Pandora's Box (63 page)

“Oh, Alistair Connor.” She nuzzled her face into his palm when he framed it. In a reverent tone, she breathed, “Can’t you see? You healed me first.”

He inhaled the smell of their recent lovemaking and her sweet vanilla perfume; felt the soft fresh grass under his back; listened to the chirping of the birds around them. And marveled, “This doesn’t feel like chaos. This doesn’t feel like Heaven. This, my love, this is my happy, earthily reality, the only place where I ever want to be; beside you.”

Peace had settled around them as the white cherry blossom flowers rustled and fell to the ground, white soft petals raining down on them.

6.01 p.m.

Alistair had informed everyone that Sophia was safe, but that had been before they made love again. They decided to enjoy their moments of love and happiness and only talk about what he had omitted and she remembered, before dinner, when everyone gathered in the library. That way they could work all the minute details together, so as not to miss any information that could be vital.

Alistair and Sophia glimpsed into the Game Room. Finding the room empty, they made their way into the library, thinking they were being stealthy, only to run into Leonard and Alice, who were in the Great Hall.

Speechless, Alistair cleared his throat and pushed a giggling Sophia behind his back. “Hmm… Err… We had— We were—”

Leonard eyed Alistair from head to toe and chortled.

Alistair had given his sweater to Sophia and was only wearing his dirty jeans. Sophia’s shirt and scarf, not white anymore, were held in one of his hands.

With a blushing Alice by his side, and a huge smile on his face, Leonard asked, “Wrestling in the mud, were you?”

“Who was wrestling in the mud?” Tavish’s voice came from the elevators behind the stairs and his booted feet sounded in the marble closer and closer, as he stepped in the hall, until he halted beside his sister.

Incapable of resisting, Sophia bent sideways to sneak a peek at them.

It was then that Tavish saw her. “Jesus, Alistair Connor! You are so irresponsible!”

“Sorry, doctor.” Alistair put his hands up in the air and sheepishly looked at his brother.

Tavish didn’t find the joke funny and ordered, “Up with you, Sophia. Shower now! I have to change these dirty bandages.”

“Aye, sir, General Doctor Lord Arrogance of Sophia MacCraig’s Army,” she teased too.

But when none of their siblings moved, rooted on their places, gaping at them, Sophia whispered to Alistair’s back, “What now?”

He shrugged and pulled her to his side, snaking an arm around her waist. As they walked past them to the elevators, Sophia’s face flamed as she heard Alice’s gasp, Tavish’s amused curse and Leonard’s loud and hearty laughter.

“That was quite some wrestling you did,” said Leonard. “I hope she won, Alistair.”

Alistair’s voice was full of pride when he replied, “Don’t worry, Leo, she did. She always does.”

In the Laird Library.

8.17 p.m.

Sophia gasped. The surprise turned into outrage. “And no one knows where he is?!”

“Nae,” Alistair answered. “Isabel wanted to question you, but both Dr. Kent and Dr. Colton agreed it would be better to wait until next week.”

“Alberto is a very cunning and pro-active man. He has double nationality. He is Brazilian, but he is also Polish. He used it just as a… guarantee, though. He’s not lying low, waiting. By now, he would have left the country. Probably, in a rented jet, using a small airport or even a private airstrip.”

“So, he is in Poland?” Lachlann asked.

“No. I don’t believe so,” Sophia stood up and walked up to an old map that hung on the wall. Alistair followed, incapable of staying away from her.

Leonard was staring at her, trying to follow her line of thought. “Would he return to Brazil?”

“No, we have an extradition treaty with the UK,” she shook her head and bit her lip, thinking. “Maybe Argentina. His grandmother was Argentinian, but he hated Argentina.”

“We have an extradition treaty with Poland. As part of the EU, it’s under category one. With Argentina also, under category two.”

“What exactly are the differences between these categories?” Sophia turned away from the map.

