Escape from Shadow Island Read Online Free

maybe?”
    â€œYes, thank you. Water would be nice,” said Lopez-Vega, lowering himself awkwardly onto the chair.
    Max turned off the electric heater. He filled a glass with water and handed it to Lopez-Vega, who took a sip. “Thank you. I feel a little unwell this evening.”
    â€œShall I call you a doctor?”
    â€œA doctor?” A ghost of a smile flitted across theman’s face. “No, I have no need of a doctor.”
    He drank some more water, then put the glass down on the dressing table next to him. “I am sorry to trouble you,” he said apologetically. “I know you must be tired. I enjoyed your show, by the way. You are a very talented young man.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œYou are as good as your father. I can offer you no higher compliment than that. He was the best.”
    Max stared at him intently. “You saw my father perform?”
    â€œTwo years ago. In Santo Domingo. That is where I come from.”
    â€œ Santo Domingo ? Then…”
    â€œYes, I saw his last show,” Lopez-Vega said.
    Alexander Cassidy had disappeared two years earlier, in the Central American country of Santo Domingo, where he’d gone to perform. His body had never been found, but there was circumstantial evidence to indicate that he’d been murdered. Max’s mother, Helen, who’d accompanied his father on the trip, had been tried and convicted of Alexander’s murder by a Santo Domingan court and sentenced to twenty years in prison. She’d served eighteen months in a jail there but had recently been transferred to a prison in England to complete theremainder of her sentence.
    â€œDid you know him? Did you know my father?” Max said eagerly. “Did you speak to him?”
    â€œIt was a fine show,” Lopez-Vega said. “What happened afterward was terrible. The case against your mother was ridiculous. In a civilized country, a less corrupt country than Santo Domingo, it would have been thrown out of court on the first day. But Santo Domingo, alas, is not a civilized country. It is a country where people, where judges, can be bought like coconuts in the marketplace.”
    â€œThe judge was bribed?” Max asked.
    â€œThe police also. How else do you explain her conviction? She did not kill your father.”
    â€œI know,” Max said. “I’ve always known it.”
    â€œYour father is—” Lopez-Vega broke off as a harsh, racking cough made his whole body shake. He took another sip of water.
    Max looked at him anxiously. “Are you sure I can’t get you a doctor?”
    The man shook his head. He took a few deep breaths, the air wheezing through his lungs. “You must forgive me,” he said. “I would have come sooner, only I have been…” He paused to take another long breath. “Let’s just say I’ve been away for a time.”
    Max leaned toward Lopez-Vega. All the tiredness he’d felt earlier had suddenly fallen away. He was alert, full of hope. “You say my mother didn’t kill my father. Do you know something that will clear her name, prove her innocence?”
    Before Lopez-Vega could reply, there was a sharp knock on the dressing-room door and someone tried the handle. Lopez-Vega gave a violent start and turned to stare at it. There was fear in his eyes. “No one must know I am here,” he whispered urgently to Max.
    â€œMax?” came a voice from outside.
    â€œIt’s all right,” Max said quietly. “It’s only Consuela.”
    â€œMax, are you okay?” Consuela asked through the door.
    â€œI’m fine,” Max called back.
    â€œCan I come in?”
    â€œOne moment.”
    Lopez-Vega was on his feet, one hand gripping the back of his chair to steady himself. “Do not tell anyone about this,” he murmured. “Not a word, you understand?”
    â€œMax, what’s going on?” Consuela was getting