Virginity Despoiled

by Charles Brett

  It was as Inma feared. Greed, or financial distress, combined with Lili's deal maker mentality, had attracted her to the extra income. To improve the cash flow of Olivos Ramos y Tremblay, she had underwritten a level of re-insurance risk which was not prudent.

  The positive in all this was Lili comprehended the scale of her error. Inma was grateful she would not have to lead her client through all that Lili had laid bare. This did not rescue the situation. Olivos Ramos y Tremblay was on the hook for at least half or more of its total value should the worst scenario materialise. It was improbable but it could occur. That was insurance.

  For the next two or three years Lili would be sitting on a time bomb, wondering whether or not Olivos Ramos y Tremblay would escape. It took that long for cedants to calculate whether their own overall losses for a given year were sufficient to trigger claims upon their re-insurers.

  Inma could do nothing now. The contracts were signed. She presumed Lili had not explained this to Enrique. There was an irony here. With all the money Lili had already put into Olivos Ramos y Tremblay some bankers, and even Lili, might argue she'd had only put her own existing investment at risk. Inma doubted Enrique would see it like that if they had to sell anything, or everything. Better to change the subject.

  "What're you doing from now? Nothing? Lunch? Here're my piso keys. Go upstairs and freshen up. Make yourself feel good. Have a shower or whatever you like. Towels and a hair drier are in the cupboard in the spare bathroom. I'll collect you in an hour and we'll go have some fun. The roof hasn't fallen in. Let's hope it doesn't. But, please; no more re-insurance today."

  Lili was meek in her agreement, just shrugging her shoulders. She left, more despondent than before.

  Tuesday: Tallinn

  Flying to Tallinn had lost most of whatever initial charms had existed. It took too long and was uncomfortable. Ana preferred the Finnish option, with one long flight between Madrid and Helsinki, followed by a short one to Tallinn. Today, however, it was the German option. Two and a bit hours to Frankfurt followed by the same again onto Tallinn with a miserable couple of hours in between doing nothing except be bored by dull airport shops or cafes.

  Collecting all those frequent flier points was the only supposed compensation. But the more she flew, the less Ana wanted to use them on another plane.

  Seated for the second flight, she watched her fellow passengers out of idle curiosity. They were nondescript. She switched on her tablet. Despite various attempts she couldn't concentrate. Her novel bored her. This was her own fault for a spur of the moment Amazon purchase. The online newspapers depressed her. She was determined not to work. Inma couldn't own her 100 per cent of every day.

  As so often, she circled back to that email from Davide on Inma's desk. Twice she'd summoned the nerve to confront Inma about it and both times she'd chickened out. She'd contemplated breaking into Inma's computer but her innate respect for privacy inhibited this.

  Reflecting on these failures Ana accepted it was because she feared – was terrified of – the answer or answers. She hadn't the strength to go through what might resemble a variant on La Abuela's consanguinity revelations, where the good became ensnared by far less savoury aspects, which brought her to Toomas – and Enrique.

  This was her fourth visit to Tallinn. Each time she had ended up, not unwillingly, in Toomas's bed. Well, no; this wasn't accurate. He'd ended up in her bed. She'd never been invited to his home. Nor had she any idea where this was, other than 'in the suburbs with my mother'. At least he had driven her to the airport the last time and was picking her up on this occasion. This small improvement didn't measure up.

  Ana found Toomas entertaining, outside as well as within the sheets. Hmm. She corrected herself. Within the sheets was not a very precise rendering. They'd carried on as they'd started. Yet ...

  It was fun to have an occasional, even erratic lover, through never knowing when she would be in Tallinn. He liked the 'arrangement', as he had once rather ineptly phrased it. He'd noticed her expression. To his credit that faux pas was not heard again.

  Ana was quite certain she possessed no desire to live year-round in Tallinn. Toomas was certain he could not leave his mother. It was a stand-off where neither could adapt. They now avoided all shades of this topic.

