Infinite Spring Page 24

  She peeked out of the window. The sky was just beginning to lighten with the dawn. She checked her watch. It was just after five am. She decided to walk to the village and get some morning air.

  She left the house silently and walked the short distance as slowly as she could. The sky turned from a deep blue to orange then to a light blue. Even going at the speed she had, she was still too early for the bakery. The sign on the door told her it opened at six am. She spent twenty minutes walking the cobbled streets of the village, admiring the little houses. Lines of washing hung over the streets between the houses and each door was painted a different shade of pastel colour. It really was like a village out of a storybook, almost too pretty to exist in real life. The only other inhabitant of the village she met was a scruffy looking dog, and he paid her no mind as she passed. Eventually, her watch told her it was six o’clock and she made her way back to the little bakery. She ordered a coffee and a croissant and munched on it at one of the little tables outside. It was a beautiful morning and she was glad to be alive. She could hear the birds beginning their dawn chorus and the sounds of the villagers waking up for the day. She ordered more croissants from the bakery and a loaf of freshly baked bread and meandered back to the farmhouse.

  The others were awake by the time she got back, so she put the kettle on to make them all some coffee.

  “I wondered where you were,” smiled Aethelu kissing her on the cheek as she sat down at the table.

  Alex grabbed the paper bag and took out two croissants.

  “Thanks,” he said and also kissed her on the cheek, much to Aethelu’s disapproval.

  “Use a plate. You’re dropping crumbs all over the table” she said to hide the real reason for her annoyance.

  “Sorry,” Alex mumbled back, spilling even more crumbs in front of him.

  Anais handed him a plate along with everyone else and then got out some jam, butter and knives which she placed on the table. The coffees soon followed and she finally sat down to her own breakfast.

  Once they had all finished and everything had been cleared away, Anais made some more coffee which they took outside to the patio. The day was beginning to feel hot already, but there was a cool breeze drifting through.

  “Right. I think it’s fair to say that Alex and I were a little worse for wear last night however I do remember most of what was said. If I may go over things so we are all on the same page.”

  Everyone nodded. Anais sipped her coffee.

  “Sabine flew to Amsterdam on a fake passport with a fake name and photo. At some point, probably the next day, she came looking for me in a gallery in Florence. Since then, she has not been seen or heard from by anybody. I think that is the long and the short of it. Am I correct?”

  “Very succinctly put,” nodded Alex.

  “The question is. Why hasn’t she been home and where is she now? I’ve contacted all her friends in Florence and they haven’t seen her in weeks.”

  “I don’t know why she hasn’t been home,” began Anais “but I think the more important question is what are we going to do now?”

  “I’ll do what I said I’d do last night. Check out all the passengers flying from Amsterdam to Florence on that day. I’ll also check out the trains, but if she paid cash, we will probably never know. I’ve already gone through all the paper though. Aethelu, would you mind popping out and getting some more. Anais, you can help me here.”

  Before Aethelu had a chance to argue, James jumped up. Excellent idea, I could do with a break from the house. I’ll come with you. I know where the nearest stationery shop is. With a look of annoyance, Aethelu left with James, leaving Anais with Alex.

  “You need to stop being so manipulative,” said Anais as she cleared the coffee things away.

  “What did I do?” asked Alex innocently.

  “You know what you did. Any one of us could have gone for that paper. You connived it so that you and I would be here alone.” She felt herself begin to get angry.

  “No, I didn’t. I didn’t know James would go with her. Your imagination is getting ahead of you.” He grinned knowing that he’d won the argument.

  ‘Fine,’ thought Anais. ‘But I’m not helping you.’ She stuck a tongue out at the door that Alex had just gone through.

  Once in the kitchen, she had an idea. She went to the hallway and found the farmhouse telephone. It was extremely old-fashioned and chunky. Underneath it, on the little cabinet where it was located was a drawer. She opened the drawer and struck it lucky first time, finding the Italian version of the phone directory, or the Pagine Gialle, as was written on the front. She found a pen and made her way through to the kitchen taking the directory with her. Turning to the pages with hotels, she was surprised to find so many. She remembered James telling her there was a lot, but she wasn’t expecting quite so many pages to wade through. She started at the top and called the first number. She had to use her phone, as the farmhouse phone’s cord didn’t reach far enough and she didn’t fancy sitting in the hall all morning.

  “Buongiorno. Acaddemia Hotel,” came a friendly voice down the phone.

  “Buongiorno. Do you speak English?” She hated having to ask. It made her feel uncultured. She made her mind up to learn Italian as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, how may I help you?”

  “I was wondering if you could put me through to Sabine Cutter please.”

  “Do you have a room number?”

  “I’m afraid not. She forgot to tell me which room she was in.”

  “Just a minute.” She was placed on hold. Seconds later the receptionist came back on line.

  “I’m afraid we don’t have a Sabine Cutter staying here. Are you sure you have the right hotel?”

  “I could be wrong,” said Anais, expecting this. She thought for another second and then tried another tack. “What about Annalise Duchamp?”

  “Duchamp? Let me see. No, sorry. We have no one under the names Duchamp or Cutter. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “Ok. Have a nice day.”

