Chapter Sixty-Nine
Sixty-Nine
The flight from San Francisco to Vienna had been a lot more pleasant than Quaddra had expected.
True, he hadn’t flown commercial long haul in quite some time, so he wasn’t exactly sure of what to expect, but he was positively impressed by the airliner’s service and their individual, and quite luxurious, first-class cabins – and so was Mary.
During their eleven-hour flight to their layover in Frankfurt, Mary and Quaddra had managed to join the mile-high club – inside their private cabin, of course – and still get a clean seven hours plus of decent sleep each, something that Quaddra had to admit it would’ve never happened if they had taken his private jet.
On their way from the airport to their hotel in central Vienna, Mary and Quaddra agreed that for the next eleven days they would forget about everything and simply have a blast – eat whatever they wanted…
drink whatever they wanted… and do whatever they felt like…
no holdbacks. This was vacation time – no talking about dieting, or business, or the gallery, or anything else other than enjoying themselves.
‘So, babe,’ Quaddra asked, as they exited the famous Vienna State Opera after watching an impressive ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty that had brought tears to Mary’s eyes.
‘Tomorrow will be our third day here in Vienna. Seven more days left before we have to fly back. Have you thought of anywhere else you’d like to go? ’
‘Umm…’ Mary reached for Quaddra’s hand, as they walked past the world-renowned Moulin Rouge on Walfischgasse. ‘I did… yes.’
‘OK, tell me.’ Quaddra sounded truly excited. ‘Where would you like to go next?’
‘I was thinking,’ she began. ‘Since we have no agenda, why don’t we just go mad?’ Right then, Mary looked like a school student about to suggest that they skipped class.
‘O…kay.’ Quaddra’s eyes narrowed to slits. ‘I’m listening. What kind of mad? What do you have in mind?’
‘Well,’ Mary replied, her head bouncing from left to right. ‘This is Europe, where you can get just about everywhere by train, right?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘So how about we just turn up at the train station in the morning, check which trains are going where, pick one from the board…’ Mary shrugged. ‘And just go?’
Quaddra paused and turned to look at Mary, searching her face for any hints of a joke. He found none.
‘You’re serious? Like backpackers do?’
‘Exactly,’ Mary agreed.
Quaddra chuckled. ‘Except that instead of a backpack, you’ve got three huge suitcases.’
‘Are you telling me that you’re not up for a challenge?’ Mary winked at Quaddra, with a mischievous smile on her lips. ‘You’re going to chicken out?’
Quaddra’s face lit up. ‘Oh no, if you’re serious, it’s definitely on. I love that idea.’
‘Oh yeah, I’m dead serious.’ She kissed him again. ‘But before we do that, I was thinking of something else.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Since we’re already in Austria, why don’t we visit Salzburg? It’s only about three hours away on the train.’
‘Salzburg?’ Quaddra’s intrigued eyes met Mary’s. ‘What’s in Salz—’ He paused before snapping his thumb and forefinger. ‘Of course,’ he said, his head tilting back slightly. ‘Your favorite film.’
On their first-ever night out, at the Malaysian restaurant, after the exhibition at the Legion of Honor, when they chatted about art, wine, music and films, Mary had told Quaddra that her favorite TV show was Vamp Blood, but her favorite film was something completely different – a musical, released in 1965, staring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
‘The Sound of Music, right?’ Quaddra said.
Mary looked back at him a little surprised. ‘You remember?’ She actually knew every song in that film by heart.
‘Of course I remember,’ Quaddra said back. ‘And yes, a lot of it was shot in Salzburg.’ His eyes glinted with enthusiasm. ‘That’s a fantastic idea, babe.’
‘It’s supposed to be a beautiful town,’ Mary added.
‘And the birthplace of Mozart.’
‘So will you go?’ Mary gave Quaddra another dose of her puppy eyes.
‘Of course I’ll go, my love.’ Quaddra kissed her again.
‘That’s why we’re here, remember? To do whatever the hell we feel like doing and go whatever the hell we feel like going…
and Salzburg sounds like a brilliant choice before we go mad on the departures board.
’ His turn to wink at her. ‘I say we go tomorrow morning, what do you think?’
Mary’s smile almost lit up the entire street. ‘Sounds like a plan.’
‘We’re so doing this.’ Quaddra lifted his right hand and they high-fived each other. ‘Salzburg here we come.’
‘You know,’ Mary said, lacing her fingers behind Quaddra’s neck. ‘I didn’t think I could love you any more, but you just proved me wrong.’ They kissed again. ‘And I think that before we go, we should make good use of that enormous Jacuzzi in our hotel room one last time, what do you say?’
Quaddra looked down at Mary’s shoes. ‘I say that if you weren’t wearing high heels, I’d race you back to the hotel.’
‘I’ll get the water going in the Jacuzzi,’ Mary said, as soon as they walked back into their penthouse suite.
‘OK,’ Quaddra said back, getting rid of his suit jacket as he walked over to the bar. ‘I’ll get us a drink. Wine or Champagne?’
‘Champagne, bitte,’ Mary replied, making use of one third of all the German she knew before disappearing into the bedroom.
This was Quaddra’s chance. He reached for his cell phone and quickly typed a text message.
QUADDRA: We’ll be in Salzburg tomorrow by lunchtime. I’ll make sure that we’re at the bridge sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. Be there.
He put down his phone and popped open the bottle of Dom Perignon that they had left chilling in the fridge. Before Quaddra was able to pour the Champagne into two glasses, his phone vibrated once on the bar counter.
UNKNOWN: We’ll be there.