‘Well, Francisco, my daughter has been kidnapped.’ Luís managed to say this as casually as if he were telling him Isabel had caught a cold.
Francisco put on an expression of polite shock. ‘Oh, no! That is terrible. One hears of these things in Rio, of course, but to have it happen to you is horrible. Have you heard from the kidnappers?’
Certainly, I had expected Francisco to feign astonishment, but it was all I could do to fight back the anger when I saw his response. He wasn’t a good actor. I knew then for sure that he had organized Isabel’s kidnap.
Luís kept his cool. ‘Yes, we have, as a matter of fact. Indeed they made a rather unusual demand.’
‘Oh, yes?’
‘Yes. They wanted Nick here to try to prevent the takeover of Dekker Ward by an American investment bank. Nick had instigated the takeover, and I suppose the kidnappers thought he might be able to stop it.’
‘How extraordinary.’
‘Yes, it is strange, isn’t it? But there’s nothing Nick can do. The American investment bank won’t listen to him. So we have another idea.’
‘I don’t see what all this has to do with me,’ said Francisco. But he was listening.
Luís ignored his interruption and continued. ‘As you know, I run Banco Horizonte. We intend to put in an offer today for Dekker Ward. You see, Dekker is about to go bankrupt. If my bank were to take it over, we would ensure that any investors or depositors were protected. I don’t just mean that they would get their money back, but that their identity would remain confidential, should there be an investigation. That is, of course, as long as my daughter is released.’
Francisco wore a slight frown, as though he were puzzled at why Luís was telling him all this. But he let Luís continue.
‘So, if Isabel is released, Banco Horizonte will take over Dekker Ward, and shy investors will be protected.’ He stopped and fixed Francisco with a calm gaze.
Francisco shifted in his chair. ‘That is an interesting idea, but I still don’t see what it has to do with me.’
Luís stayed silent, never moving his gaze.
Francisco blundered into the uncomfortable silence, eager to maintain the fiction of a normal conversation. ‘OK, Ricardo Ross is my brother-in-law, of course. But we don’t do business together. I have nothing to do with Dekker Ward. We have different outlooks.’ Francisco leaned forward, his tone conspiratorial. ‘Dekker Ward is, you know, a little aggressive for me. I prefer more conservative institutions.’
I was taking a sip of coffee as Francisco said this, and almost choked on it. Francisco ignored me.
Luís stood up. ‘Well, thank you for your time, Francisco. No doubt I will hear from the kidnappers soon as to whether this would be acceptable.’
Francisco stood up. He was clearly confused, not knowing what response was expected of him. In the end he settled for a concerned tone. ‘I still don’t quite understand why you wanted to tell me about this. But I’m very sorry about your daughter, Luís. I hope she is released safely soon.’
‘So do I, Francisco, so do I.’ For the first time there was an edge to Luís’s voice.
As Francisco led us out through the hallway, I paused to ask a question. ‘Oh, by the way, Senhor Aragão, was that your son I saw earlier?’
‘Yes. Francisco filho. He’s in his last year at high school.’
‘Ah.’ I smiled, and Luís and I left Francisco a truly puzzled man.
‘He’s definitely got Isabel,’ I said, as soon as the car was safely out of sight of Francisco’s property, and we had picked up Nelson.
‘Yes, he has,’ growled Luís. ‘It was all I could do not to strangle the man. Sitting there, smiling like that, when he has my daughter!’
‘Do you think he’ll go for it?’
‘I hope so. He was certainly listening. But who knows if he is really the one calling the shots? Perhaps it’s up to the Ross brothers. They wouldn’t want Dekker taken over by Banco Horizonte, even with guarantees of anonymity for investors.’
‘Although Francisco might act unilaterally if he thinks that’s the best hope to protect himself,’ Nelson said. ‘I mean, release Isabel, let you take over Dekker, take his money and run.’
‘That’s what we have to hope,’ said Luís. ‘I’d love to turn him in to the authorities,’ he muttered.
So would I. And I was beginning to realize that this was the true weakness of my plan, although I hadn’t mentioned it to Luís. Francisco would have to rely essentially on Luís’s good faith not to turn over Dekker account records to the authorities if Isabel was released. Perhaps he would judge he was better off forcing us to find a way to delay and then overturn the takeover. And if Dekker was taken over, and he didn’t trust us, why keep Isabel alive? Francisco looked as if he wouldn’t lose sleep over killing her.
Luís’s driver dropped him off at the bank, and took Nelson and me back to the apartment. Luís returned after a couple of hours. We were all waiting for him.
‘Well, I spoke to Lord Kerton,’ he said. ‘He says that he might entertain our bid. But he wants to see me in person, plus a senior representative from KBN, on Wednesday, so that he can decide whether to take us seriously.’
‘So are you going?’ asked Cordelia.
Luís sighed. ‘I’ll have to. I’d like to stay here, and wait for a response from Francisco. But I can do more in London. Our best hope now is to buy Dekker and persuade Francisco that we will lose the evidence of his investments.’
Luís packed hurriedly to catch the flight to London that night. Just before he was about to leave for the airport, the phone rang. Luís picked it up.
Zico.
Nelson listened in. I watched. Their faces became graver and graver. Luís protested. Then the conversation was over.
‘What did he say?’ I asked the second the phone was down.
‘He said that there was to be absolutely no change in the kidnappers’ terms. If anyone takes over Dekker, that’s either Banco Horizonte or Bloomfield Weiss, then they’ll kill her.’
My heart sank. ‘Did they say when they would release her?’
He shook his head. ‘They said they’ll keep her as long as there’s any danger of Dekker being taken over.’
‘Did they mention Francisco?’
‘No. I asked about him, but Zico said he had never heard of him.’
We stood looking at each other in silence. Cordelia bit her lip, trying not to cry.
‘So he didn’t go for it,’ I said.
Luís gave me a thin smile. ‘It was worth a try, Nick.’
I summoned a smile back. Yeah, but it didn’t work, I thought.
Luís sighed. ‘So, what now?’ he asked Nelson.
Nelson shrugged. ‘Well, you should still go to London. That, at least, will delay things for a few more days.’
‘You’re right.’ Then his eyes passed from Nelson to Cordelia to me. ‘For God’s sake, find her,’ he said.
None of us had the confidence to answer him.
Luís left us, and flew to London. More waiting, more tension. Tuesday passed, and still no news of Isabel. Cordelia and Nelson joined me on Wednesday morning. We knew Luís was meeting Lord Kerton for a working lunch.
The phone rang. I answered it. It was Luís.
‘Well, we’re in with a chance,’ he said. ‘I offered twenty million pounds, subject to due diligence. He was interested. But he said he wanted to give Bloomfield Weiss an opportunity to come up with a better offer. So he wants to hold an auction. Sealed bids from ourselves and Bloomfield Weiss.’
‘How long have we got?’
‘One week. He’s holding the auction next Wednesday.’
‘Only a week!’ I exclaimed. Somehow I had hoped we might get a month. Although with the progress we were making in finding Isabel, a month or a week wouldn’t make any difference.