Secrets on the Italian Island

by T A Williams

  ‘Me stay here?’ Anna wheeled round to face him, genuinely amazed. ‘It’s absolutely gorgeous, Jack. Are you sure?’ As she spoke, she realised that this would be perfect – at least in her eyes. What her boss’s daughter might think of it was another matter. She would be close to Jack, so she could keep an eye on him and his dog. The hotel with its restaurant was a ten minute walk away, as was the main beach, while the little cove where she and Charlie had found Jack the previous day was just down the hill if she felt like a swim. In so many ways it couldn’t be better. The only complication of course, was that only a couple of hundred metres up the road was Marco’s villa and she was trying to keep her distance from him for fear of being bewitched by those bright blue eyes again.

  ‘What do you think? Will it do? I can get Giovanna to stock the fridge and make up the beds and so on.’ He sounded hesitant but hopeful.

  ‘Will it do? It’s fantastic. I’d love to stay here, specially as it’ll keep me near to George and I’ll be able to keep an eye on you.’

  ‘And it’ll also be conveniently close to Marco’s villa…’ She knew he was teasing her but she did her best to dispel his suspicions.

  ‘Nothing’s going to happen between me and Marco.’ She decided to change the subject. ‘Anyway, how much would you like for the place?’ Seeing him wave his hand dismissively, she pressed on. ‘I’ll only come here if I can pay. It’s only fair.’

  ‘You refuse to stay here unless I charge you?’ She nodded so he continued. ‘Then, regrettably, you can’t stay here.’

  ‘I can’t?’ She could feel her face fall and he must have heard the disappointment in her voice.

  ‘No, I’m afraid not. My conditions are non-negotiable.’ He grinned at her. ‘And remember: I used to negotiate deals to buy mining equipment that cost more than this house, Marco’s villa and your hotel put together, and nobody ever got one over on me.’

  ‘But I can’t stay here without paying…’ She was about to tell him that the accounts department at work would query why she couldn’t produce an invoice when she remembered in the nick of time that she had told him she was on holiday.

  ‘Then, I’m sorry.’ He headed for the door without a backward glance. ‘Pity… George and I would have enjoyed having you around.’

  ‘Jack… wait.’ He stopped and turned slowly back as she did some quick thinking. ‘I’d love to stay here, thank you.’ She couldn’t miss the satisfaction on his face, but before he could say anything, she carried on. ‘But I have my own conditions: I only live here if you agree to let me go for walks with your dog, take you out for dinner as many times as you like – starting with tomorrow night – and, on the evenings you prefer to stay home, I’ll cook for you. And please don’t buy food for me. I can do that myself.’ She caught his eye and held it. ‘Those are my conditions and they, too, are not negotiable. Take it or leave it.’ She stuck out her hand and did her best to look resolute.

  ‘Agreed, but with one minor alteration. I don’t need dinner every night, and you need your freedom to go out on your own or with company – whoever that may be.’ A distinct twinkle appeared in his eye. ‘You can most certainly take me out for dinner on those occasions when I feel like eating and you’re around, but on the others, you’ll let me just spend a quiet evening at home without the need for a cooked meal. Tomorrow I’ll be delighted to dine with you, as long as I don’t get home too late. Deal?’

  ‘Deal. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six thirty, okay?’ They shook on it and then she stepped forward and kissed him on the cheeks. ‘This is really very, very kind, Jack. Thank you so much.’

  ‘You’re most welcome. It’s the least I can do and I will confess to having selfish reasons for asking you to stay here. I rather hope you’ll be able to spare me a few minutes every now and then to let me offer you a drink in return for a little chat. It can sometimes get a bit lonely here.’ As he spoke, she could see an expression of regret cross his face and she was quick to assure him that she would be only too happy to listen to as many tales of his colourful life as he felt like telling her.

