Jilly Cooper - Bella

At midnight, Diego took over the guard. At first he was offhand, and sullenly refused to talk to her.

‘It must be very hot in Buenos Aires now,’ said Bella.

Diego took no notice.

‘Not much fun for a young mother looking after a sick child,’ she went on.

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ exploded Diego.

‘I was brought up in the slums myself,’ said Bella. ‘And I know what hell it is, and what it’s like to escape and leave it all behind.’

‘Ending up in a deserted farmhouse with a gun at your head, eh?’ said Diego.

‘That was just bad luck, but every child deserves a chance to get away, and one’s own child most of all. Oh, Diego, don’t you love him?’

‘Of course I do,’ he snarled. ‘What do you think I did this for?’

‘Then give him a chance to get better, and run in the sunshine, and go to a good school, and wear nice clothes.’

‘Juan’ll give me all that.’

‘Rubbish. He’s just put a noose round your neck, which he’ll tighten if ever you don’t play ball and do what he wants. Lazlo Henriques is a good man, whatever you’ve heard to the contrary,’ she went on, her voice breaking slightly. ‘He’s tough but he knows how to look after his own people.’

‘You love him, don’t you?’ said Diego softly.

Bella nodded, a great lump in her throat. ‘And I’ll probably never see him again.’ The tears ran down her cheeks and she was overwhelmed by such despair that it was a few seconds before she realized what Diego was saying.

‘If I contact El Gatto, how will he know I’m on the level?’

Bella’s heart leapt. ‘You’re going to do it?’

‘I don’t know. Come on, how will he know?’

‘I’ll write him a note.’

‘No, that’s too dangerous.’

‘Well, have this ring,’ she slid the little gold ring studded with seed pearls off her finger. ‘Rupert gave it to me. Lazlo always said it was the only thing he’d ever seen me wear that wasn’t in appallingly bad taste. And use Black Opal as the password. Those are both private jokes that no-one would know anything about. Oh, Diego, you won’t regret it, I promise you. Just tell him where we are and how to find us.’

‘I haven’t made up my mind yet,’ said Diego, pocketing the ring.

Suddenly, there was a great crash from next door.

‘They’re quarrelling again. Probably about you,’ said Diego, getting up and going out.

A few minutes later he was back.

‘Ricardo’s just knocked over the last of the whisky. Carlos slugged Ricardo. Tempers are running high.’

‘Then you’ll have to get some more supplies tomorrow,’ said Bella.

‘I don’t promise anything,’ said Diego.

The next day dawned hotter and more sultry. There were flies everywhere, the stench grew even more terrible. I wonder how nuns survive for years and years without washing, thought Bella. The hair was growing bristly on her legs.

‘There’ll soon be enough scurf in my hair to bread a veal chop,’ she moaned. ‘Oh God! I feel horrible.’

Diego’s watch was taken over by Eduardo, who brought the wireless with him. At eight came the news. She could feel him tensing himself, but there was again no mention of the kidnapping. Everyone had forgotten them. So much for Lazlo’s underworld connections.

When they played pop music, she got up and danced a few steps. Later she listened to Waggoner’s Walk. It was hard to realize that outside life was going on as usual. People were making love, going to their offices, having toast and marmalade for breakfast.

For her breakfast she had tea without milk and a stale crust of bread.

‘Is the service included?’ she said.

‘What?’ said Eduardo.

‘Oh forget it,’ said Bella.

They were obviously running out of supplies.

About midday there was a lot of talking and whispering outside, and Pablo came in and tied her hands again. She was nervous; she dreaded changes in routine, but they only took her into Chrissie’s room.

Chrissie seemed pathetically pleased to see her, but in bad shape.

‘How much longer is this going on?’ was her first question. ‘I’m cracking up.’

‘Sssh, something’s bound to happen soon.’

‘I’ll go mad first. Why have they put us together again? They never do anything nice without an ulterior motive. I’m scared when they start softening up.’

‘I think they’re going off to get supplies, and we’re easier to guard if we’re both in the same room.’

Someone shouted something in Spanish outside.

Chrissie went pale.

‘What are they saying?’ said Bella.

‘They said “Tell El Gatto if the money isn’t raised by midnight tonight, it’s curtains”.’

‘That means they’re going to ring Lazlo,’ said Bella.

‘Oh, God! I know we’re going to be killed,’ said Chrissie.

