Thankfully the journey didn’t take very long, and soon they were entering the grounds of the club. Linda could see tennis courts and fountains; it was just like José said — a spectacular place. The car pulled up at the main entrance and the chauffeur opened the door. José offered his hand to Linda, who almost tripped over the hem of her dress as she stepped out, hitching it up just in time with a ‘Thanks very much.’ She hovered there, expecting Bella to follow, but Bella was sitting, calmly waiting, while the chauffeur went round to the other side of the car and helped her out. Taking the chauffeur’s arm momentarily, she then came round and linked arms with José.
‘Right, all set?’
Again they looked at each other; again that secret, intimate smile.
José offered his arm to Linda, she hooked hers through it, and the three walked up the entrance steps of the club.
The doorman jumped to attention when he saw them. ‘Good evening, Mister José.’
Linda was impressed.
As they entered, the maître d’ came up to them with a bow. ‘Good evening, Mr. Camarana. Good evening, madame,’ he said to Bella. And finally a polite nod to Linda.
José turned to Bella. ‘Would you want to go to the powder room?’
Bella walked off with a smile. He turned to Linda, as if expecting her to follow, but she didn’t move.
After a moment’s silence, Linda said, ‘Funny, isn’t it? She spends hours gettin’ ready and as soon as we get here she’s in the toilet!’
He nodded distractedly. Already he was smiling and waving to another group entering the club, and a beautifully dressed woman called out to him, then blew a kiss. Linda felt like a lump, then suddenly realized she was still clinging to José’s arm. She released her hold and clutched her handbag instead. She was thinking that maybe she should go to the powder room after all when Bella reappeared, followed shortly by Filipe, the elegant head waiter, who stopped to greet them with the same deference as the maître d’, paying particular attention to Bella, who inclined her head almost regally. Linda could have spat. She couldn’t believe Bella was behaving as if she’d been brought up in a bloody place like this.
The next minute the three were walking toward the entrance of the main club room. The orchestra was playing something that Linda didn’t recognize as they were led toward a booth. Everywhere were men in elegant evening suits and women in gorgeous gowns, dripping with diamonds.
So this is the rich set of Rio — the set, Linda thought.
And at every table they passed, José Camarana seemed to know either the woman or the man, stopping to introduce Bella and Linda. But despite his gracious manner, Linda couldn’t help feeling like a well-dressed maid, brought along as part of the retinue.
They reached their booth and José seated himself between the two girls. He looked from one to the other and smiled. ‘I’m a very lucky man! I am with the two most beautiful women in the room.’ But Linda noticed that he only had eyes for Bella.
‘Don’t suppose you got any spare males hanging round ’ere that could come and join us? I feel like a bit of a gooseberry here!’
José smiled. ‘But of course, if you would like someone to join us.’
Bella placed her hand over José’s. ‘I think we’re fine as we are. This is our night, just the three of us — let’s enjoy it.’
A waiter appeared with a bottle of Dom Perignon in a silver ice bucket, while another brought three fluted champagne glasses. He spoke in French to José, who replied fluently. Linda was beginning to feel seriously out of her depth.
The champagne poured, José lifted his glass and said, ‘To my beautiful women — cheers.’
Linda drank the champagne back in one gulp and put her glass down on the table, only to realize that José and Bella had merely sipped delicately at theirs. She could have kicked herself, especially when the waiter instantly appeared and refilled her glass.
Ah well, what the hell, she thought. Might as well have a few drinks and try and relax a bit.
As she raised her glass to her lips, José leaned forward and touched Linda’s hand. For a moment she thought he was suggesting that she shouldn’t drink any more, and was about to give him a piece of her mind, when he said, ‘I think perhaps if we eat after the cabaret — would that suit you?’
Linda gulped her champagne and nodded.
‘I think that would be fine,’ Bella agreed.
The orchestra struck up a rousing Afro-beat music, and as the lights began to go down, the glass floor lit up. There were shouts and whoops as the stage was filled with women — twenty-four staggeringly beautiful girls in tiny, sequined G-strings and bras, their lithe bodies oiled and shining. The women flowed across the stage, their feathered headdresses in brilliant peacock colors swaying to the beat.
Linda found herself getting caught up in the atmosphere. She grinned at Bella and Bella smiled back politely.
Oh, Christ, I wish she’d drop this Lady Muck act, Linda thought, but the women on stage were so mesmerizing, so outrageous, so much larger than life, that she quickly forgot her annoyance.
She nudged José. ‘Those women are amazing! They’re all so tall!’
José leaned in and whispered, ‘They’re all men.’
‘What?’
He smiled. ‘Yes, men.’
Linda’s jaw dropped. ‘Fuck me!’ She felt a kick under the table from Bella. ‘You havin’ me on?’
He shook his head. ‘This is one of the most famous cabarets in Rio. They are...’ He turned to Bella, said something in French.
She leaned over. ‘Transvestites, Linda. They’re transvestites.’
Linda’s eyes were drawn back to the exotic creatures, leaping and gyrating round the stage, She’d never seen anything so spectacular and amazing in her life. She turned back to Bella and José. José raised his glass, and all three started to rock with laughter.
Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
Jimmy was now well pissed, the second bottle of vino empty on the table. Harry had checked his watch maybe ten, fifteen times, and he was about to do so again when Tony’s cab finally pulled up. Again, he took his time to join them, stopping to chat to several people along the way, before casually sauntering up to Harry and Jimmy’s table and sitting down.
‘Well? You find out anything?’ Jimmy asked eagerly.
Tony nodded. ‘Yeah, yeah. You understand I’ve had to ask a lot of questions, I’ve had to — how d’you say it in English? — put out quite a few dollars.’
‘You’ll be paid back for whatever you’ve spent,’ Harry snapped. ‘Just tell us what you’ve found out.’
‘Fifty dollars.’
Jimmy leaned back in his chair. ‘Oh, come on, do us a favor! Twenty-five.’
‘Fifty. You don’t get information for nothing in this town.’
Jimmy shook his head. ‘You’re having a laugh. How stupid do you think—’
Harry had had enough. ‘Just pay the man what he fucking wants, Jimmy.’
Jimmy pouted. ‘All right, twenty-five now and the rest if the information checks out. How about that?’
Tony shook his head. ‘I already paid out this money, you understand?’
Harry tapped Tony on the arm. ‘Don’t worry about the money. Now, what did you find out?’
Tony took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. ‘OK, I think I got the right woman. Does the name “Linda Pirelli” mean anything to you?’
Jimmy leaned across to Harry. ‘Joe Pirelli’s old lady? I remember Joe Pirelli. Wasn’t he part of your crew?’
Harry gave him a cold, hard look. ‘Just go on, Tony, go on. Linda Pirelli and what?’
‘There was a Linda Pirelli, a blonde woman — girl, not your wife — and a black girl, O’Reilly. They leave their passports with the hotel, you understand? That’s how I have their names. O’Reilly, Pirelli — they book a suite at the Hilton Hotel. Two women join them, a young blonde one, and an older woman, but they don’t stay at the hotel, they spend maybe two, three hours there.’