by T A Williams
Although they were a couple of hundred metres out from the shore, she could hear a dog barking, and not just an occasional woof. This dog was making a terrific racket. As she focused on a tiny strip of beach, she saw the animal. He was a big black dog and he was clearly either very excited or very upset. What drew her attention, however, was an object lying on the pebbles alongside the dog and as she concentrated hard and peered through the lenses, she realised that it looked like a body. A motionless body. She whipped round to point the scene out to Charlie.
‘Can you see what I see?’
He reached for his own binoculars. ‘I can. It looks like there’s somebody lying on the beach but fully clothed, and more hunched than stretched out.’ He pulled the binoculars away from his eyes. ‘It’s an unnatural position and I don’t like the look of it one bit. I can’t see anybody else around so I think we need to investigate.’
Anna had already spun the wheel before he had finished speaking. She headed in towards the beach at full speed and only throttled back as they neared the shore. Charlie went forward to keep an eye out for underwater hazards as the seabed shelved until they felt the bow grate on the gravel and they stopped, nose-on to the beach. He jumped out with the mooring rope while Anna slid over the side into the water and splashed across to where the dog was bouncing around, still barking, clearly very agitated. As she drew nearer, she saw that this was a fine-looking black Labrador and she was relieved to see him stop barking and his tail start wagging as he saw her approach. As she emerged from the water, he charged up to her and she hesitated for a moment, but there was no mistaking that his intentions were far from aggressive. He looked extremely pleased to see her.
‘Ciao, bello.’ She patted him on the head and turned her attention to the figure on the beach. It was immediately visible that this was an elderly man lying on his side, curled forward in a foetal position, clutching his chest with both hands. And he wasn’t moving. Although Anna had done a couple of first aid courses both in the Girl Guides and as part of her CPD training with the company, she had never seen a dead body before and she approached with hesitation. As she did so, to her infinite relief, she saw him make a little movement and heard a groan. She knelt down beside him and caught hold of one of his hands.
‘Are you all right?’ As she asked the question in Italian, she realised this was a pretty stupid thing to say. He patently wasn’t all right. Still, it had the desired effect and she saw his eyes open, along with it his mouth. He mouthed a few words and she leant close to him to hear what he was trying to say.
‘Cuore… cuore.’ She could barely hear, but the meaning of the word was unmistakable. It was his heart. She heard footsteps in the gravel behind her and saw Charlie come running, so she hastily translated.
‘He’s having or he’s had a heart attack. We need to get an ambulance here pronto.’
He nodded. ‘I thought that was the case so I’ve just taken a look around. There’s a pretty good track just up over that rise which should lead up to a road. What did Windsurfer Guy say this place is called?’
‘Cala Nera, I think he said.’
‘You’d better call 999 or whatever the emergency number is here in Italy.’
‘It’s 112.’ She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled. As did so, the dog came across to her and leant against her leg, and she could feel he was trembling. She stroked him, gradually calming him down, as she spoke to the operator. It was all dealt with remarkably quickly and efficiently and the operator was even able to pinpoint their position by tracking her phone. An ambulance was dispatched from the hospital in Portoferraio, scheduled to arrive within thirty minutes, while paramedics from nearby Campo nell’Elba, just inland of Marina di Campo, would be with them sooner. In the meantime, Anna went back to the man on the ground and tried to remember what she should do. She knelt down beside him, reached for his wrist and felt his pulse racing, but at least it was still beating. He was sweating and she wiped his forehead with a tissue. As she did so, his eyes opened and she leant close to his ear in the hope that he would hear and understand. She spoke in Italian, slowly and clearly.
‘The ambulance is coming. They’ll look after you. Just take it easy. Everything’ll be all right.’ She had no idea whether this was true or not but it seemed sensible to offer reassurance. He managed to marshal the faintest of smiles.
‘Grazie.’ And his eyes closed again. She was still crouching beside him, holding his hand, when the sound of a siren rapidly approaching made Charlie run up the bank and start waving to indicate their exact location. A minute later two paramedics appeared and, to her relief, took over.
Anna sat down on a rock alongside Charlie and the dog followed her, plonking himself down between the two of them, his nose on her lap, his big brown eyes staring adoringly up at her.
‘Looks like you’ve got a friend for life there, Anna.’ Charlie gave the dog an affectionate pat on the head and received a slobbery lick in return.
‘He’s a lovely dog. And he’s not very old, I don’t think.’ She looked down at him as she scratched his nose. ‘You may just have saved your master’s life, you know. You really are a very good dog.’
She was speaking in English but the dog didn’t appear to mind. He just kept on staring up at her with an expression of deep devotion. Anna checked the medallion on his collar and saw that it bore a phone number. Pulling out her phone, she tried calling it and seconds later heard ringing coming from the old man’s direction. Hastily ringing off, she called across to the paramedics to explain and the woman waved back at her. Anna looked over at Charlie as she put her phone away and gave him a rueful look.
‘It was worth a shot.’