  Anais hung up and drew a line through the first hotel listing in the book.

  “One down, a million more to go.”

  She was on to her eighteenth call when Aethelu and James came back, both carrying reams of paper. James took it all through to Alex, and Aethelu joined Anais at the kitchen table.

  “What are you doing?” asked Aethelu.

  Anais held her finger up to quiet Aethelu. “Thank you, no problem,” she said and hung up the phone. She spoke to Aethelu. “I’ve been calling all the hotels in Florence asking for Sabine Cutter and Annalise Duchamp. No luck so far.”

  “Brilliant idea,” said Aethelu, giving her a thumbs up.

  “I’m not so sure. If Alex comes up with yet another alias, I’m going to have to do this all again. I’ve only called eighteen, as it is. There are hundreds. Look.”

  She flicked through all the pages of hotel listings for Aethelu to see.

  “How come you’ve left some out?” asked Aethelu looking at the crossed out listings in the book. There were five or so that hadn’t been crossed out.

  “I did call them, but they didn’t speak English. I figured it would be better for James to do those.

  “Did I hear someone say my name?” James peered round the door.

  “I’ve been calling all the hotels in Florence asking for either Sabine or Annalise. No luck so far, but I’ve had to skip a few, as they didn’t speak English. I was hoping you could do those.”

  “Of course, it will be good to be of use for a change.”

  “How is Alex getting on?”

  “He’s just printing out the passport details of everyone on the Amsterdam to Florence flight. He can check through them himself, as there is only one flight to wade through.”

  “As everyone else is so busy, I’ll make coffee then.” Aethelu stood up and made a fresh pot of coffee for them all.

  James found an exten
sion cable that allowed him to bring the house phone into the kitchen and began to dial the hotels that Anais had missed.

  Three hours later and they still hadn’t found anything. Alex had come into the kitchen grumbling that he was hungry so Aethelu made sandwiches for everyone.

  After lunch, Aethelu went to help Alex wade through the three hundred passport printouts, leaving Anais and James to carry on with their hotel calling.

  By the time they were half-way through, Anais was beginning to give up hope. They had been at it all day, and no one had heard of either Sabine Cutter or Annalise Duchamp. Alex had found nothing of worth on the flight from Amsterdam to Florence, and now had moved on to checking rail routes and times between the two cities.

  “Hotel Medici.”

  “Hello. Do you speak English?” She was sick of asking.

  “Yes madam. May I assist you in any way?” He had an American accent. She smiled. He was probably doing a year abroad and working as a hotel receptionist to fund it. It made her a little homesick although she placed the accent closer to the east coast of America.

  “Yes, I was wondering if it would be possible to put me through to Sabine Cutter’s room please.”

  “Just one moment.” She heard the now familiar tone of being put on hold, whilst classical music blared out at her. “I’m sorry, but there is no Sabine Cutter listed.”

  “Oh,” said Anais in mock surprise. “I’m sure she said she was staying there. Do you have an Annalise Duchamp staying there?”

  “Can you spell Duchamp please?”

  She spelt out the name for him.

  “Just one moment.”

  She was expecting to hear the naff classical music again when the phone began to ring.

  A young woman answered.

  “Hello?”

  Anais nearly dropped the phone in shock.

  “Sabine?”

  James heard his daughters name and hung up the call he was on. Unfortunately, the woman on the end of Anais line did the same.

  “She’s here. Hotel Medici.”

  “I knew it!” James jumped up from his chair, spilling cold coffee all over the floor.

  “Aethelu, Alex.” Anais shouted through to the lounge. “We’ve found her. Come on.”

  “The four of them ran to the car, Alex and James in the front and Aethelu and Anais in the back. Alex had elected to drive with James navigating.

  The sun was just beginning its descent in the sky when they pulled up at a car park at the edge of a pedestrian zone. James jumped out and started to weave his way through the tourists. Alex, Anais and Aethelu had trouble keeping up with him and Aethelu had to apologise twice for bumping into tourists.

  Finally, they reached a small non-descript hotel. It was nothing more than a rundown bed and breakfast. The paintwork was peeling off the side of the building and looked like it had seen better days. It was only a couple of streets away from the Galleria David. Anais and Aethelu had walked right past it at least twice without paying it any attention. If only they had known. Anais ran in to find James talking to the American receptionist.

  “Can you tell me which room Annalise Duchamp is in please?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that sir. Hotel policy.”

  James looked frantic. He turned to Anais for help.

  “Can you call the room for us please? Tell her that her friends are here.” Anais gave her widest smile to the receptionist. It would no doubt either frighten or confuse Sabine but at least they would find out which room she was in. As she expected, the receptionist told her that Annalise was not taking visitors today. It didn’t matter, though. She’d watched what the receptionist had typed into the phone when he made the call. Room number 15. She waited until he was distracted with another customer and beckoned the others to the hotel stairs. From what she could gather by the signs, rooms 1-10 were on the ground floor, 11-20 on the first floor and the remaining rooms on the top floor. They made their way up to the first floor and followed white corridors until they reached number fifteen.

