Harry Rawlins watched Jimmy weave his way through the checkered tablecloths of the street cafe toward the little bar at the rear. He gestured toward the garden where Harry was sitting, talked briefly to the barman, grabbed another bottle of wine and brought it back. Harry realized that he hadn’t seen Jimmy without a can of beer or a glass of something in his hand since he’d arrived, and his drinking only seemed to be getting worse. Jimmy slumped down at the table, still dressed in the same sweat-stained suit and T-shirt.
‘Should be here any minute, Harry, no problem, and I’ll tell you, if that wife of yours is in Rio, he’ll find her. I’ve used him before, he knows what he’s doing.’ He gestured for Harry to pass his glass over but Harry shook his head. Jimmy swigged a mouthful of the wine and gritted his teeth. ‘Christ almighty! This stuff’s rotgut!’ He looked up as a taxi drew up to the curb. ‘Here he is.’
Harry watched as the yellow cab pulled alongside three other taxis, their drivers dozing in the front as they waited for a fare. Tony Ramirez did seem to be a cut above the rest of the drivers; there was a sharpness to his clothes, and he also seemed to know everybody in the bar. He was laughing and patting a number of men on the shoulder as he looked round the tables. He nodded over to Jimmy and, seemingly in no hurry, walked across to their table.
Jimmy was already pouring a glass of wine for him. ‘Tony, this is my friend I was telling you about — Harry Rawlins.’
Tony smiled, gold teeth glittering in his mouth. He picked up his wine and tapped the edge of Rawlins’ empty glass. ‘Nice to meet you.’
Despite a thick accent, Tony was obviously able to speak and understand English very well. He looked from one man to the other.
‘So, you wanted to see me?’ Although he directed the question to Jimmy, Harry felt he was really talking to him.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Yeah, my friend here is looking for a woman. Need to ask a few questions round town, you know? She was staying at the Hilton Hotel. We didn’t wanna put our faces in there, for reasons that we needn’t go into right now, but we need to find her.’
Tony turned to Harry. ‘You wanna find a woman, eh?’
Rawlins nodded. ‘It’s my wife.’
Tony laughed, drained the glass of cheap wine and pushed it across the table. ‘In Rio, most people try to lose their wives. This is very unusual, you understand, when a man wants to find his wife.’ He threw his head back and started to laugh, but stopped short when he saw that neither Harry nor Jimmy were amused.
Harry took over. ‘OK,’ he said, ‘her name’s Dolly — Dorothy Rawlins. She booked in to the hotel last week. If she’s still in Rio I want you to find her, and as soon as you can.’
Tony nodded. ‘She at the hotel now?’
Jimmy interrupted. ‘Well, that’s for you to find out. And if she’s not, we want you to find out where the hell she’s gone! We haven’t got much time, Tony, so can you get a move on for us?’
Tony turned toward Harry. ‘Why you can’t find her yourself? She in some kinda trouble?’
Harry shook his head. ‘No, she’s in no trouble. I just wanna find her, OK?’
Tony shrugged. ‘OK, I’ll ask questions. You gonna be round here for a while?’
Jimmy nodded. ‘Yeah, yeah, we’ll be here.’
‘You pay me in dollars, OK, Jimmy?’ Tony said.
Jimmy looked to Harry and Harry nodded.
‘Just get cracking, OK?’ Harry said.
‘What she look like?’
‘She’s blonde, about five-eight, mid-forties, well dressed,’ Harry answered.
Tony smirked at Harry, as if to say, ‘What you wanna find an old woman like that for?’ He got up from the table. ‘See you around, then.’
As Tony walked away, Jimmy picked up the bottle of wine and leaned across the table. Harry again put his hand over his empty glass.
‘No thanks, Jimmy, and why don’t you try layin’ off it for a while?’
Jimmy looked hurt. ‘Come on, Harry, I can handle it. I know what I’m doing.’
Harry shrugged. He was watching Tony as he walked back to his taxi. He seemed in no hurry as he laughed and chatted with a couple of the other taxi drivers.
Harry turned to Jimmy. ‘What the fuck does he think he’s doing? We haven’t got all night.’
‘Hey, come on, cool it, Harry, just relax. If she’s in Rio, he’ll find her.’
Harry reached for the bottle of wine. He looked hard at Jimmy. ‘I hope to God you’re right.’
He poured himself a glass and tossed it back. It burned the back of his throat. Jimmy was right — it was rotgut.
Linda looked at herself in the long mirror and wished that Shirley or Bella were still around. She wasn’t sure about the dress. It was Bella who had pushed her into buying it. She stood back. Maybe Bella was right: the bright red silk did set off her suntan a treat, but she still wished that Shirley had been there to do her hair or tell her what jewelry to wear. She put on some gold looped earrings, thought she looked a little too like Carmen Miranda, and decided instead to wear none. She was still wondering whether she should put her hair up or down when she heard the front doorbell go. She’d been so absorbed in getting dressed that she hadn’t heard the Rolls-Royce coming up the drive. She quickly picked up her small evening bag, checked her keys and ran down the stairs.
José Camarana himself was at the door. The chauffeur stood by the Rolls with the passenger door open.
José smiled. ‘I’m sorry, are we a little late?’
Linda had no idea what time it was, so she just shrugged and said, ‘No, it’s all right, it’s fine.’
He stepped back to look at her. ‘May I say you look absolutely beautiful.’
Unsure how to reply, Linda just grinned and said, ‘Oh, thanks very much. Bella picked it.’
He guided her toward the car, and Linda bent to get in, bumping heads awkwardly with the chauffeur as he tried to help her into the car. Flustered, Linda scooted in and settled into the seat next to Bella. Bella eased over slightly, not wanting Linda to crush her dress.
Wow, thought Linda. Bella really did look stunning. She had on a pure white chiffon gown and a simple white wrap. It set off her black skin to perfection. She wore diamond studs in her ears, and, of course, the diamond on her hand. Linda also noticed that she now wore a diamond bracelet. She thought she’d sound silly if she told Bella how beautiful she looked, so she just sat in embarrassed silence, wondering if it would have been less awkward if they’d let José sit between them.
Oh, sod it, she thought, leaning back in the seat. ‘Well, this is all very nice, isn’t it?’
José got into the front passenger seat, nodded to the driver, and they drove slowly out of the villa. They traveled in silence for a moment, the only sounds the cultured purr of the engine, then José and Bella both started to speak at once. They looked at each other and did a kind of secret smile. Then José turned to Linda.
‘Have you been to this club before?’
Linda shook her head.
‘I think you will like it. The cabaret is—’ again, that rather strange look between him and Bella — ‘I think rather special. But I won’t say anything more until we get there. I wouldn’t want to spoil it. Are you comfortable?’
Linda nodded.
Again there was a silence. Bella looked at her watch.
‘Shirley’ll almost be in LA by now.’
José started talking about LA, how fond of it he was, and making general chit-chat, while Linda just sat there feeling like a gooseberry stuck between these two lovebirds, who obviously would have much preferred to be alone together.