by Ava Zavora
The rustic landscape of Agrigento was very picturesque, sloping green hills dotted with vineyards and orchards of olive trees. She could see why Adam chose Agrigento as his retreat from the world. It would be a pleasant life of quiet and simplicity, what he craved most. And the sea was nearby, so he could go sailing on his boat any time he wanted. The more she saw of Agrigento, the more she became convinced that Adam was there.
The first day’s results were less than stellar. She got lost multiple times, going down windy roads that weren’t on the map. Some led to nowhere so she would have to turn around, having wasted a half hour. Others led to some old-looking houses, but none of them were former mills. The most promising one looked like it might have been a mill house at one time. It was surrounded by lemon trees and got her very excited. But as soon as she got out of the car, two women came out from around the back with babies on their hips, so she knew it wasn’t the right one. She was a little bit discouraged by the time night fell, but cheered herself up with the knowledge that even if she didn’t find Adam’s house that day, she could at least eliminate a section on her map. She was still making progress.
The next day she set off again with a full tank of gas and hopeful spirits. It was a warm and sunny May morning in beautiful Agrigento. No better setting existed for she and Adam to meet for the first time. She put on a spring dress of white eyelet with spaghetti straps and wore red wedge heels. She curled her hair to fall in old-fashioned waves, painted her lips a classic red, a look that Adam would like. Her phone was loaded with Frank Sinatra tunes, which she played while she searched.
As she drove, she imagined what it would be like to live here with Adam, remembering that he once said he wanted to eventually split their time between Sicily and California. She pictured a garden where Adam would grow vegetables, perhaps a vineyard on the property so he could make wine. She pictured rooms full of books everywhere, a real library. A large, well-stocked kitchen. He loved shopping in open-air markets and everything would be fresh, even fish he caught himself. They would have feasts every day, sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate, because they both loved good food. He would have his den where he could write more novels and poetry, and she would have her own nook as well where she could write too. And at night they would come together in their special room …
A loud sound like a gunshot punctured Eden’s daydream. She recoiled from surprise then realized what had happened when her car started slowing down and thumping oddly over the road. She had a flat tire. She pulled over to the dirt shoulder and got out.
It was her right, rear tire, deflated, with probably a hole. She looked up and down the two-lane road. She was by herself. She opened her trunk and prayed that the cars in Italy had the same implements as American ones. She poked around the base of the trunk and rejoiced when she lifted the felt cover and found not a spare, but an inflated full tire. And it came equipped with tools. Getting a Hyundai instead of a Fiat seemed like a stroke of good luck now.
She was pumping the jack with her foot when she heard a car pull up right behind hers. It was a black convertible, sleek and shiny. She recognized the trident on the grill. A Maserati. It glimmered in the sun so much like a mirage, hypnotizing her, that Eden’s foot missed the jack and hit the ground instead. She had to grab the car door to keep from losing her balance.
“Why hello there, stranger!”
Eden squinted at the man who got out of the Maserati in his aviator shades. There was only one person with a smile as white and dazzling as that.
“Jack!” she exclaimed with half-hearted cheer. “Fancy running into you here.”
He strode towards her, a gorgeous sun god of muscle and tanned skin in a snug, light blue polo shirt and shorts. He lowered his shades to reveal a flash of startling aquamarine eyes. Eden looked away so that she wouldn’t start drooling. He had the kind of beauty that made her feel self-conscious and grubby.
“I saw a beautiful woman in distress on the side of the road and what amazing luck that she turned out to be you.”
“Why, thank you, Jack. Such a gentleman. But actually,” Eden said as she finished pumping the jack and picked up the wrench. “I got it.” From the corner of her eye she saw his mouth drop then close abruptly as she started twisting off the lug nuts. He looked her up and down in her dainty white dress and heels, disbelieving.
“You … know how to change a tire?”
“Yeah,” she shrugged as if it were a matter of course. Auto Basics class, #27 on her list.
He seemed uncertain now, no less gorgeous, but standing as though deflated. He crossed his arms, watching her pop off all the nuts with what appeared to be perplexed fascination.
“I thought you were staying in Palermo, Jack,” she remarked as she lifted the tire off the wheel. Jack snapped out of his trance and helped her carry it to the side.
“Yes, well, I thought I’d drive around the country a bit, get some scenery and fresh air. How about you? Where’s your friend at?”
“Oh, he had to run some errands so I decided to go adventuring on my own.”
Eden rolled the replacement tire and Jack helped her lift it onto the wheel.
“Gee, thanks for stopping by. But you look like you have places to go. I don’t want to keep you from your vacation plans.” She patted the tire. “I got this covered.”
“Plans?” he repeated. “No plans. Adventuring, like you. Would you like me to tighten the nuts for you?”
Eden stood up. “My teacher taught me a trick.” She put one foot on the lug wrench with the socket securely attached to one of the nuts and jumped on it. “That makes it really tight without having to use any muscle.”
Jack didn’t bother closing his mouth as he watched Eden bounce four more times to tighten each nut. “You’re certainly a very ... resourceful woman, Eden.”
“Thank you.” He helped her put the flat tire and tools in the trunk. She closed it and faced Jack in awkward silence.
