Chapter 16
Evangeline
I had been on the most fantastic cruise around the Mediterranean with Peter and friends. Peter was retired but still owned a worldwide courier company. He owned a thirty-six-metre tri-deck Heesen Duke Town yacht that slept up to ten people. It had an on-deck spa, a bar area and the most luxurious interior.
Peter and I were just friends but he wanted things to go further because he’d told me that he was looking for a companion to enjoy his retirement with. There’s no messing around when you get to our age because you never know how long you have left. His wife died four years ago and he was lonely, but I remained cautious and wanted to find out what kind of person he was before I committed to anything serious, and what better way than to spend three months with him and friends sailing the islands and dining at exquisite restaurants.
My favourite place to date had been the Andalusia southern Spanish city of Marbella and the exquisite eateries. In particular, I loved the Spanish restaurant, Don Quijote Pollo, where they cooked the most superb lobster spaghetti, and the exemplary Piucaro, where I indulged in grilled seabream with garlic and parsley sauce. The atmosphere was one of happiness and tranquillity, yet there was a sense of the restaurant being steeped in history, and I felt that it may have been a family business handed down from generation to generation. It was a fabulous stress-free holiday, however, all good things must come to an end.
On my return, I was concerned to hear that Daniella had not spoken with Elanor, the housekeeper. This troubled me because, although I did not speak to Dani that often, she always kept in touch with Elanor on a regular basis, confiding in her about what she was doing and who she was hanging out with. In fact, I found out more about Dani from Elanor than from Dani herself. I had tried her mobile and there was a message saying, Hi this is Dani, sorry I’m not available but I’m most likely trekking through the Amazon forest. Leave me a message and as soon as I have reception, I will call you. Byeee
I was no technical whizz kid but I would have thought that if there was no reception I would not be able to reach Dani’s mobile at all.
“Elanor, come into the lounge please,” I shouted through to the kitchen. I had asked her to cook me a paella and I expected nothing but the best, after all, she had Spanish blood in her even though she had been born in England.
“Yes, ma’am. How can I help you?”
“Tell me again, Elanor, when did you last speak to Daniella or hear from her?”
“One-minute, ma’am I will get my phone.” I waited, impatiently, unsure whether to involve the police. I really did not want anything unsavoury to reflect back on to me or my good name would be ruined. “Ma’am, I last spoke to her twelve weeks ago, but that was just a text message to say that she was going backpacking in South America. It seemed a bit sudden because she had never mentioned wanting to do that and she never talked about any plans to do it, but I know how impulsive young people can be so I just accepted it.”
I was surmising that she had won a huge sum of money to be able to pay off the debt and take herself on holiday for three months. It was concerning that no one had heard from her within that time because I would have thought that she would be desperate to share her adventure with Elanor.
“Elanor, who are her friends? Who should I contact because if they have not heard from her either, I will have no option but to involve the police.”
“Ma’am, I am not so sure about who her friends are. I know that she is friends with a girl called Marsha and that they would go to the same club together. That is where she met her boyfriend, Luke.”
“Well, she did not mention a boyfriend to me!” I say, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance that I did not know about this. “I think I need to call someone and get them to track this young girl down so that I can speak to her in person.”
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