‘Wait here,’ she told Roxy, ‘I’ll be back in a sec.’
She was wearing a sage-green, Roman-style cotton dress by Anya Hindmarch that trailed almost to the floor, and it swished against the terracotta tiles as she walked into the restaurant. She’d expected to find Demetrios sitting at a table, chatting and laughing, but she was shocked to see him shouting at one of the waitresses. Without thinking, she drew closer. The waitress was a young girl, and she seemed somehow familiar, though Shauna couldn’t think why.
The girl was standing next to Níko’s wife, who had her arm around her protectively.
‘You’re telling me you watched her walk off into the night, and you did nothing?’ Demetrios raged, but there was a note of desperation in his voice.
The girl was on the verge of tears, but Shauna could tell she was trying hard to stay composed. ‘She said she was going to get a taxi. I didn’t think she was in any danger.’
‘But you just said she was drunk.’
The girl twiddled the tea towel she was holding nervously. ‘Well, yes, but—’
‘And still you let her go alone?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘This is how you repay our hospitality? Maybe it is time for you to leave.’
Teresa said something in Greek, perhaps in the girl’s defence, judging by the expression on her face. Christian joined in the argument, waving his arms animatedly. The girl, who clearly didn’t understand what they were saying, stood biting her lip, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Shauna’s heart went out to the poor thing. Whatever she might have done or not done, this was bullying. Compelled to go to the girl’s defence, she took a step forward.
‘Like mother like son,’ she said fiercely, interrupting Demetrios’s tirade.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at her, confused. ‘Shauna?’ But then he recovered himself and snapped, ‘This has nothing to do with you. Keep out of it.’
‘No. I know exactly what it feels like to be treated the way you’re treating this poor girl.’ She placed herself between Demetrios and the girl, looking him in the eye as she reminded him: ‘Two decades ago I was given my marching orders by a member of the Theodosis family who showed me no compassion. I will not stand by and let you treat someone like this.’
‘You have no idea,’ he said, and there was desperation rather than anger in his eyes now. ‘My daughter is missing, and these two’ – he pointed at Christian and Grace – ‘are responsible.’
‘That’s no reason to bully a young girl.’ Shauna stood her ground.
‘Stay out of this, Shauna,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘I still have a daughter … if anything has happened to her, I’ll …’ At this he looked past Shauna and addressed Grace: ‘Get out of my sight.’
The girl burst into tears and Demetrios turned and stormed out of the taverna.
Shauna was enraged. How dare he? She ran after him as he headed towards the Ferrari, and as he put his key in the ignition she shouted. ‘It’s a shame you didn’t put as much energy into looking for me when I disappeared.’
‘Shauna, please, this isn’t the time or the place.’ Seeing the despair in his eyes, she felt a stab of pity.
‘You need to think rationally,’ she told him, her voice calm now. ‘Tell me what happened.’
Demetrios explained to her about Ariana being seen getting into the boat after midnight. It seemed that, instead of climbing into a taxi, she had taken the boat out – and no one had seen her since.
‘Could she have gone to a friend’s house? Have you tried ringing around to see—’
‘Christian has done that already. They told him she’d spent most of the evening at a beach party, and not only had she been drinking, she’d also taken drugs.’
‘Oh no.’
‘When I get my hands on that Georgiou, I’m going to kill him.’ He clenched his jaw.
‘Now isn’t the time for anger. Have you alerted the police?’
‘Yes. The coastguard is on the lookout—’
At that moment, there was a commotion in the harbour. A fishing boat was coming into dock, and its captain was gesticulating and shouting, pointing at something he was towing behind his boat.
As if they were possessed by some second sense, the two of them ran along the jetty to see what it was. Shauna didn’t need to be told that this was Demetrios’s speedboat, she recognized it from when he had brought her back in it the other day. She felt sick when she saw that the fisherman was holding up a pair of high heels. Though she didn’t understand what he saying, she could tell from his gestures that the shoes had been found in the hollow of the deck. The boat itself was empty.