  ‘Very good. Now, Anna, come and let me give you that aperitivo. I would open a bottle of champagne to celebrate our deal except that you’d have to drink almost all of it and I wouldn’t forgive myself if you got lost on your way back to your hotel.’

  * * *

  Back at the hotel, Anna enjoyed a lovely meal of chunky fish soup – so thick it was more like a stew really – and a mixed salad, washed down with a glass of white wine. The hotel restaurant sold wine by the bottle, and unfinished bottles were marked with the guest’s room number and put in the fridge, to be wheeled out again at the next meal. Loretta came over and chatted freely. From her friendly manner it was clear she had no idea about Anna’s dinner date with Marco on Tuesday night or, if she had, she wasn’t bothered. Anna was relieved. Poison in her fish soup would not have been welcome.

  Back in her room, she made a couple of phone calls. The first was to Charlie who had just arrived back home; Mary hadn’t had the baby yet but was feeling fine, in a bloated sort of way. Anna then gave him her news.

  ‘I got a phone call from Sir Graham this morning. It seems his daughter, Ruby, is to be replacing you as my partner until you come back. She’s pitching up on Monday night and I’m meeting her on Tuesday morning.’

  ‘So she’s back in Europe again. I wonder how long for.’ He didn’t sound as surprised as Anna had imagined. ‘She’s been in New York for a few years and people have been wondering when she’d be coming back to London. You maybe know that Sir G’s grooming her to take over once he retires.’

  ‘Should I be worried about having to look after the future boss of the company?’

  ‘It’ll be fine. I know her quite well. She’s a good kid.’

  ‘I hope you’re right.’

  Feeling sure he would have a lot on his plate now that he was home again, she didn’t keep him talking, much as she would have liked to find out more about any possible trouble Ruby had been in, but she left him to his wife and phoned her mum. Anna gave her a brief rundown of events since arriving here, mentioning Jack and his heart attack, his lovely dog, his offer of accommodation, but not his handsome neighbour. There was no point mentioning Marco seeing as nothing was going to develop between them – or at least nothing she would be telling her mum about. It turned out her mother had news of her own. She had been talking to Toby’s mum, Judith.

  ‘I had coffee with Judith yesterday. She says Toby’s chartered a yacht from Cagliari in Sardinia – with a crew and everything – and he’s flying over any day now to start cruising around the Med. He must be doing ever so well if he can afford holidays like that. By the way, Judith said he was really taken with you and he keeps talking about you. Maybe you should give him a ring. You never know – he might like to sail over to where you are and take you out on his yacht.’ That same hopeful note was discernible in her voice.

  ‘He got there before you, Mum. He just phoned a bit earlier this evening and it looks as though he is coming here to see me. He said he’ll text me once he’s on the boat.’

  ‘That sounds excellent.’ Her mother’s satisfaction was clear to hear. ‘He’s such a nice boy.’

  Her mum was right. Toby was a very nice man. Mind you, she reminded herself, even if things were to develop between them when he stopped off here during his Mediterranean cruise, who could tell when she would be in Bristol to see him again? For all she knew, her next assignment might see in a different continent for weeks or even months. It was really getting too frustrating for words. She knew she couldn’t go on like this. Something had to change.

  After the phone call Anna checked out Cagliari on Google Earth. She wasn’t sure how fast big yachts could travel, but as far as she could see, it wasn’t actually very far from there to Elba so she felt sure it was going to be possible for them to meet up next week as Toby had said. He had certainly given the impression he was keen to see her again. But, of course, by the time he arri
ved here, Marco would have returned from Bergamo and she would have been out sailing with him. Everything would then be further complicated by the arrival of her boss’s daughter and she had a sinking feeling this might make life on this paradise island a bit less idyllic.

  Well, she told herself, however things worked out, it looked like next week certainly wasn’t going to be boring.