  James knocked on the door and waited.

  A small fearful voice came through the door.

  “Who is it?”

  “Sabine?” tears began to form in his eyes. The door flung open and the young woman flew out of it and jumped on James, nearly knocking him over.

  “Papa! Oh papa!”

  She hugged him tightly and cried. James followed suit and soon the pair were bawling like babies.

  After a few minutes, she pulled apart and finally noticed Anais, Alex and Aethelu. James introduced her to them.

  “They helped me find you. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

  Sabine hugged them all, one by one, causing both Aethelu and Alex to blush.

  Anais smiled. “Come on. I think it’s time we took you home.”

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Back at the farmhouse, another bottle of wine was opened. Anais made sure they only had one glass each, as they needed to know what had happened to Sabine. It might help them to catch Jago.

  She appeared nervous, but happy to be home. She sat beside James on the couch and refused to leave his side. She had been quiet the whole journey home in the car, but the smile at finding her father had not left her face. She seemed unsure of the others, but by the time they had arrived back at the farmhouse, she had relaxed a little around them. The glass of wine also helped her open up.

  She started a long and strange story that started months before. She spoke in English for the benefit of Anais, Aethelu and Alex, although she had a beautiful Italian accent that was absent in her English-born father.

  “I had been getting some strange emails from a man named Jago. At first, I thought it was a joke because you are called Jago on your paintings, Papa.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I thought perhaps that a rival artist was trying to scare you. To be honest, I deleted them. When you went out to collect your money from the Galleria David, I got a phone call. The man spoke in English. He said he had kidnapped you and taken you to England. He said that if I contacted the police you would be killed. I told him that you had just gone out not an hour before. I hung up on him, thinking he was crazy. Still, I was worried. You didn’t have a phone on you, so I had no way of contacting you. I was going to call the Galleria to see if you had arrived, but the phone rang again. This man was very mad that I had hung up on him. He told me that if I hung up on him again I would never see my father alive. I still didn’t want to believe him, but I could hear screams in the background and wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not. I thought that I should play his game and see where it went.

  He told me that he had sent me a present in the mail. I went to check and sure enough there was a package with my name on it from England. I opened it and found a passport under the name Annalise Duchamp and a ticket for a flight to Leeds dated that very same day.

  I still wasn’t sure whether to believe him, but I was too scared to hang up. I told him I needed proof that he had my father. He told me to check my email. There, I found a photo of my father being tortured.”

  “I wasn’t being tortured. I was just out in town. How did he get a photo of me being tortured?”

  “Jago is good. My best guess would be some photo editing program. He probably found a photo of you online somewhere or stalked you and took a picture. It wouldn’t be difficult to manipulate it to look like you were being tortured.”

  “It was a grainy picture,” admitted Sabine.

  “I bet it was. It would have to be, otherwise, it wouldn’t have looked authentic. That, along with the screaming you heard was probably enough to convince an already frightened person in to believing that he had James. The screams could have easily been recorded from a horror film,” said Alex

  “I feel so stupid. Why didn’t I just hang up on him?”

  Alex ran to her side and put his arm around her. “He is very manipulative. He had been casually working on you for days with those email
s. I think we would have all done the same in your position.”

  “What happened next?” asked James. “I came home to find the house turned over and the door unlocked.

  “This man, who called himself Jago, told me to delete the email and throw some furniture around. He then told me to catch the flight. He told me that if I told anyone, the police, airport security, anyone, he would kill my father. I hoped that I would be pulled over by airport security for using a false passport, but they didn’t notice.”

  She wiped a tear from her eye.

  “What happened once you touched down in the UK?” asked Aethelu.

  “That’s the strange part. I remember getting off the plane and going through passport control. I had no luggage, so I didn’t have to wait for any bags. I remember being in the arrivals lounge and walking outside wondering what I was supposed to do next. I don’t remember anything after that. Everything went black.”

  Jago injected her with the same stuff he got Rafe and Alex with.” Anais said. “When did you wake up?”

  I don’t really know how long I was asleep. I woke up in a dark room. I could barely see anything and felt so ill. My mouth felt like sandpaper. I tried to make some noise but felt too disorientated to really do anything. Then he came and brought me some water. He told me that if I was a good girl and kept quiet, my father would survive. I spit the water into his face.”

  “Good girl!” cheered Alex. Sabine gave a small smile. “He didn’t like it. He slapped my face, then everything went dark again.”

  “You saw him though? What did he look like?”

  “It was very dark. His face was mostly in shadow, but the bit I could see was horrible” she gave a small shudder at the thought of it. “It looked like melting wax.”

  “It was a mask.” Anais remembered the mask well from the time he had attacked her.

  “I woke up again another time. This time he came up and told me I was making too much noise. He didn’t even bother with the drink of water but just injected me until I passed out again. I couldn’t tell you how long I was unconscious. The next thing I remember is being in the middle of Leeds/Bradford Airport with the fake passport and some money. Wrapped around the money was a note telling me to leave the country. He warned me not to tell the police or go home or he would kill my father. I used the money to buy a ticket on the first available flight.”