The captain, having told Demetrios everything he knew, handed him the shoes.
Demetrios turned to Shauna. ‘They found the boat floating near Fengari Bay, but there was no sign of Ariana.’
‘Demetrios …’ Shauna could see the fear on his face.
‘Shauna, my little girl … she is gone.’
‘There is no sense trying to use logic – we need to think like a teenager who is a little drunk and a lot unhappy,’ said Roxy.
Shauna had brought Demetrios back to the taverna with her. He’d wanted to go out to join the police and fishing boats searching for his daughter, but Shauna had persuaded him that it would be easier for the authorities to contact him here. The truth was, she was afraid they were looking for a body.
‘But the boat … her shoes,’ Demetrios said.
‘It doesn’t necessarily mean the worst,’ said Roxy. Her unassailable optimism, combined with her down-to-earth Liverpudlian practicality, was the one thing keeping their hopes alive. ‘Look, Demetrios, no one knows her better than you do. If she’s hurting, her instinct would be to go somewhere she feels safe. Where would that be?’
‘Christian said he had checked the boathouse but there was no one there.’
‘Where else?’ said Shauna.
‘She has friends from primary school, I could ask them.’
Sensing that it would help him to be doing something rather than passively waiting, Shauna told him, ‘Let’s go see them. I’ll come with you.’
‘Thank you, Shauna …’ His voice faltered, unable to find words to express how much he valued her steadying presence.
‘You two go and do what you need to,’ said Roxy, practical as ever, ‘while it’s still light.’
‘I’ll call you when we have some news,’ Shauna told her, and they hugged.
Roxy watched them go. It was strange to meet Demetrios under such circumstances after having heard Shauna talk about him all these years. The two of them seemed so right together. It wasn’t just that they were both so striking, that they made such a handsome couple. It was the way they slotted together, as if Shauna was the light to his shade, or maybe she was the calm and he was the storm.
Despite her encouraging words, she was worried about the missing girl. She hoped Ariana would turn up soon, unharmed and wondering what all the fuss was about; she dreaded to think what it would do to Demetrios if anything had happened to her.
She was about to finish her glass of retsina and head back to the villa when she spotted Grace heading towards the harbour.
‘Grace!’ she called, waving frantically. ‘Over here!’
Grace had her head down and her backpack on her shoulder. She turned to see where the voice had come from. Spotting Roxy, she waved back and came over to see her.
‘Where are you off to?’ Roxy asked, pointing at her backpack.
Grace shrugged in reply, and Roxy noticed that she was dressed for travelling in sturdy shorts and a polo shirt, rather than her usual vest and shorts.
‘I’ve decided to move on,’ the girl told her. ‘There’s a night ferry to Athens. I really should be getting back to England, and now is as good a time as any.’
‘Listen, Demetrios didn’t mean what he said earlier. He’s just out of his mind with worry.’
‘How do you know about that?’
‘I was out her
e on the terrace, I couldn’t help but overhear. You shouldn’t leave because of that. Seriously, once he has calmed down, he won’t want you to go.’
Grace looked rueful. ‘You may well be right. But I think my time here was coming to an end anyway. Now is as good a time as any to leave.’
Roxy stood and gave the young woman a hug. ‘Grace, honey, you look so sad. Why don’t you stay and have a drink with me? You’ll feel better.’
Grace hugged Roxy back and then pulled away. ‘Honestly, I’m not sad. I’ve had a wonderful time here and met some amazing people, I’ll never forget this place. It was lovely to meet you, and Alex, too … Oh, I almost forgot …’
She took her backpack off and dug around in it for a moment before pulling out a small stuffed toy goat. ‘I bought this for Alex.’
‘Oh, Grace, that’s adorable!’
‘It’s a little friend for Alfie the Alpaca,’ Grace said. ‘Tell Alex he can call her Grace the Goat if he likes.’ She laughed.
