Deadly Business

Ten

Did I feel guilty next morning? No. I may have felt a little intimate tenderness, but no guilt. Why the hell should I have? I’d come like an express train, and I could recall nothing in the bible to say that was a sin. Okay, there is something in the Old Testament about a bloke called Onan, but I didn’t believe that his case was at all pertinent.

That’s what I tried to persuade myself, but I couldn’t quite cut it. What I actually felt was confusion. When I analysed it, I realised that I’d believed that I was in complete control of my life, and that included my sexual appetite, which, I’d assured myself, had become non-existent. I’d been wrong. One night out in a posh dress with an attractive man had thrown all that on its head. As I put my friend back in its box and back into the safe, I wondered what I would have done if Liam had made a move on me.

I still hadn’t answered that question by the time I’d dressed and gone down for breakfast. The three guys were up before me; I knocked on Janet’s door, but heard her shower going and left her to it … courtesy of her gallant half-brother who gives up his en suite when she’s with us.

‘You were out late,’ Tom remarked, as I dropped a couple of slices of bread into the toaster.

‘With respect, young man,’ I replied, ‘I was out later the night before, with you and your sister.’

‘But …’ he began, then realised he wasn’t going to get any further, and abandoned his interrogation. I hid my smile, as I recalled my father making exactly the same comment on another Sunday morning almost thirty years before. He hadn’t pursued it either; just as well, as I’d just had my cherry cracked by my first serious boyfriend … a poor second, I must say, to my Duracell bunny from Barcelona.

Conrad said nothing. He was at the table, reading, or making a show of reading, the online Daily Telegraph on his laptop.

‘Did you hear any more from Audrey?’ I asked him, as I took a seat beside him, with my toast and a mug of tea.

He nodded. ‘She called just after you and Liam left. You’ll find an email in your box with your tickets attached. You’re booked into the Glasgow Malmaison for two nights. She asked me if she should book a twin for you and Tom or separate rooms; I said separate. Okay?’

‘Definitely. We need our own space now.’

‘What rooms?’ Tom asked from across the kitchen.

‘We’re going to Scotland tomorrow, you and me. For a week.’

‘Why?’

‘I’ve got things to do, and I’m taking you with me, so you can see your grandpas.’

He shrugged. ‘Okay, but what about Charlie?’

Good question, boy; I’d forgotten about him. ‘I’ll ask Ben if he’ll look after him with his two; otherwise we’ll have to put him in the slammer for a week.’ I knew it wouldn’t come to that, and so did Tom: he and Ben run an informal Labrador retriever collective, taking care of each other’s dogs as required.

‘And what about Janet and Jonathan?’

‘We’re going home tomorrow,’ Conrad chipped in. ‘Susie Mum will be back by the time we get there.’

‘Will Duncan be there?’ wee Jonathan asked, nervously.

‘So what if he is?’ I replied. ‘You’ll be back with your mum and that’s the most important thing, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ he conceded, but it was grudging.

‘Okay,’ I announced, as Janet came into the room, her hair still damp from the shower, ‘that’s tomorrow. This afternoon we’re going to the beach, all of us, and Charlie … well, not you, Conrad, if you don’t want to.’

‘Well,’ he said, ‘I do have things to take care of. I reckon they’ll be safe with you.’

‘And Liam,’ I added. ‘He’s coming.’

‘In that case, they’ll be even safer.’

I had things to take care of also; first of those was to retrieve our e-tickets, and print them out. It seemed that company chairs and their companions fly business class. I’d have been happy to fly budget air, but in the circumstances I wasn’t complaining. I was just under an hour short of being able to check in online, and so I spent it jamming the washing machine full of everyone’s cast-off clothes, apart from Conrad’s which he insisted were his business alone, then sorting out clothes for the trip for both Tom and me. There was no point in asking him to choose his own. He has no clue about the vagaries of the Scottish climate and would probably have packed half a dozen T-shirts and no socks.

When finally I’d checked us in I had to take a quick trip into L’Escala to buy cosmetics and other personal gear for the trip, top up the food stocks so that I could make packed lunches for Janet and wee Jonathan’s road trip home, and fuel the jeep for the drive down to Barcelona Airport, to save time in the morning. Back home again I had to load the tumble dryer …

I could go on, but I won’t; suffice it to say that when it was all done I was knackered and sweaty, and had to take another shower, to make myself fresh enough to go to the beach. Yeah, work that one out; I took a shower in preparation for covering myself in lotion and lying on a sunbed. Would I have done that if it had just been Tom and I? No, but it wasn’t, was it? We had company, company who was making me feel more than a little confused, and who had shaken up all my certainties like a kaleidoscope by doing nothing at all, other than being nice, and gentlemanly, and pretty damn attractive.

Once I’d fixed my hair for the second time that morning. I chose a bikini … nothing skimpy, mind, a nice blue one with a halter top … with a pair of cut-off denim shorts worn over.

The kids were ready to go when I got downstairs, with my towels, lotions and change clothes in my beach bag. Tom had dragooned them into shape, although wee Jonathan looked less than ecstatic about the whole venture. For a moment I thought about letting him stay with Conrad, but decided against it. The boy needed taking out of himself, dammit.

‘You got the tent?’ I asked my son. It’s a pop-up windbreak really, but it has a zip-up front that gives privacy for changing. We were going to a beach with a nudie option, but I was taking it with Janet in mind.