‘Absolutely. On that medallion it doesn’t say what the dog’s name is, does it?’
‘Nope. Just the phone number.’
Less than ten minutes later the ambulance arrived and the four paramedics wasted no time before loading the man onto a stretcher and carrying him up from the beach. As they put him into the ambulance, a problem arose. The female paramedic glanced down at the dog.
‘Is this your dog?’
Anna shook her head. ‘No, he must belong to the man, the patient.’
‘The thing is, we can’t take a dog in the ambulance – at least not such a big dog. Do you think you could look after it for now? The patient’s already showing signs of recovery so as soon as he comes round we can tell him where you are and he can arrange for somebody to pick the dog up from you.’
‘So you think he’s going to be all right?’ Anna was delighted at the news. ‘And, yes, of course we’ll look after the dog. Have you got a pen and some paper?’ She wrote her name and Hotel Panorama on the bottom of the sheet on the clipboard, along with her phone number. ‘Was it a heart attack?’
‘It looks like it, but we think he’ll be okay. Maybe it was just a heart event, a hiccup. Thanks for helping out. He probably owes you his life.’
Annie smiled at her. ‘He owes his life to his dog. Pity we don’t know the names of either of them.’
Chapter 7
By the time they got back to the hotel, Anna was feeling quite weary after the events of the day. She told Felice at the front desk what had happened and asked if they minded if the dog stayed with her tonight. When she explained where they had found the man it soon emerged that both the dog and his owner were well known here at the hotel.
‘Of course it’s all right if George stays with you. We know George and we know Signor Dante very well. How lucky for him you were passing by. Poor old gentleman.’ Felice lowered his voice. ‘He’s been in and out of hospital over the past few years with heart problems. Such a pity…’
‘An Italian who gave his dog an English name, that’s interesting.’
Felice shook his head. ‘No, he’s not Italian. Signor Dante’s Canadian. He lives just up from the little beach where you found him. He’s been there for many years now and he used to come round here to eat quite regularly. Since he’s been unwell we�
��ve seen less of him, but he’s a lovely man.’
‘Does he live alone, do you know?’
‘Yes, as far as I know. I think there’s a woman who comes in some days to clean but otherwise he’s on his own.’
‘And which one’s his house? The big one with the park around it?’
Felice gave Anna a cheeky grin as he shook his head. ‘I thought you would have known that already. That house belongs to Marco Varese – the guy I saw you going off with last night.’
Anna immediately felt her cheeks start to burn. Clearly nothing escaped this man. Filing away Marcos’s surname for future reference, she did her best to explain. ‘Oh, right, thanks for telling me. I only met Marco the day before yesterday. He almost ran me down with his sailboard and he took me out for dinner last night to say sorry.’ Seeing as Felice knew Marco she took the opportunity to find out a little more about him. ‘Do you know him well?’
Felice nodded. ‘Marco often used to come here to eat. I don’t see him as much these days. When his wife was around, they were regular customers.’
‘He told me he’s divorced, is that right?’
‘Yes, as of a couple of years ago.’
‘He didn’t say much about why they split up. Any ideas?’
Felice glanced around to check that they were alone and leant forward onto his elbows on the desktop, lowering his voice to little more than a whisper. ‘From what I could gather, it was a combination of things. His wife – she was a nice lady – came here on her own a few times towards the end of their relationship and the impression I got from her was that he wasn’t an easy man to live with. But most of all she said the trouble was that he wouldn’t stop playing around with other women.’ He caught Anna’s eye and shrugged. ‘But she would say that, wouldn’t she? He’s always been very pleasant and charming – particularly to women – so I wouldn’t want to put you off.’
‘All women, or any in particular?’
Felice glanced around yet again and lowered his voice even more. ‘Most women, to be honest – at least the beautiful ones like you, Signora.’
She waved away the compliment. ‘Please, call me Anna. So you’re saying I should be wary?’
‘Far be it from me to gossip.’ Anna had already worked out that this was distinctly disingenuous, but she made no comment. The information she was getting from Felice – assuming it was right – was very valuable, and certainly wouldn’t come as a surprise to Charlie. ‘I’m afraid there have been a number of broken hearts over the years that I’ve known him – some of them guests here at the hotel. And in particular Loretta, the daughter of the owner here, had a thing for him and she was very upset when it finished. Do you know her? She’s in charge of the restaurant.’
Anna nodded. She remembered a pretty, if heavily made-up, woman with a mass of lustrous jet-black hair who had taken their order on the first night. So she and Marco had hooked up. Interesting…
‘And she and he aren’t together any longer?’
‘Not now, no. She certainly liked him and I’m fairly sure she still does. She was very cut up a few months back when it ended but I’ve no idea how he feels or felt about her. I haven’t seen him here in months now so he’s probably avoiding her.’ He caught her eye and winked. ‘He’s likely got a guilty conscience. If even half the stories I’ve heard about him are true, he’s got quite a bit on his conscience.’
