Page 61 of The Lost Story of Sofia Castello

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PORTUGAL, 2000

I stare at Sofia open-mouthed as she goes over to the bureau by the window and fetches an envelope from one of the compartments inside.

‘And that was the plane that got shot down,’ I say softly.

‘Yes.’ She takes a newspaper cutting from the envelope, and I recognise it as one I found on the internet when I was researching her.

PORTUGUESE SINGING SENSATION PERISHES IN PLANE CRASH!

Beloved singer Sofia Castello was killed yesterday when the passenger plane she was travelling on was shot down by the Luftwaffe over the Atlantic. All seventeen souls aboard BOAC flight 777 from Lisbon to Britain, including the four crew members, tragically perished.

Portuguese songbird Castello became her nation’s sweetheart when her debut single, ‘Jacaranda Seeds’, was released in 1940, and since then she has found fame across the globe, being described by The New York Times as ‘the haunting voice of the war generation’.

Earlier this year, her ballad ‘Ocean Longing’ became a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic, perfectly capturing the mood of the times, with so many loved ones currently separated due to the war.

It is a tragic end to a life that began in hardship. After a childhood scarred by the drunken violence of her father, Castello ran away to Lisbon at the age of sixteen to begin her working life as a humble fish-seller on the streets of the city. A couple of years later, her incredible voice won her the attention of music industry movers and shakers, and she was whisked from the streets to the stage. Her fans are bound to be heartbroken that there will be no happily ever after for this rags to riches tale.

‘Everyone thought I was on the plane,’ Sofia says once I’ve finished reading. ‘The airport log showed that I’d boarded. If it hadn’t been for Judith…’ Sofia pauses. ‘She saved my life. In more than one way.’

I wonder what she means by this, but I have so many other questions clamouring to be answered first.

‘How did you escape from the airfield, and with no one seeing you?’

‘We hitched a ride on the back of a mail truck.’ Sofia smiles. ‘Or, rather, we snuck onto the back of the truck when no one was looking.’

‘But where did you go? How did you hear about the plane crash? How did you go into hiding?’

‘OK, slow down, one question at a time.’ Sofia takes a torturously slow drink of her coffee.

‘How can you drink coffee at a time like this?’ I exclaim, and she lets out a snort of laughter.

I freeze as I remember my first meeting with Lawrence Bourne and how he’d said that people who snorted with laughter were free spirits who were uninhibited in their joy. A shiver runs up my spine as I think of this now. Had he been thinking of Sofia when he’d said it?

‘Are you all right?’ Sofia asks, clearly noticing a change in my expression.

‘Yes, yes, I’m fine, just trying to process it all. So, what happened next?’

‘As soon as the mail truck got back to Lisbon, we managed to slip out,’ Sofia replies. ‘I’d taken a scarf from my suitcase, which I wore on my head along with a pair of dark glasses to try to disguise myself. Of course, at that point it was more to avoid being spotted by a German agent rather than anyone else, and we hotfooted it to Alexandre’s place.’ Sofia takes another sip of her coffee. ‘And that is where everything changed forever.’