has to do with me.’ Meg looked in turn at each of the unmoved faces and was impressed by her own voice when she spoke. She possibly sounded like a lawyer, or a woman in control, though of course inside she was not. ‘We were married for less than twenty-four hours and then Niklas decided that it was a mistake. Clearly he was right. We hardly knew each other. I had no idea about any of his business affairs. Nothing like that was ever discussed …’
Rosa spoke over her. ‘We believe that Niklas is being set up by the head of our firm.’
It was then that Meg started to realise the gravity of the situation. These people were not just defending their client, they were implicating their own principal.
‘We have had little access to the case, which in something as big as this is unusual, and without access to the evidence we cannot supply a rigorous defence. For reasons we cannot yet work out, we believe Miguel is intending to misrepresent Niklas. Of course we cannot let our boss know that we suspect him. He is the only one who has access to Niklas while he is being held awaiting a trial date.’
‘He’s in prison now?’
‘He has been for months.’
Meg reached for her water but her glass was empty. Her hands were shaking as she refilled it from the jug. She could not stand the thought of him locked up, could not bear to think of him in prison, did not want those thoughts haunting her. She didn’t like the new nightmares these people had brought, and she wanted them gone now.
‘It really is appalling, but …’ She didn’t know how she could help them—didn’t know the Brazilian legal system, just didn’t know why they were here. ‘I don’t see how it has anything to do with me. As I said, I’m not involved in his business …’ And then she started to panic, because maybe as his wife she had a different involvement with Niklas that they were here to discuss.
‘We have made an application of behalf of Niklas for him to exercise his conjugal rights …’
Meg could hear her own pulse pounding in her ears as Rosa continued speaking and she drained her second glass of water. Her throat was still impossibly dry. Her fingers moved to her hair and she twirled the strand around one finger, over and over.
‘Niklas is entitled to one phone call a week and a two-hour conjugal visit once every three weeks. He is being brought before the judge in a fortnight for the trial date to be set and we need you to fly there. At your visit with him on Thursday you are to tell him that only when he is in front of the judge he is to fire his lawyer. Before that he is to give no hint. Once he has fired Miguel we will step in for him.’
‘No.’ Meg shook her head and pulled her finger out of her hair. She was certain of her answer, did not need to think about this for a moment. She just wanted them gone.
‘The only way we can get in contact with him is through his wife.’
‘I’ll phone him.’ It was the most she would do. ‘You said that he was entitled to a weekly phone call …’ And then she shook her head again, because of course the calls would be monitored. ‘I can’t see him.’ She could not. ‘We were married for twenty-four hours.’
‘Correct me if I am wrong …’ Rosa was as tough with the truth as she was direct. ‘According to the records we have found you have been married for almost a year.’
‘Yes, but we—’
‘There has been no divorce?’
‘No.’
‘And if Niklas was dead and I was here bringing you a cheque would you hand it back and say, No, we were only married for twenty-four hours? Would you say, No, give this to someone else. He had nothing to do with me …?’
Meg’s face was red as she fought for an answer, but she did not know that truth—not that it stopped Rosa.
‘And because you have not screamed annulment I am assuming consensual sex occurred.’
Meg felt her face grow redder, because sex had been the only thing they had had between them.
‘If you had found yourself pregnant, would you not have contacted him? Would you have told yourself it did not count as you were only married for twenty-four hours? Would you have told your child the same …?’
‘You’re not being fair.’
‘Neither is the system being fair to my client,’ Rosa said. ‘Your husband will be convicted of a crime he did not commit if you do not get this message to him.’
‘So I’m supposed to fly to Brazil and sit in some trailer or cell and pretend that we’re …?’
‘There will be no pretending—you will have sex with him,’ Rosa said. ‘I don’t think you understand what is at stake here, and I don’t think you understand the risks to Niklas and his case if it is discovered that we are trying to get information in. There will be suspicions if the bed and the bin …’
Thankfully she did not go into further detail, but it was enough to have Meg shake her head.
‘I’ve heard enough, thank you. I will start preparing the paperwork for divorce today.’ She stood.
They did not.
‘Marrying Niklas was the biggest mistake of my life,’ Meg stated. ‘I have no intention of revisiting it and I’m certainly not …’ She shook her head. ‘No. We were a mistake.’
‘Niklas never makes mistakes,’ Rosa countered. ‘That is why we know he is innocent. That is why we have been working behind our own principal’s back to ensure justice for him.’ She looked to Meg. ‘You are his only chance, and whether or not it is pleasant, whether or not you feel it is beneath you, this must happen.’
She handed her an envelope and Meg opened it to find an itinerary and airline tickets.
‘There is a flight booked for you tomorrow night.’
‘I have a life,’ Meg flared. ‘A job, commitments …’
‘A visit has been approved for Thursday. It is the only chance to make contact with him before the pre-trial hearing in two weeks’ time. After you have seen him you can go to Hawaii—though we might need you to go back for another visit in three weeks, if things don’t go well.’
‘No.’ How else could she say it? ‘I won’t do it.’
Rosa remained unmoved. ‘You may want this all to go away, but it cannot. Niklas deserves this chance and he will get it. You will see, when you check your bank account, that you are being well compensated for your time.’
‘Excuse me?’ Meg was furious. ‘How dare you? How on earth did you …?’ But it wasn’t about how they had found out her bank details. It wasn’t that that was the problem right now. ‘It’s not about money …’
‘So it’s the morality of it, then?’ Rosa questioned. ‘You’re too precious to sleep with your own husband even it means he has to spend the rest of his life behind bars?’
Rosa made it sound so simple.
‘For the biggest mistake of your life, you chose rather well, did you not?’ Rosa sneered. ‘You are being paid to sleep with Niklas—it’s hardly a hardship.’
Meg met her eyes and was positive that he and Rosa had slept together. They both stared for a moment, lost in their own private thoughts. Then Rosa stood, a curl on her lip, and another sassy Brazilian gave her opinion of Meg as she upended her life.
‘You need to get over yourself.’
WHEN THEY HAD GONE, Meg did what she had spent a year avoiding.
She looked up the man