by Mandy Baggot
*
The club was alive with revellers as they came through the double doors into the hub of the building. Seeing it now, full not empty, the music making everything throb, Alex was even more overawed by the situation. He shouldn’t be. He really shouldn’t be. He needed to own this opportunity.
‘Oh my God!’ Beth exclaimed, eyes roving every corner of the nightclub. ‘Heidi is going to love this! It’s like a… a… techno cave!’
Alex smiled at her enthusiasm. Having her here with him was definitely helping. She had always given him self-belief, made him feel strong, his aims in reach. ‘I knew you would like it.’
‘I’ve never been anywhere like this,’ Beth called over the sound of a track with drum and bass that was making his ribcage rattle. Neither had he.
‘You want a drink?’ he asked her.
‘No!’ Beth shouted back, eyes bright, smiling.
‘You are sure?’ Alex said, surprised.
‘Yes!’ she replied. ‘Because I want to dance.’ She began swaying in time to the rhythm of the music, lifting their joined hands and trying to involve him.
‘I don’t really dance any more,’ he said, shaking his head and smiling at her.
‘What?’ Beth called back.
‘I said,’ he began. Then louder: ‘I don’t really dance any more.’
‘It’s not that I can’t hear you!’ Beth yelled to him. ‘I just don’t want to hear you.’ She pulled at his hand, tugging him forward towards the steps that led down to the pit of bodies writhing in musical appreciation ahead of them. All he could do was follow.
And then he was watching, as Beth put her arms in the air, swinging her hips from side to side, her short dress showing her lithe thighs and setting fire to all the ardour he possessed. It was like the years were rolling away right in front of him. The complications of his life briefly faded away and this moment became everything. The heavy thrum of the music, the movement of his fellow revellers rising and falling as one. Joy. Pure and simple joy.
He started to move too, dancing with Beth, getting caught up in her thrill as she hopped and bopped and punched the strobe-lit air. He had missed this so much. And when his eyes rose to the DJ booth hanging out over the sea of party-goers, he knew what he had to do. It was all about Saturday night. If he really, truly wanted it, he had to step up and take it.
As that thought invigorated his senses, he felt his phone vibrate in the back pocket of his jeans. Taking a step back into what little space there was, he drew it out and read the incoming message. It was from Elektra.
Went to check in on your mum like you asked. She isn’t there! I’ve looked all over the house, the field, the barn. I don’t know where to look next! Call me!
Alex checked his watch. It was after midnight. His mother didn’t drive. Where was she?
Thirty-Five
Alex and Margalo Hallas’s home, Almyros
Alex’s overriding emotion was fear. His mother wasn’t a well woman and she was missing. But there was also a feeling of regret. He had just had the most perfect date with a woman he cared so much about and they had had to cut their night short. He had dropped Beth at Paralia View and she had kissed him briefly – too briefly – saying she hoped everything was OK and for him to let her know as much, no matter what the time.
As he parked the quadbike, Elektra was waiting for him, pacing, hands going from the folder she was holding to her glasses in quick succession.
‘She is not back?’ Alex asked, getting off the bike, tearing away his helmet and making strides towards the house.
‘No,’ Elektra answered. ‘I did not know what else to do. Should I call my dad? Maybe the police?’
Alex shook his head. But why was he shaking his head? This was out of character. His mother told him exactly what she was doing if it diverted from her routine of being in the house. Didn’t she?
‘You have looked everywhere?’ The property wasn’t vast – only the two bedrooms and the living, kitchen and dining areas and a small bathroom, the barn and the field. There certainly was a number of places a small old lady could hide. Unless…
‘Did you check the barn?’ Alex asked, turning on his heel and heading off away from the little house. ‘All of it?’
‘I have been in the barn all night,’ Elektra reminded, then paused. ‘Except when the goats started making a noise and I came up to see what was going on.’
‘Did you leave the trapdoor open?’ Alex breathed, pacing up his step now.
Elektra put her fingers over her mouth, lips opening as if in shock. ‘Alex, I’m sorry! I did! Because I thought she was in the house, in bed, not liable to come out into the dark!’
