Todaythe plan was to go into the old town and do some sight-seeing andexploring; then after a final night on board and the usual heavybreakfast, and assuming he hadn’t got it wrong and Gemma and himwere really over, he’d do what was needed with her and melt into anew life, maybe making his way across to the Greek islands, perhapsCrete for a while at least. Mark had stayed there one summer a fewyears ago when a student and enjoyed the easy-going atmosphere. He hadmanaged to get some work in a bar with no questions beingasked.
Mark had hadno real plan at the beginning of the trip, apart from a vague ideaof some kind of accident-cum-drowning if things didn’t work out.However after Gemma had gone back to their cabin once they hadeaten last night, he’d spent the rest of the evening drinking withDerek and Jude, an oldish couple of regular cruisers who’d told himabout the little island of Lokrum that snuggled in the bay a fewhundred metres from Dubrovnik itself. They had seemed pleased tohave someone younger to impress and Derek, in particular, hadrevelled in being allowed to show off his knowledge of the area,and of life in general. Apparently Lokrum had been the home toBenedictine monks for centuries up to the early 1800s but, apartfrom being used as a holiday home by Archduke Maximilian of Austriafor a few years in the mid-nineteenth century, it had beenuninhabited ever since. However it was open to visitors in the daytime with regular ferries to and fro from the port of Dubrovnik.Aside from the remains of the monastery, a few paths and a smallcafé, it was largely wooded, although there was a deep salt waterlake there, apparently ideal for swimming. Derek and Jude hadvisited on each of their previous trips to Dubrovnik and, between G& Ts and pints, had explained how it was the perfect place toget away from everyone and everything, and particularly so in lateautumn. Their implication, albeit in their slightly inebriatedstate by the end of the evening, was that a young couple likehimself and Gemma could get back to nature and ‘do their thing’, asit was rather inelegantly put. In fact, they had mentioned therewas some sort of nudist beach there too, although November probablywasn’t the time to explore that. For Mark, though, it had sowed theseeds of a plan. When he had returned to their cabin for the night,Gemma had been awake still and he’d suggested they visited Lokrumon one of the two final days of the trip.
As the Uganda droppedanchor between Dubrovnik and the island itself he could see whatDerek and Jude had meant. The outline of the island, dark green,almost black, against the horizon and early morning light, with thewaves from the liner lapping gently along a deserted shoreline,evidenced no signs of habitation.
***
Gemmaput down her copy of Robert Ludlum’s latest story of espionage andskulduggery, The ParsifalMosaic, stretched lazily out of the deckchair, pulled her jacket around her shoulders and wandered down totheir cabin to see if Mark was going to bother with breakfastbefore the first ferry of the day to the old city. She liked a goodthriller but this one on the Cold War hadn’t gripped her in thesame way as The BourneIdentity or some of his other previousbooks, and especially The ScarlattiInheritance, had. This one was a littlefar-fetched and samey; still, it was alright as holiday reading andnice that bits were set around the Mediterranean. It had been apleasant start to the final day of the cruise and all in all and inspite of her misgivings she had enjoyed the trip so far. Theweather had been unusually mild for early November and the briefstopovers in Malta and Naples had been fascinating, if a littlerushed. Mark hadn’t been too much of a strain either. Even thoughhe’d agreed not to expect anything, they had decided to share acabin and she’d actually let him sleep with her on the secondnight, partly to keep him quiet but mainly because sleeping onboard had turned her on – and why not? After all, if he couldn’tcope with it that was his look out. The thing was that Mark hadbeen really easy-going, in fact in a quite out of character manner,and they had got on remarkably well for what was definitely for hera last goodbye. She had noticed that he’d seemed somewhatdistracted too, as if he had something on his mind, but she reallycouldn’t be bothered to worry or even think about him or what wasgoing on in his head. They had made an arrangement to have thisfinal holiday and that was it as far as Gemma wasconcerned.
She made her way downto the cabins, checking that breakfast was being served in thedining area. Before she had reached the cabin deck she bumped intoMark who was on his way to find her. He was dressed and lookedready to go.
‘Come on Mark, let’sgrab a quick bite and get the ferry into the town, it looksabsolutely gorgeous and it’s going to be a nice day by allaccounts.’
She gathered herthings for the day and reminded herself that she needed to get to apost office or somewhere she could phone her solicitors and bank tocheck that the details on the sale of her flat in London were beingtidied up and it was going ahead as planned.
After a quickbreakfast, they joined quite a number of their fellow passengers toclamber down to the ship’s tender for the short trip across to theharbour, which apparently wasn’t deep enough to take the largerships themselves. It wasn’t a problem for Gemma or Mark but theclimb down the side of the Uganda was clearly something of anordeal for one or two who,
