Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
NICK
Wren kept touching her neck where the seashell necklace used to be.
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Nick asked as they left the thickest part of the crowd and found an area away from the water’s edge where there was room to breathe. He led her up a short path where there was a small terrace with a recently vacated bench to sit on. He walked a little faster as a pair of teenagers approached it and cut them off at the pass, guiding Wren to sit down.
He couldn’t stop staring at her – how had they managed to find each other again in all that chaos? And also, how had they both managed to risk life and limb again in the process? He touched his eye gingerly and was relieved to feel a little swelling but not the crunch of a broken bone.
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Just a bit of bruised pride, I think.’ She rubbed at her neck and frowned. ‘I’m more worried about you. He could have knocked you out. You can get killed from a single punch, you know,’ she added darkly.
‘I could say the same for hurling yourself from a moving raft. I’m made of stronger stuff than that,’ he said, smiling. He realised he was trying to impress her, a notion he hadn’t encountered with a woman in a long time. His stomach turned over, and he composed himself. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get your necklace back. Was it valuable?’
She went to speak and then paused, an unreadable flicker crossing her face. Then she smiled, a little sadly. ‘It wasn’t worth a lot of money.’
Down at the seafront, the last of the decorated floats glided past the harbour wall. The crowd was still thick with people, and strains of classical music could be heard above the chatter.
‘I can’t believe you’re here,’ Wren said. ‘I… I came looking for you today. I went to Capri.’
Nick’s jaw dropped. ‘You did what?’
She blushed. ‘I’m not a stalker, I promise. I just wanted to help you find your dad. So… did you?’
He blinked. ‘Wow. That’s… unbelievably nice of you.’ He then felt a wave of guilt. ‘Are you telling me you’ve been roaming around Capri all day, looking for me? I was kicking myself for not giving you my number, and now I feel even worse.’ He’d contemplated going back to the hotel that morning but had taken her goodbyes as read. Too many years being out of practice with his feelings. Maybe now he could really believe that he’d misread things.
‘Well, that might have helped,’ she said with a grin. ‘But I wasn’t exactly wandering aimlessly – I was a bit more organised than that. I found the note you left in the bathroom bin and I did a bit of detective work. Again – not a stalker, I promise.’
He laughed and nudged her in the ribs. ‘It sounds like you’ve got experience in tracking people down though.’
She laughed too, burying her face in her hands before looking back up at him. ‘In a professional capacity, I promise. Writer’s research. Definitely not in a “digging three years deep into someone’s Instagram” capacity, I swear.’
‘So you went to Ristorante Giorgio?’
‘I did. And I’m guessing you saw the same letter in the doorway? Elena said you’d been to see her too.’
He nodded. ‘That’s… quite spooky to think you were just a few paces behind me.’ Her smile faltered. ‘In a nice way.’
She visibly relaxed. ‘So that’s where I came to a dead end. Elena said something about not wanting to get involved. What the hell was all that about?’
After the day Nick had had, he now had a fairly good idea. Elena had been slightly more forthcoming when he and Travis had approached her, but he guessed she’d become more suspicious when a second person came sniffing around.
‘Well, I’m still trying to figure it out myself. She gave me a name.’
Wren’s eyebrows rose. ‘You found him?’
‘Not quite. She said Richard Keyes had worked for her once, but she didn’t know where he was now.’
‘Yes, that’s what she said to me too. But that’s when she clammed up.’
‘Right. I suppose she must have been feeling a bit more off her guard when I spoke to her. She told me to speak to a guy in Naples. Sal. Apparently he’d been seen with my— with Richard a little while back.’
‘Oh! So… what happened?’ Wren sat forward, eager to hear.
Nick grimaced, remembering the afternoon with a mixture of disappointment and unease. ‘Elena gave me the name of a bar. So we went to find it, me and my brother. You know how every town, no matter how nice or posh, has a slightly dodgy bit? Well, I found it today.’
He remembered walking beyond the sunlit streets of Naples – people buzzing about, in and out of shops or sitting at pavement cafes – into the shadowy corners of a downtown area. It had felt ominously cooler and darker down those streets.
‘We ended up at this bar, Lo Stivale, and it turned out to be some kind of biker bar. Stringy-looking bloke smoking a fag outside, giving me the once-over. I went inside and asked for Sal, and at first they pretended they didn’t know who I was talking about. But as soon as I mentioned Richard Keyes, he was suddenly called out from a back room. Turns out he was keen to find Richard as well.’
Wren was listening, rapt. ‘So he didn’t know where he was either?’
‘Not exactly. But he made it quite obvious that if he could get his hands on him, Richard might have something to worry about. God knows what’s going on there.’