“Simply put, there are two categories and they differ from where these territories are located and how the extradition is handled. There are even a few countries that are exempt from providing
prima facie
evidence in support to their extradition request, such as the US, Canada, Switzerland, Israel, South—” 

“Wait!” she exclaimed, surprised. “Israel. You said Israel. He could have gone there for sure. He is a Jew.” Sophia gripped Alistair’s hand, excited. “Alberto always bragged that every Jew in the world had the right to Israeli citizenship and that Israel was a sanctuary in the event of persecution.”

“Exactly, Israel is a haven in the event of
persecution
, not in the event of a
crime
.”  Leonard’s angelic smile opened on his face. “Israel amended their Extradition Act in 1999 specifically so they would
not
be a haven for criminals. It still leaves a few loopholes but if Alberto has never been a resident in Israel before, he can be extradited, judged and serve his time here.”

It was Sophia’s turn to grin. “Alberto has never lived anywhere besides São Paulo.”

Chapter 36

Leibowitz Oil Building.

Monday, April 11
^th
, 2011. 

10.31 a.m.

Since her family had left, all Alistair had been doing was pampering and taking care of Sophia and Gabriela as if they were precious porcelain dolls.

As Sophia had predicted, Alberto had left the country on the same day of her kidnapping. The police immediately issued an alert to the authorities in Argentina, Brazil, Poland and Israel. He had been caught trying to enter Israel by car at the Jordanian border, two days later and instantly handed over to the British authorities and the hearing of his case had started.

As a stroke of luck, the prosecutor assigned to the case was a very close friend of Alistair’s and Leonard’s and knew most of Sophia’s story. When Uó’s attorney argued he had never been part of organized crime but his was a revenge plot against what Sophia had done and that everything had been set against him, the prosecutor had sought their cooperation as protected witnesses and secret informants.

“What I don’t understand until now is: How did Uó find me?”

“According to Isabel, Washington—” Leonard tried to correct his pronunciation when he noticed Sophia’s amused smile, “Awchinton
—
Ohwa
—
Ah, Sophia, whatever!”

“Sorry, Leonard. He’s so pathetic that even his name is wrongly written. And to think he thought himself
Uó do Borogodó.
”
Her laugh twinkled in the room, lessening the tension. “So, how did he find me?”

“Well,
he
offered a reward for detailed information on you once. No one answered it but still it was there, online, a skeleton for someone to discover. The hacker stumbled upon him by chance and Ghost had all the information he needed thanks to Devon bugging Atwood House.”

It was Alistair’s turn to answer and Sophia could hear the rage in his voice. “When Devon unplugged the TV’s and computer’s devices, he swore he forgot to take out the one on the telephone lines.”

“Their defenses have come up with a few different scenarios for each one, but there is no way they can make it seem not an organized crime. Luckily, this isn’t a trial by jury. It will be technical and there is no way to escape the hard proof.” Leonard turned serious. “Unfortunately, Ghost’s security program had overwritten most of the information before the IT team had gained access. Anyway… There is proof that Alberto’s company had rented and paid for Ashford’s property and obtained working visas for Uó’s team, employing them in his company. He even lent them his luxury yacht to transport the weaponry and the drugs, to be delivered to a dealer here in UK. He cannot say he didn’t know about it. Nonetheless, your marriage to Gabriel is going to be dissected, as is your relationship with Ashford and your marriage to Alistair. His defense can try to make you into a greedy woman, a siren who seduced men and sold herself to the highest bidder—”

“What?” She gapped at Leonard. “I wouldn’t put it past him, Alberto is capable of anything.”

“Yeah, I know. This is where Rose Leibowitz comes in. She’s siding with us,” Leonard said. “She didn’t even take a lawyer with her when she went to talk with me yesterday. Only her sister, who offered to witness in Sophia’s favor too. She told us she has already received the court notification. She is the prosecutor’s hidden ace. Rose can also testify that when her son’s kidnappers invaded the slum they started a war between drug lords. This will brush off any argument Uo’s defense could create. Besides, he kidnapped you, asked for ransom, was consuming cocaine, carrying heavy armament, and so many other crimes that it would be impossible for him - or for Alberto, for that matter - to avoid being sentenced to life in prison.”

“Thanks for the good news, Counselor.” Sophia exhaled, relieved.