‘Yes, Mum,’ he said, wearily. ‘It’s in the hall with the rest of our stuff. Now can we go? Vaive will be busy today and we want to get a table.’

I let him lead the way. He wasn’t wrong about it being busy. As we passed the car park, I saw that it was jammed full, and opportunists were squeezed into anything that looked like a space. We arrived at the beach bar ten minutes late but Liam was there already, in swim shorts and a white V-necked T, waiting for us at a table which otherwise we wouldn’t have had. They don’t do reservations.

‘Hi,’ he said, rising.

I sensed that he was unsure how to greet us, so I put him at his ease by kissing him on the cheek as I’d parted from him the night before. ‘You didn’t meet wee Jonathan yesterday,’ I remarked. ‘This is him, Oz and Susie’s younger. We only call him wee Jonathan to distinguish him from his cousin, Jonny.’

‘The golfer?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘He’s doing very well for himself. Rookie of the Year in Europe in his first season.’

‘He lived with us for a while,’ Tom told him. ‘Now he has a house of his own, quite near here. Mum,’ he continued, ‘I want a chicken pig.’

Chicken pig? That’s Vaive’s most celebrated sandwich, half a baguette stuffed with chicken, bacon, salsa and lots of other stuff.

‘Fine,’ I replied. ‘Mine’s a sobrasada. See what everyone else wants then go and order.’

Liam seemed to give the specialty some serious thought, but stuck to his principles and settled for a salad in a bowl. He looked around as Tom went up to the counter. The beach was crowded, but not as much as the one by the Greek wall would have been. There was a light wind coming off the sea, enough for novice windsurfers but boring for the experts. ‘This is terrific,’ he said. ‘Do you guys come here a lot?’

‘In the holidays, yes. Weekends when school’s in.’

‘Does Tom windsurf?’ he asked.

‘He does, but he prefers free surfing. He’s pretty good. That’s not Mum getting carried away either. His Uncle Miles says so too, and he should know. He was a lifeguard when he was young, in Australia and California. Have you ever done any?’

‘A little, but only the kind with the sail. We don’t have big waves where I live.’

‘Where do you live, Liam?’ We’d got through the whole of the previous day without me asking that or him volunteering.

‘I have an apartment in Dublin,’ he replied, ‘but my main base is in Toronto. It’s the city I liked best when I was on the road with the crew, so I made it home. Ever been there?’

‘Yes, I have, but very briefly, only for one night, in fact. Not long enough to form a view about the place.’

‘Then you must give it another try.’ For a moment I thought a definite invitation was coming, but he left it at that.

‘Hey,’ I said quietly, as Tom returned with bottles of still water for all of us, ‘about last night. I enjoyed it very much. We’ll do it again before you leave, but on me next time.’

He peered at me over the glasses (someone told me once, firmly, ‘One drinks from glasses, one wears spectacles,’ but she doesn’t speak Scottish, so I disregarded her advice) and murmured, ‘Likewise and okay.’

As we waited for lunch he asked me about the history of the region … ‘Preliminary research for the book,’ he said … and I gave him a quick rundown, the standard stuff about the Greeks arriving first and establishing a colony, then being succeeded by the Romans, and in the modern era by just about every other nation in Europe and a few beyond, most recently the Chinese who probably do a bigger retail turnover than anyone else in L’Escala these days.

‘Sounds just like Toronto,’ he laughed. ‘We’ve got everyone and everything there.’

‘I’ll bet you don’t have chicken pigs,’ Tom chipped in, with a smile. He seemed to be losing his initial wariness of Liam, and that pleased me.

‘You may well be right, young man,’ he replied, ‘but we’ve got loads of other stuff. And our own wine too. Ontario’s becoming a pretty big producer; they’re quite proud of some of it too.’

‘Why don’t we see more of it in Europe?’ I asked.

‘Because the Canadians drink it all. They have a strange attitude to alcohol, but they’re pretty damn good at brewing and now wine-making. Not that I would know any more,’ he added.

‘Mum makes wine,’ Tom said.

‘I don’t,’ I protested. ‘I’m a director of a company that does, that’s all.’

‘So you make wine.’

I sighed. ‘If you insist. When it comes to arguing a point, you’re as determined as your father … even when you’re wrong.’

He looked at our companion. ‘Is that true, Mr Matthews?’

‘First, chum,’ he replied, ‘you call me Liam. Second, yes, your old man was a pretty determined guy … but I don’t recall him ever being wrong, not in his eyes anyway. Once he made up his mind about something, he wasn’t for changing it.’

I realised that Tom was pleased to be able to talk about his father with someone other than Susie and me, with an impartial witness as he probably saw it; the flaw in that was that Oz was never a guy to inspire objectivity. You either loved him or the opposite; at times I did both.

The discussion was ended by the arrival of lunch, Liam’s salad, bikini toasties for Janet and wee Jonathan and massive sandwiches for Tom and me. We ate in silence, for they demanded concentration. When we were finished, we were full and it was definitely time for the beach.

I gave my son a fifty to pay for what we’d had then led the way over the iron bridge that crosses the little river from which the beach beyond takes its name. As soon as we were on the other side, Janet, who’d been leading Charlie, let him loose, and he went scampering down to the water, riding the small waves that were breaking on the shore. The rest of us walked on, for fifty metres or so, until Tom decreed that there was enough free space for him to pitch the windbreak.

