The Winner Stands Alone

How absurd.

"Look, I'm busy right now, and I know everything I need to know about tonight's sad events, so there's no need for you to worry."

The creature, however, stays where he is. Hamid begins to feel embarrassed by his presence, mainly because friends nearby will have heard those dreadful words: "I work for you, sir." Whatever will they think?

"Mr. Hussein, I'm just about to bring over the actress who's going to be appearing in your film. I had to leave her for a moment because I got a phone message, but..."

"Later. At the moment, I'm waiting to meet Jasmine Tiger."

The strange creature leaves. The actress who's going to be appearing in his film! Poor girl: signed up and dismissed all in one day.

Ewa is holding a champagne glass in one hand and her mobile phone and an extinguished cigarette in the other. The industrialist takes a gold lighter out of his pocket and offers to light her cigarette.

"No, thank you, it's all right, I can do it myself," she says. "I'm deliberately keeping both hands occupied in an attempt to smoke less."

She would like to say: "I'm holding my mobile so as to protect this idiot, who refuses to believe me and who has never shown the slightest interest in my life or what I've been through. If I get another message, I'll make a scene and he'll be forced to leave and take me with him, whether he wants to or not. Even if he tells me off afterward, at least I can console myself with the thought that I saved his life. I know who the killer is. I can feel the presence of Absolute Evil very near."

A receptionist starts asking the guests to go into the main dining area. Hamid Hussein is prepared to accept his fate without complaint. The photo can wait until tomorrow when he goes up the steps with her. Just then, one of his assistants appears.

"Jasmine Tiger isn't here. She must have left."

"Never mind. Perhaps they forgot to tell her that we were supposed to meet."

He looks very calm, like someone accustomed to dealing with such situations. Inside, though, his blood is boiling. She's left the party? Who does she think she is?

IT'S SO EASY TO DIE. The human body may well be one of the most efficient mechanisms in creation, but all it takes is a small metal projectile to enter and cut through it at a certain speed, and that's that.

Death, according to the dictionary, is the end of a life (although life also needs to be properly defined), the permanent paralysis of the body's vital functions, like brain activity, breathing, blood flow to and from the heart. Only two things resist this permanent paralysis--the hair and the nails, which continue to grow for a few days or weeks.

The definition changes when it comes to religions: for some, death means moving to a higher state, while others believe that it is merely a temporary condition and that the soul inhabiting the body will return later on, either to pay for its sins or to enjoy in the next life the blessings denied it during the previous incarnation.

The young woman is standing very still by his side. Either the champagne has taken full effect or its effects have passed, and she now realizes that she knows no one, that this could be both her first and last invitation to such a party, and that dreams sometimes turn into nightmares. When he moved away for a moment with the other sadder girl, he noticed a few men approach the actress, but it seems she felt uncomfortable with all of them. When she saw him reappear, she asked him to stay with her for the rest of the party. She also asked if he had transport because she has no money and it doesn't look as if her companion will be coming back.

"Yes, of course, I'll be glad to take you home."

This wasn't in his plans, but having spotted the policeman observing the guests, he knows it's best to look as if he's with someone, that he's just another of the important, anonymous people there, proud to have a pretty, much younger woman with him, one who so perfectly fits the norm in that particular place.

"Don't you think we should go in?"

"Yes, but I know how these things work. It's best to wait until everyone else is seated. Several of the tables will have places reserved at them for certain people, and we don't want to find ourselves in the embarrassing position of sitting down where we shouldn't."

He notices that, for a moment, the girl looks slightly disappointed that he doesn't have one of those reserved places.

The waiters are collecting the empty glasses scattered around the garden. The models have stepped down from their ridiculous pedestals where their gyrations have persuaded the male guests at the party that life can still be interesting and reminded the female guests that they really must get some more liposuction, Botox, silicone, or plastic surgery.

"Please, let's go in. I need to eat. I'll get sick if I don't."

She takes his arm and they walk toward the room on the upper floor. It would seem that his last message to Ewa has been received and discarded, but then he knows now what to expect from a woman as corrupt as his ex-wife. The angel with the dark eyebrows continues by his side; she was the one who had made him turn round at the right moment and notice the plainclothes policeman, when, in theory, he should have been concentrating on the arrival of the famous couturier.

"All right, we'll go in."

They walk up the steps and into the dining room. As they do so, he asks her politely to let go of his arm, in case any friends there should misinterpret the situation.

"Are you married, then?"

"No, divorced."

YES, EWA IS THINKING, SHE had been right, her intuition was correct, the problems they have encountered so far this evening are as nothing compared with what she has just seen. Since Igor can have no professional reason for being at a film festival, his presence there can have only one possible motive.