Page 104 of Don't Believe A Word

Speaking into it, she continued.

CRISTY: ‘So they’re all together, George, Lukas and Evie. Is it too much to hope that Janina might also be here in Shangri-La?’

*

Cristy and David were out of the car by the time Lukas came loping across the car park to greet them, all smiles and outstretched hands. She felt, oddly, as if she already knew him – she did from photos, though of course he was older and greyer – and there was an air of easy sophistication about him that he almost certainly wouldn’t have had twenty years ago. (No sign of the hat!) Maybe it was the expensive cut of his clothes and his natural tan that made him appear so comfortable in these surroundings; he really did seem to belong.

‘Thank you, thank you for coming all this way,’ he said, grasping Cristy’s hand in both of his, his Lithuanian accent making his words somehow warmer and friendlier. ‘I was worried I might miss you and I want to hear all about Sasha. How is she? Will she come too? Can we meet her?’

As Cristy struggled for an answer, David said, ‘We call her Sadie, but if you prefer Sasha …’

‘Sasha, Sadie … We don’t mind just as long as she’s safe and happy. That’s all we’ve ever wanted for her. Oh, but to see her, to hold her dear face in my hands … I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Lukas Andris, pleased to meet you.’

‘David Gaudion,’ David replied, shaking hands. ‘And likewise.’

Turning back to Cristy, Lukas said, ‘When we were told about your podcast it was like being blessed by God above. After all these years … Of course Evie got in touch right away, and now here you are …’

‘Honey,’ Evie said gently, ‘Gabe is at the table alone. We should go in or … Well, let’s go in.’

Cristy glanced at David and caught the arch of an eyebrow as they linked hands and fell into step behind the others. Keeping her voice low, she said, ‘This is so not what I expected …’

‘On the same page for that,’ he told her. ‘And there’s so much money around here you can almost smell the laundry.’

Realizing he’d be far more attuned to that than she would, she said, ‘Are you serious?’

‘I could be.’

‘It’s beautiful, though, isn’t it? Helped by the weather, of course. But what about Lukas being here? I’m still struggling to get my head around that.’

‘Me too.’

Smiling and waving as Evie turned to check they were coming, Cristy said, ‘I wonder how open and honest they’re going to be, howrealthey actually are. I mean, they haven’t gone out of their way to find Sadie in all these years, and yet now they want us to believe that they can’t wait to see her and we’re a gift from God.’

‘Whatever their story, I feel it’s going to be an interesting one. I guess it’ll just be a question of whether or not we believe it, which makes me doubly glad we didn’t bring Sadie with us.’

Sadie had wanted to come, had virtually begged to be included, but Cristy had been adamant that she and David should check everything out first. ‘We only have this Evie’s word that she has a link to George Symmonds-Browne. And even if she does, we still don’t know exactlywhyhe’s willing to see us, or, more importantly for you, if he’ll be able to tell us where your mother is.’

Seeming to accept that, Sadie had said, ‘Will you keep in touch, let me know what’s happening?’

‘Of course. And if we feel it’s the right thing to do maybe you and Jasper can fly out to join us.’

Wondering if that was now more likely to happen than not, Cristy went ahead through an arched gateway to a spacious pool area filled with loungers and palm trees, although not many people. An array of large, circular tables was set out on a shady terrace overlooking the water and as they approached a tall, slender man of around sixty with thick silver hair and dark glasses stood to greet them. For a strangely disorientating moment Cristy felt she was watching him morphing from his younger, almost shadowy self into this older, markedly less sinister reality.

‘Cristy, David,’ Evie said eagerly, ‘this is Gabe. He’s very pleased to meet you.’

As Cristy shook his hand, which was lean and bony, he said in a decidedly plummy British voice, ‘I’m very pleased to meet you. I hope you’ll excuse me for not removing my glasses.’

‘He’s photophobic,’ Evie jumped in. ‘Ultra-sensitive to light.’

‘You’re from England?’ he asked Cristy.

‘We are,’ she confirmed, and stood aside for him to greet David.

‘What part?’ he asked, addressing David now.

‘Originally Gloucestershire,’ David replied. ‘These days, Guernsey. And you?’

Evie said, ‘Gabe was also born in Gloucestershire, close to the Oxfordshire border.’