‘Who wants to swim now?’ he asked, after he’d erected the structure. The question was directed at his younger brother more than anyone else. I’m not sure the kid wanted to go into the water, but Tom had become an authority figure, so he took it as a command. He and his little bag disappeared into the tent-ette, and he zipped the front up while he changed.

The rest of us weren’t so fussy. I unbuttoned my shorts, letting them fall to the ground, then spread my beach mat and sat on it, cross-legged, reaching for my sun lotion.

Janet did the same, then popped her bikini top off, in an instant, as always, regardless of our new companion. She might have been stepping into womanhood, but her mind and attitudes hadn’t quite caught up with her body. Liam wasn’t a man, he was an adult, and she hadn’t been brought up to be prudishly modest.

So what could I do but follow her example, as I would have done on any other day?

I tossed my top into my beach bag and stretched out beside her, oiling myself from top to ankles. When I was done, I rolled over and looked around for the nearest man. Tom was busy rubbing his sister’s back with her high factor cream, so I tossed my bottle to Liam, who had spread his beach towel beside my mat.

‘You got the job, beach boy,’ I told him. ‘Do the rest, will you? Sorry if the informality bothers you,’ I murmured, ‘but that’s the way it is here.’

He grinned. ‘If this was Toronto, you’d be in jail.’ He took the lotion from me and massaged it into my back, gently, with hands that were strong but surprisingly soft.

‘I’ll bet you’re glad it isn’t,’ I whispered, but there was nobody close by to hear me anyway. Tom and Janet were escorting a hesitant wee Jonathan towards the Mediterranean. His little bag was slung over his shoulder, as usual. I couldn’t imagine what he carried in it; his pet frog, for all I knew.

‘You could be right,’ he said. ‘Hand-holding’s still forbidden, I take it?’

‘Absolutely,’ I said firmly. ‘So’s this.’ I rolled on to my side, propped myself up on an elbow, took hold of his shirt, drawing him to me, and kissed him, properly, none of that on-thecheek stuff, but long and slow, feeling my nipples harden as my breasts pressed against him. ‘Sorry,’ I murmured as I came up for breath, ‘but I felt an overwhelming need to do that. Let’s just call it a reward for you being so Goddamned nice.’ I smiled at him. ‘But I warn you, if you suggest that you could be even nicer I’ll have to put my top back on.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he chuckled. ‘My nose is hurting already.’

‘I can cure that,’ I said. ‘I’m a nurse.’ I kissed him again, for longer than before, slipping my hand inside his shirt and running my palm over his chest, feeling his heart beat fast against it.

‘People will talk,’ he whispered, when he could.

‘People are talking already.’ I laughed. ‘After last night, I promise you, people are talking all over L’Escala. It’s the way this place is. Gossip moves faster here than a fire through pine needles. Fuck them all. It’s a while since they’ve had me to feed off. Let them choke on me.’

He drew a deep breath. ‘Primavera, I’m having trouble working out when you’re serious and when you’re not.’

I rolled on to my back, felt for my Maui Jim sunshades and slipped them on. ‘Right at this moment, Liam,’ I confessed, taking his hand in mine, ‘so am I. But I promise you this; I might be cautious but I’m not a tease. We’re both going to find out quite soon.’

‘Likely I’m as cautious as you are,’ he said. ‘I promise you something too. I really didn’t come here with anything like this in mind. But I’m not going to run away from it either. Whatever else happens between us, it’ll be at your pace. And suppose nothing else does, the last couple of days are the best I’ve had in years.’

I squeezed his hand. ‘Apart from all the great things that come from being a mum,’ I replied, ‘the same’s true for me.’

Liam slipped off his shirt, folded it neatly, and used it as a pillow. We lay side by side and looked at the cloudless sky for a while, counting the condensation trails of the aircraft passing five or six miles above us.

‘We’ll be on one of them tomorrow,’ I murmured. ‘Tom and me. I’d rather not be, but maybe it’s come at the right time.’

‘Are you sure you’ll be all right?’ he asked. ‘If my speculation last night is anywhere near the mark, will you be welcome?’

‘I hope so, but it won’t matter. I’ll be holding the reins, driving the bus, pick your own analogy. I have to go, Liam, regardless. If you don’t feel like waiting around here, I’ll understand.’

He rolled on to his side and put his hand on my belly, between my navel and my breasts. ‘I’ll be here when you go, Primavera, and I’ll be here when you get back. My word on that as an Irishman,’ he chuckled, ‘and a kung fu master. I’m looking forward to working out with your lad, remember.’

‘I think he is too,’ I told him. ‘You know he’s been weighing you up, don’t you?’

‘Sure. I wouldn’t expect anything else of him. How am I doing?’

‘Okay. I’d say you’re passing his test, whatever that is.’

‘He doesn’t discuss?’

‘Not unless I ask him. He had a slight go at provoking me this morning, but he realised I wasn’t ready to talk, so he dropped it. It’s bound to happen, though, probably while we’re away.’

‘Then tell him that what I want more than anything else is to be his friend and yours.’

I propped myself up on my elbows. ‘Tell him yourself,’ I suggested. ‘He’s coming.’

He was, with Charlie on his lead, and he wasn’t smiling. My instant thought was that he’d seen me snogging Liam’s face off and was about to give us a rollicking for public indecency. If he had, it wasn’t at the top of his worry list.

