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  Allegretti pointed at Nick. “You think I’m scared of a pig like Barkov? You think I need to hide behind my father? Fuck you. And you can tell him that.”

  Nick raised his hands. “I’ll see you later. I just wanted to come by and say hello.”

  “If you’re staying in the apartment, you’re not here for just a day or two,” Allegretti said, calmer now.

  Nick shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”

  “Come to the club tonight.”

  “I will.”

  “For your information … she didn’t know who I was when she met me.”

  “But you knew who she was.”

  “Not straight away.”

  Minutes later Nick was driving slowly down the steep streets, looking at the fishing boats bobbing behind the breakers.

  He had never had an easy relationship with Cape Town. His first wife had been from the Cape and had never allowed him to forget it. As if somehow it was a get-out-of-jail-free card. And the few times they had visited her family had not improved his relationship with the city. He wasn’t sure whether the problem had been her family or the place.

  He had always been able to find his way around a town or city reasonably quickly. Find out who’s who, and recognise the patterns behind the various connections. But Cape Town was like a skilled illusionist who let you see only what she wanted you to see.

  He’d felt the same about his ex-in-laws. That they weren’t what they pretended to be. But that could just have been his innate cynicism and wariness.

  The three years in London were exciting, interesting and educational, but Nick had been relieved to return to Johannesburg. It was a place he understood. It was where he was born and had experienced more or less every first in his life. First tooth, first hiding, first make-out session, first car, first job and everything in between.

  He had never spent more than three weeks in Cape Town before. This time he had two bags. One filled with clothes and the other with books: the sum total of his possessions at present. When he moved back to Joburg two years ago he promised himself he would get a few things together, even if he lived in a furnished flat. A painting, perhaps. Or a rug. A chair would be good. One that moulded to the shape of his body. But after all this time, it was still just him and the strange furniture. Even the bed he kicked his shoes under at night wasn’t his own.

  His second wife had been a nurse. He’d met her at a hospital in London where he’d gone to speak to a witness. She was a good, kind person who reminded him of his mother. With her, everything was exactly the way it seemed. No surprises. But that didn’t work out either. Just like the few relationships since. He reminded himself regularly that only a madman did the same thing over and over and kept expecting a different outcome.

  CHAPTER 5

  There were new security guards at the door when Nick arrived at the club in Green Point at ten that night, but one of the old ones recognised him and let him in. It was jam-packed inside and he had to fight his way through the crowd. The music was thumping. Three DJs took turns to chat, joke, play music. When Nick finally reached the staircase, he saw Allegretti wave from the private balcony where he was entertaining his guests. Nick recognised one of the girls as Clara Veldman. She was even more beautiful in real life than in her photos, and considerably younger than the other women at the table. Women who had had probably all shared Allegretti’s bed.

  Nick was sure he had read about one of the men in the papers. It took a while to remember the context. He was a senior official at the Department of Home Affairs, and there’d been rumours about him, but so far no one had been able to pin anything on him.

  “Nick, my man, I thought you weren’t coming any more.” Allegretti motioned at a chair. “Make yourself at home, you’re way behind.”

  Nick sat down and was introduced to the rest of the guests. Here and there someone shook his hand but most just nodded. Except Clara. She looked him in the eye, put out her hand and smiled.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  Nick smiled politely, though he felt inclined to raise his head and sniff the air. He could smell trouble. He wasn’t sure which direction it was coming from, but trouble was brewing, or his name wasn’t Niklaas Joachim Malherbe.

  She looked no older than twenty-three. Her beauty was flawless. He hoped she was stronger than she looked.

  He didn’t really know how to reply to her greeting. “Now I understand why we’re seeing less and less of Enzio in Joburg,” he said.

  Her smile made her look even younger. She kissed Allegretti’s cheek. “I’m happy to hear it.”

  Allegretti’s eyes were unnaturally bright and Nick suppressed the impulse to ask whether she knew what she was letting herself in for. There was a good chance that she did. It wasn’t as if he knew any girls her age any more. And if your uncle was Nazeem Williams, you were probably not a babe in the woods.

  A waiter appeared and Nick ordered a whisky.

  “Bring him some of the Macallan from my office,” Allegretti said, “and three bottles of Bollinger.”

  When the waiter turned to go, Allegretti looked at Nick. “What do you think?”

  “I’m impressed. The place has transformed since I was here last.”

  “You and the old man didn’t think I could do it, but I told you I’d turn this place around. Ask anyone. They’ll tell you it’s the hottest spot in Cape Town.”

  “Your father will be proud.”

  The waiter brought their order, and when Nick took the first sip he had to stop himself from giving a contented sigh. This job did have its advantages. He was going to miss them.

  “Nick Malherbe!”

  Nick very nearly spilled whisky all over himself. He got to his feet and turned around.

  “Hello, Gabi.”

  She took a step back. “Hello, Gabi! I don’t hear from you for months and all you can say is ‘Hello, Gabi’.” She came up to him, put her hands on either side of his face and drew him closer. As she kissed him, her hands slid round his neck and she pressed her body against him. Then she stepped back and smiled. “That’s better.” She slapped his arm. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  “It was a snap decision. No time to let anyone know.”