Bella did her best to comfort her, but she was really worried by Chrissie’s low morale and by her health. Her eyes were sunken, her cheeks were flushed and in spite of the stultifying heat of the day, she was shaking uncontrollably. She had also developed a tight, rasping cough.

She got Chrissie back on to the subject of Rupert, letting her ramble on and on.

Finally Chrissie said, ‘I’m talking too much.’

‘Talk all you want. There’s nothing else we can do.’

‘I’ve had a hell of a lot of time to think in the past twenty-four hours. I’ve been so vile to you because of Rupert. We all were, but me in particular, shouting at you at the wedding, then bitching you up over the weekend, and finally,’ her voice cracked, ‘putting the diamond in your suitcase.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Bella. ‘If I loved someone, I’d have behaved just the same.’

‘But you’ve been so good to me since I’ve been here. You’re so strong and brave. You say you’re ashamed of the kind of background you have, but it certainly makes you able to cope with a situation like this, standing up to them, going for Ricardo with that chair. I don’t really know why you’re doing it, but I just want to say thank you, and that I was quite wrong about you, and that I really love you, and I’m sorry I’ve been so bloody.’

Bella turned away so Chrissie wouldn’t see she was crying. Ridiculous that when things were so grim, Chrissie saying those things should make her so happy.

‘Lazlo’s got you all wrong,’ said Chrissie, ‘and when we — I mean if we — one’s so superstitious about presuming anything — get out, I’ll tell him how lovely you are.’

She started to cough, on and on, until Eduardo brought her a glass of water.

‘You’ll have to get her something stronger,’ said Bella.

‘The others are going to bring back cough medicine,’ said Eduardo.

The waiting was terrible. Bella read stories from Woman’s Own out loud, acting out the dialogue, camping it up to make Chrissie laugh. Finally Chrissie fell into an uneasy sleep. It was amazing to Bella that her violent spasms of coughing didn’t wake her up.

The two o’clock news still had no mention of the kidnapping, but, as the afternoon passed, Bella began to sense an increasing restlessness amongst the gunmen. Just after four o’clock there was a swift crunch on the gravel, three knocks, the front door opening and shutting, followed by raised, urgent voices.

Chrissie woke up.

‘I can’t stand it,’ she sobbed. ‘I can’t bear being cooped up any more.’

‘Hush,’ said Bella sharply. ‘I want to listen.’

She could recognize Carlos’s thick accent, and Eduardo’s deep, authoritative voice, and Ricardo’s oily whine, but she couldn’t hear Diego’s light, gentle drawl. Her palms were soaking; she must keep calm.

The next moment the door was unlocked and in came Ricardo and Eduardo, looking thunderous, and dragged her off into the living-room. Ricardo seized her and forced her arm behind her back, his fingers biting into her flesh.

‘You’ve been talking to Diego, haven’t you?’ he said. ‘Where is he?’

‘Ow, you’re hurting me,’ said Bella, joy bubbling up inside her. ‘How should I know where he is? I’ve been locked up all the time. Isn’t he here?’

Ricardo bent her arm even farther back.

‘He liked you. He fancied you. You’ve talked him round.’

‘I have not,’ said Bella indignantly. ‘It’s more than my life’s worth to talk to anyone here. Where is he?’

‘None of your business,’ snapped Eduardo.

They cross-questioned her endlessly. Had she talked to Diego? What was his mood last night? Several times they gave her stinging slaps across the face, but she was too elated to care.

Finally she asked if she could have a cigarette.

‘We haven’t got any,’ said Ricardo. ‘Diego’s done a bunk with all the supplies.’

She was thrown back into the room with Chrissie.

‘Don’t get too excited, and don’t ask me any questions,’ she muttered, ‘but things are looking up.’

‘Tell me,’ whispered Chrissie.

‘Better if I don’t,’ said Bella. ‘If you don’t know, they can’t beat it out of you.’

Outside the door she could hear the panicking getting worse. Hope grew inside her. If only they didn’t get frightened into becoming violent. She re-read that damn Woman’s Own over and over again. She could crochet that matinée jacket in her sleep now, but she had to force herself to do something or she’d go nuts.

Hours limped by, waiting for a crunch on the gravel that didn’t come. She listened to every bulletin on the wireless, but there was still no reference.

Chrissie’s cough was getting worse, and on Bella’s nerves. She suddenly started panicking that they’d notice her ring was missing. There was a suntan band where it had gone. Could she say it had dropped off because she’d got so thin and she couldn’t find it?