‘Where’s wee Jonathan?’ he asked.

A small cold spasm of concern grabbed at the pit of my stomach. ‘What do you mean?’ I spluttered. ‘He went off with you and Janet.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed, ‘but he was being a miserable wee sod, so Janet told him to go back up to you. He did.’

‘If he did, then he was quiet about it. We haven’t seen him.’ Or we were otherwise occupied and missed him.

‘You must have seen him!’ Tom snapped. He hadn’t raised his voice to me since he was five and I’d said he couldn’t have a third Cadbury’s cream egg.

I jumped to my feet. ‘Well, we didn’t, okay!’ I stepped across to the shelter and looked inside, hoping that he’d be lurking there, but he wasn’t.

Janet had joined us. ‘Maybe he needed the toilet,’ she suggested, as anxious as the rest of us. There’s a chemical loo on the far side of the bridge, parked there for the summer like the others along the beachfront. We’d passed it and wee Jonathan had asked what it was for. He’d made a face when I told him.

‘Maybe,’ Liam agreed. ‘I’ll go and check.’

‘No,’ Tom said, grimly. ‘I will. If he’s there I’ll have a serious word with him. Janet, you look after Charlie.’

I didn’t want that to happen. This was a new version of my son; I didn’t think for a second that he’d thump his brother, but in that mood he was likely to scare the living crap out of him. ‘We’ll both go,’ I declared. ‘Meanwhile, Liam and Janet, you two have a look around here for him. He may just have settled down to play somewhere.’ Janet gave me an Are you kidding? look but didn’t argue. I put my bikini top back on and headed after Tom.

There was a queue of three outside the toilet cabin when we got there. A second later the door opened and a lady emerged, so large that she couldn’t have smuggled a Chihuahua in there with her. I asked her, in Spanish, whether a small boy had been in before her. She looked at me blankly. I tried French and we touched base. She shook her head. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘A very smelly German man.’

As I was having that conversation, Tom headed to check out Vaive but neither Theresa nor Philippe had seen him since we’d all left. We asked their customers as well but nobody recalled seeing anyone who fitted our description, not even the windsurfers, and that was bad news, for they don’t miss much.

We returned to the other two, hoping to see him there, retrieved and chastened. I was even prepared to see his sister’s palm print on his ear, indeed I’d probably have sanctioned it, but no palm print, no ear, no wee Jonathan.

I was in a panic, and so was Janet. Even Liam seemed at a loss. Fortunately Tom had his wits about him and took charge. ‘Mum, one more place to try,’ he said. ‘Home. He may just have gone back to Conrad. He’s upset about his mum being away, and about that …’ he paused, then continued, leaving the epithet unsaid, ‘… Duncan, because he thinks he’s come back and he’s terrified of him.’

I looked at Janet. ‘Does he know Susie’s ill?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she insisted. ‘Not from me, Auntie Primavera; I didn’t say a word to him. But I suppose … he’s such a sneaky little sod, and he’s good with computers, maybe he could have found out some other way.’

‘He’s not sneaky,’ Tom said, firmly. ‘He’s unhappy. He just wants to be back in Monaco and for everything to be okay but it isn’t. And if he’s right about Duncan, then it won’t be.’ He looked at Janet. ‘What about Susie Mum?’ he demanded. ‘Is she ill?’

I didn’t want the poor kid being interrogated, so I answered for her. ‘Yes, she is, Tom. I had to tell Janet eventually, because I couldn’t keep the secret any longer. I should have told you at the same time.’

He frowned at me. ‘I thought we didn’t have secrets, Mum,’ he said, the equivalent of a sharp jab to the solar plexus.

I wanted to hug him and tell him that we didn’t, but if I’d tried that I knew damn well he’d just have shaken me off. So I did a girlie thing: I gave him the big doe eyes, bit my lip and murmured, ‘I’m sorry.’

He shrugged. ‘You thought it was best.’ An acceptance of sorts. ‘Come on, Mum,’ he said, more gently, ‘let’s you and I go back home. We’ll probably find him hiding behind Conrad; that’s what he usually does when he’s in a mood. Janet, you should wait here with Liam, just in case he’s off sulking some place we haven’t checked and decides to come back eventually. If he does, don’t be angry with him; that won’t help.’

Twelve years old and he was firing out orders like an adult; and none of us even thought of questioning them. Instead, I pulled my shorts on, picked up my shoes and set off after him as before. Charlie made his own choice and followed, his lead trailing behind him.

We kept our eyes open as we crossed the beach and passed the dodgy toilet, but saw no lone child, not even any accompanied, that gave us a moment’s pause. Once we reached the path, Tom broke into a jog, with Charlie on a short lead, and I followed suit, keeping pace with him, my flip-flops still in my hand, for they would have been worse than useless. If he’d wanted, he and the dog could have run away from me, but he bore my years in mind, another sign that he was well in control of himself.

I had to put my flip-flops on when we reached St Martí. It was only then I realised that I’d left my keys in my bag on the beach. If Conrad had gone out … and wee Jonathan had come home, we’d probably find him on the front step, or, him being him, holed up in Charlie’s kennel.

But we didn’t. There was no dark-haired kid moping at the door, and the doghouse was unoccupied. Conrad hadn’t gone out either. We found him in the kitchen, seated at the table, working at his laptop. ‘Hi,’ he greeted us. ‘I’m emailing the housekeeper in Monaco, telling her to get the place ready for a full invasion tomorrow morning. Audrey asked me to phone her, but she’s out.’ Then he looked at us properly. ‘What’s up?’

