‘Jamie, do you mind if I borrow him for a moment?’
‘Not at all,’ Jamie replied, flashing his smile at Eduardo. Eduardo flashed one just as wide back.
‘Good. Come to my office.’
With a panicky glance towards Jamie, I followed Eduardo into an office in one corner of the trading room. The windows were smoky from the outside, which was why I hadn’t noticed him before. On the inside, there was a clear view of the trading floor. I could easily see Jamie picking up the phone to coax his customers to buy a few more bonds.
It was a large office, and opulent. There were a couple of cream leather sofas, the walls were panelled in a polished blonde wood, and on one of them hung a photograph of the red Ferrari I had spotted in the underground garage, adorned by its tanned and muscled owner and two raven-haired beauties. Eduardo seated himself behind a huge desk that seemed untroubled by the usual clutter of day-to-day work. Over his shoulder I caught a breathtaking view to the west of the City of London. I realized that I hadn’t checked yet to see whether I could see the School of Russian Studies. Too absorbed in what was going on, I supposed.
Eduardo followed my eyes, and grinned. ‘Not a bad view, eh? You know, you can see Windsor Castle on a good day.’
‘Spectacular,’ I agreed.
‘Take a seat.’ Eduardo opened a humidor in front of him, and offered me a cigar. I shook my head, and he picked out a large one, and carefully placed it in his thick, sensual lips. He rolled the cigar around for several seconds before lighting it. The effect verged on the obscene. He watched me watching him with amusement.
There was a knock at the door, and a very young, very pretty girl with fine blonde hair came in. She looked as though she belonged in a school classroom rather than Eduardo’s office. ‘The position report, Mr Ross,’ she said, and dashed over to his desk to put it on one corner.
‘Ah, thank you, Penny,’ he replied, taking the report himself. And as she was leaving, ‘You English produce such exquisite virgins, don’t you think, Nick? It’s a shame they become spoiled as they get older.’
Involuntarily I glanced at the girl, who blushed bright red and made for the door at as fast a walk as she could manage.
Eduardo chuckled. ‘Excuse me. I just think she looks so delicious when she blushes.’ He tossed the report in the bin.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
‘Ricardo has told me a lot about you, Nick,’ he went on, in a friendly tone. ‘He’s excited to have you here. You’re already making a good impression. We like to train up our own people, and he thinks you are exactly the right raw material.’
‘Thank you.’ Praise is always welcome when you’ve just started a new job.
‘We’re very sensitive to our new employees’ needs,’ he continued. ‘We like to make them feel at home early on. And we don’t like them distracted. Now, I understand from Ricardo that you have quite a large mortgage obligation. Well, we would like to ease that burden for you.’
My pulse quickened. This was one financial issue I had long been interested in.
‘We thought we could perhaps take over the mortgage from your building society, and charge a lower rate of interest, say three per cent? Until, of course, you can afford to pay it down. Which shouldn’t be more than a couple of years if you do as well here as we expect you will.’ He smiled at me, and took a puff of the cigar. The heavy tobacco rolled towards me. Like Ricardo, he too had charisma, but it was of a different sort. His large face, heavily creased brow, and thick black hair brushed neatly back, gave him a kind of powerful handsomeness, that held me in awe. This was not the sort of man you met on an average day at the School of Russian Studies.
For an instant, I felt a surge of relief. Those mortgage payments had been the bane of my life for so long. And now the problem would go away, just like that.
But it was only an instant. Although I was coming to terms with Dekker and its ways, some instinct told me to be careful. I had come willingly to work for Ricardo. Somehow I felt Eduardo was trying to buy me.
Without thinking it through, I said, ‘No, thank you. It’s kind of you to offer, but I should be able to support my mortgage quite easily now on my own.’
Eduardo’s gaze darkened for a moment. He puffed at his cigar. Finally he smiled again.
‘There are no strings attached,’ he said. ‘Plenty of City firms give their employees subsidized mortgages. Take it. There’s no harm.’
He had a point. But I just didn’t like the feel of it. And I had my pride and I was stubborn. ‘I’m sure you’re right. But I’ll manage. And, as you say, I hope I’ll be able to pay it down over the next few years.’
Eduardo shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. But if there’s anything else we can do to help you out, anything at all, please come and ask. OK?’
Another warm smile.
I was just leaving when he called out to me. ‘Oh, Nick?’
I stopped at the door and turned to him. ‘Yes?’
‘Isabel Pereira sent me the fax you received for Martin Beldecos yesterday.’ He lowered his voice. ‘You know what happened, I take it?’
I nodded.
He grimaced. ‘It was a terrible thing. Terrible. But if you do receive any more messages for Martin, give them directly to me, won’t you? And please don’t mention them to anyone else in the firm. Martin was working for me on something that was very sensitive. Do you understand?’
It was a request, and on the surface it was a request made with charm and politeness. But lying just below the surface, unsaid, and undefined, was a threat.
‘I understand,’ I said, and left.
Jamie was waiting. ‘What was all that about?’
I told him of Eduardo’s offer to take over my mortgage, and my response.
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Why did you say no?’
‘I don’t know. I just didn’t like the feel of it. And once I had said no, I didn’t want Eduardo to change my mind. Do you think I’m crazy?’
Jamie hesitated. ‘Maybe not. Eduardo’s right, there would be no strings attached. But if you work here you end up being dependent on them, one way or another.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, the bonuses and employee trusts are the most obvious example. But if you’re in trouble Ricardo will help you out with money or contacts or whatever. You owed him five thousand pounds before you’d even started, remember?’
‘You’re right. But somehow it seemed different coming from Ricardo than Eduardo.’
‘Maybe. They’re very different people. But they are brothers. You owe one, you owe the other.’
‘Are they close?’
‘You bet. Most Latinos are pretty close to their family. But it’s more than that with them.’ Jamie lowered his voice again. I got the impression he enjoyed this conspiratorial gossip. ‘There are some pretty dodgy rumours about Eduardo.’
I leaned forward, eager to encourage him. ‘Oh, yes?’
‘Yeah. Apparently he killed someone once. Pushed him over a balcony. It was when he was a student in Caracas. They’d had an argument over some girl. Ricardo hushed it up, and Eduardo walked free.’
I shuddered. ‘I can imagine him killing someone.’
‘I know what you mean. And he leads a pretty fast life. Girls, drugs. That kind of thing. You know there was even a rumour that he was screwing Isabel.’
‘Eduardo?’ I glanced over to Isabel’s desk. I could just see the top of her head, bowed, a telephone pressed against her ear. ‘I’d have thought she’d have more taste.’
Jamie shrugged. ‘I suppose Eduardo’s attractive to a certain sort of woman. I did warn you about her.’
‘You did.’ I was disappointed. I wouldn’t have believed that of Isabel, but since I didn’t actually know her, had barely ever spoken to her, I realized I had no grounds to be surprised. A nascent fantasy dashed. Oh, well.