novelraw Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Carlo rushed toward the meeting point he’d arranged with Julia the previous evening. Ever since he’d gotten off his flight at Heathrow hot bursts shot through his core, making him short of breath. When he’d switched on his phone after landing, he’d wanted to phone Simone, but messages had beeped through in an avalanche. Some warped connection had caused some delays, but what he’d read had left him stone cold. He’d switched over to his emails and when he’d read Dino’s latest his stomach had coiled into a pit of nauseating acid that threatened to surface. The Tanzanian army was blocking the airstrip at their Rufiji Camp. He hadn’t bothered to read any more messages but had phoned Dino instead. The connection had broken up and then he’d had to disembark.
He cursed as he still couldn’t see Julia. The phone in his hand vibrated and he glanced at the caller ID. It was Angelo.
“The situation has exploded, Carlo.” Angelo spoke as if he stood next to him.
“Clearly.” He edged to the wall to get out of the fray of people. “What the hell is the bloody army doing on our airstrip?”
“They’re blocking our planes. We’ve been unable to get a response from anyone in the Tanzanian government.” Angelo sighed a curse. “James King is in Dar and not at the lodge to manage the situation. We can’t get anything out of the staff. The guests are going crazy, calling up their bloody travel agents, thinking they are in the middle of a political coup.”
Fuck. “Why the hell is James King not at Rufiji?”
“His wife had a miscarriage or something,” Angelo said. “I’m not sure how much of it is true, but they left for medical reasons.”
Carlo dropped his head in his hand. “I see.” Could things get any worse?
“So far they haven’t tried to flee the country, so their reason for leaving the lodge seems valid.”
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently Liz King has been the object of a stalker. The type that leaves dead animals on the kitchen counter.”
Shit. That was news.
Carlo wanted to probe further but Angelo interrupted him. “Did you watch the video clip I forwarded you?” he asked. There was a moment of silence, the scraping of a chair in the background.
“No,” he said, the irritation bubbling up in him. “I haven’t had time to open some stupid YouTube clip in the middle of a—”
“It’s not a stupid YouTube clip, Carlo,” Angelo spat back. “It’s footage from our security cameras at the airport offices. It shows our poaching culprit, caught red-handed.”
“What?” It was hard to believe. A wave of relief surged through him. Something was happening at last. “Are you serious? Tell me?”
“We caught Simone Levin on camera putting airplane keys back in the safe in the dead of night.”
Carlo frowned. “Simone?” On saying her name his pulse sped up. He hadn’t kept his promise to phone her first thing on landing.
“Yes.”
It couldn’t be true. “When?”
“The night you flew from Seronera to refuel. The footage shows her hanging up the spare keys for the Caravan, which flew in from the Selous with that tusk. Well, we assume it’s that aircraft’s keys.”
He was stunned to silence as he digested this information. “I’ll have to watch the video, but it can’t be Simone.”
“We’ve got footage of her, Carlo. I’ve suspended her—”
“I don’t care what you have on camera, Angelo, it can’t be Simone.” He sucked in a breath. “Why the hell did you suspend her?”
Angelo cursed and then spoke to someone else. “Carlo says it can’t be Simone. Wait, I’ll put you on speaker.” It couldn’t be Dino, because Angelo had spoken in English.
“No,” he groaned, “don’t put me on speaker, please. Who else is there with you?”
“The fleet manager and the security manager.”
Prickles of sweat pinpricked his brow; his stomach tightened. “Make this call private. Get the others out of the office.”
There was a shuffle in the background as Angelo ushered them out. “Dino’s not here, he went to grab a coffee. We worked through the night.”
Carlo swallowed. He’d arrived at a fork in the road, and he couldn’t turn back. “It can’t be Simone, Angelo.”
Angelo sighed, his annoyance evident in the soft curse that followed. “Why the hell can’t it be her?”
He exhaled but it did nothing to relieve the hammering in his chest. There would be serious damage and he doubted he would ever be the man his brother looked up to again but the rift was unavoidable. “Because I spent that night with her.”
For a long moment there was silence. “You mean to say you fucked her after you preached to me to keep my distance? With the staff?” Angelo spat out a curse.
