‘All right. I’ll tell you what I know, and what’s made me come back to Moscow.’ She was happy to hear that her own voice was firm, and instantly felt more in control.
‘Sounds like a good starting point.’
Amelia took a deep breath. ‘A few weeks ago, I read something in
The Guardian
in London. I’ve been living there since last year. It was a short article, I was lucky to even notice it, but it made me uneasy.’ She held Nick’s gaze before she continued more strongly. ‘I don’t know how much you remember of the news coverage of my husband’s disappearance or how much you know through your industry connections, but you’re aware of his past connection to the Russian mining industry?’
‘I know that he’d worked on some diamond-related negotiations in the past and of course there were rumours after what happened last year.’
‘Well, just before Robert was kidnapped, he was involved in trying to patch up the deal between Sibraz and Prism. Did you know that?’
‘Never for a fact, but I’ve assumed that, yes.’
She took a sip of coffee and continued. ‘But you do know about the deal, don’t you?’
‘Yes, but tell me anyway. Maybe you know something that isn’t public knowledge. It could help me understand the situation better.’
‘All right, but stop me if I’m telling you things you already know. When Sibraz found initial evidence of a rich diamond deposit in the Kola Peninsula, they didn’t have the money to explore it, so they formed a joint venture with Prism to explore the deposit and then mine it together.’
She paused and waited for his nod. ‘It took a long time to form the JV in the first place, mainly because the Russians kept tight control of every detail, but Prism considered it worthwhile to go through the agony, because they knew it would be a fantastic project to be part of and, of course, it was believed that it would become a highly lucrative undertaking. Needless to say, it came as a huge disappointment when the Russians started grumbling seventeen, eighteen months ago. In essence they were threatening to cut the Canadians out of the deal. They cited things like missed deadlines and insufficient drilling as their reasons for wanting Prism out. I’m sure you know better than I do how inexact a science those deadlines and targets are.’
Nick nodded. ‘Especially here.’
‘Especially here, yes. Anyway, it’s far more complicated than I can even begin to understand or explain, but to cut a long story short, the two companies enlisted several people, including representatives or consultants from both sides, a selection of Canadian embassy officials, including Robert, and I believe some sort of Russian dealmaker, to get involved in the negotiations. I’m guessing that not all of those people wanted to save the deal. In fact, I’m quite sure some were given instructions to try and sabotage the arbitration process.’
Again Amelia paused to see if Nick was following, but quickly continued when she saw that he was completely focused on her story.
‘It was during those negotiations that Robert disappeared. Then, several weeks after his disappearance, the partnership appeared to have been salvaged somehow and all was well, or at least operational, again. There was nothing much in the press, just assertions that the joint venture was intact and that work was continuing, so I assumed they’d found some common ground. To be honest, I’d forgotten the details until I read that paper a few weeks ago. It seems like a small thing, but the article said that Prism has just recently sold their stake in the partnership to a UK company for an undisclosed sum.’
She stopped and felt momentarily uncertain about how to continue. This was the point where she started doubting her own instincts, so he would probably too. However, she was here now, and perhaps something could be gained from sharing her theories with him.
‘It made me think. If Prism was working that hard to rescue the deal a year ago, why would they suddenly sell their stake now, presumably without recovering all of the costs of putting the deal together? As far as I understand, recovery of costs and the rewards for this kind of investment come only way down the line.’ She stopped and waited for his reaction.
‘I see how that could make you wonder. It’s tenuous, but I agree, possibly a little strange,’ Nick replied carefully. ‘What’s your theory? And what do you hope to prove or achieve?’
She was relieved that he wasn’t committing to an opinion, but was suspending judgement to understand her position better. She appreciated that, liked the fact that he didn’t come to a conclusion hastily.
‘I wonder if it could possibly have had anything to do with Robert’s disappearance.’ Amelia finished.
‘How?’ he asked immediately.
This guy was quick and, even better, wasn’t hampered by a desire to spare her feelings.
