“Yes, I suppose so. In fact, there’s a person among our guests tonight who might be able to advise us. He’s a gentleman who works in Whitehall.”
“There’s no doubt that it would be very useful for you to ask his advice, Madame. In any case, I want to request that you try to keep my name from coming up.”
Madame Agnès didn’t make me any promises because she couldn’t. Neither of us knew what might happen from that point forward.
I decided to take a walk. I needed to process what had happened. I cursed Yoko. I was furious that the night’s events might be damaging for me. If anyone connected me to her not only would I have to close the agency, but I might lose Esther forever.
Yes, I cursed Yoko without pity, hoping that she was dead. That outcome would be most convenient for me. If she was alive and the police questioned her to try to find out what had happened, the fool might break down and end up telling them about her job at Madame Agnès’s and my relationship with her. Dead she might cause me problems, but alive and badly injured she would cause me a whole lot more.
I didn’t think for a moment that I should have run to help her. Yes, I could have. I could have gone to where she was lying and held her as the ambulance arrived. The police would have questioned me and I would have had to tell them that I was just a friend, and to show how distressed I was by the accident.
I would have had to go with her in the ambulance to the hospital and wait until the doctors came out to give their verdict: alive or dead.
But I didn’t. I didn’t feel the need to. I was apathetic to Yoko’s fate except for how it might affect mine.
When I arrived at my apartment I found Esther speaking to someone on the phone.
“I’m talking to Paul Hard. Do you want me to pass on any messages?”
“That he should take care of our agency. That’s if he knows how,” I replied moodily.
When Esther finished her conversation with Paul she focused on me. She had picked up on my tension.
“What happened? Didn’t Roy take the bait?”
“Yes, of course he did. We’ll keep the contract and Friday we’ll go with him to Derbyshire.”
“I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. Still, we came here to work and it wouldn’t be good for us to lose Roy. But why are you in such a bad mood?”
Esther was too smart for me to trick her. I had taken a gamble on her. The reason I needed her was because I was sure that she would never abandon me. I decided to tell her the truth. My version of the truth.
“Roy arranged to meet me in a rather special place. It’s a discreet establishment in South Kensington. A kind of club where businessmen often meet to discuss their affairs and…”
“Have a drink in pleasant company, is that it?”
“Yes. Madame Agnès is a woman of the world whose girls are high-class: university students, models, aspiring actresses, even a few titled ladies who’ve come down in the world. They’re not prostitutes. Or at least, they don’t seem like prostitutes. They’re able to discuss movements in the stock market, the latest auction at Sotheby’s, or British geopolitics in Asia.”
“How very clever.” Esther’s tone of voice suggested a certain disdain.
“I don’t want to deceive you—I’ll never do that. It’s not the first time I’ve been to Madame Agnès’s. I’ve met up with Roy there on various occasions. He loves that place, he even used to go when things were going well with Suzi.”
“I’m not surprised. Roy is one of those guys who loves his wife but has no problem sleeping with other women.”
“At Madame Agnès’s everything is…well, everything is elegant, there are certain understandings…There’s nothing vulgar. Roy arranged to meet me there.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t mean to hide it from you,” I declared firmly.
“So what happened to make you so worried?”
“An accident, a terrible accident.”
Esther tensed up. She got up and came and stood in front of me. I saw the worry in her eyes and she saw the fear in mine.
“Sit down and tell me everything.”
I sat down on the sofa while she got me a whiskey.
“After talking to Roy I chatted with a couple of people, Mr. Tyler, the underwear importer, and some other men. Then…well, I had dinner with one of the girls who works there. Yoko, a Japanese girl.”
“With whom you’ve had a relationship, or am I mistaken?”
“I used to, Esther. She was a girl I had dinner with and went to bed with occasionally. Yoko was studying literature, she’s a cultured, educated woman. When I saw her tonight I had dinner with her there. Madame Agnès doesn’t permit relationships outside her establishment. When we finished dinner and were saying goodbye, she told me that she was done working for the evening; that she had to go home, that her boyfriend was waiting for her.”
“You only had dinner together?” Esther asked very seriously.
“We only had dinner, I give you my word of honor. But Madame Agnès charges a considerable sum for dinner, even if nothing happens afterward. So by having dinner with me Yoko had earned her night’s wages. Madame Agnès doesn’t let her girls spend time alone with more than one gentleman per night.”
“How considerate,” she commented sarcastically.
“It’s one of the keys to her business’s success.”
“Why don’t you just go ahead and tell me what happened?” said Esther, urging me to get to the end of the story.
“Yoko seemed worried. I don’t know, she was upset. When we left Madame Agnès’s I offered to go with her to find a taxi.”
Esther interrupted me again.
“So her boyfriend was waiting for her. And does he know what she does for a living?”
“No, of course not. I’ve already told you that she’s not a professional; she’s a student who pays her tuition by going to Madame Agnès’s a couple of nights a week.”
“There are other ways to earn a living,” Esther replied severely.
