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I?’
    ‘Wait here; I’ll come out. My daughter—’
    ‘No problem.’
    As she put on her coat, I tried to gauge her reaction. She seemed scared. We went down to a café that used to be an ironmonger. We ordered two beers and I lit a cigarette. The bartender yelled, ‘Hey, there’s no smoking in here.’
    ‘Where the hell, are we, in a hospital?’
    ‘Go and tell the guy that made the law.’
    I dropped the cigarette on the floor and put it out with my heel. Ines chewed on her necklace without saying anything.
    ‘I didn’t know that you had a kid. You look different,’ I said.
    ‘She was sent to foster homes, but I got her back.’
    ‘Your husband? Did he leave you?’
    ‘He had kidney cancer. They sent him home to die.’
    ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘That’s life. Santo, why did you come here? I’m clean now.’
    ‘How long has it been since we’ve seen one another?’
    She grew more anxious. ‘Why do you ask?’
    ‘Please don’t ask me questions.’
    ‘It’s been ten years.’
    More than I thought.
    ‘Did you come here looking for Max?’
    ‘Max?’
    ‘Yeah. You came to my place one night, completely out of your mind. You had blood all over your face, it looked like someone had broken your nose, and you were yelling for Max, saying that he’d ripped you off and so on. I hadn’t seen him for a while, and you didn’t believe me and trashed my house. It took me a while to throw you out. You stood there on the landing screaming until the neighbours came out and got rid of you.’
    ‘So, it was fourteen years this August.’
    ‘If you say so.’
    ‘And then we never saw one another again?’
    ‘No. You had some of your things at my apartment but never came by to get them.’
    I lowered my voice. ‘The coke?’ I had left her about fifty grams.
    ‘I got rid of it. I couldn’t keep it forever.’
    She wasn’t lying to me; I could feel it. But leave her the coke? I don’t think so. ‘Do you know why I never came back, Ines?’
    She lowered her eyes, ‘No.’
    This time she was lying, and I told her so. She got up on her feet and would have bolted out the door had I not grabbed her by the arm.
    ‘What’s got into you?’
    ‘Nothing. I have to go back to my daughter.’
    ‘You can go later, Ines. Don’t piss me off. Tell me the truth.’
    Ines looked at the bartender, but he wasn’t interested in our troubles; she’d get no help from him. She sat down, shaking.
    ‘Promise me that whatever I tell you, you won’t hurt me.’
    ‘Who the hell do you think I am?’
    ‘Promise me.’
    ‘I promise.’ I didn’t know what the hell was going on. ‘So?’
    ‘It’s because of what happened to you.’
    ‘What the hell happened?’
    ‘You don’t really remember, right?’
    A thin chill went down my spine. ‘Answer me.’
    ‘They put you in a mental hospital, that’s what happened.’

3
    It was a shock, I have to admit. I tried to shrug it off by drinking my beer, but my throat was closed shut and I almost choked to death. Shit. A nuthouse. No wonder I was out of circulation.
    ‘Why did they put me in there?’
    ‘I only know what I heard, but it could be all bullshit.’
    ‘Tell me anyway.’
    This was the story as far as she knew. One fine day some cop found me wandering around, delirious, with my trousers full of my own excrement. First they took me to the hospital and then, seeing that I was still out of my mind, they took me to the psychiatric ward. How long had I been in there? Ines didn’t know. When did I get out? She didn’t know that either. When she saw me at her front door she was convinced that I had just been released.
    ‘And Max?’
    ‘Max what?’
    ‘Where the hell is he?’
    ‘He stopped hanging out. If he screwed you over, he must’ve taken off somewhere and spent your cash, or maybe they broke his legs again. You weren’t the only person who was after him, you know. Anyway, he didn’t leave a trace.’
    I finished my beer; Ines hadn’t touched hers. I got my