‘When we were about twenty miles out from Bermuda, this big yacht, motor yacht, came alongside. Gerry went over the side with a mask and snorkel. I tow a rope astern and she clung on to that. These two guys came on board and searched the yacht. Later she told me they were Neil Samms and Vince Parker. Well they didn’t find her, but they found a hairbrush festooned with her hair and took it for DNA. I thought they planted the cocaine.’
‘Oh I understand now,’ said Cornwall. ‘When you said two guys planted cocaine I thought you were referring to the men from Bermuda rather than these Americans. Sorry, go on.’
‘Anyway when she found out who the two of them were, well you should have seen her face — you’d think she wanted to kill them.’
‘Oh surely not. Now did she mention any other names?’
‘Not really.’
‘Not really?’
‘Well when she was asleep. She’d have these recurring dreams and she’d mention Ali a lot. I asked her who he was and she said he was on the raft with her but he died.’
‘Mmm… anyone else?’
‘She mumbled something about Phil when she was asleep, and once she called me Phil by mistake. I asked her who was this Phil guy and he said he was from her past.’
‘So I can take it that as you heard all these dreams you were sharing a cabin?’
‘Er yeah… that’s a polite way of putting it, but yes.’
‘Are you sure there’s nothing else she told you in intimate moments? You were her first lover oh, for years, probably since Philip.’
‘Four years… really? No wonder she was so… er, that guy Phil must have really hurt her.’
‘He’s dead Mr Stevens, and for the last few years she’s been in prison for killing the man who was responsible.’
‘What!’
‘Actually I don’t believe she did kill him: I think she was fitted up for it.’
‘Well thank goodness for that; she doesn’t seem the type at all.’
‘Oh no, of course she isn’t.’
They remained silent for a few seconds as each of them considered their divergent opinions of Gerry Tate.
‘Is that why she gave up her daughter for adoption?’ ventured Steven after a while. ‘Because she was in prison.’
‘So she told you she had a child?’
‘Yes. I think she wants to go back to England and see her child and then she’s out for revenge.’
‘Revenge on whom?’
‘On whoever’s responsible for dumping her on that life raft. And probably whoever put her in prison too I should imagine.’
‘Well she can hardly go through the usual channels; there’s an arrest warrant out for her. And it’ll take her some time to track down her daughter.’
‘No it won’t, she already knows where she is.’
‘What? How?’
‘She hacked into the adoption records.’
‘Ah!’ Cornwall shook his head slowly. ‘So she’s heading back to London. Unless of course she planted all that with you as disinformation.’
‘She may have done.’
‘So Mr Morris, what plans do you have now?’
‘I’ll continue to sail to Florida I think.’
‘How long will that take, do you reckon?’
‘Five to ten days, depending on the wind of course.’
‘Good, by the time you arrive, this should have all been resolved. Now perhaps you could tell me where you dropped her off, and what she had with her in the way of money, equipment, anything at all in fact.’
The sunlight flooding into the room woke Gerry up. She quickly dressed and then looked around the garage. She rummaged through a tool set and found some pliers, four screwdrivers of different types and sizes, a pair of tin snips and a utility knife which she added to a large shoulder bag in which she had already packed some clothes before leaving the house via the broken door. She walked back to a row of local shops and restaurants, found a telephone booth and bought a Diet Coke from a nearby shop and asked for change for the telephone. She searched for the major hotels in the directory, called the first on the list and asked to be put through to reception. ‘Hello is that where the conference is taking place please?’ Gerry asked.
‘I’m sorry you have the wrong hotel, we have no conferences booked if you like I can look up…’
Without waiting for the man to finish she hung up and then dialled the next on the list and asked the same question, this time with the response she had been hoping for.
‘Do you mean the American Orthodontics Society?’ The woman on the reception asked. ‘Are you attending madam?’
‘Yes I am,’ said Gerry. ‘This is Doctor Eve Adams. I’m running a bit late, can you tell me what time they’re starting?’
‘Well let me look at their schedule. Breakfast at 9am, meeting at 10am and the first speaker is scheduled to begin at 10.30am.’
‘That’s fine, thank you very much,’ Gerry said and hung up. She walked along the street to a secluded spot and cut a strip of metal from the empty Coke can and bent it double so she had a strip about one centimetre by six. Then she returned to the café and telephoned a local taxi company whose business card was taped to the wall and asked to be picked up.
Gerry walked into the hotel store and bought a copy of the Economist and a roll of adhesive tape. She wandered around the reception area taking careful note of the surroundings and then settled down in the Starbucks concession with a double tall latte and began to read her magazine.
When the American Orthodontics Society broke up for lunch Gerry rose from her seat and surreptitiously inspected the participants wearing their distinctive conference name cards. Helen Mendoza was several inches shorter than she was, but otherwise her hair and facial resemblance was fairly good. Gerry followed her into the elevator with a crowd of other delegates and followed her along the corridor and noted her room number. Then she walked to a service trolley and took the room maid’s clipboard and walked back to Helen Mendoza’s room and knocked on the door. She stood back and smiled at the door spy glass with the clipboard prominent. After a moment the door opened.
‘Good afternoon Doctor Mendoza, I would be grateful if you could just check that your minibar has been serviced for me?’
‘Oh… ah… ok. But I haven’t had anything from the minibar.’
‘If you could just check the security tag has been renewed please.’
As Helen Mendoza walked back into her room Gerry taped her metal strip over the door catch aperture.
‘Yes its fine,’ said the orthodontist straightening up and turning to look at her.
‘Thank you very much, doctor. I hope you have a pleasant stay and a good conference.’
Gerry replaced the clipboard and rode the elevator back down to reception and ordered another coffee. A few minutes later Helen Mendoza emerged from an elevator and walked into the conference lunch room. Gerry hastened back up to her room, pushed open the door and removed the metal strip. She searched through the woman’s luggage until she found a passport, driving licence, Visa and Amex cards, cash to the value of five hundred dollars and another seven hundred in traveller’s cheques.
She went into the bathroom, relieved herself of some of the coffee and looked in the mirror. ‘Good afternoon, my name’s Helen Mendoza,’ she said in her best American accent. ‘I need some dental work carried out.’
The dentist had been all sympathy as Helen Mendoza described how she had lost a tooth in a car accident two years ago and how she had been hit in the face playing tennis last week and now her cap had fallen off. ‘My travel insurance company and my dental health insurance people are fighting over who is going to pick up the tab,’ she had explained, ‘so I was wondering if you could just fix me up with a temporary crown.’