Ariel's Island by Pat McKee

Author:Pat McKee [McKee, Pat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781970137774
Publisher: Southern Fried Karma, LLC
Published: 2020-03-28T22:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

“Cabrini? I spent six years fighting that bastard while he tried to steal all you worked for, and now you tell me to trust him? I risked my ass to come here to meet with Cabrini?”

I was so angry at Placido I swerved the truck off the narrow track onto the shoulder, overcorrected the steering, slid the rear wheels in the gravel, and hit the brakes just before ending up in the mangrove swamp that lined the ditch.

I cursed out loud. As I cranked up the stalled-out truck, one rear wheel propped on the side of the road, the other dangling over the ditch, I looked over toward Placido, his head in his hands, oblivious of our near crash. He looked up and attempted to continue.

“Let me explain. I—”

“Hell, no. I don’t have time for any more Milano games.”

Placido exhaled deeply and for a moment I wondered if he was going to breathe again, but he drew in sharply.

“Hector is my son, Melissa’s brother.”

“I can’t believe—Cabrini?”

Now back on the road, all I could do was stare straight ahead. A few minutes passed while the only sound I heard was the truck’s ancient transmission laboring through the gears, its wheezing carburetor sucking in the fetid swamp air. Placido gathered his thoughts, continued.

“Hector’s mother, Maria, was my lab assistant, a brilliant Greek girl. She’d been married, divorced when she came to work for me, keeping her married name of Cabrini.” He gave a slight shrug of the shoulders, a resigned shake of the head. “It’s the same old story. We spent long hours working together in the lab, an older accomplished man, a younger beautiful woman. Hector was the result.

“Maria and I never had a chance for a normal relationship. I eventually found her another suitable job in the company. While I didn’t acknowledge Hector, I supported him and his mother—still do, his mother, that is; she directs one of our labs at a very generous salary. Maria and I speak on occasion and have remained on reasonable terms. Not so with Hector. I didn’t tell him of our relationship.”

“I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t a father—”

“We were at a crucial point in our AIDS research. I thought it would put all that at risk. In hindsight . . .”

A stray thought crossed my mind, and I struggled not to break into a grin. I had always thought Cabrini was a bastard, and Placido confirmed it. Placido continued, oblivious to the thoughts floating through my mind. I made a mental note to refrain from referring to Cabrini by that epithet as I’d done in the past, not to spare anyone’s feelings, but to keep from busting out laughing.

“When Hector was a teenager, I gave him a summer job in my lab alongside Melissa, hoping to be able to have some positive influence on his life. He’s as brilliant as his mother, and he got her good looks as well.

“Nothing goes as planned, and my vision for us to work together happily went awry.

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