Free Escape from Shadow Island by Paul Adam Page B

“It’s her freedom. She puts on a show for me every Sunday, but I can tell she’s really depressed. I can see it in her face. She’s not going to improve until she gets out, and that could be a long time.”
    â€œWe’re doing all we can for her.”
    â€œAre we?”
    â€œYou think we could be doing more?”
    â€œI think we’re relying too much on other people,” Max said. “These lawyers who are supposed to be actingfor her—Malcolm Fielding here in London and the one in Santo Domingo…what’s his name? Estevez?”
    â€œYes, Alfonso Estevez.”
    â€œWhat are they actually doing ? Apart from charging us a lot of money.”
    â€œThe law is expensive,” Consuela said. “It takes time to make things happen.”
    â€œIt’s taking too long,” Max insisted. “I don’t think they’re trying. The months are ticking by, the years are ticking by, and what have they achieved? The case hasn’t even gone to appeal in Santo Domingo yet, the Foreign Office here is refusing to intervene, and Mum’s still stuck in prison. By the time anything happens—and we don’t know it will—it’s going to be too late for Mum, and me. I’m not going to wait around any longer. I want to do something. Now.”
    â€œDo what?”
    â€œGo to Santo Domingo and speed things up.”
    Consuela looked at him, frowning slightly. “It’s not that easy, Max,” she said gently. “I’ve been to Santo Domingo. It’s not the kind of place where anything happens quickly.”
    â€œBut we stand a better chance of doing something there than we do here,” Max said. “We can talk to Estevez face-to-face instead of by email and letter. We can lookfor new evidence to prove that Mum is innocent.”
    â€œNew evidence? What makes you think there might be new evidence?”
    Max ate some more paella. It was time to tell Consuela about Luis Lopez-Vega.
    â€œPromise you won’t be angry with me,” he said.
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œYou remember on Wednesday night, after the show, there was a man in my dressing room?”
    â€œYes, I remember.”
    â€œHe came from Santo Domingo. He told me not to tell anyone about his visit. That’s why I haven’t mentioned him before.”
    â€œFrom Santo Domingo?”
    â€œHis name was Luis Lopez-Vega. Mum didn’t recognize the name when I told her this morning, but she recognized his description. He had two missing fingers on his left hand. She said my dad spoke to him in the bar at Playa d’Oro.”
    â€œI don’t know the name either,” Consuela said. She paused. “At least, I think I don’t. Just a moment. Luis Lopez-Vega? That rings a bell.”
    She got up from the table and came back with the Sunday newspaper they’d picked up that morning on their way to Suffolk. She leafed through the pages fora while. “I knew I’d seen it somewhere. Here.” She folded the newspaper and showed Max.
    At the bottom of the page was a short article headlined DRUGS LINK TO BODY IN HOTEL ROOM . Max read the article.
    Police investigating the murder of a Central American man in a London hotel have revealed that the victim may have been an international drug dealer.
    Luis Lopez-Vega was found dead on Thursday evening in his room at the Rutland Hotel, near King’s Cross. He had been shot through the head and robbed.
    A police spokesman said that Lopez-Vega had served time in jail in Santo Domingo for drug-related offenses and may have been in London to meet European drug dealers. The spokesman added that they were following up a number of leads but did not yet know why Lopez-Vega had been killed.
    Max felt relieved as he finished the story. There was no mention of a teenage boy having been seen arriving at or leaving the hotel. For the time being, at least, he was safe.
    â€œIs that the man who