He’d gone cold at Angelo’s rude description. “It’s not like that, Angelo.” He sighed as he looked up at the ceiling as if help would fall from it. “Let me explain. Simone and I—” He broke off. He had no idea how far he wanted to go with this conversation.
The moment had given Angelo enough time to digest his sin, without the bigger picture. “Hell, Carlo, you screwed her, after you told me to back off. Double fucking standards. Go fuck yourself.”
The phone went dead as Angelo killed the call.
He closed his eyes, breathing, telling himself that Angelo had worked through the night and was tired.
On the other hand, it was the fight that had been brewing, waiting to happen. Maybe it was a good thing it had finally imploded. He could shake off the invisible shackles Angelo had tied to him, leashing him to some brotherly perfection he’d never aspired to.
Maybe Angelo would do him a favor and start sorting out his own shit.
He shrugged off his anger at Angelo for suspending Simone—Dino could fix that mess if it ever came to that. He pulled his cabin bag to a seat and sat down. After a minute of collecting himself he phoned Dino. Leaning back, he inhaled deeply as Dino answered. “Please make sure Liz King gets the medical treatment she needs. If they can’t accommodate her, evacuate her and James to South Africa.”
“Sure,” Dino said. “And what about her stalker?” Nothing in his voice indicated that he’d spoken to Angelo yet.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it. What has been going on?”
Dino in short terms explained to Carlo what had been happening for the past month, and that James had been studiously reporting each incident to the head office but that it had slipped under their radar.
Hearing the grim details, Carlo sighed. He had no other choice. “Close Rufiji River Lodge, cancel or transfer all our bookings there for the next two weeks and move the current in-house guests somewhere else, unless they want to get out of Tanzania.”
“Yes, we’re already driving vehicles down to move guests or get them back to Dar es Salaam.”
Trust Dino to take charge. “Where are you?” Carlo asked.
“Walking from the cafeteria. The coffee is like mud,” Dino said drily. “I’ve asked Peppe’s nurse to try and get the name of a Tanzanian government official who can resolve the issue at our camp.”
“I’m not sure how you’re going to manage that over the phone.” He paused. “Is Angelo still there?”
“He just barged out of the office and walked straight past me. What’s going on, Carlo?” Dino’s voice was calm, but searching.
He hesitated, a cramped moan escaping his throat of its own volition.
“Are you aware that Simone resigned today?” Dino probed.
Carlo dropped back against the seat. “No, I thought Angelo suspended her.”
“The footage—”
“She’s been set up, Dino. Get the police in and figure out who the hell posed as Simone on Wednesday night.”
Dino didn’t answer immediately. “You spent that night with her, didn’t you?”
He said nothing, but it was answer enough.
“I’m not blind, Carlo.” Dino sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.” There was a short pause. “You told the fleet manager to take Simone off the list of candidates for the fleet management position?”
The question came from the side and he had to recall that he’d had that discussion with the fleet manager. “Yes, a few days ago.”
“Well, she is livid about that. Seems you may mess around with her, but you can’t mess around with her life.”
As Dino rang off he searched for Simone’s number. God, what she’d been subjected to. He’d had no bad intentions when he took her off the promotion list, he’d only been thinking of Sarah. Surely Simone would understand that. In any case, there was no way she could continue working there when he wanted her in Italy. He bit his tongue as the phone rang. The longer it rang, the more he shifted in his seat. Was she ignoring his call? He stood, wiping his hand over his face as it went to voice mail.
He rang again, and this time someone answered. “Mona?”
“It’s Dino.”
Anxiety spread in his stomach like a warm flood of dread. “Where’s Simone?”
“She left her work phone with us when she resigned this morning. I wouldn’t have answered but I saw it was you.”
Carlo’s chest constricted as panic rose to his throat. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know. At home? Where does one go when suspended from work? When one has resigned?” Dino’s dry tone was biting back at him. Had Dino digested the news that he’d spent the night with Simone and hadn’t liked it?
They could all go to hell; they didn’t know the truth and he had no desire to explain it to them.
“Dino, you need to find her. I need to talk to her.” Everything else evaporated before the visions of the events four years ago, when he’d been unable to get hold of Simone with no idea where she’d gone. The same feeling of utter loss engulfed him. “I need to talk to her,” he repeated.
“I’m at the airport, Carlo.” Dino had lost all sense of humor. “I don’t even know where she lives.”
