At Dusk

Wild card

"Where the fuck is she?"

"Excuse me? I fail to see why I should know or even care about Laura's whereabouts."

"She is your responsibility."

"Was my responsibility until you drove her away with your stupidity," she corrected him. 

She felt the blow before it actually struck her cheek. Count on Amadeus to lose his cool whenever faced with the consequences of his short-sightedness.  

"Father won't be happy about this," he said, almost yelling. "What should we tell him? That his most treasured investment just went off the map." 

"Father does not know anything, he does not feel anything. Be grateful he is not here to witness your idiotic decisions bear fruit," she retorted, barely recovered from the blow. Her left ear still buzzed. "And half of that investment, if I remember correctly, is still very much on the map."

"Is she? Where? I don't see her," he mocked as he pointed to the lavish room around him.

"You know where she lives. Perhaps you would care to make a visit."

"I'll tell you where she is..." he said, ignoring her. "Off living in the city when she should have been here all along. How do we prevent her from running away just like Laura did if she's not tightly under guard?"

"We don't need to prevent it..." she started reasoning, but again his question had been a rhetorical one. He wasn't looking for an answer.  

"We can't," he finished.

"You're right, we can't. But he can."

Amadeus snorted, landing ungraciously on the white couch in front of the fireplace. 

"With him around," she went on, "Angela will not be going anywhere anytime soon." Her voice low with a submission that was skin deep. Amadeus had to be reasoned with like a child, manipulated like a child. She had learned the trick a long time ago. 

"I don't trust him," he insisted, stubbornly.  

"We don't have to trust him, we just need to guarantee that he remains by her side. As long we have Angela safely within our grasp, we can discretely search for Laura."

"Fuck!" he said. "How do we even begin looking for her? You didn't see the screen, her signal just vanished. It's like she dropped from the face of the Earth."

"People just don't drop from the face of Earth," she replied, dismissing his protest. "Where was she when this disappearance occurred?"

"Somewhere in Londrina."

"So... Paraná. It's a starting point. Who is the governor there again?"  

"We won't have leverage there if that's what you mean." 

"Father will have leverage anywhere."

"You're senile," he replied, shaking his head."You just said Father is as good as dead, beyond our reach."

"But his name isn't, silly," she said as she started walking about the room. "We just have to use it cautiously when the time comes, pull the right strings." 

"We can get through to the police I guess, but it might be a dead end. Law enforcement always is."

"Yes..." she replied absentmindedly. "We can also appeal to Mother. She and Laura were close, weren't they? Perhaps she knows something we don't."

"Mother? She doesn't speak with anyone."

"She might." 

"How will you convince her to cooperate? Even if she knows something, she would never share it with us."

"Angela could do it for us. I'll talk to her about it."

"You particularly... she can't stand you," he continued, ignoring her again.

"Yes, but she doesn't need to know I'm involved."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Well, if it doesn't work," she repeated his words, "we'll still have the police, won't we? One way or another, we'll follow whatever lead comes up first."

"All right, we stick to your plan, " he said, getting up. "But if none of this leads anywhere your position within this family will be even more fragile."

"Are you threatening me? Do you think you can discard me as you did to Hector?" She confronted him. She hadn't realized he was serious about throwing the blame on her for this whole mess.  

"I'm just informing you," he said, walking out of the room. No doubt proud of himself for having the last word. 

She followed him out with her gaze. 

Amadeus was growing more unbalanced by the day. He had struck her before when she defied him openly, but there was something different this time, something that tipped him towards the edge. Could it be all because of Laura's latest act of rebellion? Trust that little brat to go and cause trouble in the worst possible moment, even from miles away.

She plucked her mobile from her exclusive leathery Fendi bag and dialed. 

"Good morning, sunshine," she said without a trace of resentment in her voice. "How is your day? Can you spare this old lady an hour or so this afternoon... oh, lunch? Perfect. I can meet you in one hour, maybe one hour and a half. How does that work for you?"

"Good. I'll meet you there."

If Mother knew something about Laura's whereabouts, she would soon know it too. Now all she needed to do was try and hide the swelling that had already begun to deform her face.