  Ana did not think she could sustain such a casual relationship. The pleasures were wearing thin in the absence of a destination. She made up her mind, at least for the moment she snorted to herself. If no invitation to his home, or something similar, should be made this visit he would become toast.

  Enrique? Her parents would approve of him. His lineage was all their pretentiousness aspired to, which in itself helped keep her attitude chill. She liked him, though. He was not fussy. She adored his adoration of olives and olive trees. Ana was drawn to them too. The subject fascinated her.

  On one occasion, offered the opportunity, she'd excelled at combining different olive oils to create new blends. Even Lili complimented her, which was special. After all, it was Lili who had introduced Enrique to new taste possibilities, though Lili's deeper interests centred on the perfumes and soaps.

  Lili was a different consideration. Enrique, in a moment of inebriated confession, had revealed that he and Lili slept apart. He'd continued by explaining how their re-design of the Úbeda town house had created suites on separate floors below the salon and terrace.

  Ana already knew this from Inma. Yet she could not believe that Enrique and Lili were not a pair. They'd been together for so long. Could Enrique just write Lili off? Or vice versa? It didn't have the right ring. Deep and rough waters lay in wait. Enrique must not know about her and Toomas. This was a secret to remain locked in Tallinn's bedrooms.

  Hanging over all this was bloody Davide. He remained non-existent, except in her head and in an email to Inma. Plus there was that inheritance. Inma, in her standard inquisitive way, had started digging. She'd burst out laughing when she'd faced Ana one day.

  "You could have a title grander than mine, perhaps a small fortune in land and the odd palace, if you pursue this," was her summary.

  Ana hadn't wanted to know, then. It was unfortunate she was also curious. Not about the title, but possibly the land, and most of all Davide.

  La Abuela was right. The only way her parents could approve of Davide would be if she explained why consanguinity was not a factor. For her this meant releasing hidden truths. She had no wish to harm her parents or anyone by raking up past history. Ana was equally intent on ensuring she did not provide her parents with a gift horse for their own glorification.

  She was, of course, jumping the gun. Davide knew nothing of this. What might he think? All this was relevant only if he said 'Yes'. This situation refused to stop being a mess.

  There was a way out. The Tallinn option held a complete escape. Why wouldn't Davide respond? This was the crux of her dilemma.

  With distracted eyes half-staring out of the window she started. They were already descending into Tallinn. Ana recognised the city to her left as they headed towards landing. She composed herself. Toomas was next.

  Chapter Nine

  Early summer

  Monday, Jaén Province

  It was about to happen. Having been awakened at midnight by his alarm, Andrei knocked on Oleg's door. Grabbing prepared thermos flasks of coffee they departed from the Murcia plain for the long drive towards Jaén. This took almost four hours in their trucks. Fortunately the first stretch was mindless, proceeding along the A7 past Lorca, Baza and Guadix before turning north.

  After much deliberation and head-scratching they agreed to start with an area south of Jaén near La Cerradura. This had the single merit of reducing the length of the first day's drive, at least until they had some experience of the actual timings. Oleg had been reluctant to do a test run. In one sense today was the trial even if its purpose was deadly serious.

  Andrei exited the A44 and checked his portable GPS. Oleg had programmed in the day's route for each of them. In about two kil
ometres he would make a left onto a small local road. This was his starting point. He glanced at his watch. If anything he was ahead of schedule.

  Andrei pulled over before helping himself to more coffee and a bocadillo of jamón y queso. He had acquired a taste for these, even if they could be bone dry unless one added olive oil, which could be messy. Oleg rejected them, preferring sweeter confections. Andrei thought this kind of strange given all his running. Perhaps he needed the sugar rather than the salt Andrei would have expected.

  He swung out of the cab, inspected his surroundings and, seeing nobody, climbed up into the back of the truck. He checked the improved double-action dispensers and the magazine full of the olives he'd infected over the past months. All was at last ready to start the serious work.

  His mobile pinged twice. It was both an alarm and confirmation from Oleg that he was in place and ready to start. Andrei climbed back into his cab, an already unloved place where he'd spend many long hours over the next three weeks. He had restored his muscle tone by the time they'd returned to Murcia. He would lose it all to sedentary driving before they flew back to Tallinn for the final time.

