برادر مخفی مرد

Chapter 14 Guy’s Secret Brother

Guy took a job with the company Horton, Horton and Keese, Architects. They gave him a big shop to build. It was easy to do, nothing special — anyone could do it.

He and Anne had their first party at the house soon after their wedding.

‘Bruno’s coming to the party,’ Anne told Guy.

‘Why?’ Guy said. ‘He isn’t my friend.’

Bruno was drunk when he arrived. He looked at Anne all the time.

‘I like your dress, Anne,’ he said. Bruno always noticed women’s clothes. ‘Now, where will you go for your first holiday? Italy? You know, Anne, Guy and I always talked about travelling.’

Guy took Bruno to the corner of the room. ‘Get out now,’ he said. ‘Or I’ll kill you.’

‘Is that a promise, Guy?’ Bruno laughed. ‘You know, Guy, I think Anne is very beautiful. I like it here.’

An hour later he fell behind the sofa, completely drunk, and went to sleep.

‘He can stay the night,’ Anne said.

‘Where did you find him, Guy?’ a man asked. ‘They won’t let him into our club anymore.’

A few days later Bruno sent flowers to Anne to say sorry for being so drunk at the party.

‘Aren’t they nice?’ she said to Guy. ‘I think Bruno’s interesting.’

Horton, Horton, and Keese liked Guy’s drawings for the shop.

Guy hated them; this was the kind of ordinary work he didn’t want to do. He wanted to leave the company, although they wanted him to do more work. But there was something much worse than this. A normal man could build a bad shop or a good hospital, but Guy wasn’t normal. Sometimes he looked in a mirror and saw the other man who was inside him, the murderer, his secret brother.

The telephone rang and Guy’s secretary picked it up.

‘A man wants to speak to you, Mr Haines,’ she said.

‘Hello, Guy,’ Bruno said. ‘Come to lunch.’

Guy couldn’t argue with Bruno in front of the secretary and he agreed to meet Bruno at a restaurant ten minutes later. Bruno had four expensive ties which he showed Guy.

‘They’re for you, Guy,’ he said. ‘Do you like them?’ He was like a lover. ‘Anne spoke to me on the phone this morning,’ Bruno said.

‘She told me you’re both going on a trip. She’s a great woman, Guy.

You must be very happy.’ For a moment Bruno wanted to hold Guy’s hand, like a brother.

‘Yes, I am,’ Guy said. ‘Very lucky.’

‘What does Anne like doing, Guy?’ Bruno asked. ‘Does she like me?’

‘You’ve never loved a woman, have you?’ Guy said. ‘You don’t know what love is, do you?’

Bruno looked at the table. ‘No,’ he said.

‘You give me ties,’ Guy said, ‘but you could give me to the police in the same way.’

‘Oh, Guy!’ Bruno started crying.

‘I have to go!’ Guy said. He jumped up and ran out of the restaurant.

‘Why do people do this to me?’ Bruno thought. ‘Why?

Why?’

♦

‘How do you know Guy Haines’s wife?’ Gerard asked Bruno. He had all Bruno’s bills, and he had seen the one for the flowers Bruno sent to Anne.

‘I’m a friend of her husband,’ Bruno said. ‘Mother and I were thinking of building a house. He’s an architect.’

‘Why did you send Mrs Haines flowers?’ Gerard asked. ‘You must know them very well.’

‘No. I went to a party there and I had a good time.’

‘Let’s talk about all these men you know,’ Gerard said. ‘Matt Levine, Mark Lev, you saw a lot of them before the murder.’

‘Yeah, and Mark killed his own father, too,’ Bruno said.

‘Ernie Schroeder?’ Gerard asked. ‘Charley, please!’

Bruno tried to think of something to say.