He gave him Simone’s address. “Please, Dino. This is urgent.” He was begging, but his world had shrunk to nothing but the need to talk to Simone. “Please give her back her mobile. No woman should be without one in Dar es Salaam. Tell her I’m waiting for her call.” He balled his fist and bit into it to contain the rising panic that was audible in his voice. He breathed. “Please.”
“Not just a stray fuck, eh?” The comment was so out of line with Dino’s usual contained self, it sent shocks through his guts. The situation was getting to Dino as well, and for the first time in his life he wanted to shake Dino by the shoulders to make him understand.
“No offense meant,” Dino continued, a slight drop in his tone. “I know you’re not Angelo. I’ll see what I can do.”
Dino had rung off before he could make any further comment.
He slumped back into the chair. People were rushing past, ignorant of his inner turmoil. He couldn’t get hold of Simone, and he’d left her again without a clear message that he loved her, that he wanted to be with her. He should never have left Dar es Salaam; he should never have left her again. His own idiocy dawned on him, and a weakness crept up his legs, to settle in his bones. He didn’t know what to do beyond that he had to find her, and Sarah.
The ringing of his phone drew him from his reverie. It was Dino, and he closed his eyes before he answered.
“I got someone from the Peninsula office to go to her apartment,” Dino said. “She’s not at home, and her car is gone.”
Carlo’s heart plummeted and a new wave of anxiety hit him. “Do they know if she has a private mobile?”
“No. She doesn’t seem to have one.” He sighed. “The person spoke to her neighbor. She didn’t know what time Simone left or where she went.” Dino skipped a beat. “By the looks of it, and I quote, she took her daughter with her.”
The world around him had spun to a standstill.
“Sarah. Her name is Sarah,” he whispered as he drew his hand over his face. “Someone must know where they are.” He was praying aloud.
Dino had gone silent as if he was waiting for his confession. Damn him if he was going to give it to him now.
“I tried to call James King,” Dino said, breaking the standoff. “Simone did mention they’d be staying with her tonight.”
Carlo ignored his last sentence. “Did you get through to him?”
“No, his phone isn’t even going over to voicemail. His message box might be full. He could have switched off his phone, with this disaster at Rufiji and everything else. Highly inconvenient.”
“Fuck Dino, I—” He couldn’t think.
“I’ll keep you posted,” Dino said and rang off.
Carlo lowered his phone, staring at the screen, which trembled in his hand. Dino was pissed off at the situation, and he didn’t even know the half of it. His stomach knotted in a painful twist. He’d lost all control.
Slowly he became aware of someone watching him. He looked up and met Julia’s gaze. She stood some meters from him, as people flittered between them. He’d totally forgotten about her, and that he was supposed to meet her.
He hardly recognized her. Her long auburn hair shone in thick strands around her face, and her skin was sun-kissed with radiance. He had to blink—she seemed so well, so different from the woman he’d left at home just over a week ago.
Inside him something broke and it was as if he was waking up from a long, drug-induced sleep. Julia was fine, and she’d most probably been fine for a long time. He hadn’t spent enough time away from her to notice how well she looked, or to look beyond the broken girl who had come home that night years ago, begging him to help her get clean.
She took a tentative step toward him. He stood, for a moment wanting to hug and cling to her, to soak up her strength, but he checked himself. Julia hated to be touched.
“What’s going on, Carlo?” Her voice was uncertain.
“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” he said, and it was swallowing him up. “I need to go back to Dar es Salaam.”
She closed the distance between them, gazing up at him. “This will pass, Carlo. It’s going to be tough, but we’ll make it.”
“It’s not the company, Julia.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I’ve left the woman I love behind for the second time.” And he didn’t know if she’d forgive him.
Julia searched his face, reading something in his gaze, because the frown melted away from her forehead and her gaze softened. She was so much like the woman she’d been before she’d fallen into addiction, so much like his mother…so much like Sarah, that he wanted to weep for what he’d lost in losing his mom, and for what Julia had gone through. He’d almost lost her too.
His resolve tightened in his chest. He had to find Simone and Sarah.
