“How can you speak to me thus? It is you who trod upon my coffee trade-you and your heretic friend.”
Miguel let out a laugh. “You may call yourself the injured person if you like, but that will not change what is.”
“I have a great deal of power to effect changes, you forget, and when I bring this case before the council, we will see how smug you look then.”
“And for what reason am I to stand before the Ma’amad? For making you look a fool or for refusing to be ruined by your scheme?”
“For conducting unseemly business with a gentile,” he announced. “You deployed that man, Joachim Waagenaar, intentionally to create a drop in the price of coffee. I happen to know he is the very same Dutchman you ruined by brokering for him and forcing upon him your foolish sugar scheme. Clearly he found it hard to get enough of you, but I think you will find the Ma’amad feels somewhat differently. You have violated the law of Amsterdam and so put your people at risk.”
Miguel studied Parido’s face. He wanted to savor the moment as long as he could, because it might be, he knew, the most satisfying of his life. Then, knowing he could not wait too long, he spoke. “When I am called before the Ma’amad,” he began, “shall I mention that I only asked Joachim to work with me after he came to me and confessed that you had attempted to force him into discovering the nature of my business arrangements? You, in other words, deployed a gentile as a spy, not even for Ma’amad matters but in the hopes of ruining a fellow Jew against whom you harbor resentment. I wonder what the other parnassim will think of that information. Should I also mention that you conspired with Nunes, a merchant with whom I had placed an order, and that you used your position as a parnass to force him into betraying me so you might prevail over me? This should make for a very interesting session.”
Parido chewed upon his lower lip for a moment. “Very well,” he said.
But Miguel was not finished. “I might add that there is the matter of Geertruid Damhuis, a Dutchwoman you employed with the single purpose of ruining me. How long was she your creature, senhor? The better part of a year, I think.”
“Geertruid Damhuis,” Parido repeated, suddenly looking a bit more cheerful. “I heard something of this. She was your partner in your schemes, but then you betrayed her.”
“I merely did not allow her to ruin me. What I have never fully understood, however, is why you needed Joachim if you already had Geertruid. Was she not telling you all? Was she hoping to turn this treachery into a little profit for herself, and you could not live with the knowledge that you could not control your own creature?”
Parido let out a laugh. “You are correct about one thing. I cannot bring you before the Ma’amad. You have won on that score. I admit here between the two of us that I did ask that foul Dutchman to find out information about you. But you must know I had nothing to do with that whore you ruined. As near as I can tell, she was a perfectly honest slut who wanted nothing more than to aid you. And you destroyed her.”
“You are a liar,” Miguel said.
“I don’t think so. There is one thing I do admire about you, Lienzo. Some men are cold in matters of business. They harden their hearts against those they hurt. But you are a man with a conscience, and I know you will truly suffer for what you did to your honest partner.”
Miguel found Geertruid in the Three Dirty Dogs, where she was so drunk that no one would sit with her. One of the other patrons warned him to be careful. She had already bit the cheek, to the point of drawing blood, of a man who had attempted to feel her bosoms. But she had clearly drunk herself past the point of anger, because when she saw Miguel she made a sloppy effort to stand and then held out her arms as though ready to envelop her former partner.
“It’s Miguel Lienzo,” she slurred. “The man who ruined me. I had hoped to see you here, and now you are here. Where I hoped to see you. Will you sit with me?”
Miguel sat himself down very carefully, as though afraid the bench might break. He looked across the table at Geertruid. “Who were you working for? I must know. I promise you I’ll take no action on the information. I need to know for myself. Was it Parido?”
“Parido?” Geertruid repeated. “I never worked for Parido. I would never even have heard of Parido if it had not been for you.” She laughed and pointed at him. “I knew that’s what you thought. The moment you told me you had undone me, I knew you thought I was Parido’s agent. If I were Parido’s agent,” she explained, “I would have deserved to be crushed.”
Miguel swallowed hard. He had hoped to hear something very different. “You tricked me into trusting you. Why?”
“Because I wanted to be wealthy,” Geertruid said, slamming her hand upon the table. “And a respectable woman. That’s all. I was not working for anyone. I had no plan to destroy you. I only wanted to go into business with a man of influence who would help me make my fortune. And when you lost your money, I stuck by you because I liked you. I never meant to trick you. All I am is a thief, Miguel. I’m a thief, but I am no villain.”
“A thief?” he repeated. “Then you stole that money, the three thousand guilders?”
She shook her head, and doing so let it drop so low that Miguel feared she might bang it upon the table. “I borrowed that money. From a moneylender. A very nasty moneylender. So nasty even the Jews won’t have him.”
Miguel closed his eyes. “Alferonda,” he said.
“Yes. He was the only man I could find who was willing to lend me what I needed. He knew what I wanted it for, and he knew who I was.”
“Why did he not tell me so?” Miguel demanded aloud. “He played the two of us against each other. Why would he do such a thing?”
“He’s not a kind man,” she said sadly.
“Oh, Geertruid.” He took her hand. “Why did you not tell me the truth? How could you let me ruin you?”
She let out a little laugh. “You know, Miguel, sweet Miguel, I don’t blame you at all. What could you have done? Confronted me? Asked of my scheme? You knew already I was a deceiver, and you wished to make your money as best you could. I can’t blame you. But I could not have told you the truth either, for you would never have continued to trust me. You feared that council of yours over a matter of merely doing business with a Dutchwoman. Would you have convinced yourself that any good can come with doing business with a Dutch outlaw? Particularly one such as me.”
“One such as you?”
“I must leave the city, Miguel. I must leave tonight. Alferonda has been searching for me, and he won’t go easy with me. There are tales of his wrath, you know.”
“Why should Alferonda care? Can you not simply give him the money I transferred to your account? I have repaid the three thousand I borrowed of you.”
“I owe him another eight hundred in interest.”
“Eight hundred,” Miguel blurted out. “Does he know no shame?”
“He is a usurer,” she said sadly.
“Let me speak with him. He is my friend, and I am certain we can come to an understanding. He needn’t charge you so much interest as that. We will reach a more reasonable fee, and I will help you pay him.”
She squeezed his hand. “Poor sweet Miguel. You are too good to me. I can’t let you do that, for you would be throwing away your money, and nothing would be gained but your ruin. Alferonda may be your friend, but he is not mine, and he won’t let his reputation suffer by a kindness. And how good a friend is he, deceiving you as he has done? Even if you could stay his hand, there is the money I owe the agents in Iberia. They have my name, not yours, and they will come looking for Geertruid Damhuis in Amsterdam. If I stay, it will be only a matter of time before I am undone. I must leave tonight, so I will give you no more than you deserve by telling you the truth at last.”