‘Has wee Jonathan come back here?’ I asked him.

‘No,’ he replied, his tone turning the negative into a question.

‘He’s vanished,’ I told him, then explained what had happened.

‘Jesus!’ Conrad exploded. ‘Primavera! He’s been snatched. Primavera, you know how careful we have to be. I only let you go without me because Matthews was with you. Matthews! Bloody showbiz wrestler! I will kill him.’ I believe that he meant it. I stared at him, not knowing what to say when …

‘No, Conrad!’

The voice that came from behind me could only have belonged to one person, and yet it wasn’t him. It was deep, it was full, it was unmistakable and it was impossible. It was Oz’s voice. In the crisis, Tom had metamorphosed into his father, and if there was a single person in the world who could command the very formidable Conrad Kent, it was him.

‘It wasn’t Mum’s fault,’ he continued, in a tone that was more like his own, but not quite, with a serious edge to it. ‘It wasn’t Liam’s fault. It was mine. He told me he was going back to them and I didn’t take him, I let him go on his own, only he didn’t. So don’t be angry with Liam … and don’t ever shout at my mum again!’

Wow! I couldn’t love him any more than I do, but that put the cherry on it. He’d just nailed Conrad’s balls to the wall, and calmed him down in the process. ‘I’m sorry, Primavera,’ he murmured. ‘Tom’s right; that was uncalled for.’

‘And it’s forgotten, but tell me, why did you think automatically that he’s been taken?’

Conrad frowned and glanced at Tom, as if he was trying to give me a message.

I shook my head. ‘I don’t think there’s anything you can say to me that I have to hide from my son, so shoot.’

‘There is,’ he countered, ‘but I’ll go this far. Two years ago I was warned that a group of English chancers were in Monaco, ostensibly on holiday, but in fact planning to snatch one of Oz and Susie’s kids and hold them for ransom. I was able to head it off.’

‘Well done the police,’ I said.

‘It had nothing to do with them. The tip came from a mafia kingpin; he approached me and told me about it. He said that the English team had approached a couple of his friends for help. It was a big mistake on their part. The mafia don’t approve of things like that, for two reasons: one, they have respect for children; and two, they wouldn’t do anything that would draw the kind of heat on them that a high-profile kidnap would bring. So they dealt with the problem.’

I didn’t ask how; Conrad was right in that Tom didn’t need to hear what I knew would be the answer. Instead, I asked him, ‘Why did he tell you about it?’

‘It was probably his way of letting Susie know that she was in their debt, but I didn’t tell her about it. I don’t plan to either.’

‘So these could be the same people?’ Tom suggested. He hadn’t picked up on the fact that the mafia don’t let people do encores.

‘Or similar,’ Conrad replied.

‘In which case, I don’t have any links to the local underworld,’ I told him, ‘but I am well in with the cops.’

I didn’t waste any time. I called Alex Guinart on his mobile, straight away. ‘Hey,’ he said as he answered, a smile in his voice, ‘sexy lady. How did your evening go, or shouldn’t I ask?’

‘No, you shouldn’t because this is serious.’

‘You want to make that complaint now? Couldn’t it-’

‘Bugger that! This is different.’ I told him what had happened and about Conrad’s suspicions.

He was all business, straight away. ‘Kidnapping would be unusual in this part of Spain. In the south, and around the Mediterranean, much less so. The first thing to do is set up roadblocks, and search the immediate area. Do you have a recent photograph of the child?’

‘Yes, on my computer. Tom and his sister are in it, but it’s only a week old.’

‘Then email it to me, and I’ll circulate it right away. Where are you?’

‘I’m at home, with Tom and Conrad. Liam and Janet are still on the beach, in case he shows up.’

‘Liam?’

‘The man you saw me with last night. If he had turned up, he or Janet would have called me.’

There followed a few seconds of silence. ‘This Liam, when did he arrive here?’

‘A couple of days ago.’

‘And now the child has disappeared. And you’ve left him on the beach with the other one?’

The enormity of what he was suggesting made me gasp. I turned my back on Conrad so that he couldn’t see my face and pick anything up from it. We were speaking Catalan, and he’d get nothing from that. ‘Forget that,’ I hissed. ‘He was one of Oz’s best friends, and I’ve known him for years myself.’

‘But you haven’t seen him for years either?’

‘No, but what you’re suggesting-’

‘I’m not suggesting anything,’ Alex said. ‘I’m only establishing facts. Send me that email, Primavera. There are two routes from where the boy was last seen; I’ll put blocks on those straight away and get his likeness to the people who are manning them. But we’ll need more than that; we have to search the surrounding area.’

‘In case he’s hiding there?’ I asked naively. ‘He wouldn’t do that.’

I heard an intake of breath. ‘No, Primavera; not in case he’s hiding.’

‘Oh,’ I murmured.

‘I would like you and Tom to go back along there. Your man Conrad, the children’s guardian, have him remain at your house. Tell him he’s manning the phones or any other pretext. I know what he is, and I know what he’s capable of. If the boy has been taken and we find him with someone, I don’t want him around.’

‘Understood.’

‘I suggest that you bring the child Janet back from the beach. She and Tom should stay with Mr Kent. If you can vouch for your boyfriend-’

‘He isn’t!’ I snapped.