“I don’t know exactly how it happened…When we were getting close to the main road she suddenly started running. She took me completely by surprise; I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know whether to follow her or not; I sped up and…I don’t really know what happened, but she was under the wheels of car. I froze. I…I think that she was badly hurt, perhaps killed…”
“How awful! And what did you do?”
“Nothing, I couldn’t do anything. I went back to Madame Agnès’s to tell her what had happened. I assume there’ll be an investigation and I don’t want to find myself implicated in any scandal that could also affect Roy. Imagine the headlines in the papers if they could connect the accident with me, and with Roy by association. We’d both be finished!”
“And you just left her lying there?” Esther reproached me.
“There was nothing I could do, nothing. You have to understand that,” I replied, repressing the urge to shout at her.
“So now we’re in a fix.”
In spite of her anger, Esther was on my side. She didn’t say “you’re in a fix” but “we’re in a fix.” That’s how she was, she’d never abandon a ship in a storm.
“Nobody saw me.”
“Or that’s what you think. Anyway, there will be people who saw you with the girl at Madame Agnès’s. We need to be prepared for what may come. They could call on you to testify, to give an account of the girl’s final hours, who knows.”
“You’re right…What do you think we should do?”
“I don’t know, Thomas, but the thing is…Well, it’s not the first time that you’ve been the last one to see a girl alive. Remember…Lisa was with you shortly before she died…”
Hearing Lisa’s name made my stomach lurch. Esther was right. If some smartass journalist started to dig around in my past they’d come across Lisa’s death in Newport. I realized once again how important it was for me to have Esther to rely on.
“Do you trust Ma
dame Agnès?” Esther asked with a worried expression.
“She’s not eager for the papers to take an interest in her. Her business is based on discretion. Important men visit her establishment, including politicians like Roy, bankers, civil servants…She’ll do anything to keep herself out of the spotlight, so she’ll try to keep me as far away from it as she can. Or that’s what I hope.”
We barely slept that night. When we got into bed, Esther embraced me as if I were a defenseless child. I felt a great relief in her arms, as if nothing could happen to me because she was there, prepared to face off with anyone who tried to harm me. She didn’t reproach me at all. She accepted me as I was, just as she had in the past.
She got up just before six. She was in the shower for a long time; I suppose she was trying to rid herself of the night’s ghosts. When I got up she was already in the kitchen, sitting with a cup of coffee in front of her and a newspaper in her hand.
“I’ve read the paper, there’s no mention of the accident. You have to go to Madame Agnès’s,” she said, without even saying good morning.
“Now? No, that’s impossible; Madame doesn’t open before six in the evening.”
“You’ll go at six, then.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We have to know how the girl is, whether anyone’s made a connection between her and Madame Agnès or you…You have to go.”
“But if that were the case…Well, I guess we’ll find out.”
We arrived at the office early. Even Maggie wasn’t in yet.
Esther began reviewing some paperwork and I started trying to work out how to solve Roy’s problems. I had said I’d go to Derbyshire and I would have to do it.
Evelyn arrived a few minutes after Maggie and I decided to talk to her about Roy’s issues.
“We need to give Roy’s political career another boost.”
“Yeah, but it’s not that easy. The Rural Party only has ten mayors. It’s difficult to get the London press to take an interest in them unless they become embroiled in a scandal.”
“What about the local press?”
“There’s no problem there, the local media give them coverage. The problem is London. Roy wants to be featured in the Times, with a photo on the front page if possible,” Evelyn said sarcastically.
Esther joined us after a while. She listened attentively to Evelyn and then sat lost in thought for a few minutes. Then she surprised us with one of her ideas.
“Roy needs to do something special, and there’s nothing better than telling his voters that he wants to learn about their problems firsthand, not through them recounting them, but by experiencing them himself in person.”
“And how will that work?”
“It’s very simple. I assume that we have a profile of his voters. Roy will work in the mine for a week. He’ll spend another week as a cashier in a small business, in a bread factory, sweeping streets…Basically, he’ll step into his voters’ shoes. That will get the attention of the London papers. We’ll have to get a TV crew to follow him for a couple of weeks and then show a full report on everything Roy’s done. Oh! He could also try a new way of listening to his voters. He could hold an open meeting once a month, as if it were a parliamentary session, where the voters ask him questions, debate among themselves, and tell him what their priorities are, what they want him to fight for in London if he manages to secure a seat.”
“And you just came up with that on the spot?” exclaimed Evelyn with admiration.
“More or less.”
“You’re amazing.” I gave her a round of applause.
“Will Roy agree to it?” asked Esther.
“He’ll make a fuss, but he’ll do it,” Evelyn replied. “But we still have a problem with Suzi. It’s more and more obvious that their marriage isn’t working and that could cost Roy supporters. His future as a politician is hopeless if he can’t maintain the semblance of a happy family life.”
“Well, there are only two options: either they divorce or they reconcile.”
“A divorce is unthinkable. People will want to know why and it will come out that Roy deceived Suzi and her family, as well as all his voters. That would completely finish his political career,” Evelyn declared.