‘At the time when it all happened, I thought that maybe he’d been arguing too passionately. Robert was tenacious, maybe he was irritating the Russians, and it was easier for them to get rid of him than to endure his efforts to get the deal back on track.’
Nick was silent for a moment. ‘That’s quite a theory. If it had been the case, if Sibraz did get rid of Robert, why wouldn’t Prism have walked away immediately from a partner employing such terrible tactics?’
‘Would they have had any proof? Without proof, I doubt you walk away from a deal of this magnitude.’
‘Is this one of the theories the police considered at the time?’
Amelia nodded. ‘At least I think so, but they obviously found nothing. I must say, it didn’t make all that much sense anyway, because I’m not convinced Robert would’ve posed a big enough threat. He wasn’t running the Canadian company after all. He was merely an advisor when things turned sour. They could simply have ignored him if they didn’t like what he had to say.’
‘So what do you think is going on?’
‘I don’t know, but I think it had to be more than that. I didn’t like his involvement in the whole thing, but I never seriously thought his work at the time had anything to do with his disappearance, but now, after reading the article, I’m not so sure. There seem to be two possible scenarios: in the first, Robert frustrates Sibraz’s efforts to get out of the venture with Prism, so instead they get rid of him, hoping they’d be able to dissolve the deal, but the fall-out is too big and the two companies patch things up until now when Prism discovers that Sibraz was indeed responsible for Robert’s kidnapping.’
‘Okay. What’s the other scenario?’
‘Maybe there is something more sinister going on. I find this sudden sale troubling. I can hardly say this out loud, but what if Robert wasn’t simply irritating the Sibraz people? What if he posed a bigger threat somehow? Could he have found out something about their business practices, something that they didn’t want him or anyone else to know? Robert has always had the ability to get people talking and he’s dealt with some of this industry’s people before. What if some disgruntled Sibraz employee or competitor told him some of Sibraz’s dirty secrets and they were afraid he would tell Prism and weaken their negotiating power? Maybe Prism has now learnt the truth too and along with it they’ve discovered what happened to Robert? Maybe their integrity or ethical boundaries have been compromised and they feel they ought to get out of the deal despite their losses. I just feel there may be more to this situation than I originally thought. On the face of it, this announcement doesn’t make sense. I really think I should explore a bit more.’
‘Is that wise?’ A question Amelia had heard too often in the last week.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, you may not be the best person to be investigating Robert’s disappearance, Amelia,’ Nick said, his use of her first name strange to her ears. ‘There could be a problem with seeing things in perspective. And it could be dangerous. We know this place has its similarities with the Wild West after all.’ His tone was light, but he was clearly attempting to make a more serious point without scaring her.
Amelia sighed and leaned back in her chair. She was quiet for a while.
‘I know,’ she said eventually. ‘I realise all that, but I do think there’s something odd going on. I don’t think I can move on with
my
life, without understanding, or at least trying to understand.’
‘I think I can appreciate that,’ Nick said. He hesitated before he went on. ‘Are you open to the possibility that this announcement could be explained by a very simple fact or two? That Robert’s disappearance could have been a street-mugging gone wrong or a gang-related crime?’
Amelia started nodding, but then stopped herself. ‘I know I have to be open to that, but it just doesn’t make sense to me. Or not enough sense. Nothing was stolen, not even the car, and no demands were ever made. If it had been a random crime or a kidnapping motivated by gain, wouldn’t some evidence have turned up?’ She grimaced at her own words. ‘I guess I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the total lack of facts makes me think it’s been orchestrated and subsequently covered up by powerful people.’
Nick looked thoughtful. ‘If we discount the possibility of a random crime, it sounds like your current theories focus on Sibraz?’
‘Who else?’
‘It’s a fair assumption given the background. So to sum up, you think that either Sibraz got irritated with Robert’s efforts to rescue the JV, or that there is an extra element to it, that maybe he discovered something they wanted to keep hidden from Prism and the wider mining industry. Is that right?’
Amelia nodded, not only impressed with his ability to distil the chaos in her head into such neat concepts, but also relieved that he’d understood so quickly. At the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder how many scenarios she was simply not seeing.