  Obliging Oleg to agree, Andrei had taken himself back to his puti Club in Murcia two nights earlier, found the same girl and demonstrated to her that he had the stamina to perform for hours. Reflecting, she hadn't cared an iota. All she wanted was his cash. But it was important to him to show her he was capable. All in all, it was a waste of money. Seeing Helga and her friend, a rendezvous to be consummated afresh, should prove far better.

  Andrei restarted the engine and manoeuvred his truck back onto the road before turning left. A hint of dawn was just showing. He could see nobody. Almost an hour before the sun rose should find few people out and about.

  Andrei flicked the switch that fed power to the dispensers. He was pleased to see from the small monitor he had installed that the infected olives were moving into the dispensers which distributed clutches of olives to left and right. At a steady speed of thirty kilometres an hour he followed Oleg's GPS route.

  Not quite ninety minutes later, with the sun low above the horizon, Andrei switched off the dispensers. He and Oleg had agreed this was as late as they should operate if they did not want their clusters of olives emerging from the trucks to be noticed. His monitor confirmed that pretty much all his olive load was gone.

  Andrei headed back to the A44 and passed through what appeared to be a rich grove strung along both sides of the country road. He took a risk and restarted the dispensers. A couple of minutes later the magazine was empty. Better still, he'd seen not a single person. The risk was less than expected.

  The route back to the main road home was slow. The truck twisted and turned following the land's contours. He watched as carefully as the road permitted and still saw nobody. Perhaps they could stretch the time when they dispensed. It was something to discuss with Oleg.

  Now Andrei must endure the long drive back to Murcia to reload before driving back for the dusk distribution. Being at the wheel for hours a day for three weeks would prove tough. He wasn't sure it was worth it. Although he'd trained to operate over extended hours and days, during their time with the KGB, that had been years ago. A mistake now would be serious, even fatal to their prospects, if either of them crashed a truck.

  No, Andrei decided to insist that they should only commit to dawn dispensing, except perhaps on Sundays, and drop the evening ones. Oleg's objection would be that it was going to reduce their dispensing time by half. On the other hand, Andrei's dispenser had worked better than he'd feared.

  His most cautious estimate had been for 60 per cent of the olive magazine to go in each delivery session. His was now empty. If Oleg's was the same they would cover less area but fling out more infected olives. As long as Oleg's routes wove between concentrated olive groves, halving the dispensing time while almost doubling the amount dispensed per trip, it would pretty much equal out. Plus it would provide an opportunity for a decent rest during the day, and time to reload without making mistakes.

  A signpost for the A44 became visible. He sagged deeper into his seat as he drove south for the return trip.

  Friday: Yuste

  Inma was on edge. When she'd first invited Lili to Yuste it was a spur of the moment suggestion, one Inma wasn't sure why she'd made. In many ways she'd been relieved when Lili had declined. Inma did not like the idea of combining business and friendship.

  At their last meeting, in Madrid, she had found herself almost playing agony aunt to Lili about her re-insurance error. At the subsequent lunch more came out about Enrique than ever before, to the point where, unless Inma took specific action to terminate it, friendship could only be presumed. She had only herself to blame. She'd listened to Lili with sympathy.

  After that lunch, nothing. Inma had not known whether this was good or bad. She was, admittedly, relieved. Silence let her off the hook. Instead, she focused on encouraging Ana, now a fully-fledged partner in the business.

  Out of the blue on Monday Lili phoned to invite Inma to stay the coming weekend in Úbeda. Inma turned this down because she was already committed to spending that weekend, and some days after, in Yuste. The house needed attention. She wanted to see María, her co-owner of a shop in the nearby pueblo. She did not raise the possibility of Lili visiting Yuste. But Lili had remembered. Tentatively she'd reminded Inma, who'd then no choice but to invite her. Now Lili was en route, visiting a fellow EVOO producer outside Toledo on the way.

