheduled five weeks ago, because five weeks ago in Cairo, she had another major attack.She had asked Taras where she could go after her voyages in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean?Taras couldn't be sure if she was really aware of her actual destination at the time, and she knew what it was. When Taras saw her again, Aestivation could no longer recognize him, even forgot his name, and remembered nothing, even Leib.Other than that, she was perfectly normal, talking about her planned trip to Sulawesi and New Zealand.She seems to be in a good mood, talking and laughing, while her beauty is heartbreaking.