“Let’s get you on the next flight back then.” She took her phone from her handbag and dialed. Her instructions were rapid and clear as she spoke to someone in their travel department. She asked them to book him a flight on the first connection available from Heathrow to Dar es Salaam. She paused, listening, then glanced up at him. “The quickest connection is via Qatar in two hours’ time.”
“I’ll take it.”
“You’ll arrive at four in the morning.”
“That’s fine.” Suddenly he couldn’t get there quickly enough, and his palms prickled at the thought of something going wrong to delay him getting back to Dar, back to Simone and Sarah.
Julia finished the call and slipped her phone back into her bag. “You depart from this terminal. Let’s check you in and then we can grab a coffee.”
He was grateful for Julia’s clear-headedness at that moment when everything had overwhelmed him. After he’d checked in he had only half an hour to spare. They sat down at a coffee shop, and he sighed in relief.
“Thank you. I felt a bit stunned earlier.” He met her gaze, which held no judgment. Julia wouldn’t delve into his private matters, not until he decided to reveal something to her. She had too many of her own secrets that she’d chosen not to share, and it was a gulf they wouldn’t bridge. Not as they were now.
Why had he come to London in the first place? “I’m supposed to meet with Alan Kaan and Brett Winser later today. I’ll cancel with them once I’m on the plane.” He took a sip of his coffee. “You don’t need to go to the Tusk Awards tonight.”
“I—” She pursed her lips together. “It will look like a total admission of guilt if Carlevaro isn’t there tonight, Carlo.”
“Possibly, but that doesn’t mean we need to feed you to the wolves to save face.” That he could be so indifferent about Carlevaro East Africa’s fall from grace was liberating. For some reason, reconnecting with Simone overpowered every other priority.
“I’m not sure how widely the rumors have spread. It might be all right.”
“Or everybody will give you the cold shoulder,” he said as a matter of fact. “You can’t sit through an award ceremony for conservationists while tusks are being loaded into a Carlevaro Air aircraft somewhere.”
The idea was cold and sobering.
“I’d hate going alone,” she whispered.
Alone. Julia never went anywhere without either him or Angelo in attendance. He exhaled deeply. Julia had taken the flight from Rome alone, and she looked well, but putting her in a social environment where everybody would be ready to stone her would be beyond cruel. “Don’t go. Hopefully not many people will notice our empty seats.”
She checked her watch. “Your flight’s almost boarding.”
He ground his teeth as he searched her face. He hated leaving her like this. A week ago, he wouldn’t have dared. “Where are you going now?”
She met his gaze with a sigh. “I’ll go see Granny. I haven’t seen her for years and…I’ve come all this way.”
He wanted to reach for her hand and shifted his hand toward her. “Swapping the pack of wolves for a lone one?” He tried to smile with the comment, but there was nothing humorous in the situation. “You can fly home, you know.”
“I think it’s time, Carlo,” she murmured.
Her words shot unexpected warmth through him. The time to break this unnatural connection as caretaker to Julia had been looming on the horizon, but he’d never realized that the break needed to come from her. “I’m always here for you,” he promised, helpless. If Julia was ready to walk on her own, he had no right to hold her back, even if it took all his strength at that moment not to tell her to fly with him to Dar es Salaam.
“I know. I’ll call Angelo if there is anything.” A smiled tugged at her lips. “I can’t wait to meet her, she sounded lovely over the phone when I spoke to her the other morning.”
His heart jolted. Julia had spoken to Simone over the phone only once but had already put two and two together.
She smiled at him. “Natalia told me something was plotting between you and Simone.”
They stared at each other and the flood of words could no longer be contained. “I met her four years ago, when I worked at Carlevaro Air…I have a daughter with her.” The pent-up worry spilled from him, and he felt empowered for the first time. “She called her Sarah. After Mom. I never knew, Julia. I’m such a fraud.”
Julia closed her eyes, emotions tugging at her mouth. She opened her eyes and stared at him. “You’re no fraud, Carlo. You’re the best man I know.” She wiped a stray hair from her cheek. “Go make it right while you can,” she said. “And bring them home.”
The final boarding call for his flight sounded over the intercom. He got up but she stayed seated. He wanted to lean over and kiss her goodbye, but instead thanked her softly and walked off.
He turned around some twenty meters away to wave a final time. Julia never judged anybody and the relief at finally having told someone in his family, even if it were only the barest of details, swept through him.