Page 67 of For Better or for Ransom

“He has,” Sol admitted. “I just can’t get my mind around the idea of having another husband. At this point it could look as if I was collecting them.”

“Only if you’d kept the other two,” Divya dismissed Sol’s words. “Plus, sometimes you have to go over different versions of something to find the one that really works for you.”

Luke

Divya and Sol seemed to be locked in some kind of confidence. The two women were close to one another and speaking in whispers. Luke wasn’t sure if he wanted or didn’t want them to be talking about him.

He started audibly clearing his throat when he was still far from where they were. They seemed to hear him approaching without a problem. Sol turned on her stool, and looked at him with a directness she hadn’t shown since the title conversation the night before. Perhaps the coffee had done the trick and she was finally hangover free and ready to marry him?

He shook those thoughts from his mind and broached the reason why they were there. “Had a talk with Toni over there,” Luke said, pointing to the young chap he’d been chatting with. “He says he took the video of Leonardo two nights ago, outside of the cocktail bar where we went last night. Toni wasn’t sure the chap was actually Leonardo and that’s why he posted the video, he thought that maybe someone else would be able to recognize him. He’d read the actor had gone missing. Only, instead of tagging the video correctly, he’d used Leonardo’s shortened version of the name, made a typo in the name, and then wrote his last name incorrectly too. Hence the #LooPasqual.”

“So he took the video and that’s it?” Divya inquired.

“No, he was curious. Tried approaching the actor but he says Leonardo left in a cab before Toni could get to talk to him. Toni also says Leonardo was with someone else. They left together.”

“Let me guess. Leonardo was with a guy so unremarkable that Toni can’t remember anything about him,” Sol said. Luke liked it when she was all sassy.

He smiled at her. “No cara, he does remember something about him, he says Leonardo was with a chap who made some strange movements with his hands, as if he was nervous…”

“What strange movements?” Sol interrupted him, clearly exhilarated.

“A nervous tic with his fingers. He had his palms closed and then stretched his fingers several times in succession.”

“It has to be the same guy I saw with Leonardo at the W!” Sol’s eyes were about to pop out of her orbits. She was speaking very fast. “He kidnapped the actor there and now they’re on the island and this wasn’t a complete wild goose chase but totally justified!”

“It’s starting to look like that, yes.” Luke couldn’t stop smiling.

38

Luke

Right when he thought they’d finally found a way forward—they needed to locate the cabbie who’d taken Leonardo Pascual and his unremarkable captor from the cocktail bar two nights before and see where that would lead them—things started to unravel.

First it was Miquel ringing him. Luke had been tempted to let him go straight to voicemail but thought if he didn’t pick up Miquel would be calling Sol next, and Luke wanted to spare her the confrontation. She wasn’t happy with Miquel.

They were still nursing coffees and teas at the café where they’d found Toni, when Luke’s mobile rang with Miquel’s call.

“Let me take this outside,” he simply told Divya and Sol, and exited the café. He was aware that his mystery quota was a bit high for the day. He’d disappeared a mere hour before on the pretext of having to run an undisclosed errand. But he just didn’t want Sol to hear his conversation with Miquel. He didn’t think he’d be able to remain cool and civil.

“Miquel, to what do I owe the displeasure?” he answered, his jaw locked.

“Wow, buddy! Chill. This hostility can’t be good for your blood pressure.”

Luke chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about my blood pressure. But tell me what you want.”

“I need you to put in the good word for me with Sol. She isn’t picking up my calls and I’m afraid she’s mad at me.” Miquel’s tone was flatter than usual but still annoying.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the fact that he still didn’t know when he’d be able to return to London, but Luke wasn’t feeling conciliatory that morning. “What makes you think I’ll help you after the article you published the other day with that bloody disclosure at the end of it?”

“Oh, so it was the disclosure that got to you, eh? I’m sorry, buddy, my editor made me put it there. He thought it would give the whole story a bit more pep.”

Luke flinched for a second. Sol had told him about editors and their ability to transform someone’s text in the name of getting clicks. Could it be possible that Miquel hadn’t actually tried to make Luke jealous with that disclosure and it had been someone else’s idea? He dismissed that thought right away.

“Yeah, I’m not buying it.”

“You can’t just keep me away from Sol because you’re jealous.”

“Of course I can’t. And I’m not doing it!” Luke protested. Also, the idea of him wanting to spare her the confrontation was ridiculous. She knew how to take care of herself and had done it by not taking Miquel’s calls. Luke should have perhaps done the same as her. “She’s the one not answering your calls, remember?”