‘Mama!’ Alex began shouting as he rushed towards the old wooden building. ‘Mama!’
‘I left the light on,’ Elektra said, hurrying after him. ‘She can’t have not seen the trapdoor if the light was on.’ Then she gasped. ‘What if she has seen everything?’
‘Elektra,’ Alex admonished. ‘Right now, I am worried she has hit her head or broken her leg. I do not care if she has discovered the kumquat factory!’
He barrelled through the half-open door thinking the absolute worst. His mother, lying on the floor of the make-shift laboratory, bleeding from a head wound and unconscious, one of Elektra’s bubbling pots of liquid searing her skin…
‘Mama!’ Alex called as he began to descend the ladder as quickly as he could.
‘Is she there?’ Elektra asked, voice panicked. ‘Can you see her?’
Alex looked round the large underground space fully lit. There was no sign of his mother very much alive and snooping nor was there a body in need of CPR. It looked how it usually looked, organised scientific chaos with bits of Elektra everywhere – broken pencils, measuring implements, hair that shouldn’t really have escaped in what was supposed to be a clean space.
‘She’s not here,’ Alex said, stating the obvious. Now he was back to wondering exactly where she could be. Maybe he should phone his uncle. Perhaps she had been taken ill – she had no idea Elektra was hanging out in the barn. Then, from outside, there was the sound of wheels on the dirt track and a car engine. It was slowing down, and then there was a squeak of the brakes.
‘Quick,’ Alex said to his cousin. ‘Let’s get up before we have to stay down here.’ He made for the ladder and began hauling himself up at speed, turning round and holding his hand out to Elektra to help her.
As fast as he could, he and Elektra made good the door to the downstairs, covering it with the rug and the lawnmower before bounding from the barn and out onto the land. It was at that moment the headlights illuminated the Hallas property and a truck pulled to an abrupt halt.
Alex covered his eyes from the main beam of the headlights. Was this his uncle? Was it an ambulance?
‘Julius, you take care of Milo while I open the gate.’
It was Margalo’s voice, directing the driver who had jumped down out of the car. Who was Julius? Who was Milo? The only Milo he knew was their goat.
‘Hurry!’ Margalo hissed. ‘And be quiet!’
‘Mama.’ Alex addressed the shadows in the dark, stepping closer until he could see them both. It was then he noticed their goat, Milo, stood up in the back of the flat-bed vehicle. The animal bleated a little forlornly.
‘Aleko! What are you doing out here at this time of night?’ Margalo clutched at her chest, then began a series of wheezes to rival a mythical creature from Fantastic Beasts.
‘Mama, what are you doing out? Where have you been? And why is Milo on the back of this truck?’ He looked at the man who had been driving the truck, wondering who he was and why he was driving his mother around late at night.
‘Julius,’ Margalo said, breathing hard and ignoring Alex’s questions. ‘Will you take Milo to the field.’
‘Mama,’ Alex began, stepping closer, hoping to urge the mystery man to stop moving too. ‘What is going on here?’ He looked directly at the tall, dark-haired man who was possibly mid-forties
in age.
‘There was an accident… or an illness… I am not sure,’ Margalo began.
‘What?!’ Elektra exclaimed. ‘You are OK, Aunt Margalo?’
Alex watched his mother nodding, her hands battering away her niece’s question. ‘Yes, I am fine… nothing but the usual daily pain I have to endure.’
‘Then who is ill?’ Alex asked. ‘What was the accident?’ He looked to Julius, suddenly angry. ‘Who are you? And what are you doing with my mother?’
‘Aleko, please,’ Margalo interrupted, shuffling between them a little. ‘Julius has only been a help to me.’ She coughed before continuing. ‘If it was not for him… I do not know what would have happened to Milo.’
Milo. There was something wrong with their goat? Alex was having trouble taking all this in.
‘What is wrong with Milo?’ Elektra inquired.
‘We… that is… I do not quite know,’ Margalo continued, shuffling towards the bed of the truck where Milo was starting to look like he wanted to eat his way through his rope tether and leap down.