‘You fooled me, if that’s so. He should stay where he is and you should join him there. We’ll need volunteers for the search.’

That’s how it panned out. Tom wasn’t happy at first; he wanted to join the search, but when I insisted that he’d be of most use looking after Janet and keeping her as calm as he could, he accepted that.

I took my jeep along to collect Janet, and all the stuff I’d left along there. I’d have been almost as quick on foot, but I was taking Conrad’s story seriously. I knew she’d be safe with Liam, and in the house, but with me, on an open pathway, maybe not.

I left the car at home once I’d delivered her and ran back. By the time I got there, Alex had arrived; he was in uniform, and in charge. Liam was waiting for me where he’d said he would when I picked up Janet, at the foot of the iron bridge. He looked as distraught as I felt; I hoped that it registered with Alex and that he’d apologise later for ‘establishing the facts’.

I have to record here my appreciation for the way the beach people rallied around. As far as I could see, everyone who didn’t have children of their own to look after had volunteered to join the search. The Mossos had an inflatable, crewed by divers; their job was to probe the little green river with poles, and investigate anything solid they detected. The rest of us were split into teams to cover the ground behind the beach, and to trawl through the adjoining campsites. Liam and I stayed together, searching the fields. They were uncultivated and that made it worse, for the grass was waist high and tangled, hampering our progress. There was one very scary moment when a woman, no more than twenty metres away from us, screamed and put her hands over her face. We rushed across, to find her standing over the rotting carcass of what had been a large dog. We spent an hour combing our assigned area then another retracing out steps, but in the end it was all fruitless.

Finally a whistle was blown, and we all gathered back at the starting point, where Alex thanked us for our efforts, and stood us down.

‘What do we do?’ Liam asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I confessed.

Alex came across to us. He shook Liam’s hand, and gave me a quick hug. ‘Keep your phone charged and switched on,’ he told me. ‘When I know something, you will too.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think,’ he replied instantly, ‘that the fact that we haven’t found him makes it likely that Mr Kent was right, that the child has been taken. Has anyone been in touch with his mother? She’s in America, you told me, Primavera, yes?’

‘Yes, but she’s probably started the journey home by now. I could probably get in touch with her, but what would be the point, with nothing positive to tell her? She’s a very sick woman, Alex.’

‘Then I leave that judgement to you. For now, you go home, you wait and you pray, if that will help.’

I nodded, and he left. I looked at Liam, and he looked at me; we must have made a distinctly uncool pair, in our crushed and sweaty beach gear. Suddenly I felt exhausted. ‘I need some time,’ I murmured. ‘Let’s go to your hotel.’

‘Yeah.’ He slipped his arm around my waist and half carried me there. It wasn’t far, only a few metres along the path. He picked up his key from reception and led the way up to his room. As soon as he closed the door behind us, I collapsed into his only chair, and did something very un-Primavera-like. I burst into tears. He knelt beside me and hugged me as I cried it out, and I loved him for it. I couldn’t have done that in front of Tom and certainly not with Janet around.

When I’d composed myself, I patted his arm, to let him know I was all right. ‘I need to get back,’ I said, ‘but God, I’m filthy. Can I have a shower?’

‘Of course.’

I pushed myself out of the chair and stripped naked where I stood. He’d seen everything else, so there was no point in being coy about the rest. I went into the bathroom and stood under a barely warm spray for five minutes, flushing the grime, sand and sweat off me and shampooing it from my hair. When I was done, I wrapped myself in one of the robes that hung behind the door, and let Liam take my place. I was still wearing it when he came out in the other one, but I’d put my shorts back on. My bikini was definitely done for the day, maybe for ever. ‘Do you have a top I can borrow?’ I asked.

He smiled. ‘Sure.’ He opened a drawer and took out another of those GWA merchandise shirts from way back. ‘I brought this along with Tom in mind,’ he said as he handed it to me. ‘You can give it to him when you’re done with it.’

I raised myself up on my toes and kissed him again, running my fingers through his damp hair. ‘You’re a lovely man,’ I told him. ‘When we’ve got wee Jonathan back safe …’

‘Let’s just concentrate on that part,’ he whispered.

‘I need to get back home now,’ I said. ‘Come with me. I want you near me while this plays out. Bring your toothbrush.’ I rubbed his chin, and grinned. ‘And your razor too. And your pyjamas, if you’re bashful.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yes. I’m getting more sure by the minute.’

He put some stuff in a small bag and we walked back to the village. When we got there I didn’t go up into the square, because I didn’t want to run into anyone I knew and face the inevitable quiz; instead I let us in through the garage. It’s alarmed all the time and there’s a buzzer that sounds upstairs whenever someone comes in that way, until they cancel it.

Conrad was waiting for us at the top of the stairs when we reached them. If he was surprised to see Liam with me he didn’t show it, but his eyebrows did rise a little when he clocked my replacement T-shirt. I left him to draw his own conclusions.

‘Any news?’ I asked him. He shook his head. ‘Me neither. Where are Tom and Janet?’

‘In the TV room. They’re watching the local station. It’s been running live coverage of the search.’

‘They haven’t named him, have they?’ I didn’t want that, no way.

‘No, but they did run the photograph that you sent Alex.’

‘Could he be recognised from that?’ Liam asked.

