South Pacific Affair

by Drew Lindsay

  ‘They’re not my women,’ said Ben.

  ‘They are your responsibility.’

  ‘Yes they are,’ said Ben.

  ‘You’ve been checking up on me.’

  Ben looked at her. ‘Have I?’

  ‘Technology works both ways you know.’

  ‘I put out some feelers,’ said Ben.

  The woman was silent.

  ‘Claudia Abrams,’ said Ben. ‘Associate of Gem collector Natalie Goodsong.’

  She lowered her sunglasses with her left hand and looked into his eyes. ‘I’ve checked you out also,’ she said softly. ‘You’re not a very nice man when the mood takes you.’

  ‘You have a violent history,’ said Ben.

  ‘Birds of a feather often flock together,’ said Claudia.

  ‘We’re on both sides of the fence here,’ said Ben. ‘Is Natalie after the necklace or the diamond?’

  ‘Natalie doesn’t give a rat’s arse about the bloody necklace,’ said Claudia, sliding her sunglasses back on. ‘The diamond belongs to her.’

  ‘No it doesn’t,’ said Ben.

  ‘I’ve been instructed to get it back,’ said Claudia.

  ‘You’re wasting your time,’ said Ben.

  Claudia looked out at the lagoon. Sophia was wading towards them in the shallow water. ‘Are you involved with her?’

  ‘None of your business,’ said Ben.

  ‘She has an amazing body.’

  ‘So do you,’ said Ben.

  ‘You can call in for a nightcap if you like,’ said Claudia. ‘I’m in the last honeymoon fale. I like absolute privacy.’

  ‘Why should I do that?’ asked Ben.

  ‘Why not? I love pillow talk.’

  ‘I have my clients to protect,’ said Ben.

  ‘I won’t hurt them. I’ve concluded they know nothing of any real value.’

  ‘There are others here,’ said Ben.

  ‘Nancy is a hot shot lawyer. She couldn’t hurt a fly.’

  ‘She’s not alone,’ said Ben.

  Sophia walked up the beach and stopped in front of them. She looked at Ben. ‘Found a friend?’

  ‘This is Claudia,’ said Ben.

  Sophia dropped her mask and flippers on the edge of Ben’s lounge. ‘Hello Claudia.’

  Claudia slid off her beach lounge and stood. ‘Nice to meet you Sophia.’

  ‘How do you know my name?’ asked Sophia.

  ‘I’ve seen your photograph in magazines. I love your clothing line.’

  The slight frown on Sophia’s face vanished. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I’ll be off then,’ said Claudia. ‘I’ll see you at dinner I suppose.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Sophia. ‘Perhaps you would like to join us. I’ve noticed you are alone.’

  Ben was about to say something but Claudia interrupted. ‘I’d love to. I came here to get away from a rather nasty situation. You guys look like fun.’

  Sophia smiled. ‘We do our best,’ she said.

  ‘Meet you at the bar at 7 pm,’ said Claudia, glancing at Ben.

  If Ben felt a little unsettled before, he definitely did now.

  Ann was singing softly in the shower. Sophia sat opposite Ben in the main fale area and sipped on a bourbon and ice. Her eyes never left his. Ben held a glass of scotch but he hadn’t put the glass near his mouth. ‘Do you want to tell me?’ she asked.

  ‘Tell you what?’

  ‘What the hell is bugging you?’

  Ben sat back on the lounge. ‘Can I list them in brief order?’

  Sophia put her drink down on the hand-carved timber table in front of her. A lamp enclosed in a coconut shell hung over the table spreading soft white light with its electrical cord disappearing into the blackness of the fale ceiling. She sat back and folded her arms. ‘Shoot.’

  ‘Your recently deceased husband didn’t give up the location of the necklace with the diamond which was recently attached.’

  ‘Not to me anyway,’ said Sophia.

  ‘What about Ann?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Pillow talk?’

  ‘No! I trust her with my life.’

  ‘Loa Tei?’

  ‘Who knows,’ said Sophia.

  Ben remained silent for a while. ‘So you and Joseph were here on Fa Fa Island for a week. During that time you visited Nuku’Alofa and then went to the ancient Ha’amonga’a Maui trilithon.’