‘I see.’ So it looked as though Charlie was right. The handsome windsurfer clearly had a reputation. Although not surprising, it was still disappointing – and distasteful – to think that she might have been just yet another in a long line of his women. Nevertheless, she tried to sound cheery. ‘Well, thanks for the heads-up anyway. Forewarned is forearmed. The last thing I want to do is to end up the same way as Loretta.’
Felice’s face split into a grin. ‘I’m sure Loretta would agree. Like I say, it’s clear to me that she’s still hankering for him. It’s just as well she didn’t see you going off with him last night or you might find poison in your soup next time you eat here.’ Seeing the look on Anna’s face, he was quick to reassure her. ‘That’s just me joking. She’d never do anything of the sort.’
Anna decided it best not to proceed any further down this road. The thought of roads made her realise that the reason Marco hadn’t driven right down to the hotel last night had probably been in order to keep out of Loretta’s sight. Still, she felt it better to revert to a safer topic of conversation. ‘Thanks for that, Felice. Anyway, you were saying, which house is Signor Dante’s?’
‘It’s the old stone farmhouse a bit higher up the headland than the others. There are so few houses over there, you can’t miss it.’
Anna glanced down at George the dog who was sitting on the cool tiled floor, idly scratching his left ear with his hind leg, and addressed him in English. ‘Well, George, would you like to go for a walk?’ As she said the magic word she couldn’t miss the dog’s change in attitude. He stopped scratching himself and leapt to his feet, the end of his tail wagging hopefully. Anna grinned and returned her attention to Felice. ‘He certainly understood that word. I’d better talk to him in English from now on. I’ll walk round to his house just in case there’s a gardener there or somebody nearby so I can tell them about Signor Dante. Is it easy to get there on foot?’
Following Felice’s instructions, Anna set off along a track that ran parallel to the coast, curling through the pine trees. The man at the boat rental agency had given her a length of rope to act as a lead, but she soon reached down and untied it from the dog’s collar. Maybe because of what had happened to his master, George remained virtually glued to her side even without the lead. It was a very pleasant walk through the woods, crunching through the bone-dry pine needles, safely sheltered from the hot late afternoon sun, and it was only when they reached the far side of the bay that the trees petered out and the path narrowed as it climbed up and over the low headland. Being with the Labrador provided a lovely feeling of companionship and she began to feel almost as if she belonged here. As they climbed, lizards scuttled off the burning hot rocks and disappeared without trace, but the dog appeared uninterested. On the other side, the path snaked down until it came to a wider dirt road that presumably linked the houses over there with civilisation. George automatically turned left, heading down the valley, so she followed.
The first house she came to on the other side was clearly Marco’s. Alongside the fine wrought iron gates at the bottom of his tree-lined drive was a mailbox. Sure enough, the name Varese was written on it. There was also a button beside it and a grill – no doubt an intercom system so visitors could communicate with the inhabitants of the house. She stopped and thought about pressing it, but decided to check out Mr Dante’s house first, just in case there was somebody there.
A little further down the valley a track led off to the left and she followed the Labrador along it while the increasingly rough track disappeared downhill towards the sea. Less than a minute later they came to an ancient archway leading into a stone-paved courtyard outside a fine old house. Anna and the dog went through the arch and she stood surveying her surroundings while George trotted across to a massive old water trough and drank deeply. The house was delightful, its walls bare stone and with dusty green shutters on the windows. There was what looked like a garage and a couple of small outbuildings on the far side of the courtyard and, apart from an old barn just down the hill, there were no other houses in the vicinity. No problems with noisy neighbours here.
Anna rang the doorbell but there was no answer, so she and George circled round to the rear of the property, again without seeing any signs of life. There was a covered terrace, a typical Tuscan loggia, built on the side, shaded from the sun and swathed in an ancient vine whose stem was the thickness of her arm. As she had expected, the view was absolutely wonderful. From up here she could look down across the little valley to the sea and from there on around towards the bay of Marina di Campo and beyond. The pyramid shape of Monte Capanne wit
h its deep green tree-covered flanks jutted up into the clear blue of the sky as a dark brooding mass in the far distance. She stood and admired the view for several minutes before returning to the courtyard at the front.
As there was clearly nobody here, she and the dog headed back towards Marco’s house. Last night she and he had talked about going sailing one of these days but hadn’t arranged anything. In the light of Felice’s revelations, her sensible side was telling her not to bother with the windsurfer, but her annoying naughty side had other ideas. So he had a bit of a reputation, so what? She wasn’t looking for a husband – at least not here and with him – and the idea of a day’s sailing appealed a lot. Besides, so far all she had was hearsay from a chatty receptionist and Charlie’s gut feeling – although he had been right about this sort of thing more often than not in the past. Even so, Naughty Anna reminded her, there was such a thing as innocent until proved guilty after all. As it was, the incident with George’s master provided a more than acceptable excuse for ringing on Marco’s door without looking too eager. And, she told herself, if the evidence against him increased, she could always change her mind and not go sailing with him, couldn’t she?