One of Us Is Dead

74 Friday 14 October 2022

‘It’s hard not to feel in the pink here, isn’t it?’ Debbie said with a teasing grin.

Taylor grinned back. They were seated in the warm air on pink cushions; all the waiting staff in pink and white, and the large umbrella above them, shading them from the sun on their table out on the dining terrace, was also pink.

Taylor, in shorts, linen shirt, flip-flops and a Panama hat was feeling just insanely happy. Debbie wore a loose white top over her bikini, her fair hair tucked up inside a white baseball cap, and large dark glasses with a discreet Ray-Ban logo at the edge of the frame. She was leaning across the table on her elbows, hands steepled, with the lunchtime wind rippling the surface of the sea behind her. She looked even more gorgeous than ever, he thought, and he was feeling crazy for her.

Spontaneously, he reached across the table, took her right arm, drew her hand towards him and kissed it. ‘Am I dreaming?’

She raised her glasses with her free hand, and looked at him with her clear blue eyes. ‘Yep. Right now you’re having a nightmare. When you wake up it’s going to be even worse!’

‘Then I’ll stay asleep.’

‘Good plan.’

Debbie turned and looked at the beach behind her. A small bay of white sand, and a long line of sunbeds with pink mattresses, beneath pink parasols. ‘I read something once about this place. I think it was that late film director and food critic, Michael Winner, walking along this beach on New Year’s Day with John Cleese. Cleese apparently turned to him suddenly and said: You know, there must be more to life than this.’

Taylor laughed. ‘And is there?’

She cocked her head provocatively. ‘You tell me?’

‘Since you arrived yesterday, no, there isn’t. There isn’t anywhere in the world or anyone I would rather be with than you.’

‘I feel that too, I really do.’ She gently pulled his arm towards her and kissed his hand, one finger at a time. Then she looked up at him, quizzically. ‘Is it just coincidence you’re in Barbados, or is there something you’ve not yet told me?’

‘You’ve not really given me much of a chance to tell you anything since you arrived!’

She leaned further over and punched him playfully. ‘Too busy flirting?!’

Both realized a shadow had fallen. A middle-aged, rather prim-looking waitress stood discreetly by the table, with a bottle of rosé in an ice bucket, on a silver tray. They grinned. The waitress did her best and failed to hide a grin too. ‘I heard nothing!’ she said, breaking into a warm laugh.

She set the bottle down, opened it with a corkscrew then asked, ‘Will the gentleman or the lady try the wine?’

Taylor indicated to Debbie.

As the waitress departed, saying she would return to take their food order, Taylor raised his glass and they clinked. ‘Cheers,’ he said.

‘To more to life than this?’ Debbie replied.

‘I think to want any more would be greedy.’

She nodded. ‘I agree. I don’t want any more than this right now, but I do want to know why you are here — why Barbados?’

He sipped the cold wine and it tasted so good. He immediately took a longer sip. He didn’t have to pilot a plane again until next Tuesday, when he had to pick up Tommy Towne from Jersey and fly him to a meeting in Brussels. Out of long habit when he worked for easyJet he’d always maintained a twelve-hour bottle-to-throttle rule. So for now he could throw the rule book to the wind and enjoy the next few days of pure hedonism. ‘Why Barbados?’ he replied.

‘Uh-huh. You could have gone anywhere in the Caribbean or anywhere else. Rufus Rorke supposedly disappeared off the coast of Barbados. Is it pure coincidence you’re here?’

He shook his head, then glanced up as their waitress brought them menus and thanked her. Turning back to Debbie he said, ‘Let’s order and then I’ll tell you what I’ve found out.’

‘Has it been worth the trip?’

‘Bugger Rufus. You’ve been worth the trip!’

She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You’re out of practice dating, aren’t you, Taylor?’

‘Why do you say that?’

She grinned again. ‘Because you’re so bloody cheesy!’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ he retorted.