Claudia's Big Break (19 page)

For the next hour we waited out on the terrace until the police arrived. Together with Marcella, they walked from room to room making notes.

‘Surely we can have a cup of tea while they're here,' said Sophie, walking outside armed with a tray of tea and chocolates.

I hadn't even noticed she'd disappeared inside to put the kettle on, but the tea was very welcome.

‘Maybe the gods are trying to tell us something,' Sophie said after a while, her words hanging in the air. ‘First the scooter and now this.'

I'd been thinking the same thing. I was feeling guilty and debating whether to tell the girls about the Athenian incident, but the more I thought about it, the more confused I became. Maybe I was letting my imagination get the better of me. Still, my heart was pounding as I double-checked the daypack I'd taken to the café. The yellow envelope was still in the side pocket — crushed and smeared with chocolate, but safe. Imagine what Marcus would have said if that had gone missing.

‘What are you mumbling about?' Tara asked.

‘Nothing,' I said and finished the last of my tea.

When Marcella walked outside onto the terrace with the police, she apologised again. ‘Kids,' she said, throwing her hands into the air.

The general consensus was that the break-in had been done by kids — skylarking juveniles who had probably done it as a dare and were no doubt looking for loose change and jewels while they were at it. Ha! They lucked out big-time.

‘It's okay, no real harm done,' I said as Marcella was leaving. I'd convinced myself that telling Sophie and Tara about the incident in Athens would only lead to unnecessary hysteria. But five minutes later, I told them anyway.

Taking a deep breath, I began, ‘I don't want to alarm you, guys, but maybe this isn't a coincidence.'

‘What exactly do you mean, Claud, not a
coincidence
?' Tara said.

I took another deep breath and told them everything. Sophie and Tara didn't say a word during my admission. They didn't look happy.

‘Why didn't you tell us?' Sophie asked when I'd finished.

‘Because I didn't want you getting upset. I didn't want the incident ruining our few days in Athens.'

‘No, of course not,' snarled Tara. ‘Had it occurred to you that the two events, now three, might be connected?'

I shook my head. ‘Not at the time, no.'

‘So explain to me how this has all happened. First, you witness a beating —'

‘I couldn't really see —'

‘— a black scooter almost runs you down —'

‘A learner driver who couldn't see the bend in the road properly.'

‘— and now our apartment shredded.'

‘The police said it was kids —'

‘You're kidding, aren't you? You don't believe a bunch of kids would trash our place for fun, do you? What next?'

‘Nothing, I hope. Look no real harm's been done. Nothing was stolen or broken. I'm probably just being overly dramatic. Marcus always accuses me of being paranoid and maybe I am a little.'

‘Claudia. That's so typical of you.
No harm's been done!
What are you thinking?'

I silently cursed myself for opening my big mouth. I wanted to talk about it calmly but in the back of my mind I knew Tara would get all high and mighty. And Soph had gone back inside to attend to Levi.

‘You don't have the excuse of being young and crazy any more,' Tara continued. ‘Not only are you being reckless with your own life, you're messing up ours as well.' Tara pointed inside towards Sophie and Levi. ‘Wake up to yourself, for Christ's sake. The juvenile things you do have consequences.'

‘Jesus, Tara!' I said, my voice breaking.

‘Look around you. Is this okay? What is it with Marcus and this goddamn envelope? Marcus shouts you a luxury holiday in Greece in exchange for handing some guy an envelope — couldn't he have done it via courier, or the internet?'

I didn't look at her.

‘Don't tell me.' Tara was fuming. ‘You're sleeping with him, aren't you?'

‘Why would you say that?'

‘Because you've been acting peculiar all holiday.
Marcus this
and
Marcus that
. So, are you?'

‘No, I'm not.'

‘Oh.' Tara took a moment. ‘I'm sorry. It just sounded suspicious. I thought —'

‘At least . . . not any more.'

‘I knew it!'

‘Tara, please don't tell Sophie. She'd never forgive me.'

‘Forgive you for what?' Sophie said, walking back outside.

‘If the guy on the scooter had swerved and hit Levi,' I said, thinking fast.

‘But he didn't,' said Sophie. ‘Levi's safe. Nothing happened to him.'

Tara clocked me. ‘Maybe you should call Marcus,' she said, then stomped back inside.