He took a handkerchief from his pocket and brushed her cheek with it, startling Eden.
“Sorry, you had a bit of dirt on you. I couldn’t resist.” He smiled again and offered her his handkerchief. “For your hands.”
Eden looked down and grimaced. Her hands were black. Miraculously, her dress remained white. She took the handkerchief from Jack and vigorously wiped her hands with them. When she was done, his handkerchief was a wrinkled, ugly-looking mess.
“Uh, sorry,” she said as she held it in front of her. It definitely didn’t belong to the immaculately groomed creature standing in front of her.
“Keep it.”
“Well, thanks for coming to my rescue a second time,” she said when he didn’t make any motions to leave.
“Hardly a rescue," Jack laughed. "Here’s a thought. Since we’re both adventuring, why don’t we do it together? We can take my car.” Eden glanced at the gleaming Maserati with envy. What she would give to be able to sit behind its wheel.
“That’s a wonderful idea, but I’m going to have lunch with my friend. He’s waiting for me. In fact, I think I heard my phone ring just now. That was probably him, wondering where I am.”
Jack made even disappointment look attractive. “This guy who’s got you running around Sicily, whoever he is, is quite the lucky man.”
For once, Eden could tell Jack the full truth. “He’s the reason why I’m here. I’m madly in love with him.”
He stared at her intensely, as though taking full measure of her.
“That’s good to know,” he mused. “Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Again, it’s been quite the pleasure.”
“Thanks, Jack!” She got into her car and pulled out her phone, putting on a show of making a phone call. She watched Jack drive off and waved goodbye as he passed her. Only when the Maserati disappeared into the horizon did she start her car and drive the opposite direction.
Since it was lunchtime, Eden hadn’t told Jack a total lie. She had planned to go back to the downtown city proper any way and walk around,
maybe find another café from which to watch out for Adam. She parked her car near the city center and walked down a street full of shops and sidewalk eateries. It was busy and vibrant, with a mixture of Italians and tourists from other countries, judging from the range of different languages she heard. She blended in at least, just another sightseeing tourist among the many. She walked slowly, carefully looking at every man to see if he seemed familiar in anyway.
“How are you going to recognize Adam?” Vivian had asked her before she left.
“I’ll just know,” Eden had replied with conviction, unable to explain this strong intuition of hers. Just like she knew Jack couldn’t possibly be Adam in disguise, which Vivian had excitedly proposed when she had learned of the Rome incident.
“What are the odds of you running into a British man while in Italy?” Vivian had written in her e-mail. “It’s like fate. Maybe it’s not a coincidence.”
“The voice,” Eden had replied. “Not at all the same. And even if it they sounded similar, I still would have no doubt.” Jack looked as if everything had always come easily to him. He didn’t look like a man who had ever struggled, ever suffered, ever been an outsider. These were the very qualities Eden searched for when she looked into the faces of the men she passed.
Adam had let her see his heart and soul. If he was anywhere near her, she would feel an irresistible pull towards him, a recognition from her depths that would signal she had found the one she was seeking.
She spotted a pretty café with a red and white awning and was about to cross the street when she saw a now familiar figure down the sidewalk. It was Jack. She whirled around and bumped into a man, who grunted at her carelessness.
“Scuzi!” she said as she stumbled away from him and dashed into the nearest shop. She quickly dodged behind some shelves. She heard the door open soon after and someone walk in. She heard footsteps come closer and closer to her location and held her breath. They stopped at her aisle. She looked up, dreading to see Jack, but it was only the man she had bumped into outside. He looked at her then kept on moving.
Eden waited some seconds, then slowly peeked over the top. Through the front store window, she saw Jack, his head craned as if searching for someone. He had the look of a man who was on a serious hunt. To her relief, he kept going.
Jack Knightley was no ordinary flirt. He was scouring the town for her, Eden was sure of it. But it wasn’t because he found her beauty irresistible. Her internal alarm was ringing violently now. Vivian was right. Today’s chance encounter, and perhaps even the encounter at the airport, had not been a coincidence at all.
Chapter 19
As soon as she felt enough time had passed, Eden rose from crouching behind the shelves, looking all around her. She was in a bookstore, she just realized. She ran her fingers down the spines of the books. All in Italian, but it was still a comforting, tactile pleasure. She began to wonder if they had an English section then snapped out of her reverie. She had no time to shop. She was about to walk out but thought better of it. What if Jack was still looking for her outside? Better to stay in for a while longer just to be safe.
Pleased with her smart thinking, Eden exhaled. Her pulse quieted and she became relaxed. Being surrounded by books always had a soothing effect on her.
“Buon giorno,” piped the college-aged girl behind the counter. She was sitting on a stool in front of even more shelves with stacked books. “Americana?”
“Yes. Si,” Eden replied cautiously, hoping it was a good thing. One never knew. It always amazed her that people could tell she was American without her saying anything. Was it her clothes? Something about her attitude? “Buon giorno.”
“Welcome,” the girl said. She pointed to a bookshelf against the wall. “English.”