  Chapter 10

  On Friday Anna drove up to the north of the island and started to investigate the coastline around Portoferraio. The previous night, as she scoured the internet, she had happened upon a hundred-year-old map of the island, drawn up by the Italian military, showing not only towns and roads, but also fortifications and physical features. Among these she spotted crossed pickaxe symbols cropping up here and there which hopefully indicated mining activity. Armed with this, she set out to see if any of these places might offer signs of minerals that were out of the ordinary, although the more she thought about the effect the resumption of mining could have on this idyllic island, the more she found herself in the unusual position of hoping her search would be unsuccessful. However, she was still on the payroll of New Metals Mining, so she knew she owed it to them to act professionally and do her job.

  She had a pleasant day driving from place to place along the north coast. To the east of Portoferraio there were little beaches, low hills and fields, with vineyards in some places reaching right down to the seashore. Further round, the cliffs increased in height but then the road took a turn inland and she realised she would have to do any further prospecting along this piece of coast by boat. As the road swung south and started to climb she found her view obscured by scrub and hardy trees that clothed the hillside. She consulted the old map and saw that there was one of the crossed pickaxes not far from where she was now. It took a bit of finding but she eventually located a dirt track leading off to the right up the lower slopes of Monte Calamita. She was soon glad Charlie had brought a vehicle with four-wheel drive as the track rapidly deteriorated and the car bumped over ridges of rock exposed by centuries of erosion. Finally the track – such as it was – widened out into an open expanse of relatively flat, rust-coloured soil. She had arrived.

  She switched off the engine and climbed out. Up here, far from the coast, the silence was almost total. All she could hear was a barely perceptible sigh as the gentle breeze just moved the heads of the dry reeds around what was probably a stream in the winter. Now it was bone dry. For a moment, here in the wilds like this, she felt quite alone. Grudgingly she had to agree with her boss that it probably made sense to have a partner alongside her, just in case. It was just a pity this had to be his daughter and her unspecified troubles.

  From time to time she heard the distant whistling calls of a pair of buzzards or some other birds of prey high above her, no doubt on the hunt for some unfortunate little mammal or reptile. Thought of reptiles reminded her of the snake she had seen yesterday. Her laptop had told her last night that Elba, unlike Ireland, had no fewer than five different species of snake, although only one was venomous. She hadn’t had long enough to identify the one she had seen yesterday but today she decided to take no chances. Pulling on her thick overalls and heavy gloves, she picked up her hammer and sample bag and set off towards what – to an experienced eye like hers – was clearly an ancient slag heap.

  She spent over an hour poking about, and during that time the only reptiles she saw were a few scared lizards. What she did find from time to time were glossy black scorpions, little more than an inch long, but in spite of their diminutive size most of them stood their ground, lobster-like claws and poisonous curled tails raised, until she brushed them aside. She had enough experience of their far bigger and more dangerous cousins in warmer countries not to be scared by these aggressive little creatures, but it did reinforce the wisdom of wearing sensible protective clothing. She found no trace of any rare metals but she did come upon one little treasure.

  Amid a whole heap of iron and magnetite spoil, her eye fell on a lump of quartzite, about the size of a brick, its lighter colour marking it out from the other rocks around it. She worked it free of its surroundings and turned it over and over in her hands, trying to identify the weakest part of it. A couple of sharp blows with the hammer, the sound of which echoed up the side of the hill, split the rock into four irregular pieces. On one of these she was delighted to find a little family of ruby red crystals, all together the size of a matchbox, with the trademark rhombic dodecahedron shape of garnets. She held the crystals up so that the sunlight sparkled against these little gems which had been buried inside this rock for millions upon millions of years. It was an exquisite specimen and she wrapped it carefully in a cloth before laying it safely inside her bag. Although it wasn’t particularly valuable, she had no intention of parting with it, as its value as an unspoiled specimen for her little collection back home was considerable to her.