  “Bullshit. We live in the twenty-first century. You could have sent a message. You know I like to look my best for you.”

  “If I were you I wouldn’t get too excited. Wait till you hear why he’s here,” Allegretti interrupted.

  Without so much as a glance at the rest of the table, Gabriella sat down next to Nick. “What is the old man up to now?”

  “He misses you, and since you haven’t been to see him for months, he sent me to see how the two of you are doing.”

  She poured champagne into a glass and raised it. “Actually I don’t give a damn why you’re here. Ken is somewhere up north until the weekend. Your timing is perfect.”

  Like her brother, she spoke a mixture of Afrikaans and English, interspersed with the odd Italian word. Allegretti once told Nick that their mother had taught them Afrikaans at an early age so they could gossip about their father. Their father had taught them Italian for the same reason.

  “How long will you be staying?” Gabriella drained the glass and filled it again.

  “I’m not sure. Three months, maybe. Depends on how soon I get things in place here.”

  She kissed him on the lips again. “You’ve just made my year.” She pulled him up by the hand. “Come, dance with me.”

  “I’m here to work.”

  “And I’m not part of your work? I’m sure Daddy Dearest ordered you to treat me nicely.”

  He shook his head and she went down the stairs on her own. Lady Gaga’s voice came over the enormous sound system. On the crammed dance floor, Gabriella jumped up and down with the other bodies, both arms in the air. She wore a red figure-hugging mini. A figure she liked to display. At thirty-four, she was in no hurry to have children. Nick suspected she was scared of losing that body.

&nb
sp; Beauty is a thorny crown, he thought as he watched the women on the dance floor. With her dark hair and sallow complexion, Gabriella Allegretti-Visser had to be one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, but she had a complicated personality, as is often the case with beautiful women. At first glance she was a pleasure-seeker, full of laughter, but the laughter soon faded if she didn’t get her own way, and she became mean and dangerous. Not only to others, but also to herself. She had flirted with him since their first meeting, as she did with all men. There’d always been the temptation to see where it could lead. Sometimes he felt he was being offered a free pass to the family’s inner sanctum. Yet he knew that if he fucked this up, he could expect no mercy. Too many people had sacrificed too much over too long a period to get him here. Gabriella’s curves were a luxury he couldn’t afford right now. Not that he didn’t dream about them sometimes. A man could always dream.

  Everyone had hoped Gabi’s second marriage would calm her down, but she was still a loose cannon.

  The others at his table sporadically disappeared into the bathroom next to Enzio’s office. Some had the presence of mind to wipe the white powder from their noses before they returned. The later it got, the sloppier they became. Except for the senior government official and his lady friend. Nick wondered whether he held back out of conviction or fear.

  When Gabriella came back to the table, she ordered another bottle of champagne and some shooters.

  “What do you think of my brother’s new toy?” She motioned with her head in the direction of the office into which Allegretti and Clara had disappeared a while ago.

  “She’s beautiful.”

  “She used to work at a nail bar!”

  “I thought she was a model.”

  “A few appearances in a magazine and on a runway don’t make you a professional model.”

  “Well, I’m a security guard.”

  She knocked back two shooters in quick succession and leaned back with her champagne glass in her hand. “Only because you’re pig-headed. If you’d listened to me, the two of us would have taken over the old man’s business by now.”

  “You’re a snob. Give her a chance, you might even get to like her.”

  “I’ll never like her,” she said with a pout.

  “Because she’s so pretty?”

  Gabriella put her hand under his shirt and stroked his chest. “You won’t get me angry tonight. I’m too happy to see you.”

  Nick got up and tucked in his shirt. “And now I must do some work.”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “The apartment.”

  “That’s handy.”

  He bent down and looked into her eyes. “You’re married.”

  “It doesn’t mean I’m happy.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  She put her hand behind his neck and pulled his head down. “You know there’s only one man who can make me happy.”

  Nick stroked her cheek. “You’re bored.” Walking away, he said over his shoulder: “Careful with those shooters.”

  “What will you give me if I’m a good girl?”

  He shook his head and walked down the stairs. The music was relentless and he felt a dull headache begin to throb behind his eyes.

  He popped past the two bars at the back, then walked the length of the walls, stopping for an occasional chat with a security guard. He tracked the shift manager down and asked him to call a meeting with the entire security staff the next day. They talked for a while before he made his way to the bar at the front. He almost laughed when he saw Paul behind the counter. Nick watched him for a while. His faded blond hair was fashionably tousled, the glasses were new and he looked slightly less like an accountant from the 1950s. He had put on a little weight and a trace of a paunch was visible under his shirt. His eye caught Nick’s, but he gave no indication of having seen him. Nick moved to the end of the counter. After a few minutes Paul joined him.

  “To what do we owe this honour?”

  “I heard rumours that all the fun is in Cape Town these days. I came to see what I’m missing.”

  “I see your wit is still razor sharp.”

  “How are things around here?” Nick moved his head slightly.

  “What does it look like to you?”

  “I didn’t think Enzio had it in him to turn the place around.”