‘Nothing wrong with a goat; they’re independent, intelligent and tenacious.’ Roxy laughed, too. ‘Well, goodbye, Grace. If you ever get to London or New York, give me a call, OK? I’d love to see you again. I’m sorry you didn’t get to meet Shauna.’
‘I can’t wait to see her Grace Kelly movie. Tell her I said hello.’
They hugged again and then Grace headed towards the ferry. Roxy looked down at the little toy; Alex would be sad he had missed her, but he’d have this as a consolation. And, who knows, maybe Grace would look them up one day.
‘Calm down, he won’t tell you anything if you threaten to kill him,’ Shauna said.
Demetrios’s face was a picture of fury. They had already driven to see several of Ariana’s friends, all of whom had heard about Ari’s disappearance and had spent the afternoon calling other friends and other acquaintances, trying without success to locate her. But one name that kept cropping up was that of a young man: Georgiou Andino.
They had learned that, over the past few weeks, Ariana had been seen frequently with the boy, that they had been to various parties and gatherings. More ominously, they learned that Georgiou had a drug habit. Though Shauna had suggested that they inform the police and let them question the boy, Demetrios had insisted on driving to the Andino family home. They found him lounging by the pool in a pair of tight swimming trunks, casually smoking a joint.
The boy shrugged nonchalantly. ‘I don’t know anything, old man. Your daughter does what she likes, and so do I.’
‘And one of the things you like is taking drugs,’ Demetrios observed coldly.
‘Ari doesn’t need any help from me in that department. She’s crazy for cocaine – in fact, she showed up at the party last night and offered me a wrap.’
‘You liar!’ Demetrios snarled. Shauna stilled him with her hand.
‘Look, we’re just trying to find her, that’s all. Did she say anything about where she was going when she left the party?’
Georgiou shrugged again. ‘She kept going on about that English chick – how she was going to confront her about something. I don’t know what.’
‘What had she taken?’ Demetrios asked.
‘Just a few lines of coke, not much. Kept saying she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.’
As they sat in the car afterwards, Demetrios looked bleak.
‘I pushed her too hard, trying to make her do what I wanted. Shauna, if anything has happened to her, I’ll never forgive myself.’ He put his head in his hands. ‘I should have been a better father to her. If her mother and I had been less selfish, she wouldn’t be so wild.’
‘You don’t know that. I seem to remember that you had that wild side too. She’s young, and she’s got to work out what to do with her life.’
‘When she was little, I used to take her with me out on the boats. She can sail as well as I can, you know.’
Shauna smiled. ‘I bet you’re a good teacher.’
‘Sometimes … She helped me to build my boathouse. She was only eight when I started to work on it, but she wanted to get involved in everything I was doing. I would bring her with me and she would help until she tired herself out, then I would find her curled up inside one of the boats, asleep under a blanket.’ His eyes were shining at the memory.
‘Oh, my God, Demetrios! Christian said he’d searched the boathouse, but would he have thought to look …?’ They looked at each other, eyes wide.
‘The boathouse …’
He turned the key in the ignition and slammed his foot on the accelerator, and didn’t stop until they reached the harbour.
Chapter 34
Roxy looked at her Bulgari watch; the sun was setting and it was time to head back to the villa. Delphine and Alex would be wondering where she and Shauna had got to.
After leaving an enormous tip – Níko had refused to take any money, no matter how much she had argued with him – she packed her purse, her glasses and her phone into her handbag, a ROX black snakeskin satchel accented with her signature shield and R charm dangling from the handles. Then she stood up and pushed her chair back. She didn’t fancy the long trek up the hill with darkness falling, so she was planning to take a taxi; there were always a few idling by the harbour. As was her habit, instilled by her mother, she paused to make a final check that she hadn’t left anything behind. Nothing on the table, or the seats … but what was that under the table?
She bent to pick it up and saw that it was a passport. Like hers, it was an EU passport, but she could have sworn hers was back at the villa. She flipped it open at the photograph page and saw the unsmiling face of Grace looking back at her with that slightly wide-eyed statue look that characterized passport photos.
