Riva had been keeping her eyes open and meeting Otto now and then to report her findings. So far nothing had seemed especially significant. New girls had come, and new girls had gone, but none had turned up dead – as far as she knew.
‘Well, Lucas has been arrested,’ Otto said.
‘For trafficking?’
‘No. For fraud, but I’m hoping it might convince the police to ferret out more about him. So far I have no proof he’s actually part of the trafficking gangs.’
‘He’s British, isn’t he? And wealthy?’
‘Yes, and that would make it unusual. Maybe others are procuring the girls for him, and he’s not actually involved in the mechanics of it, so to speak.’
‘Might he be passing the girls on elsewhere? Yesterday, Tommy-O told me he’d spotted Stanley Lucas with a girl who has not gone on to work in Strait Street.
‘He could have passed her on for a price. But thank you. You’re good at digging. Would you ever consider doing more to help the cause? You know, maybe work as my assistant? In your free time.’
She laughed. ‘I don’t think so. Maybe when I’m old and grey.’
He pulled a face.
‘Oh sorry, I didn’t meanyouare old and grey. It’s just that I love dancing and I don’t have much free time.’
‘Well, if you ever change your mind … I’m going to start a campaign to rid us of white slavery and the traffic in women for prostitution.’
At that moment Bobby found them and pulled Riva away. Forgetting Otto, she lost herself to the joy of the ball, spending the night dancing and drinking until she could barely stand. Later, when they really couldn’t dance any more, they held on to each other, feeling overheated and sticky. The smell, smoke, and sweating bodies became too much for Riva; her head fizzed with all the champagne, and jostled by the inebriated crowd she could barely move.After a while Bobby took her hand and pushed them through the crowd to the garden beyond, where they sat in a courtyard beneath an indigo sky peppered with stars.
‘I’m too drunk to drive to Mdina,’ he said. ‘Can we go to yours?’
They rose to their feet and staggered along the streets, forgetting to remove their masks, laughing drunkenly about nothing, and holding each other up. Riva’s vision was blurred, and she was surprised when she finally focused on the bulky silhouettes of two policemen approaching them.
‘Leave it to me,’ Bobby muttered as he pulled off his mask.
‘Well done, sir. Silly rule if you ask me,’ one of the policemen said, instantly recognising him.
‘Sorry, Officer.’ He steered Riva away without her having to reveal her identity.
They walked to the gardens overlooking the harbour where they took their masks off and sat on a bench gazing out at the lights. ‘Let’s just stay here for a while,’ she said dreamily.
‘It’s four in the morning,’ he said, checking his watch.
‘Where’s your spirit of adventure?’
He laughed. ‘In bed with you.’
And then she had an idea. ‘Let’s go out on adghaisa. I want to see the sun rising over the battlements of Fort St Elmo. Lottie told me it’s stunning and even after all this time I still haven’t seen it.’
‘And we can go for early morning coffee and doughnuts when we come back,’ he said, warming to the challenge.
They talked for a while, and he told her the rest of his pilot’s training would definitely be in England soon but that he’d be back after two months.
‘I don’t want you to ever feel tied to me,’ she said.
‘I want to be tied to you. There’s no one else.’
‘I wish we could go out with each other openly.’
‘It was you who said the other girls would kick up a fuss.’
‘Perhaps not now that they know me.’