‘By a local, he probably could,’ Conrad replied. ‘We’ve been here long enough for him to become known as Tom’s half-brother. Let’s hope no reporter has the wit to ask.’

‘I’d like to think,’ I observed, ‘that my friends would realise that we don’t need that.’

‘I thought you said this place runs on gossip,’ Liam murmured.

He had a point, and I conceded it. ‘As soon as his identity becomes known,’ I said, ‘this will stop being a local story and go international.’

I remembered how I’d heard that Oz had died; I was in Jimmy Buffett’s bar in Las Vegas, when his face popped up on the big screen telly and I knew instantly that he hadn’t won an Oscar. ‘I hadn’t wanted to tell Susie, not until we had some good news, and then maybe not ever, but now, I’m thinking we have to, just in case.’

Conrad glanced at his watch. ‘Not for a while, we can’t. They were scheduled to take off from Phoenix ten minutes ago for Charlotte. That’s a long flight.’

‘Is it on time? Could they still be sitting in the airport?’

‘No. Audrey called me an hour ago to say they were boarding.’ He held up a hand. ‘And before you ask, I didn’t say anything to her.’

‘How’s Susie, physically? Did she say?’

‘Not much, but I don’t think she could. She said she was okay, but I wasn’t convinced. I don’t think she could speak freely; I reckon Duncan was too close.’

I walked through to the office where the second television is, and found the kids there. Janet looked up at me; her face was drawn beneath the tan and her eyes were anxious. ‘They haven’t found him, Auntie Primavera,’ she said.

‘I know, love,’ I replied. ‘Liam and I were among the people looking. That isn’t bad news, you know.’

‘But there were men looking in the river.’ She was on the edge of tears

‘Just in case,’ Tom told her. ‘Wee Jonathan wouldn’t go near the river; it’s green and smelly. He doesn’t even like the sea much.’

‘Well, where is he?’ she wailed, and the tears did come.

Tom put an arm around her shoulders. ‘I don’t know,’ he murmured. He didn’t look too sound himself emotionally, a worried little guy in contrast to the strong kid who had taken charge earlier.

I might have cracked too, but Liam appeared in the doorway just in time. He read the situation, took me in his arms and held me fast, making me feel protected, for the first time in longer than I could remember. ‘It’ll be all right,’ he said, to all of us.

Tom looked him in the eye, via the mirror on the wall. ‘How do you know?’ he challenged.

‘I do, that’s all; I have faith. Do you know what that is?’

‘Religion,’ my son replied.

‘Yes, but it’s more than that; it’s when you have an absolute belief, even when there’s absolutely no evidence to support it. I have faith that the little boy is all right.’

‘But why?’

‘If I didn’t, what else would there be? Only despair. Come here,’ he said, ‘both of you.’

They did and we had a hug-in, feeling Liam’s certainty spread to us all, making us all feel warm and safe.

That’s not to say that we switched on the party music. No, we sat there and waited. As soon as I left that room, nagging doubts and awful visions came back to me. I joined Conrad in the kitchen and had a beer with him.

‘If you’re right,’ I asked him, ‘what will happen?’

‘We’ll have a message, once they feel secure; there’ll be a ransom demand.’

‘What do we do then?’

He stared at me. ‘Pay it. Whatever the cops say.’

‘But will they let him go then?’

‘We can only hope they do.’

‘No,’ I contradicted him. ‘First and foremost we can hope you’re wrong.’

‘There is that. But if I’m not, I promise you, Primavera, I will find whoever’s responsible, and that will be that for them.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘This is Oz’s son we’re talking about. He’d demand it of me.’

‘But he isn’t here to do any demanding, so, who owns your loyalty now? Tom and Janet, I’d suggest. If you try to make them murderers by association, you’ll cross me.’

The phone rang an hour later, ten minutes before the time at which I’d determined that I’d call Susie to let her know what had happened. Tom had tracked her flight on the internet and had given me its scheduled arrival time. Fifteen minutes later, I reckoned, she was bound to be in the transit lounge, and if her mobile wasn’t switched on, Audrey’s would be for sure.

We were all in the living room when the call came in. I’d made the kids switch off the news, and given Janet her choice of replacement. She’d opted for Spanish MTV which seemed entirely harmless, so I’d let them watch it on the big set.

Conrad sprang out of his chair, but I forestalled him. ‘I’m taking this,’ I told him, inviting no protest as I rose from the couch I’d been sharing with Liam. I picked it up, fearful that the next words I heard would change my life, but with no idea what they would be or even in what language they’d be put.

‘He’s safe,’ Alex Guinart said, in Catalan.

All the breath rushed from me in a great sigh, and I slumped back on to the sofa. ‘Oh, thank God, Alex,’ I exclaimed, in English, so that everyone in the room could share the good news. ‘Now tell me what happened,’ I continued, switching back to his language.

‘He ran away, Primavera, simple as that. There was a pickup, parked down the road beside the river; windsurfers. The child climbed into the back and hid under a tarpaulin. When the owners, two gay men,’ he didn’t actually say gay men, but that’s how I choose to translate it, ‘came back, they put their boards in there and didn’t notice him at all. They drove away, and went straight home, all the way to Badalona. Why they come north to surf, God alone knows, but they do.’

‘Go on,’ I said, impatiently. I wasn’t in the mood for a discourse on the merits of beaches.