A postcard marked the page where she’d had her passport stamped on arrival in Greece. It was an old faded postcard of Ithos that had been torn in two and then stuck together again with Sellotape, which was now yellowing with age and peeling away.
Roxy felt as if the world had stopped turning for a moment. She hadn’t seen this postcard for a very, very long time, but she recognized it immediately. As she turned it over and read the words on the back, she was transported back in time to the moment it had been ripped apart …
Manchester, 1983
Shauna was sitting on the side of her bed in their shared flat in Manchester. Her face was desolate, and Roxy knew that it could only hint at the inner turmoil she was going through.
‘I’ve made you a cup of tea, chuck,’ she said, taking Shauna’s hand and wrapping it around the handle of the mug.
Shauna looked at her blankly. ‘Thanks.’
For once in her life, Roxy was utterly at a loss. What could you say to someone who had just given away the child that they loved? With no words of comfort to offer, she made do with sitting down next to Shauna and wrapping her arms around her. They sat like that, with Roxy holding her tightly, for what seemed like ages. Finally Shauna spoke.
‘If I’d known how I’d feel today, Roxy, I’d never have taken that job on St Helena. I’d have walked away as fast as I could in the opposite direction.’
‘I know, honey.’ She looked down and realized that Shauna was holding a postcard. ‘What’s that.’
Shauna handed it to her. ‘It’s his goodbye to me.’
Roxy read it. ‘“Don’t wait for me”? Funny way to say goodbye.’
‘When I look at it now, it makes me feel sick.’
‘Then why don’t you throw it away?’
‘Something keeps stopping me.’
‘Want me to do it for you?’
Shauna nodded, a lone tear carving a path down her face. Roxy’s anger flared at the reminder of what that bastard had done, dumping her friend like this. He was the one who should have been suffering the consequences, but instead it was poor Shauna. When they had left Ithos, Roxy had thought that it was herself who was pregnant, but that, thankfully, had turned out to be a false alarm, only for Shauna to discover instead that she was. It was a horrible, cruel twist of fate.
She took the postcard and tore it right down the middle, then tossed it into the bin. ‘There. Done.’
‘Thank you,’ Shauna said in a small voice.
‘Come on, let’s tuck you into bed,’ Roxy told her, pulling back the duvet. Shauna slipped under, folding herself into a ball. Roxy tucked her in and kissed her on the forehead, as if she were a child …
Roxy turned again to the picture of Grace at the front of her passport. She looked at her date of birth: 8 April 1983.
Her heart pounding, she studied Grace’s picture: the long dark curls, her hazel eyes … just like her father. Her rosebud lips … just like her mother.
‘Shit!’ She looked up, her eyes frantically scanning the harbour. Where did Grace say she was going?
The tyres screeched loudly as Shauna and Demetrios pulled up at the harbour wall.
‘Where the hell is Christian? I need his boat.’ He jumped out of the Ferrari, not even bothering to open the door, simply leaping over the side of it. He exchanged some words in Greek with one of the boat owners and gestured to Shauna.
‘He said we can use his – quick, jump in.’ He held his hand out to her and she stepped over the side of the speedboat, but then turned at the sound of her name being called.
Roxy came running along the quay, waving and shouting at her. ‘Stop! Shauna, wait!’ She caught up with them, breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath.
‘Shauna, we do not have time for this,’ Demetrios said impatiently, keeping the engine running.
‘Shauna,’ Roxy panted, ‘you need to see this.’ She got into the boat and thrust the postcard into Shauna’s hand.
For a moment, Shauna didn’t recognize it. Then she flipped it over and saw the writing on the back.
‘How … why … I don’t understand, where did this come from?’
‘It was in Grace’s passport.’
Demetrios looked over Shauna’s shoulder and reached out for the postcard. He read it and frowned. ‘I wrote this.’
‘Your goodbye note,’ Shauna said.
‘No, not goodbye.’ He shook his head, confused. ‘Look, we don’t have time for this. Roxy, you will have to tell us later – right now I need to find my daughter.’
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