  Inma did not know what to think. A couple of days with Lili should be no hardship if Lili was in good form. She'd instructed her to bring stout shoes or boots for walking in the Sierra. This distracted people, or rendered them silent.

  Although Lili suggested she wanted to adopt Inma's exercise regime, Inma regarded this as fanciful. As a physical specimen, Lili resembled a leaf or feather. Whatever she ate made no difference. She and Inma had almost nothing in common in their physical make-ups. What was good for Inma was almost irrelevant for Lili, plus Inma had no idea what might suit Lili. Her delicate frame was alien to Inma's own honed and sculpted curves.

  Inma pottered around the terrace. Being at the start of summer the late afternoon air was warm, the cicadas chirped and the view out over the Tiétar and Tajo river basins was lost in the heat haze. She found a Chopin disk and started it, piping a selection of Nocturnes out to the terrace. Taking a comfortable sun lounger she luxuriated in the wanton quiet of Yuste. Not one unnatural sound could she hear, mostly because it was siesta time with her compatriots sleeping off indulgent lunches.

  What a luxury it was to be here. She must make more time for long weekends now everything relating to POPIC was in place. She should bring Ana. It was her last conscious thought before sleep closed in to relax her.

  A discordant mechanical noise woke Inma. The engine noise, from what emerged from the drive as Lili's Cayenne, grated. Even the cicadas took offence and stayed their song until Lili drew alongside Inma's X5 and killed its engine.

  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Inma raised herself to cross the terraza to greet Lili. It wasn't the warmest of welcomes, for Inma was still dozy and a touch offended her peace had been smashed. Lili didn't care or notice. Instead she burbled away about the drive up into the Sierra and how great were the views.

  Inma felt too sluggish to know how to react. She was grumpy and put out Lili could so quickly appreciate the qualities of Yuste that Inma herself loved. In the end Lili's enthusiasm won. How could Inma object to someone who liked the same things as she did and was not ashamed of rejoicing about it?

  With Lili in tow, Inma took her on a brief tour of the inside and outside, including the pool. She showed the guest chalets but told Lili she would stay in the main house. Inma had decided on the secondary guest room upstairs. It was not as good as the primary one, with its view out over the Tiétar and Tajo. Lili expressed her pleasure at windows framing the mountains of the Sierra de Gredos; so different to Úbeda.

  Leaving Lili to fre
shen up, Inma did the same. She had slept for almost two hours and must start preparing dinner if they were not to eat at midnight. No. She would be lazy and just barbecue some fish bought earlier in the day from Madrid. A fresh salad followed by fruit and cheese would do, and require a minimum of effort.

  After showering she chose black jeans and a polo shirt. She headed to the kitchen to start on the salad. Once made, she stepped out onto the terraza to wipe the marble top and lay the table. Having put out glasses for white and red, she disappeared into her cellar to select a Rías Baixas, a Chardonnay rather than Albariño, and an Alion from Ribera del Duero.

  She was decanting the Alion when Lili spoke softly from behind: "What can I do to help?"

  Inma concentrated on finishing the pouring before turning towards Lili.

  "Nothing at all. I thought we'd have Pez Espada with a simple salad, followed by local cheese and fruit. If that suits?"

  "Sounds heavenly. I wanted to invite you but failed to do my research before setting out. The result is I haven't a clue where to go. Whatever you decide, I'm in your hands. And if we're to eat on your terraza, I'll be enchanted."

  Even as she spoke, Inma could not keep her eyes off Lili. She had changed.

  "What are you wearing?"

  "This? You like it?"

  "Definitely. It's original."

  Inma's expression conveyed more than her bland compliment. She understated what she saw before her. Slight, tiny Lili wore a top in a red-brown with hints of gold covering her shoulders and chest but leaving her arms and midriff bare. It showed what little bust she possessed. Below was a matching floor-length skirt split as high as was decent up one leg. With mid-size heels Lili exuded a femininity wholly absent from the clothes worn at all their previous meetings. Lili astounded Inma.