Ricardo nodded. ‘That’s true. I’ve always been tough on people who walk out on the team. As you know, I was disappointed in you. I felt you’d let me down.’
I could feel the anger boiling up inside me. ‘I’d let you down!’ I almost shouted. ‘And what about Martin Beldecos? Was his death a result of over-enthusiasm? Or was it just disappointment?’
‘No, no, it wasn’t. I thought he was the victim of a hotel burglary gone wrong. And when you were stabbed on Ipanema beach, I thought that was just a mugging.’
‘I know it wasn’t just a mugging,’ I said.
‘Well, now I suspect it wasn’t too,’ said Ricardo. ‘In fact, I suspect you know quite a lot about what’s going on that I don’t. That’s why I’m here. Tell me what happened in Brazil.’
‘Do you know Francisco Aragão?’
‘Ah.’ Ricardo raised his eyebrows. ‘Of course I do. He’s Luciana’s brother. Does he have something to do with this?’
‘He certainly does.’ I wasn’t sure whether Ricardo really had no idea of Francisco’s involvement, but I saw no harm in telling Ricardo all I knew. Isabel joined in when she described what had happened to her after she had been kidnapped.
Ricardo listened to every word, weighing each new piece of information, putting it in its proper place. When I had finally finished, he didn’t say anything, he just looked up and stared unfocused towards the door. Thinking.
‘Well?’ I said, hoping to provoke a response.
‘Hm?’
‘Well? Does Francisco invest drug money with Dekker Ward?’
Ricardo’s eyes focused. ‘Not that we know of. We have no record of him investing with us. Every investor is known personally by one of us, and we don’t deal with anyone who has known links to drugs. In my book, Francisco definitely has drugs links, and I’ve spent most of my career trying to avoid dealing with him. I thought I’d succeeded.’
‘But someone at Dekker must have dealt with him.’
Ricardo shrugged. ‘You may be right. I don’t know. It’s all very mysterious, isn’t it?’ He paused for a moment. ‘Of course, if I did discover that Francisco had somehow been laundering drug money through Dekker Ward without my knowledge, I’d be quite concerned. I’d certainly let the proper authorities know.’
Suddenly, he gulped his fizzy water, stood up and reached into his wallet for a ten-pound note for the drinks. ‘I’ve got to go back to the office now. Whether you believe me or not, Isabel, I’m very glad to see you alive. And, of course, you still work for Dekker Ward. You’re welcome back in the office any time.’
Isabel shook her head, but allowed herself a small smile. ‘No, thank you. I think you’ll be receiving my resignation letter soon.’
‘That, too, I can understand.’ He leant over and kissed her on both cheeks. ‘Good luck,’ he said. ‘And, Nick, I’m sorry it didn’t work out at Dekker. You’ve been a difficult opponent. I would have liked to have kept you on my side.’
I couldn’t help smiling as I shook his hand.
‘Now, I really have to be going. We’ve got a little crisis on. One of our clients has started to sell all his bonds. You probably remember him, Nick. Alejo? One of Jamie’s. Jamie, I’m afraid has gone home in disgust. Sometimes things get to you in this business. Oh, well. Goodbye.’
I watched him walk out of the bar, stunned. Suddenly, I knew Ricardo had been telling the truth.
‘Nick? Nick?’ I heard Isabel next to me.
‘Oh, um, Isabel. I’m sorry. I’ve got to go somewhere.’
‘Nick, what do you mean? It’s late.’
‘I’ll try to get back tonight, if I can. If not, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.’ I kissed her quickly, and I was off.
32
The taxi fare to Dockenbush Farm was huge. I paid off the driver and steadied myself before walking up to the door. It was a warm summer night, with stars and moon illuminating the farmhouse in front of me. Pools of light spilled out of two downstairs windows on to the gravel driveway. An owl called from somewhere above and behind me.
Ricardo had known it was Jamie, I thought. As soon as I had told him about Francisco, he had worked it out. Alejo was Jamie’s account, ostensibly acting for a secretive Mexican family. But, in reality, Alejo worked for Francisco. Luciana had indeed been Francisco’s intermediary, but with Jamie, not Ricardo. She had known Ricardo wouldn’t do business with her brother. Now Francisco was scared and, through Alejo, was selling everything he had with Dekker Trust.
And Ricardo had let me know this, to give me a chance to get to Jamie first. I was sure I could rely on Ricardo to deal with Francisco.
I rang the bell.
It took a while before he answered. He had changed out of his suit into jeans and an old denim shirt. He leaned against the door.
‘Oh, it’s you. I thought someone would come, but I didn’t think it would be you.’
He reeked of whisky. His eyes were shining, but not quite focused. I had seen Jamie the worse for wear many times before. This looked like another one.
‘Can I come in?’
‘Sure.’ He led the way through the hallway, and into the sitting room. Music was playing: I recognized a Leonard Cohen album that I hadn’t heard since we were at university. It had been a favourite with Jamie for about a term, and then he had forgotten it.
He slumped into an armchair. A crystal tumbler of whisky three-quarters full perched on a small table next to him.
‘Have a drink,’ he said.
I fetched the bottle, and went into the kitchen for some ice. Several days’ dishes were piled in the sink, and used Marks and Spencer’s packets cluttered the work surfaces. Kate had been gone for ten days. The house missed her.
Jamie was staring at me as I returned. I sat opposite him. Leonard droned in the background.
‘Isabel’s free,’ I said.
‘Is she OK?’
‘Yes. Considering she spent two months locked up in a tiny space.’
‘Good,’ said Jamie. He looked up at me. ‘You know, don’t you?’
I nodded.
He sighed, and swilled his whisky around, before sipping some. ‘I’m glad they looked after her. They told me they would.’
‘By “they”, you mean Francisco?’
Jamie nodded. ‘How much do you know?’
‘I know that Francisco opened an account with Dekker Trust through you to launder money. The account was managed by Alejo in Miami, who you claimed worked for some rich Mexican family you’d known since you were at Gurney Kroheim. He did huge business with you. Then, I suppose, Martin Beldecos began to get suspicious.’
Jamie snorted. ‘He was a jerk. So officious! If he’d been like any normal compliance guy, we wouldn’t have had a problem. But he always checked on everything. And if he’d found proof, he would have gone straight to the authorities. There would have been no chance of getting Ricardo or Eduardo to cover anything up.’
‘Did he find anything?’
‘He was getting there. He wanted to visit Alejo in Miami after he’d been to Caracas.’
‘So you had him killed.’
Jamie bit his lip. ‘I didn’t want him killed. But Francisco insisted. I didn’t want him to do it.’
‘And me? What about me? You wanted me killed as well?’
‘No,’ said Jamie. ‘No.’ He shook his head, staring straight at me. He sighed. ‘Francisco wanted you dead. I’d told him how close you were to figuring out what was happening. When you mentioned you wanted to talk to me about a fax for Martin Beldecos, I looked for it in your desk and took it. But I knew you’d work it all out in the end.’
He gulped his whisky. ‘I told Francisco it had been stupid to kill Martin. It raised the stakes. Suddenly it wasn’t just a white-collar crime we were on the line for, it was murder. Two murders would be obvious. But he went ahead with it anyway. When I found out what had happened to you in Brazil, I was furious with him. But there wasn’t much I could do by then.’