  ‘Those damn three rocks fascinated him,’ said Sophia.

  ‘For good reason,’ said Ben. ‘The Tongans somehow managed to erect them with their massive weight only a thousand years after Jesus was born.’

  ‘Big deal,’ said Sophia.

  ‘Where else did he go?’

  ‘He visited a dive shop down near the jetty.’

  ‘Did he book a dive trip?’

  ‘No. He just hired an aqualung and a wetsuit.’

  ‘Where did he go diving?’ asked Ben.

  ‘I don’t know. I never saw him diving around the island.’

  ‘Where else did he go?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘And he brought a powerful underwater torch with him on the last trip to Tonga as well as a bedside torch?’

  Sophia nodded.

  Ben’s mobile phone rang. He didn’t recognise the number but took the call. ‘My parents welcome you to share dinner with us tomorrow night.’

  ‘I should bring a gift,’ said Ben.

  ‘Someone approached my father and asked questions.’

  ‘Describe him?’

  ‘Tall…blond.’

  ‘What did he ask?’

  ‘He asked my father how long he wanted to live. He said that my mother would probably be first.’

  ‘Who have you told about this?’ asked Ben.

  ‘I have no one to tell. I have no one to trust. I only have you because there is no one left.’

  ‘How do you know you can trust me?’

  ‘You wanted to know what my name meant,’ said Loa. ‘People who move on an ill wind don’t care what a name means.’

  The call was terminated.

  Sophia kept her eyes on him but she said nothing.

  ‘That was Loa Tei,’ he said. ‘I’ve been invited to her family home for dinner tomorrow night.’

  ‘Good for you,’ said Sophia.

  ‘I will go of course.’

  ‘What are you going to do with us?’

  Ben sipped his scotch. He didn’t answer straight away and his mind was working in a direction that confused him. ‘I’ll tell you after dinner.’

  ‘Shower’s free,’ Ann called.

  Sophia stood slowly and walked to the door with her drink in her right hand. ‘I don’t think I understand you at all,’ she said.

  ‘That makes two of us,’ said Ben.

  “****”

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  The thing that confused Ben completely was the fact that Claudia Abrams, Sophia and eventually Ann, got on so well together one would be forgiven for concluding they were the best of friends. They laughed and joked. They talked dress design and social “who’s who”. Claudia told a story of a date with a rather well known male fashion designer in Sydney that had Ann and Sophia in stitches with laughter. Claudia glanced at Ben briefly once or twice but she seemed so totally captivated by her two female dinner companions, and they with her, that Ben began to feel as if he could have left the table and none of them would have noticed.

  Wine flowed freely although Ben noticed that Claudia paced her drinks with precision timing. He kept his eye out for Nancy Fiumara and in particular her tall blond male companion but they didn’t show. The meals were once again cooked to perfection with variety and skill that was worthy of any five star restaurant. A young Tongan girl in traditional dress waited on them with ready smile and watchful eye.

  They were the last to leave the restaurant. The sandy track parted left and right in the middle of a coconut palm forest at the rear of the restaurant. Some of the track lights were out. Ben had his C
ree torch turned to medium power and it lit the sandy track and surrounding area like a search light.

  ‘I forgot my damn torch,’ said Claudia. ‘That’s not like me.’

  ‘I’ve got another one with me and a very powerful underwater torch in my luggage,’ said Ben, handing Claudia his torch. He pulled a tiny torch on a key ring out of a pocket of his cargo pants and turned it on. It was only the size of a man’s thumb but pushed out bright white light which almost matched the torch he had handed to Claudia.

  ‘A man who carries three torches,’ said Ann. ‘How bloody handy is that?’

  ‘It’s a bit of a fetish,’ said Ben. ‘I got locked in a dark cupboard when I was a kid.’

  ‘Pity you don’t have other fetishes,’ said Ann.

  ‘I’ve had a lovely time with you guys,’ said Claudia and she sounded as if she meant it. She looked at Ben. ‘I’ll return your torch tomorrow at breakfast. Thank you for trusting me with it.’

  ‘He’s not one for leaving a woman alone and vulnerable in a dark place,’ said Ann with a tipsy laugh.

