Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith Read Free Book Online

said, there was no more vicious enemy than a man you had once called friend.
    The new Russian was a bit of a contradiction. The plush coat was a sure sign of corruption, while the poor state of the rest of his clothes indicated a complete disregard for appearance. One moment he seemed a reasonably alert investigator, and the next he disap peared into some private train of thought. He was pale but with eyes deep-set in shadow.
    The soap was a sliver her mother had obtained from a friend who worked in a hotel and so luxurious that Ofelia drew out the shower, the most private moment of the day despite the voices from other apartments in the solar. One song's worth was what she allowed herself to save the batteries.
    Dressed in a pullover and jeans, she ladled rice to Muriel and beans to Marisol and an obscure, deep-fried gristle that her mother refused to identify. From the refrigerator she took a plastic Miranda soda bottle filled with chilled water.
    "On the cooking show today they showed how to fry a steak from grapefruit skin," her mother said.» They turned a grapefruit skin into steak. Isn't that amazing? This is a revolution that is more amazing all the time."
    "I'm sure it was good," Ofelia said.» Under the circumstances."
    "They ate it with gusto. With gusto."
    "This is also good." Ofelia sawed into the gristle.» What did you say it was?"
    "Mammalian. Did you meet any dangerous men today, someone who might kill you and leave your daughters without a mother?"
    "One. A Russian."
    It was her mother's turn to be exasperated.» A Russian, worse than a grapefruit skin. Why did you join the police? I still don't understand."
    "To help the people."
    "The people here hate you. You don't see anyone from Havana who joins the police. Only outsiders. We were happy in Hershey."
    "It's a sugar-mill town."
    "In Cuba , what a surprise!"
    "You can't move to Havana without a permit. I'm an expert in police work. They want me here and I want to be here and so do the girls."
    This was one issue where Ofelia could always count on her daughters' support.
    "We want to be here."
    "Nobody wants to be in Hershey. That's a sugar-mill town."
    Her mother said, " Havana is full of girls from sugar- mill towns without official permits, and they're all making dollars on their backs. The day is going to come when I'm looking for condoms for my granddaughters."
    "Grandmother!"
    Her mother relented, and they all quietly sawed the meat on their plates until the old woman asked, "So what does this Russian look like?"
    It struck Ofelia.» Once in Hershey you pointed out a priest who was defrocked for falling in love with a woman."
    "I'm surprised you remember, you were so little. Yes, she was a beautiful woman, very religious, and it was a sad story all around."
    "He looks like that."
    Her mother mulled it over.» I can't believe you remembered that."
    Just when Ofelia thought that family tension had subsided enough for a pleasant evening meal, however late, the phone rang. Theirs was the only phone in the solar, and she suspected her mother of using it to run the neighborhood lottery. The illegal Cuban lottery was rigged to the legal Venezuelan lottery, and the bet takers with phones had a great advantage. Ofelia rose and moved slowly around the girls' chairs toward the phone on the wall to let her mother know she wasn't going to run for anyone's nefarious business. Her mother main tained an expression of innocence until Ofelia hung up.
    "What was it?"
    "It's about the Russian," Ofelia said.» He killed some one."
    "Ah, you were meant for each other."
    When she arrived at the apartment, Captain Arcos was slamming down the phone and telling Renko, "Your embassy cannot provide you protection. There will be expressions of anger from the Cuban people to those who have sold them out. To those who plant the Judas kiss on us for thirty pieces of silver. If it were up to me, I would not let a single Russian on the street. I could not guarantee the safety of a