We spent the rest of the day in meetings: Esther sat down with new clients and I went with Evelyn to talk to Roy. We had to explain Esther’s plan to him.
Roy was in the Rural Party’s small London office and when we arrived he was shouting at a young woman who, according to what Evelyn whispered to me, was his assistant.
“I was thinking of calling you. We need to talk,” he said.
“That’s why I’ve come, Roy,” I replied.
“Good. As for you, gorgeous, it would be best if you went shopping or whatever for a while,” he told Evelyn.
“I’m sorry, Roy, but I have a role in what we want to propose to you.” Evelyn didn’t seem bothered by Roy’s attitude.
“Get out of here. When I want to talk to you, I’ll call you. Go on, leave us in peace.”
Evelyn looked at me, waiting for me to intervene. I decided to ask her to go back to the office.
“Get to work on what we discussed. I’ll explain it to Roy.”
We were left alone. Roy still hadn’t invited me to sit down, but I took a seat anyway.
“What happened last night?” he asked me with no preamble.
“What do you mean?”
“Madame Agnès got me out of bed, which I happened to be sharing with a very pretty girl, urging me to leave her premises immediately. She told me that you’d gotten us into a fix and that the police could turn up at any moment. She barely gave me time to put my trousers on.”
“What else did she say?”
“Nothing. She didn’t say a single word more. She wanted her clients to leave as soon as possible. I met a couple of guys who work for the government in the hallway. You owe me an explanation.”
I was almost honest. I told him the same version I’d told Esther, which more or less matched the truth, though I omitted to tell them that I had known Yoko better than I was implying.
“Was she running away from you?”
“Absolutely not! There was no explanation. I think she had some kind of problem…Who knows what…The fact is, she just suddenly started running and…well, perhaps she tripped and that’s why she fell. The driver was going too fast. If Madame Agnès wants to keep her business, her only option is to be discreet. A scandal in the papers would spell the end for some of her clients, but also for her,” I said with little conviction.
“Well, in reality, what happened is no one’s fault. The girl started running, she tripped and she had an accident. I hope she survived, but if she’s copped it, the police will investigate and they will find out about Madame Agnès,” Roy declared.
“But they can’t accuse her of anything. She wasn’t even there when the accident took place,” I replied. A shiver ran down my back.
“Of course not, but they’ll want to know everything about the girl: her family, where she works…Someone will end up pointing out Madame Agnès’s, and there might also be someone who remembers that you two left her establishment together.”
“It would be an inconvenience, but nothing more,” I reassured him with a confidence I didn’t feel.
“And what will Esther say?”
“I’ve told her what happened. I’ve no reason to hide anything from her. I’m not responsible for the accident.”
Roy was surprised that I’d dared tell Esther that I’d visited a brothel and had dinner with one of the whores, who’d ended up under the wheels of a car. But, most of all, he didn’t understand how Esther could have accepted all this without breaking up with me.
“Damn, you’re lucky! If Suzi caught me doing something like that…”
I convinced him that we should call Evelyn. I wanted her to help persuade him of the advantages of Esther’s plan, and, more importantly, we needed to call an urgent meeting o
f the electoral committee in Derbyshire, where we would spend the weekend.
When we got back to the office Esther was about to head back to the apartment.
“I’ve had an exhausting day, but it’s been worth it. With a bit of luck the London agency will be a success. I’ve spoken to Jim Cooper. You’re right, he’s a good guy, but he’s too laid-back. He needs someone to keep an eye on him. We can trust him because he’s honorable, and the same goes for Maggie and Evelyn, but you’ll have to come over here regularly, for at least a week per month.”
“By myself? What about you?”
“I’ll come too, but less often. You know the British market better, and I’m better off handling things in New York.”
“That’s not necessarily true; in one hour you’ve managed to come up with a whole publicity plan for Roy, which, by the way, he’s agreed to. He complained for a while because it’s going to require a lot of hours on his part, but he’s aware that his career is stalling.”
“It’s our business, Thomas. I’m not going to ignore what’s going on in London, but we have to divide up the work.”
It was almost five and Maggie told us she was leaving. Cooper also said goodbye as, according to him, he’d arranged to meet a friend. As for Evelyn, she’d gone home to her apartment after we’d said goodbye to Roy.
I went home with Esther. I would have liked her to come to Madame Agnès’s with me, as this would have given me a sense of security that I didn’t feel without her. But I couldn’t suggest that she set foot in a brothel.
I hailed a taxi and asked the driver to drop me near Kensington. I needed to walk, and without realizing, or perhaps I did, I made my way to the corner where I had watched Yoko throw herself into the street.
I tried to calm myself down, telling myself that it would have been difficult for anyone to see me the previous night. Not just due to the darkness, but because from that corner I could see but not be seen. Or that’s what I wanted to believe.
Walking quickly, I arrived at Madame Agnès’s, wondering what I was going to find there.
The butler opened the door with a guarded expression and invited me to come in.