Free Corruption's Price: A Spanish Deceit by Charles Brett Page A

afternoon habit. I've also prepared dinner, which is in the refrigerator. All you have to do is take it out and put it in the oven and, yes, there are instructions for you. There's more than enough for two. I realise you want some privacy with Marta. On the other hand, if some distraction is needed, please call me. I'm having trouble with my latest work, so would welcome being distracted myself.
    "It was a pleasure meeting you, Marta. I hope we'll have more time to get to know each other over the weekend. You look interesting, if you will permit me to say it. Look after her, Alfredo."
    Without further fuss, Puri walked down the steps, passed both cars and, with a wave of the arm but without turning back, crossed over to her own house. She had reduced Marta to silence.
    Alfredo broke that silence with, "Let me take your bags and show you to your rooms."
    Marta at last found her voice: "Rooms?"
    "I have a couple of guest cottages or chalets at the back, around the huerta. As you'll see, each has two bedrooms and a sitting room with a fire, which hopefully Puri will have lit for you. It is up to you whether you keep it going or let it die."
    Marta followed him through the main house and out into an orchard dotted with a variety of fruit trees and even a small vegetable patch with raised herb garden. Alfredo ushered her into the first cottage where a fire was indeed alight with plentiful wood beside it.
    "Will this do? I should warn you that mobile phone reception is not great round here. I had ADSL installed and the password is on the card on the mantelpiece. You may find it easier to use Skype or Whatsapp or something similar if you want to contact anyone. Or there's the house phone on the table in the corner.
    "Make yourself comfortable. Afterwards, when it suits you, join me for some tea? As it is a fine yet cooling evening I'll probably take it on the sheltered terrace over there overlooking the huerta . Take your time." He departed.
    In truth Marta was more dumbfounded than anxious to change or do anything. She needed time to wrap her head around her arrival, the house and cottage, but most of all Puri and her matter-of-fact disclosures about her relationship with Alfredo, including her knowledge of his persistent pursuit of herself. After Alfredo had left Marta pottered around, taking things out of her overnight case, connecting to the Internet to send her husband a message confirming that she had arrived. He would probably not notice.
    Standing before the fire Marta wondered if she could be comfortable telling Puri about her 'mister'. She thought not, at least until she knew Puri better. On the other hand it would be nice to have a confidante in a similar situation. Was this too much to hope for?
    When Marta joined Alfredo she said, "I'm speechless! This is not the 'small place near Soria' you mentioned the other day. Likewise, I was not expecting Puri or her declaration that you two are lovers."
    "Ah, she told you. I suspected she would after I described your reluctance, and reasons, to stay with me alone. She is different, no?"
    "You're dead right there. But what about your wife?"
    "Esmeralda is really not much of this world nowadays ..."
    "You mean she's ill? Something like dementia?"
    "She's not ill in the medical sense, but to me she has a form of dementia. She's lost to religiosity and its rituals. Her devotions and being seen to make them are more important than me. When our daughter died she retreated into Catholicism. She's all but become clausura, like a nun in a closed order. Her only contact with the world is through her priests and spiritual advisers. We barely talk. The net of it is that providing I try not to rub anything in her face publicly she ignores me. That's how it's been for well over ten years."
    "I'm sorry, Alfredo. I'd no idea. You've hidden all this well."
    "If I have it's because I've had to. I should also apologise to you about all those passes I made over so many years. In recent times I did