  Sophia embraced Claudia and kissed her on the side of her cheek. ‘Goodnight then,’ she said as she stepped back. Ben could see that this action had taken Claudia well outside of her comfort zone. She looked startled for a moment but then covered well. ‘I know you came to my home one night and Ben spoke to you.’

  Claudia was silent. She glanced at Ben.

  ‘Would you have hurt us?’ asked Sophia.

  ‘No,’

  ‘I don’t think you would hurt us,’ said Sophia.

  Claudia reached out and touched Sophia on the arm. ‘I won’t cause you any harm.’

  Ann slipped her arm through Ben’s. ‘Lead on Sir Knight and it was nice to meet you Claudia.’

  ‘And you,’ said Claudia. She shone Ben’s torch ahead as she quickly walked along the track leading left.

  ‘She’s nice,’ said Ann as they walked towards their fale.’

  ‘You obviously know she’s trained to do a lot worse than what I do,’ said Ben.

  ‘You trust her,’ said Sophia. ‘I can tell.’

  ‘I remain cautious,’ said Ben. ‘You seem to like her?’

  ‘She carries lots of pain,’ said Sophia.

  ‘Yes,’ said Ben.

  ‘I do like her.’

  ‘So do I,’ said Ann, but I want a man if you know what I mean.’

  ‘I’ve got someone special lined up for you,’ said Ben.

  ‘Well you had better get him here fairly quickly because I’m about to boil over.’

  ‘You can get drugs to help with that you know,’ said Ben.

  ‘Bugger that!’ said Ann. ‘I want to be rolled around by a good man. Do you know what I’m saying Ben?’

  ‘She’s off her face,’ said Sophia. ‘I’ve never seen her like this.’

  ‘It’s the South Pacific,’ said Ben.

  ‘They should bottle this air and sell it in Sydney,’ said Ann as they reached their fale. ‘Note to Sophia. Bottle Tongan air.’

  Ann fell out of Ben’s arms and into her bed with barely a whimper. She was asleep in seconds. Sophia was about to walk to the bathroom but stopped and faced Ben. ‘Whose side is she on?’

  ‘Claudia?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I don’t think she’s on anyone’s side,’ said Ben.

  ‘Will she try to hurt me or Ann?’

  Ben walked out onto the front deck of the fale. ‘I’m fairly sure she won’t. She knows it won’t get her anywhere.’

  ‘That’s not very comforting,’ said Sophia.

  Ben was silent.

  ‘You’re thinking of asking her to protect us tomorrow night while you are in Nuku’Alofa, aren’t you?’

  ‘I can’t leave you unprotected,’ said Ben.

  ‘But you don’t fully trust her.’

  ‘I don’t fully trust anyone,’ said Ben. ‘Do you instinctively like her?’

  ‘Yes I do,’ said Sophia.

  ‘Do you feel threatened by her in any way?’

  ‘No,’ said Sophia.

  ‘Sometimes you only have instincts and gut feelings to run with.’

  ‘You’re very good at what you do Ben,’ said Sophia, ‘but you’re a bit screwed in the head.’ She turned and walked to the bathroom.

  Ben sat down on a chair on the deck outside his end of the fale. The island staff had lit a kerosene hurricane lamp on the table, as they did every evening. These amazingly small and cheap lamps burned right through until the morning. Ben loved the kerosene smell they emitted. It reminded him of his youth and the regular blackouts that his family encountered in Sydney and dealt with as his father brought out kerosene lamps. He listened to the jungle noises and the gentle splash of the waves on the beach.

  Ben sat on the edge of the timber deck in front of the restaurant and threw pieces of bread into the water. Hundreds of fish with almost translucent bodies, black horizontal stripes and black eyes lunged for the bread in a feeding frenzy. Claudia sat down beside him and laid his torch beside his leg. ‘I’ll have to get one of these.’

  ‘Did you sleep well?’ he asked.

  ‘No. My employment has been terminated. I have to go home.’

  ‘Natalie is obviously displeased.’

  ‘Furious.’

  ‘You’ve said hello to the girls?’ asked Ben.