‘There is a virus,’ Julius finally said, rather gruffly. ‘It is at another farm too.’
‘A virus?!’ Elektra exclaimed, pushing her glasses up her nose. ‘What kind of virus?’
Margalo shrugged and seemed to glower a little at her giant companion. ‘We do not know that for certain. The vet is not sure.’
‘You have been to the vet?’ Alex asked, stepping ahead of Julius and beginning to untie his animal, looking at the goat for signs of infection or anything else.
‘Yes,’ Margalo answered. ‘Of course. Where else do you think we have been?’
‘I had no idea,’ Alex said. ‘I did not know where you were. I was thinking the worst.’
‘We were worried, Aunt Margalo,’ Elektra added.
Margalo waved the concern away then smiled. ‘You were worried I would catch you meeting secretly again.’ She widened the smile. ‘Making my surprise.’ She took a breath. ‘So much organisation. I am expecting very big things.’
Alex wanted to bury his face into Milo’s rough coat of fur. He had completely forgotten the lie about a surprise for his mother. He needed to think of something…
‘Well, it is a big thing.’
Alex raised his head at the sound of Elektra’s voice sounding so full of authority. He suddenly felt completely nervous. He encouraged Milo off the back of the truck and onto solid ground. The goat brayed and tried to nip his hand. He wasn’t usually unfriendly to anyone. It was then Alex noticed a tear on the animal’s ear.
Margalo slapped her hands to her cheeks, eyes on Elektra. ‘Tell me now! I am so excited I cannot wait a second longer.’
‘Milo’s ear is torn,’ Alex told the group. ‘And he looks unsettled.’
‘He did not like the vet,’ Julius said, as if in explanation. The tall man folded his arms across his chest and seemed to gain width. Milo bared his teeth at the giant man and growled.
‘Come on, Elektra, no more surprises,’ Margalo carried on, stepping nearer to her niece. ‘You know a shock could make an old woman like me have a heart attack. So, let us not deal with hospitals. Tell me now.’
‘Mama, you really should wait,’ Alex said. ‘Have a little patience, no?’
‘I have neither patience or belief,’ Margalo admitted. ‘I think your scheming together has nothing to do with a surprise for me.’
‘Oh, it really does!’ Elektra said. ‘It really does… you see… Alex is…’
He wanted so much for his cousin to stop talking now. Whatever was going to leave her lips was going to be yet another problem he had to work out. He seemed to have a whole host of problems in his life at the moment.
‘Alex is performing at the new club in Sidari on Saturday night.’
And that was the very worst thing Elektra could have said. Giving up the kumquat operation would have even been preferable to that. The night air completely stilled, the humidity somehow reaching new heights with every passing second. Alex didn’t dare even raise his head to meet what he knew would be a disgusted expression from his mother. He just continued to stroke Milo’s neck, trying to calm the skittishness his goat was displaying.
‘You can go now, Julius,’ Margalo said, her voice flatter than an uncooked pita bread. The man seemed to need no further encouragement to depart and it took him mere seconds to hop up into his truck and pull away from the property. Once the dust had settled there was nothing but the buzz of bugs and the intermittent murmur from their sheep.
‘Mama…’ Alex began, unable to take the silence any longer.
‘I am tired,’ Margalo snapped in reply. ‘Put the goat back in the field. We will talk in the morning.’
Thirty-Six
Roda
‘I am never ever leaving you alone for the night again.’
Beth tugged at the reins of her horse – Barbaro – trying desperately to get him to move his head out of the bushes he was eager to munch. They had been on board ponies for only thirty minutes or so and Beth’s arse was aching like she had spent twenty-four hours on a rowing machine. Heidi had woken her up early, strong coffee in her hands, and Beth had smiled and been all ready to launch into the tale of her date with Alex – the gorgeous beach thick with sea glass, the delicious picnic and the dancing at the club that had made her remember carefree – when Heidi had announced that day’s activity. Apparently, she had booked the riding while marinating herself in ouzo and staring at her phone waiting for a response from Elektra. She had told Heidi about the date, while they were working out which side the fuel cap was on at the petrol station. And, as she had described the ocean and mountain setting, the walk along the beach searching for sea glass that was now in a carrier bag in her room and the new club in Sidari, the sights, sounds and flavours of all she had shared with Alex filled her heart with feel-good.