‘What’s your plan? Where are you starting? Do you know who was involved in the initial negotiations?’ he asked.
‘No, I don’t. I hope to find out. I’m starting at the obvious places – the police, the Canadian embassy and Prism. I’m not sure Sibraz would be willing to talk to me.’ She watched him closely, then asked carefully. ‘Do you have any ideas?’
He regarded her for a long moment and to her surprise she found herself anxious to hear his opinion. In the last half hour something seemed to have shifted subtly, perhaps between them or perhaps merely in her mind. His solidity and quiet concentration appealed to her. For a few seconds he stared into space, his face unreadable, but when he turned his eyes back to her, she could see that he’d made the decision to help.
‘I have a few contacts. If you’d like me to, I could ask some questions. Maybe someone knows or remembers something.’
‘I’d appreciate that. Thank you.’
An awkward moment followed. Neither said anything. To acknowledge that she was actually enlisting his help seemed too obvious and since she didn’t know quite how far she’d be willing to let him in, she didn’t want to say something she’d regret later.
She got up. ‘More coffee?’
‘Eh, sure, thank you.’
She started to turn away towards the coffee counter, but then stopped, wanting to ask if he took sugar. Before she could speak, however, she caught the expression on his face. For a moment she held his gaze, trying to decipher the change in his demeanour.
‘You’re going to have to be very careful, Amelia.’
The sudden gravity of his words took her by surprise. As he continued to keep his eyes on hers, she nodded slowly and walked away, filled anew with an uneasy sense of the unseen dangers surrounding her.
T
his time Amelia asked the taxi to drop her right in front of the Canadian embassy. After having been forced to wait the whole weekend before she could continue the hunt for answers again had made her impatient. She felt a sense of urgency now, a feverish compulsion to keep moving. Yuri, the friendly security guard, was busy explaining something to a visitor, so she waved briefly in his direction, relieved to be spared from a long conversation with him, signed in and hurried up the stairs to the ambassador’s office. She was early for her appointment, but didn’t want to waste any more time.
Anger had been her first reaction after hearing from detective Kiriyenko that the Canadian embassy had withheld information from her. She couldn’t understand why they would choose not to relay the news to her that Robert’s driver had been found, irrespective of how fruitless the Russian police’s interview with him might have been. Her first instinct had been to rush over to the embassy to confront Patrick since he had supposedly been the one who had received the news. On second thought, however, she’d been able to see the wisdom of verifying Kiriyenko’s account before she attacked Patrick or anyone else. Patrick was an old friend and she needed loyal people around her. Besides, he might not even have been the one who received the news from Kiriyenko’s office. Not only did she know the realities of how an embassy functioned, one of which was that information could fall between the cracks very easily, but she also believed that any claims made by Kiriyenko had to be taken with a considerable dose of scepticism.
‘Phew, woman!’ Ratna exclaimed as Amelia rushed into the office. ‘Slow down!’ She stopped typing and looked at Amelia over the top of her computer screen. ‘Is everything all right? What in the world’s chasing you?’
‘Nothing, I’m fine.’ Amelia glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that she was fifteen minutes early. She pulled at her coat and sat down in one of the chairs opposite Ratna’s desk. ‘Sorry, I’m a little . . .’
‘Hmm, I can see you’re “a little” something today.’ Ratna smiled. ‘You haven’t called me for that glass of wine, you know.’
‘I know. Sorry.’
‘A “little” busy, stressed, tired? Well, whatever it is that’s bothering you, I’m quite certain a glass of wine will make it considerably better.’
Amelia felt instantly ashamed. She’d been keeping her old friend at arm’s length when Ratna had been nothing but kind to her.
‘I’m really sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ve been far too distracted by this place and the past.’
‘Understandably.’
‘I really do want to catch up, Ratna. Sorry, I’ve let myself get wrapped up in the things I want to get done while I’m here. How about that glass of wine after work this week sometime? Maybe on Thursday?’