Kennedy’s Ghost. Gordon Stevens

for the first time. ‘Tell me about the girls, where they are now.’

      ‘They’re with their grandmother,’ Umberto informed him.

      ‘Have you and Paolo ever discussed the possibility of one of you being kidnapped, made any plans for it?’ Haslam looked at Francesca. ‘Any codes, for example?’

      ‘No.’ The wife’s face was drawn again, the tension showing through.

      ‘Have the police been informed. And if not, do you wish them to be?’

      Most families suffering a kidnapping preferred to keep that fact secret from the police. Partly because Italian law forbad the payment of money to kidnappers; therefore if a kidnap was reported or suspected the first action of the state was to freeze the family’s funds to prevent payment. And partly because most families rich enough to attract the attention of kidnappers normally wished to conceal the size of their wealth.

      ‘No to both questions.’ Umberto and Rossi answered simultaneously.

      ‘Fine, that’s your decision. You should be aware, however, that it’s possible they’ll find out.’ At least they were in Italy, he thought, at least there was no Ortega to worry about.

      ‘That aspect is already covered.’

      Because this is Milan and in Milan we pay to make sure that sort of thing doesn’t happen. Or if it does somebody sits on it and fast.

      Umberto Benini lit another cigarette.

      Haslam took them to the next stage.

      ‘In that case the next thing we have to discuss is our own organization, what some people call the CMT, the crisis management team. Who’s on it and who fills which roles.’

      They went through the positions.

      Chairman.

      ‘I would be more than happy to fulfil that role.’ Umberto Benini.

      Negotiator.

      Myself again – it was in the way Umberto sat back, the way he shrugged.

      It might be advisable to separate the positions, Haslam told him carefully. The negotiator’s job was communication and the chairman’s was decision-making, and sometimes the two were incompatible.

      ‘In that case, Signore Rossi,’ Umberto suggested.

      ‘In some ways a good choice,’ Haslam agreed, ‘but in other ways not. In a way it depends whether we wish to reveal the fact that the bank is involved.’

      ‘Why shouldn’t we?’

      ‘If the bank is seen to be involved then the ransom the kidnappers will hold out for will be much higher.’

      ‘So Francesca.’

      ‘Yes. But before she decides she should know what it involves.’

      Marco, the brother, hadn’t spoken at all, and Francesca only occasionally.

      ‘What does it involve?’ Umberto gave neither of them the chance to contribute.

      The man was on auto-pilot because his son had been kidnapped, Haslam reminded himself. Therefore give him a chance, give them all a chance. Because these people were all in hell, and he was their only way out.

      ‘The kidnapper’s negotiator will switch tactics, one moment he’ll be reasonable and the next he’ll be swearing and screaming. Then he’ll be the only friend Francesca has in the world. And all the time she’ll not only have to control herself, but try to manipulate the other side.’

      ‘I understand,’ the wife said simply.

      Courier.

      ‘Tell us what the courier does.’ Umberto Benini peered down the hawk nose. To avoid confusion Haslam already mentally referred to the father as Umberto and the kidnap victim as Paolo.

      ‘The courier collects messages and packages the kidnappers leave for us. The courier will also be responsible for dropping the ransom money when that moment comes.’

      Therefore Rossi the bank representative or Marco the brother. But Marco was only in the room because he was family, Haslam suspected. Umberto hadn’t even decided whether or not Marco should even be involved.

      He turned to Rossi. ‘It might be that you feel you should play this role. You might also feel, however, that the same problems about the bank’s involvement arise.’

      ‘We’ll discuss it.’ Umberto broke the meeting and called for fresh coffee.

      Haslam waited till the housekeeper had served them, then continued.

      ‘In kidnap negotiations there are guidelines, almost procedures. All the signs are that the kidnappers are professionals, which means they’ll know them and stick by them. They’ll also try to control the situation through them, but those procedures give us the chance to do the same thing back.’

      ‘For example?’ Umberto Benini asked.

      ‘The negotiator will tell you to get a clean phone. That’s a number somewhere else in case the police find out about the kidnapping and start tapping this one. We can begin to control the situation by telling the kidnappers we want to use a clean phone before they tell us.’

      They went through the alternatives: the properties or offices owned or controlled by Umberto, and the facilities which the bank could provide.

      ‘We have another apartment, an investment.’ It was Francesca.

      ‘Whose name is it in, because if it’s in your name it’s no good.’

      ‘A company name.’

      ‘Empty?’

      ‘At the moment.’

      ‘Fine.’

      He wrote the number on the sheet of paper in front of him.

      ‘One more thing our negotiator has to get across.’ There were several more things, but at a first meeting he preferred to keep instructions to a minimum. ‘The time Francesca, assuming it will be Francesca, will be waiting at the clean phone. The kidnappers will try to leave it open, so that she’d be waiting at the phone twenty-four hours a day. You can imagine the effect that would have. So we specify a time, but that time must be in keeping with Francesca’s normal schedule, therefore it should probably be in the evening.’

      ‘Why?’ Umberto asked.

      ‘Because however difficult it will be at first, you must continue to lead your normal lives – business appointments, personal matters. One reason, as I’ve already suggested, is that it maintains a structure to your lives.’

      Because otherwise you’ll go insane.

      But I’m already going insane, he knew the wife was thinking.

      So how was she going to stand up to it, he wondered, how was she going to take whatever the kidnappers threw at her. How was she going to take the pressure Umberto would bring to bear on her. Because that was the way it was already going.

      ‘There’s another reason for not disrupting your normal schedule. If you do there’s a chance the police might spot it, and if they do it wouldn’t be long before they worked out that someone’s been kidnapped.’

      And the first thing they’d do after that would be to freeze the family funds and even try to intervene in the affairs of the bank.

      ‘Agreed,’ Rossi said on behalf of the bank and the family.

      Haslam took the holding script and rewrote it.

CONCERN OVER PAOLO	Is he alive?
TELEPHONE NUMBER AND TIME	Keep saying it.
MONEY	Can’t even think about money until I know he’s alive.
IF PRESSED	Just prove he’s alive.
AND CLEAN PHONE AND TIME.