  ‘Yes,’ said Claudia, turning back and giving a slight wave to Ann and Sophia who were watching them from inside the restaurant. ‘Ann says something is troubling you.’

  ‘You trouble me,’ said Ben. ‘This isn’t your style.’

  She took a large piece of bread from his hands and broke off small pieces to feed the fish. ‘No it’s not.’

  ‘So what are you going to do now?’ asked Ben.

  ‘Go home.’

  ‘And?’

  She looked at him. ‘I don’t know. Find another job somewhere. I’ve failed with this one. The goal is no longer something I can attain. I was sure that Sophia Hunter would lead me to the necklace. I was wrong.’

  Ben nodded.

  Claudia threw more bread into the ocean. The fish fought over each tiny piece. ‘Once it is clear that an objective cannot be reached, one must logically retreat or face the consequences of futile endeavours.’

  ‘I’ve met only one other like you,’ said Ben.

  ‘A woman?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Is she still alive?’ asked Claudia.

  ‘Yes. Witness protection somewhere out there.’ He nodded towards the horizon.

  ‘Will you find the necklace?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Ben.

  ‘Will you tell me?’

  ‘I won’t know how to contact you,’ said Ben.

  ‘Yes you will.’

  Ben threw the last of his bread into the waves that gently rolled underneath the deck. ‘When are you leaving?’

  ‘Tomorrow.’

  ‘Can I employ you tonight?’

  She looked into his eyes. ‘To do what exactly?’

  ‘I have a date tonight on the mainland. I need someone to watch over Sophia and Ann while I’m gone.’

  She smiled. ‘You have got to be joking?’

  ‘I’ll pay you a thousand dollars in cash.’

  Claudia stared at him.

  ‘The tall blond man with Nancy Fiumara appears to be a viable threat,’ said Ben. ‘There is also a security risk within the royal palace and that man may be accepting instructions from Australia.’

  ‘Not from my ex client. She doesn’t work like that.’

  ‘Will you watch them for me?’

  ‘I like them,’ said Claudia. ‘There is something about the way they get through all this shit with…I don’t know the word.’

  ‘Poise,’ said Ben.

  ‘Yes, poise is a good word to describe the way they behave but it’s also a sense of fun to them.’

  ‘The fun over-rides their fear.’

  ‘Fun has never been a major part of my life,’
said Claudia.

  ‘They are nice people,’ said Ben. He picked up his torch and handed it to her. ‘Accept this as a gift to remind you to always carry a weapon to compliment your hands and feet.’

  Claudia put the torch in a pocket of her blue jeans and stood up. ‘Don’t you think they will be a tad suspicious if I’m watching out for them?’

  ‘They already know what you do for a living. Go and tell them yourself. They know how to zip their mouths. Both have been within an inch of death because of this damn necklace,’ said Ben.

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I’m going for a walk alone on the beach,’ said Ben. ‘I don’t need breakfast.’

  ‘I didn’t say I would take the job,’ said Claudia.

  ‘I hope you will.’

  ‘Nancy and the blond guy are in the honeymoon fale next to mine,’ said Claudia.

  ‘Do they come into the open to swim or sunbake?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Do you know who the guy is?’ asked Ben.

  ‘No, but he’s trained, probably US military. He doesn’t move like you.’

  ‘Have they figured you out?’ asked Ben.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Claudia.

  Sophia sat on the edge of the sun chair and watched Claudia and Ann swim out over the coral reef with masks, snorkels and flippers. She adjusted her own mask. ‘You’re not coming?’

  ‘No.’ said Ben.

  ‘You have a boat to catch.’

  ‘Later this afternoon.’

  ‘So what’s going on?’

  ‘She’s going to stay with you guys until I get back,’ said Ben.

  Sophia looked out over the sparkling ocean. ‘She’s very much like you, isn’t she?’

  ‘She has skills,’ said Ben.

  ‘Looking at her and talking with her makes it hard to believe…’

  ‘You know how to read people better than anyone,’ said Ben, cutting across her words. ‘She came and told you things about herself this morning. You spent time with her last night at dinner. What do you think?’

  ‘But you’ve already said that you don’t fully trust her.’

  ‘I trust her more than most I suppose.’

  ‘She could be very dangerous.’