‘Come on, all this fresh air!’ Heidi responded, breathing in deeply, so deeply she almost went sliding down her horse’s neck as it stopped to pick at a tempting grape vine. ‘Whoa! King Queen! It’s 2019! Be kind is the mantra!’
Beth smiled. King Queen and Barbaro did sound like a couple of Ru-Paul’s drag contestants. Embracing the here and now was what she needed to do. So, she had had an amazing date with Alex. It was a great evening. It didn’t need to be anything other than that. Besides, it had been cut abruptly short by him having to leave for home and she didn’t know much about what had happened with his mother. He had sent one short text an hour after he had dropped her back at the cottage with the briefest of kisses outside Paralia View.
My mother is OK.
Nothing more. No x. No emoji. She shook her head, causing Barbaro to do the same, his wild blond mane sending dust into the air. She had been fixated on how people texted since Heidi had gone on about Tilly’s messaging traits.
‘Maybe I’m not destined to be with anyone,’ Heidi stated, managing to tap her horse into moving forward. They were at the back of the pack, the guide focused on a couple of children in the party but looking conscientiously back every now and then to check on their progress. ‘I mean I invited her to come today, like with the parasailing, and here we are again. A no-show.’
‘Come on, Heidi. Where’s that “never say die” attitude gone?’
‘I think you’re confusing me with James Bond.’ Heidi sniffed. ‘And I have no idea why. I don’t like martinis or dressing up in a dinner jacket.’
‘But you do love exotically gorgeous women from all over the globe,’ Beth reminded as she drew up alongside her friend, Barbaro finally complying a little.
‘That is true,’ Heidi answered, a flicker of a smile on her lips.
‘Do you want to know what I think?’ Beth asked.
‘I’m not sure… can I call Anne Hegerty and ask her?’
‘Ha, ha.’ Beth took a breath, letting her body find the rhythm of her horse’s side-to-side sway, the hot sun on her well lotioned-up arms delivering revitalising. ‘I’m simply saying don’t live your li
fe in a rush.’
‘Every second of my life is a rush. I’m even rushing saying this sentence so we can talk about something else even though I started this conversation.’
‘But it’s you who has kept telling me we’re not in London right now,’ Beth said. ‘And you have to admit, the Greek way of life is pretty laid-back. I mean, when was the last time we “commuted” to a horse school and spent the morning riding through a beautiful, peaceful landscape breathing in the freshest of air, the sun on our backs, the scent of summer everywhere…’
‘Ponies stopping to tear at the flora and fauna, dropping piles of shit all over the place…’
‘It’s nice,’ Beth admitted. ‘It’s like real life. Not that social-media-hopping kind of life we’ve got used to as real life in England.’
‘The rushing,’ Heidi agreed.
‘The looking… but not fully seeing.’
‘But none of us know how long we’re going to get,’ Heidi bleated as King Queen let out a snort and began nodding her head up and down like she was at some sort of thoroughbred rave – or lip-syncing for her life…
‘I know,’ Beth said, sighing. And that had been at the back of her mind when she had committed to Charles. She took another breath and carried on. ‘But equally,’ she continued, ‘King Queen could set off at a full gallop right now, fling you over her head, into that bush… which might contain a… nest of scorpions. They would bite you to death and you’d be gone.’
‘Sting,’ Heidi said.
‘What?’
‘I’m pretty sure scorpions sting not bite.’
‘I’m just saying…’
‘That I could die today,’ Heidi finished. ‘Which means I do need to live my life in a rush!’
‘No,’ Beth said. ‘It means you have to take life as it comes. What’s that American saying I’m not keen on… don’t sweat the small stuff.’ She made a face. ‘I don’t believe I said that.’
‘Not really understanding. Are we, King Queen?’ Heidi said, stroking one of her horse’s ears which earned her an agitated whinny.