“There is still Emma, Leo. How about her?” asked Alistair.

“Emma is playing the poor victim role. Her defense is coming after both of you, at the same time. She has already alleged that she was being coerced into participating because the hacker had invaded her computer and downloaded explicit photos of Alistair… Err… forcing her into having sex with him and she was just trying to protect his good reputation. The thing is, the IT team hasn’t found any photos. She will also say Sophia got very enraged when she discovered the forced relationship and demanded the photos she didn’t have anymore. Her team is good, very good. She must have amassed loads of money to be paying such expensive defense lawyers. The prosecution can’t have you two looking like demons.”

“If there are no photos on the hacker’s computer, she is lying. No one will ever find those photos,” Tavish said serenely. “All her photos, videos… I have everything with me. She is not paying her lawyers. Some else is. If you manage to discover who is being blackmailed to finance her defense, let them know they are free. I took all her proofs in a thorough search I did in her apartment.” Tavish couldn’t help but smirk. “Also, I did a little trip to Switzerland and closed her safety deposit box there, with her
approval
, of course, destroying all the contents. But to deliver the contents of her pen drives and notebooks to the police, it would be a scandal out of any proportion we have ever known, Leonard.”

Leonard looked seriously at Tavish for a moment, weighing the news. “The prosecution is already checking her bank accounts. It will be interesting to see if she had made a transfer to that hacker. If she did, life in prison for her too. We don’t need to deliver anything to the police yet.”

“Yet, Leo?” asked Alistair. “Is there any possibility—” He couldn’t even consider it.

“Here is where Devon comes in. He is the key witness.” Leonard grimaced when Alistair grunted. “I’m sorry but he only confessed his entire participation on your kidnapping after the prosecutor made an agreement with him.”

Sophia still couldn’t believe her long time bodyguard had been such a coward to be a mole, but she was attempting on being understandable. “Devon’s part in this was the result of a… bad decision and he tried to fix it. But not even I would resist a tiger kidnapping.”

“He is the lesser of evils,” Lachlann said, much more astonished by the sexual debasing of his oldest son.

Leonard nodded in agreement. “So, he will say that Alberto hated you, that the hacker had asked him to bug your house; that Emma had tried to blackmail you with the photos she had of you and Ethan. He didn’t know about Alistair’s photos, which makes it easier. I don’t want to hear you stammering in court about fingers, helping the criminals’ families or about Emma’s sexual relationship with Alistair. Or Heather’s. That goes for you too, Alistair. You know nothing about this. Period. Everyone needs to testify according to our plan. No improvisation. You have to trust me on this.”

“When did everyone start ordering me around?” she huffed. “I’ve always been the commander-in-chief.”

“Welcome to the real world. I’ve downgraded you to mere Lieutenant-Colonel.” He looked at Tavish with his angelic air, and said, “Oops. No offense meant.”

“None taken,” answered Tavish with an amused look on his face.

Leonard was the kind of man who was the best friend one could have and had an easy way of going, but in business he was all authority and went straight to the point, running his cases with a precise and ruthless hand. In less than a week, he had gotten all the witnesses needed for the Crown Prosecution to pin Uó, Alberto, Emma and all other participants as organized criminals.

All of them were on their way to life in prison.

Thursday, April 14
^th
, 2011.

Greater London, Highgate Cemetery,

West Cemetery, At the main gates.

1.01 p.m.

Ethan had left precise instructions of how he had wanted his funeral. No public service, no flowers, no refreshments afterwards. No music and no poetry. He wanted a quiet humanist ceremony celebrated at his grave, and if possible, a tribute read. Only a ceremony officiate, Sophia, Alistair, Tavish, Leonard, Scott and a few employees specifically named in the will had gathered at the graveside. He had chosen to be buried in the Ashford family’s grave with his grandparents. His instructions also included that it be closed forever. He would be the last to be buried there.

Goodbye, Ethan. May you rest in peace. I’ll always remember you.
Sophia threw a clod of earth over Ethan’s coffin, thinking how the life of a young, vibrant man was over too soon.

Alistair did the same, followed by the other participants.