Майкл Ридпат - The Marketmaker

‘She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?’ Once again, Luciana’s gaze was direct.

I nodded.

‘Your glass is empty. Let me get some more wine.’ She disappeared again, to the kitchen presumably, and returned with the bottle. She filled her own glass and mine.

She sat down next to me on the sofa, and touched my arm. I didn’t move. But it was very hard to remain detached with such a beautiful and intensely sexual woman next to me.

‘Ricardo doesn’t like you very much, does he?’ she said.

‘No. I don’t think he does. Do you mind that?’

‘No,’ she said, running her finger along my sleeve. ‘I rather like it.’

‘Will you tell me about your brother?’ I asked.

‘Maybe,’ she said, and smiled, looking up at me through blackened eyelashes.

I knew what I would have to do to get my question answered. And, looking at Luciana, just how bad could that be?

But in the same way that I didn’t want to be manipulated by her husband, I didn’t want to be manipulated by this woman. She moved even closer to me, I could feel one of her breasts touching my arm. ‘Don’t be shy,’ she said.

‘Do you do this often?’

‘Sometimes. For fun. And it is fun, I can assure you.’

‘That’s what Jamie says,’ I lied.

‘Does he talk about me?’ she said, in mock anger.

I nodded. ‘We’re old friends.’

‘And I thought you English men were too uptight to talk about sex!’

‘What does Ricardo think? Does he know how you amuse yourself at home?’

‘We never talk about it. I think he must guess I have some outside interests. I don’t think he realizes that some of them are his own people.’

‘And doesn’t that bother you?’

‘I like it.’

‘You like it?’

Luciana sat upright. ‘When you’re married to someone like Ricardo he tries to control you. Well, I don’t like to be controlled. I want to decide what I want to do, and if he knows it, so what?’

‘I think I can understand that.’

‘Most people don’t stand up to him. You did. You drive him crazy. Maybe that’s why I like you.’

‘And Jamie?’

‘I think Jamie likes to think he can fuck the boss’s wife. Well, that’s fine with me. He likes living dangerously and so do I. And he is cute.’

‘So where does that leave us?’ I asked.

She leaned forward, and kissed me gently on the lips. ‘Right here.’

Suddenly my confusion resolved itself. Either I could stay and be laid by this woman and then perhaps hear some lie about her brother, or I could leave now.

‘Well, thank you for the wine, Luciana,’ I said, pulling myself to my feet. ‘I’m sorry I can’t stay to lunch.’

I left her curled up on the sofa, coolly drinking her wine.

‘ Tchau ,’ she said.

For the third time in the last three months, I saw the brown dusty mess of Rio’s northern suburbs through the window of an aeroplane. But it was different this time. Before, I had felt anticipation and excitement. Now I felt desperation and fear. Fear for Isabel, and fear for myself. I had nearly been killed on my first trip, and kidnapped on my second. What would happen this time, I wondered.

The ticket for the British Airways flight departing that evening had cost me half of what was left of the money Ricardo had lent me. I had had no choice but to pay it. I had to do all I could to find Isabel, and that involved flying to Brazil. If I didn’t go, and the kidnappers carried out their threat, I would never be able to forgive myself.

Luís had been pleased to hear of my plans, and Kate had been understanding. Her willingness to help me save Isabel was touching, but no less than I would have expected of her. She asked me to keep her informed of events. Jamie was at work. He would, no doubt, be happy to find me gone when he returned.

My feelings towards Jamie were confused. I was angry with him. Angry that he had turned his back on me in favour of Ricardo. And angry that he had been so callously unfaithful to Kate with Luciana. I could imagine him justifying it now: ‘It was just a bit of fun, a bit of adventure,’ he’d say. ‘I don’t even really like Luciana, but I love Kate.’ Yuk.

But I also felt guilty. About plotting against Dekker from his house, and about making his wife my accomplice. I bore my responsibility for the destruction of ten years of friendship.

Still, now I was down here, I had to put all that behind me, and focus on one thing: setting Isabel free. It would be hard to find her by next Wednesday, but I had an idea that just might extend the deadline further. We would see.

Luís met me at the airport with a smile and an embrace, and his chauffeur drove us back to his apartment in Ipanema. There, Nelson, Cordelia and her husband Fernando were waiting. Cordelia was noticeably larger; I was relieved that Isabel’s disappearance hadn’t disrupted her pregnancy.

They greeted me with handshakes and smiles, and I was pleased to be among them again. We sat in the living room, and despite the difficulty of our task, there was an almost palpable feeling of optimism among us. It was as though now we were together again our collective determination to find her would succeed, despite the odds.

‘So, what do you think, Nick?’ Luís asked.

‘I’m pretty sure I can guess who’s behind Isabel’s kidnapping.’

‘Who?’ asked Cordelia, leaning forward.

‘Francisco Aragão.’

‘Francisco Aragão? Ricardo Ross’s brother-in-law? I wouldn’t be surprised,’ muttered Luís.

‘I think he’s working together with Ricardo and Eduardo Ross. I don’t know who’s calling the shots, but my best guess is that between the three of them they had Martin Beldecos murdered, and Isabel kidnapped.’

‘But why?’ asked Luís.

‘I think Dekker Ward is laundering drug money for Francisco. He approached Dekker through his sister Luciana, who is, of course, Ricardo’s wife.’

‘Have you spoken to Luciana?’ Luís asked.

‘Yes, I have.’ I coughed. I didn’t want to go into the details of that conversation. ‘She didn’t actually admit it, but the idea didn’t seem to surprise her either.’

Luís nodded, and I continued. ‘Francisco set up accounts at Dekker Trust in the Cayman Islands with the help of an American attorney in Miami named Tony Hempel. They’re both under investigation by the American Drug Enforcement Agency. Martin Beldecos was on the point of uncovering this arrangement, so he was murdered in Caracas. I might have been attacked for the same reason.’ I paused and looked out of the window towards Ipanema beach and the sea. The stretch of sand where I had been knifed was just out of view. ‘Over there.’

The four of them were listening to my words closely.

‘OK, but what has Isabel’s kidnapping to do with this?’ Luís asked.

‘I can’t be sure, exactly. At first it looked like a standard Rio kidnapping. For money. We all assumed that Isabel was kidnapped so that you would have to pay a ransom.’

Luís nodded.

‘But now it looks as though that wasn’t the real motive. The kidnappers seem more interested in protecting Dekker than in extorting money.’

‘So why did they kidnap her in the first place?’

I had given this much thought on the plane journey down, and I believed I had an answer. ‘Well, it wasn’t just her that was snatched. They took me as well. Perhaps they thought that I had some knowledge about Martin or Francisco that would compromise them. They wanted me out of the way. Even when I escaped, they kept me distracted by launching into negotiations for Isabel’s ransom, and, of course, I left Dekker soon after I returned to England.’

‘So why didn’t they just kill her, like they did Martin Beldecos?’ asked Nelson.