“Gratzie!” Eden beamed as she walked to the section. A thick stack of rubber-banded books behind the girl, spines out and wrapped with a white piece of paper, caught her eye. It was what was on the piece of paper, in big, block letters written with a black marker, that held her interest.
CAIN ROQUIER.
Where had she seen that before?
Puzzled, she began looking through the English language books. Dan Brown, Stephenie Meyer, Edgar Allan Poe, all put together. She couldn’t really expect it to be otherwise, but the store had a paltry collection. She picked out a James Patterson novel and was idly flipping through it when it struck her. Cain Roquier was the villain in The Angel’s Shadow by Arturo Valiente, the book she had reviewed and subsequently first brought her to Adam’s attention.
She surveyed all the books behind the counter. They were all similarly rubber-banded and had white paper wrapping, each one with a name. These were all books ordered by customers and on hold. Someone in Agrigento called Cain Roquier had ordered 14 books. It couldn’t possibly be a random occurrence. She could feel the certainty in her bones. It was Adam in a clever disguise. Those were his books. This was his bookstore.
What a fool she had been. She had been driving all over Agrigento when all she had to do was come to the one place he was sure to visit. And by the quantity of books being held for him, he would be coming in any day now, perhaps any minute.
She took out her spiral notebook and quickly wrote a note to Adam. Then pretending to be engrossed in James Patterson, she waited until the girl left the counter and went to the back. She looked around. The only other customer was the man who came in after she did. He appeared to be deep into a paperback book. Her heart beating fast, Eden quickly went behind the counter and slipped her note inside the topmost book of Cain Roquier’s stack, then left the store.
She walked across to the café and asked for a table by the window. This was her new plan, to stake out the bookstore from opening to closing hours. She knew from their e-mails that Adam visited the bookstore at least once a week. He hadn’t visited lately, so he was due. And she would be here waiting for him when he did so.
Eden was too excited to eat, but she ordered plate after plate, one every hour. She was willing to pay for occupying her window-side table for four hours, until the bookstore closed. She was careful not to consume too much water. She couldn’t risk going to the bathroom and missing Adam altogether.
The afternoon went by slowly. Only two more people entered and left the bookstore after she did, an elderly couple. When the bookstore closed, Eden finally paid up her bill and left a big tip. She wanted to be welcomed when she came back tomorrow and quite possibly the days after that.
Despite not finding Adam that day either, Eden was far from let down. She was much closer than she had been the day before. She felt almost happy as she went back to her hotel room. It had been a fruitful excursion. As she unlocked the door, her thoughts went back to Jack Knightley. Who was he and why was he so intent on her?
She entered her room and was immediately pulled in, the door slamming shut behind her. A large hand clamped down on her mouth as she was pinned from behind. She struggled but an arm held her fast, crushing her chest so she couldn’t breathe.
“Listen to me, you stupid bitch,” growled a man’s voice in her ear, deep and low. “I’ll crush your stupid little head if you don’t stop moving.” She stopped struggling. In an instant all her pores started sweating with fear. She could feel it rising in her body, pouring out of her. Her mind had gone into panic, blank except for one thought. Whatever this man was about to say, it didn’t matter. He was going to hurt her.
With her hand still on her mouth, he stopped pinning him to her and quickly ripped the purse from her shoulder and threw it on the bed. He then grabbed her long hair and wound it tightly around his hand.
“You’re not going to scream because the second that you do, I’m going to smash your face into the wall. I’ll be gone by the time they find your dead body. Nod if you understand.”
Eden nodded.
He took his hand from her mouth, then jerked her roughly by hair further inside. She bit back a gasp of pain. She stumbled but he pulled her up by her hair then dragged her to a
chair and shoved her down. He had been behind her the whole time so she still did not know what he looked like or who he was.
“Now. I can see that you’re going to be good. You’re going to do exactly as I say and tell me everything I need to know because at any time, for any reason, I can snap your neck in two.” He put a large hand around her neck and squeezed hard until he extracted a strangled whimper out of her. He eased but his hand remained on her throat.
“You’re not going to lie to me because I already know why you’re here.”
No. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t have been this wrong about him.
“I’m going to ask you a question and you’re going to answer truthfully. Where is Adam?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone from around here.”
“Dear Adam,” he recited as he began choking her, squeezing her throat tighter and tighter with each word. Eden put her hands on his, tearing at it as she thrashed in the chair. “I’m here in Agrigento until Sunday. I know this is very sudden and unexpected but I would like to see you and talk. I’m at the Hotel Della Luna, Room 103. Please meet me. It would mean the world to me. Eden.” He let go and she gasped, taking big gulps of air. Her throat burned.
“Where is Adam?” he asked again.
“I don’t know and that’s the truth!” Eden cried. “If I knew do you think I’d leave that note for him?”
“You’re a very stupid bitch,” he whispered. “But useful.”
“Who are you?”
Instead of answering, he pulled her hands behind the chair and tied them together with what felt like rope. He started moving around behind her and then went to the window. It was still dark in her room, so she could barely make him out. He opened the drapes just an inch and scanned the outside quickly before shutting them again. From the small slant of light that briefly shone on his face, Eden was able to recognize him. He was the man from the bookstore, the one she had bumped into and who then followed her in.