‘Sorry, of course. The boy was in the back of the truck all the time; they only found him when they unloaded it. By then he was cold, and he was terrified. Neither of the men speaks English, but fortunately one of them is fluent in French. They’re good guys; they fed him soup to warm him while they worked out what to do. Then one of them switched on the television, they saw the news and it was their turn to be scared. They phoned my colleagues straight away, and told them what had happened. Our guys went there, and the boy confirmed their story. They’re bringing him home now, blue lights. He should be with you in an hour, no more. I’m about to release a statement that he’s been found alive and well.’

‘Will there be consequences?’

‘For the two men?’ he exclaimed. ‘I can’t see why.’

‘Of course not, Alex; for wee Jonathan?’

‘Good God, no. He’s nine years old, and he’s a sad, frightened child; if it was anyone else, I’d be holding him until I knew why. I’m only returning him because I trust you to make whatever it is right. What is happening in his family?’

I couldn’t explain in any detail, for Tom would have understood everything I said and Janet would probably have picked up most of it too. I stalled him by telling him that I would explain everything next time I saw him, and that the problem would be leaving his patch next morning.

‘It won’t stop me worrying about the kid,’ he said.

‘I know, me neither, but his mother will make it right, I’m sure. He’s worried about her; that’s the heart of it.’

‘So why run away?’

‘As I said, I’ll tell you later. Thanks, Alex.’

I hung up. Everyone else in the room, Tom, Janet, Liam, Conrad, even bloody Charlie was gazing at me intently. I told them what had happened, just as Alex had explained it. I hadn’t got far before I saw that Janet was furious, but I hushed her until I was finished.

She had her say as soon as I was through. ‘He did that to us, Auntie Primavera,’ she snapped. ‘It was cruel. I was terrified; so was Tom, so was Conrad even. I thought he was dead. If Mum had known about it … Wait till I see him.’

‘What will you do, Janet?’ Liam asked her quietly.

‘What’s it got to do with you?’ she shouted at him.

‘Nothing,’ he replied, with a smile. ‘You hardly know me. But I was here when it happened, and I helped look for him, and I was just as scared as the rest of you. So I’m asking you, what are you going to do when he comes back?’

‘I’m going to …’ She struggled for the words, but couldn’t find them.

‘We’re going to ask him why he did it,’ Tom told her. ‘He’s our brother, and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you and me. He’s sad, Janet, and he’s lonely. He didn’t do that just to be bad. He isn’t bad; he isn’t like that. So we’re going to ask him what’s wrong, you and me, and whatever it is, we’re going to make it better.’ He looked at Liam. ‘Isn’t that right?’ he asked. ‘Isn’t that what we should do?’

He nodded. ‘It’s what I would do, for what that’s worth. I think Tom’s right, Janet, that he’s sad and he’s lonely, but I believe he’s angry as well, and you don’t take someone’s anger away by throwing more of the same at it. That’s what your other brother’s learned from his wing chun, and what I’ve come to understand from my own studies.’

‘Don’t get mad. Get even,’ Conrad muttered.

‘You’re only half right. Usually there’s nothing to get even for.’

‘Mmm.’ The kids’ minder stood and walked from the room, without a backward look.

‘He’s old school,’ I told Liam.

‘So would I be if something had actually happened to wee Jonathan. There’s nothing in my philosophy, or Tom’s, that says “Don’t punish the guilty”, but there is no guilt here.’ He looked at Janet, my ward, I suppose, to use an old-fashioned term. ‘Agreed?’ he asked.

She allowed him a quick smile, and nodded. ‘Yes, Liam. Sorry I was rude.’

‘You weren’t, you were upset. What does he like, wee Jonathan? What really floats his boat?’

‘Magnum ice creams,’ she replied instantly. ‘The white chocolate kind.’

‘Then how about you and Tom going and getting him one, hell on, two, and sticking them in the freezer for when he gets back?’

Tom looked at me for confirmation; I nodded. They left, Charlie following behind, heading for the nearest supply of ice-cream treats on sticks. I turned to Liam. ‘You gorgeous man,’ I murmured. I took his hand and tugged it. There was no doubt about what I had in mind, but he shook his head.

‘No,’ he said, softly. ‘I want you too, but this is not the time. You’re worth more than the half-hour we’d have before the cops get here with wee Jonathan. When he does there’s going to be a lot of emotion in here, and you’re the best person to handle it.’

‘Then afterwards.’

He grinned. ‘Sure. And what time do you have to be at the airport tomorrow?’

‘Early,’ I admitted.

‘What I thought. So you and Tom get up and bugger off, leaving me to share an awkward breakfast with Conrad, the kids and Charlie.’

I laughed, then gasped. ‘Charlie,’ I exclaimed. ‘I’d forgotten, we have to give him to Ben Simmers this evening, and he’ll be closing his shop soon.’

‘You make my case,’ he said. ‘Primavera, tough as it may be to tear myself away from you, and your remarkable body … don’t think I didn’t take a good look … I’m going to kiss you farewell now and then I’m going back to the hotel. When you come back, you’ll have had almost a week to think about me. If you haven’t thought better of everything we both have in mind right now, we’ll see where that takes us.’

I wanted to tell him, no way was he going anywhere, but I’d learned even in only a couple of days’ reacquaintance that he had an annoying tendency to be right all the time. So we kissed each other farewell, I gave him a quick squeeze for luck, hard enough to make his eyes widen, and I let him go on his way.