  By the time she returned to the hotel it was gone five so she hurried down to the beach for a quick swim before getting ready for her dinner date with Jack. As she floated in the sea, relishing the cool feel of the water after the clammy heat of the day – especially when she had been dressed in her overalls – she noticed that the sky was no longer an unbroken blue. When she got back to her room she checked the weather forecast and discovered that it was predicted to be a wet weekend. What that would do to the dirt tracks she would be taking next week as she continued her search for rare metals remained to be seen, but she had a feeling the car and her overalls were likely to get pretty grubby.

  She drove over to pick up Jack at six thirty and found him sitting in the lounge. He greeted her warmly but not half as warmly as George, who almost shook himself in half as he wagged not only his tail but his whole body, such was his delight at seeing his new best friend again. Jack offered her a glass of wine as an aperitivo but she only accepted a small drop as she had brought the car. For this first dinner with him she had decided to take him round to the Hotel Panorama where she knew the food was very good, so that meant she didn’t have far to drive, but even so she thought it prudent not to drink too much. After saving his life on the beach it would be a bitter irony if she took it from him by driving him into a tree. As she sipped her wine, he pointed across the room to a glass cabinet against the far wall.

  ‘I don’t know if you have any interest in minerals, but you’re very welcome to take a look at my collection if you like. Every single rock in that cabinet was found by me. Nothing from a dealer.’

  Anna had been eyeing the glass cabinet ever since walking into the room. Again, she felt that selfsame sensation of regret that she couldn’t sit down and talk to him honestly, geologist to geologist. There was so much she would have loved to ask him and it was frustrating having to conceal her shared interest. She got up and walked across to admire the specimens on display and she quickly saw that it was quite a collection. Remembering the prices alongside some of the crystals in the mineral shop in Capoliveri yesterday, a quick calculation told her the contents of this cabinet were likely to be worth quite a few thousand pounds. Then her eyes alighted on one specimen in particular that immediately added a whole lot more to the overall value.

  To her expert eye there could be no doubt about it: it was a gold nugget. She leant forward and studied it intently. The irregular pebble, no bigger than the cluster of garnets she had found this afternoon, was a dull golden colour and pockmarked with impurities. However, she felt sure there was enough raw gold there to make this misshapen piece of heavy metal worth more than the rest of the collection put together. Without picking it up it was hard to tell exactly, but she estimated it might even weigh as much as a couple of hundred grams. At a price of around fifty dollars a gram, that added up to a lot of money for a single lump of metal.

  Her interest in the nugget had not gone unnoticed.

  ‘I see you’ve gone straight to the star of the show. You have a good eye. In case you’re in any doubt, it really is gold.’

  Anna had to play the i
nnocent. ‘I wondered if it was. There’s just something about it, not just the colour. Is it heavy?’

  ‘It’s almost exactly seven ounces. That’s approaching two hundred grams in metric.’

  ‘And you found it yourself. Can I ask where, or would you have to kill me after telling me?’

  He gave her a broad grin. ‘It was Western Australia and it was about an hour’s drive east of a place called Yalgoo. I spent a couple of years working over there when I was a lot younger, and at the weekends I used to borrow a metal detector from work and go prospecting by myself. One weekend I got lucky and found this nugget barely a few inches below the surface of the ground. I went back there numerous times after that but never found any more. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.’

  ‘Just like I was the other day when you had your heart event. I must say it’s a stunning piece. The gold gods were certainly smiling on you that day.’

  She took him and his dog for dinner at the hotel and Loretta in the restaurant greeted Jack with open arms, hugging him and kissing him warmly on the cheeks.

  ‘Jack! Oh Jack, I’m so pleased to see you’re all right again after frightening us like that.’

  He smiled broadly at her. ‘It frightened me, too, Loretta, but as you can see I’m still here – and it’s all thanks to this lovely lady. She happened to be passing by in a boat when I collapsed. She called an ambulance and I was whisked off to hospital. But her care didn’t stop there; Anna and Marco phoned me at the hospital later on to check that I was well and she’s spent a lot of time with me ever since. I’m a very lucky man to have found her – or, rather, that she found me.’