He paused, remembering how icy the mood had turned when Sal had looked at his mates, and how he’d instinctively felt it better not to ask questions. Travis had practically tripped over his new Italian leather brogues in his haste to drag Nick out of there, and had needed two Negronis and a lie-down to recover. Nick had left him at the hotel with a damp towel over his forehead.
‘The only thing he did say was that he’d last seen Richard’s picture in the paper. Some kind of garden festival last year? He didn’t know the exact details, but he was standing in front of a house that opened its gardens to the public, and it had a blue door with a bunch of grapes as a knocker on the photos. It was just in amongst a bunch of other pictures from villages all over the area though, so he had nothing else to go on. And now, neither have I.’ He shrugged, trying to look like he’d made his peace with that, but the crushing sense of disappointment still weighed heavy inside him, as well as an uneasy feeling about what kind of things his dad might be mixed up in.
Wren bit her lip and looked out at the coast. Nick found himself staring at her profile in silence, not sure what to say next. He noticed the reflection of the street light on her cheekbone and the upward curve of her top lip. He’d come back to Sorrento tonight after being told about the festivities, thinking it might be a good distraction from his troubled thoughts. But he’d hoped, deep down, that he might see her again.
Her brow creased and she seemed to be thinking deeply. ‘I think I might have an idea.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah.’ She turned to him and smiled. ‘Why don’t we go to the newspaper office? It’s not a huge place, so I can’t imagine there’s more than one. We could ask if they can find back copies around the time of the garden festival.’
‘Do you think they’d do that?’
‘Who knows? But it’s worth a try.’
He grinned. ‘Okay. Does that mean we’re teaming up then?’
‘If you’ll have me? I mean, unless you and your brother want to do it together?’ She looked abashed as if she’d overlooked him.
‘Half-brother,’ Nick clarified. ‘Richard isn’t his dad. He’s here for moral support, and to be fair, he’s itching to hit the shops again, I think.’
As he’d left the hotel room, he’d noticed Travis peering out from under his cold compress, looking up the address of another fashion outlet. Nick only hoped he’d arranged international delivery of whatever he’d bought so they didn’t have to try cramming it all into his suitcase for the flight home.
‘But what about your dad?’ Nick asked. ‘You can’t exactly abandon him.’
Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it. ‘Ha. Funny you should mention him. According to this text, he’s gone back to his room for an early night. His new pals are taking him on an early-morning fishing expedition. Which I’m invited to. Five a.m. departure.’ She tapped a few lines into her phone, shaking her head, then slipped it back into her bag. ‘I think not.’
‘Well, that sounds like a missed opportunity,’ said Nick, a warm feeling spreading into his stomach. ‘I mean, who doesn’t want to spend the first hours of their day covered in mackerel guts?’
She grinned. ‘It’s tempting, I know. And while the thought of wresting fish hooks out of the mouths of sea bass is quite alluring, I think I’d rather go to the newspaper office with you.’
She held his gaze for a second, and he felt his breath stick in his throat. Then she looked away, and he cleared his throat. She just wants to play detective with you. Don’t get any ideas. They sat quietly for a minute, but when he dared to glance back at her, her hand was at her neck again, fluttering over the space where her necklace had been.
‘It was my mam’s,’ she said quietly. ‘The necklace.’
The way she spoke was so loaded with meaning that Nick hardly dared to ask the question. ‘Is she…?’
‘Yes. She died when I was a baby. I’ve worn the necklace my whole life.’ She laughed bitterly but with a wry smile. ‘My neck feels weird without it.’
‘Wren, I’m so sorry. I should have tried harder to get it back.’
‘Don’t be daft. You got a thump in the eye just trying.’ She looked at him, and her brow creased with concern. ‘You’re getting a black eye.’
He dabbed at it and winced. But then he noticed as she turned that she had a raw scratch on her neck where that scrote had yanked the necklace away. Without thinking, he reached out to touch it. ‘Wren, he’s hurt you.’
Their eyes met, but she said nothing, and his hand stayed on the curve of her neck as if it was stuck there. Then a loud explosion cracked above them, and they both jumped as the sky filled with light. His hand dropped away, and they looked up as a huge fireworks display erupted across the bay. They exchanged a brief, amused glance then settled to watch the colourful view over their heads.
After they’d sat there for about a minute, he felt her shift beside him, and he turned to find she was looking at him again. But she wasn’t looking him directly in the eye; her gaze was focused on the sore spot underneath. Biting her lip, she reached up and touched it gently. He looked at the graze on her neck too, and he reached for it once more, running his thumb over the reddened skin. Then, as her fingers brushed across his cheekbone, he ran his up under her chin and lifted it slightly. Sparks of light faded from the sky as he kissed her.