“What?”
“Look, I’ll explain,” he began, his forehead creasing, “Okay, would you have a wee drink?”
“It’s ten in the morning,” I replied uncertainly, “And my fridge hasn’t been topped up yet. What’s this about?”
I felt irate and clearly he could see it, “Just a coffee then and I’ll explain,” he said pleadingly.
“Okay,” I said, biting my tongue. I turned to make us both a cup.
“So, it’s like this. I’ve been thinking that it’s dangerous for us if we’re both here.”
“What’ya mean?” I asked, spinning back round, frowning.
“Hear me out,” he replied, holding his hands up.
I turned back to my task, rougher on the crockery than I’d usually be.
“The fact is that these early days are when we’d be most likely to slip up.”
I looked around to see him pull off the bag and set it carefully on the sofa.
“We’re both stressed and tired, and the police are going to push us a bit probably too. They may want to speak to you again if you’re here,” he paused, “And Vicky, your face looks terrible.”
“Cheers,” I said testily.
“You know what I mean. Anyway, if you weren’t here, it limits the way things…
“If I wasn’t here?” I interrupted.
“Just hear me out, either of us could slip up, I can’t go anywhere. The likelihood of the police going to the effort of talking to you again if you were further away helps too. I think we’d both feel better. Imagine if you got away from this for a few nights – away from here? That would good, right?”
It made some sense. I kept my face looking at the wall, stirring the milk into our coffees.
“What do you have in mind,” I asked evenly.
“Okay. It wouldn’t be unusual for a tourist to travel for a night or two from their main hotel on an excursion.”
“Go on,” I said, turning around and handing him a cup. I led us to the sofa and we both sat down.
“I had an associate pay in cash for a hotel on the other side of the island. Well, more of a guest house, but anyway. You could leave here, email the hotel to say about what you are doing, then come back in a couple of days when things have calmed down a bit.”
I swallowed hard on a mouthful of coffee and tried to keep my face straight. My head was thumping and despite the hot coffee, my mouth was dry.
‘I don’t know what to think’, screamed a voice inside.
“I don’t know what to think,” I said quietly.
He offered up his hands again, palms up.
“I see what you’re saying,” I continued, looking out of the window, chewing it over. Out there another vacation day was starting for everybody else. Maybe I could grab a little respite from all of this.
I stopped suddenly and fixed him in the eye.
“You really think we should do this?”
My stomach was fluttering. I couldn’t tell if it was just the ongoing nerves or because I was excited at getting the chance to leave this place. If only for a day or two.
He rotated in his seat, leaning towards me,
“I really do. We can do this and life can get back to some kind of normality in the future, but we can’t fuck things up now. We have to do whatever is best so that we don’t say or do something we’ll regret.”
I nodded.
Draining my coffee, I stood up.
“Okay, so how are we doing this?”
“There’s a taxi coming for you in half an hour.”
“What the fuck?”
24
Forty minutes later and I was in a taxi, heading for the east of the island. My handbag was in my lap and the holdall was on the back seat, filled with a few clothes and other belongings I had quickly stuffed in. Richard had brought the bag so I could just throw a few things together. I sat upright, with my knees together, didn’t know what to be at. I was a ball of electricity.
My driver was a jolly, black skinned big fella. He told me how he was originally from Tunisia and worked away from his family for half the year. His accent was gorgeous to listen to and his throaty laugh infectious. As we flew along the new carriageways in the high morning sun, I definitely felt some tension drop off me. I let my chest deflate as I breathed out, staring out the window at the palm trees and piles of cooled centuries old lava whizzing past. Maybe I could get through this, I tried to convince myself.
I had no idea how bad things would get.
After about an hour, I began to see flashes of the west coast of the island. Coming into view behind the many resorts was the rich blue of the sea beyond. After several more turns, my driver informed me that it would just be a few more minutes. We seemed to have crossed into a more local area, with just a few shops and lots of small houses. We pulled into a dusty road with the look of a small town’s main street and we pulled up on the left hand side.
“Here we are missus,” he beamed.
I looked out the window at a rather down at the heel looking double fronted building. It couldn’t have had more than about a twenty room place. It had more the look more of a crumbling old hostel than a hotel on a resort island. Who would choose to stay here? I didn’t think the island would have areas like this. I realised that I was sitting daydreaming and began to rustle in my bag for my purse.
“No missus, already paid for,” he said warmly and opened his door. He nipped around to my side, more nimbly than I expected his frame to allow and he helped me out. I thanked him and made my way up the steps, drinking down another shot of the insalubrious view. It almost made me gag.
What the fuck?
Anyway, I was
