An Enigmatic Disappearance Read Free

Mallorquin,’ he said angrily. ‘They don’t stop to think about people like me.’
    â€˜I thought there was a local station which showed the news in English?’
    â€˜Only a short news. And then it’s almost all about Spain. Who’s interested in what goes on in this place?… Get someone to fit up a dish for me and bring in our card and then I can watch some decent programmes on satellite.’
    â€˜I don’t think that’s possible…’
    â€˜What is it? You can’t be bothered?’
    â€˜Bunnikins, how can you say anything so hurtful?’ She sounded close to tears.
    â€˜I can’t understand why you won’t do it.’
    â€˜Because this room faces north and a dish has to face south.’
    He swore. ‘Typical! They deliberately put me in a room facing the wrong way. But they’ll take my money quicker than I can hand it to them.’
    â€˜You’ll soon be home and then you can watch what you want.’
    He scratched the side of his stubbled cheek. ‘I suppose no one’s bothered to ask after me?’
    â€˜Everyone has been, and wishing you well.’
    â€˜Who’s “everyone”?’
    â€˜Edna rang and said I was to give you her love; Iris was in the supermarket near the cloisters and she hopes you’ll very soon be out of hospital; Cora and Clive were in the post office when I collected the mail and they asked how you were and hoped you’d soon be fighting fit.’
    â€˜She asked or he did?’
    â€˜She did, as a matter of fact.’
    â€˜That’s not surprising. He wouldn’t give a damn if I’d died. Supercilious bastard! You didn’t tell him what was the matter with me, did you?’
    â€˜Of course I didn’t. I told him and Cora the same as everyone else. You’ve suffered severe food poisoning, but we can’t work out what you ate that caused it. That’s right, isn’t it?’
    â€˜I suppose he can’t make much out of that.’
    â€˜Oh … I nearly forgot. Ada rang last night to ask how you were.’
    â€˜Not like her to bother about anyone else when she’s so wrapped up with that little spaghetti gigolo.’
    â€˜Why are you always so nasty about him?’
    â€˜D’you expect me to say what a fine, upstanding man he is when he lets himself be trailed around like a pet dog? It’s obscene. She’s three times his age.’
    â€˜But…’ She stopped, then continued in a troubled tone: ‘I thought you always said that a difference in ages doesn’t matter?’
    â€˜When the man’s older, it doesn’t,’ he said hastily. ‘But it’s totally different when it’s the woman.’
    â€˜I suppose that’s right,’ she said meekly.
    Twenty minutes later, she stood. ‘I really must go, my darling.’
    â€˜What’s the rush?’
    â€˜I wish I could stay longer, but there’s a special concert on in the cloisters and you’ve always said we must go to that sort of thing, even if it’s as boring as hell, to show the locals we’ve got cultural taste.’

CHAPTER 3
    It was the height of summer, a time when a reasonable man accepted that stress was potentially fatal. As Alvarez made for the door of his office, the phone began to ring. He ignored it. The call might be important.
    Downstairs, he passed the duty cabo, who was reading a girlie magazine, and continued through to the road. Keeping on the shade side, he made his way to the old square and the Club Llueso. The barman did not bother to ask him what he wanted, but poured a large brandy and then filled a scoop with ground coffee and fixed this into the coffee machine. Alvarez carried the glass across to a window table, sat, and sipped the brandy as he stared at the swirling crowd of tourists. A very stout woman, wearing the tightest of T-shirts and the shortest of shorts, climbed the steps up to