  Paul shrugged. “Ever heard of a new broom? Just wait, though – the better it goes, the more he considers it his personal playground. He and his friends will drink and snort the place out from under the old man yet.”

  Nick smiled. Waste of any kind was abhorrent to Paul.

  “When can we get together?”

  Paul called to one of the other bartenders before he answered. “Just say the word. Preferably early morning.”

  “Let me just find my feet tomorrow. How about Friday at eight? Pick a place and let me know the address.”

  “Right.” Paul began to serve the people closest to them and Nick made his way back to the balcony.

  Paul Smith had been an accountant when Nick approached him six months earlier to apply for the post of club manager. To everyone’s surprise he got the job. Nick could hardly believe how smoothly he had adapted to his double life. He had an exceptional head for figures and by now Nick suspected he was reading the club’s books like a novel.

  Most of Allegretti’s group was on the dance floor, with the exception of a girl who seemed to be sleeping with her head resting on her arms. Allegretti himself was still seated at the table, in close conversation with the official, who hurriedly got to his feet when Nick joined them.

  “Thanks for a great evening. I’m ready to hit the sack. But first I must find my partner,” the man said, looking at the writhing bodies below. Allegretti accompanied him down the stairs just as Gabriella emerged from the office. Nick saw her wipe the white powder from under her nose. She was shivering slightly. As if she wasn’t hyped up enough already, Nick thought.

  “Wonderful, you’ve finished working. Now it’s my turn.” She moved closer to him and he felt the heat of her body through his shirt. “Did you miss me?”

  “The way I miss trouble, yes.”

  She shook her head. “Since when have you been afraid of trouble? You’ll have to do better than that.”

  “How’s Ken?”

  “Ken?” She waved her hand dismissively. “How the hell should I know?”

  “He’s your husband.”

  “That was an enormous fuck-up. I should never have married him.”

  “You could have refused.”

  “I was heartbroken because you didn’t want me. I wanted to show you what you were missing.” She sighed. “Surely you didn’t think I was marrying for love?”

  “Don’t talk like that.”

  “Darling, everyone knows we’re a convenient business deal. Our families have been wheeling and dealing for years. With the two families united in marriage, a lot of secrets will be safe.”

  “Well, I suggest you try to make the best of it. Given that he’s husband number two.”

  “You’re a codardo. A coward.”

  “And you should stop drinking and go home. It’s way past your bedtime.” He sat her down on a chair and asked a waiter for a bottle of water. Her makeup was smudged and she suddenly looked very tired.

  “Only if you come with me.” She touched his face. “Caro, I know you want me … and no one has to know.”

  Despite his good intentions and everything he kept telling himself, he felt a primeval urge stir inside him. An urge that knew no reason, that did not count the cost or think of consequences.

  “Someone always knows.”

  “Chicken.” She got up, picked up her handbag and went slowly down the stairs, swaying slightly.

  Nick followed, and handed his car keys to a guard at the door. “Please take Mrs Visser home, and come straight back.” He looked at Gabriella. “I’ll send someone with your car tomorrow.”

  “Why don’t you j
ust screw my sister and get it over with?” When he turned, Allegretti was standing behind him. “You know she won’t rest until she’s had her way. It’s getting boring.”

  Clara stood next to Allegretti. Even at this late hour and after quite a few drinks and who knows what else, she looked young and fresh.

  “She’ll feel better tomorrow.”

  “We’re going home.” Allegretti took Clara’s hand. “Bedtime for lovely young ladies.” He kissed her neck and for a moment Nick thought she looked embarrassed.

  “Where’s Fritz?”

  “I gave him the evening off. I can drive.”

  Nick kept his irritation in check. “I’ll take you home.”

  “Do you think I’ve never driven home at this hour?”

  “I’m sure you have, but it’s irresponsible. Your keys?”

  “Sorry, we came in the Ferrari. No room for you.”

  “Then we’ll take the Range Rover as soon as it’s back. Wait inside.”

  “No fucking way will I let you speak to me like that … I don’t work for you.”

  Clara touched Enzio’s arm. “Let’s wait inside.”

  To Nick’s surprise he went with her, but at the door he turned. “If I were you, I’d get my shit together. The old man won’t live forever and if you want a place in the company, you’d better start being nice to me.”

  Nick didn’t reply. It wasn’t the first threat he had heard in the past year or two, neither would it be the last.

  When the Range Rover returned, Allegretti and Clara got into the back. Nick called one of the guards to come along. While he was driving, he watched the rearview mirror, as usual, and tried to anticipate when the traffic lights would change. Fortunately the streets were almost deserted and he could drive fast.

  Allegretti didn’t get out when they stopped at Nazeem Williams’s house in Rondebosch. Nick opened the door for Clara and accompanied her to the front door.

  On their way back, Allegretti dozed off. At home, Nick struggled to wake him. Between himself and the guard they finally got him to his room, where Nick took off his shoes and left him on his bed, fully clothed.

  When he had dropped the guard back off at the club, he drove slowly back to Bantry Bay. The streets of Sea Point were deser­ted, except for two prostitutes on a street corner. Nick looked at the clock on the dashboard. Five to three. How long before you accepted that no one was going to pick you up tonight?