‘I’ll try, Shirley. But I can only move on when I’m ready inside. I’d better go now.’ I rose and walked across to the summer-house.
Frank was in the living area, waiting for me, ready to go, with his rucksack slung over his shoulder. ‘Are you sure about going to your house?’ he began. ‘It’s the one place they’re likely to be watching.’
‘And it’s the place where we’ll be safest, once we’re inside. My policeman friend Alex has been keeping an eye on it for me.’
‘No cops!’ he exclaimed. ‘You saw the message. I won’t let you take chances with my mother’s life.’
‘He’s looking out for me,’ I told him, slightly inaccurately, seeing no point in mentioning that he was also on the alert for sightings of Auntie Ade with a young man. ‘But relax. With very little luck, we can get in without being seen by anybody, not even him.’
‘How? We can’t make ourselves invisible.’
‘Damn near it.’ He stood, still looking anxious. I put my hands on his shoulders, and kissed him. ‘Easy now,’ I whispered. ‘It’s going to be all right, I promise you.’
He slipped his arms around my waist, and put his forehead against mine. It felt a little moist. I leaned back, and stroked it. ‘Promise?’ he said.
‘Take it to the bank.’ Our eyes met, neither of us blinking. I felt him hardening against me. ‘Do you want to go to bed for a while?’ I found myself asking.
He shook his head. ‘I couldn’t concentrate. Tonight, if we’re back here. Once we’ve found Mum and got her away from that bastard, but not now.’
‘I’m still not going to tell Susannah,’ I murmured, smiling.
‘Maybe you should. Might make her jealous enough to leave her husband.’
‘Is that what I am?’ I asked. ‘A weapon to be used against her?’
He hugged me tight. ‘No!’ he replied earnestly. ‘You’re much more than that.’
‘Tonight, then.’ What the hell? Shirley was right, as usual. ‘But first, speaking of weapons, what do you have, apart from your clever wee knife?’
‘Nothing. I used up my mace spray getting away from those two guys. Why?’
‘When we catch up with friend Willie, he’s unlikely to put his hands up and say, “It’s a fair cop,” is he? We’re going to need to take him down, then hand him over to the police, once Adrienne’s safe.’
‘I could take him.’ He stepped back from me. ‘I’ve been trained, remember.’
‘So have I, but that doesn’t make me bullet-proof.’
‘Touché,’ he conceded. ‘Let’s buy a replica gun. They’re on sale in all the tourist shops in Seville, so I guess we’ll find one somewhere.’
‘Let’s go to mine,’ I decreed, ‘before we get round to that.’
I picked up my bag and headed for the door. We went into the big house to say farewell to Shirley. She wished us luck with the water repair, and tossed me one of her remotes, to open and close the gate, so that we could get out and in later, whether she was there or not.
A few minutes later we were back on the move. Rather than go through L’Escala, we took the ring road, built to take some of the traffic away from the busiest spots. The Brits have been calling it the M25 for so long that now some Spanish people have adopted the name, without having a clue why. Even that was busy, but most of the traffic was headed in the other direction, towards the beach. Soon we were past the football ground and bound for St Martí.
There’s a roundabout with a junction that accesses the ‘M25’, a couple of supermarkets, and the road to Figueras and beyond. As we approached it I saw that the Mossos d’Esquadra had set up a roadblock, as they sometimes do, to give the appearance of being ever-vigilant. I swore softly, for they can be a pain at times, until I recognised Sub-inspector Alex Guinart. He recognised the Jeep at the same time, and flagged me down. ‘Hey, Primavera,’ he greeted me. ‘You never told me you were home.’
‘I was going to, though. We got back last night, went to Shirley’s and stayed there.’ I leaned back, so that he could see inside the car. ‘This is my cousin, Frank McGowan. It’s his mother who’s missing.’
Alex frowned. ‘My regrets, sir,’ he said, in English, then switched back into Catalan. ‘I’m sorry, Prim. There have been no more sightings. We’re no nearer finding her.’ I thought about telling him that we’d just missed her at Masia Josanto, but decided against it, since I know that Alex doesn’t approve of free enterprise. If he’d had an inkling we were tracking her ourselves, he’d probably have detained us, although he’d have insisted it was for our own safety. ‘You go home?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘House is fine: I checked it this morning. I couldn’t go inside, because Tom took the keys with him when his escort picked him up, but it looks fine from the outside.’
‘Good. Thanks, Alex. How’s Marte?’
His sudden smile was distinctly uncopperlike. ‘A little lovelier than she was yesterday. You know, when she grows up I have plans to marry her to your Tom.’
‘He may be a bit too old for her,’ I pointed out.
‘Seven years? What’s seven years?’
I laughed, although he had a point. ‘Let’s allow them their childhood first,’ I said. One of the drivers in a growing queue behind us risked a brief toot on his horn. Alex’s smile vanished, and I decided to leave the guy to his fate. ‘See you,’ I called out as I drove off.
It was only just gone eleven, but there were cars parked along much of the road to St Martí, taking a chance, as they’ve started clamping. We took a curve and Frank had his first view of the village, of its ancient wall and the dominating church within. ‘Is that where you live?’ he asked.
‘Yup.’
He whistled. ‘How would you feel about me moving in for a while?’ he asked.
I wasn’t sure he was kidding. ‘How I felt wouldn’t decide the issue,’ I told him. ‘Even if we do get free and clear of all danger, and if we rescue your mum, I’d have to put the matter to the vote.’
‘You have a democratic household?’
‘Not exactly. Even if Charlie and I voted in favour, Tom would still have a veto.’
‘So that’s why you don’t have a man.’
I looked at him sharply. ‘No, it’s bloody not. You know, Frank, underneath it all, you’re a typical bloke. You can’t get your head round the idea of a woman choosing to be a single mother, and liking it that way.’
He held his hands up in surrender. ‘Pax.’ he exclaimed. ‘Bad joke; I take it back. Young Tom must be some guy.’
‘He is.’
‘What does he look like?’
‘A lot like his dad and a bit like his mum. Tall for his age: give him another seven years and he’ll be bigger than you and me. He’s bright, he’s inquisitive in a good way, by which I mean he’s eager to learn. His Spanish and Catalan are better than mine, because he picked up all the playground stuff from his mates, and his French is on a par. Last summer, he met some German kids whose folks rented here for a month. By the time they left he was starting to speak to them in their own language.’
‘Does he speak English?’
‘Don’t be bloody silly! Of course he does, and I’m making damn sure that he’s literate in it as well.’
‘You hire a tutor?’
‘I am his tutor, you idiot.’
I slowed down as I reached the roundabout in front of the village. I saw another police presence there, Guardia Civil this time, but they recognised me and waved me through. The car park on the right was almost full, and the other would be heading that way, even though it was bigger; as usual, there would be thousands of people on the beach.
All of a sudden I felt in danger once again, as I realised that it was a hell of a lot easier for Sebastian to hide from us in those crowds than it was for us to hide from him in my tank, for all its tinted windows. And I realised something else. My bravura gesture in sending Adrienne’s captor that photograph of Antonio, in the same chair from which she had given her message, hadn’t been clever at all. It had told Willie that we were in the area; now it was more likely than not that his pal was staking out my home, waiting for us to come to him.