Tara had a point. It was one thing to deliver an envelope. Completely another if all these disasters had something to do with it. I was sure I was just being paranoid, but now I'd dragged Sophie and Tara into it.

I took the phone out of my bag and considered the time in Brisbane. Again, it would be close to 11 pm. I guessed that wasn't too unreasonable, so I dialled Marcus's number.

‘It's Claudia —'

‘Do you have any idea what time it is? This had better be good,' he said. ‘Have you met with Con?'

‘That's what I'm ringing about —'

‘Have you given him the envelope?'

‘No, and don't snap at me. Weird things have been —'

‘Weird? What's weird?'

‘When I went to see Con in Athens and he wasn't there, I could have sworn —'

‘Claudia, do I really have to listen to this? It's late and I've had a busy day.' Marcus sounded tired and exasperated. ‘I've told you before, you're paranoid.'

‘I'm not. A scooter almost collected me, today our apartment was broken in to —'

‘And the envelope? Because that's why you're in Greece, after all.'

‘The envelope's still here.'

‘So what's the problem?'

‘I'm freaking out, that's what.'

‘You're a tourist. The locals are razzing you. Grow a backbone, for God's sake. I'll ring Con. Meanwhile, stay out of trouble. I'm going back to sleep.'

‘Okay, well if —' But there was no point continuing. Marcus had already hung up.

15

T
he next morning I lay in bed thinking. I wasn't about to lose my cool. Okay, on the downside, the apartment had been broken in to. But on the plus side, nothing had been stolen.

Last night Marcella had again spoken with the local sergeant and she had relayed the news back to me, because I was still sitting on our terrace until late, reading the silly book Liz and Sarah had given me for my birthday.

I'd already mastered ‘a cartwheel across the dance floor in a nightclub' (many years ago). But I'd yet to ‘find a pair of sunglasses that make you look really cool'.

Marcella had said that because nothing had been taken, there was little action the police could take. ‘Tourists are targets,' they'd told Marcella.

On hearing that, I had felt calmer. If anything, it was our own fault the apartment had been ransacked — we should have made sure all the doors and windows were properly locked. When Tara'd had time to sleep on it, she would see the incident for what it really was — an unfortunate holiday mishap not at all related to my other unfortunate holiday mishaps.

I pulled back the sheets, climbed out of bed and padded over to the dressing table mirror. The bruising on my cheek had gone down significantly. The fact that my face was red from sunburn helped. It disguised the yellow-purple tinge. Things were on the up and up.

Content I no longer resembled anything to do with elephants, I changed into navy shorts and a white cheesecloth shirt, brushed my hair and wrapped it in a tiny nest on top of my head. I wandered downstairs to the kitchen and flipped on the kettle before making myself a huge bowl of yogurt and honey.

Out on the terrace, I adjusted the banana lounge, sat down with coffee and yogurt and contemplated the view and the fact that I would soon no longer be living in poverty. Sweet! My serenity was soon shattered by Sophie's usually quiet voice booming over the phone.

‘Yes he's good. Having a great time, despite our apartment being broken into by some madman. Although I know you're too busy to concern yourself with such triflings, Alex.'

I tried not to listen in to her conversation but it was impossible given that Sophie sounded like a cat being strangled. Not only that, but I caught sight of the pile of knitting on the sofa. She must have been hard at it for hours. At the rate she was going, she'd be able to open a jumper shop by the time we left Santorini.

‘Congratulations. I am
so
happy for you, Alex, but doesn't that mean you'll be working even longer hours?' Silence. ‘I said I was happy for you. Aren't you listening to me? Well, that would be a first . . . I'm selfish? Yeah, well, screw you.' I looked up from my magazine to see a mobile phone flying across the living room.

I walked inside and stood in front of the locked bathroom door. ‘Soph, you okay?'

I heard the words ‘Go away' over the sound of tears and a flushing toilet.

A few minutes after I'd retreated to the terrace, Sophie joined me.

‘Are you okay?' I asked, standing up and walking over to her. ‘It's all right, Soph. You'll work it out.' I hugged her. ‘I don't know how you do it all. You're amazing.'

It was true. Until this holiday, Tara and I hadn't realised how wasteful children were with toilet paper, nor did we appreciate how much they ate, how much attention they demanded or how loud they were — all the time. Those thoughts had never seriously entered my head before. And not only did Sophie have to be on mummy duty twenty-four hours a day — which would be enough to kill a lesser human being (ie, me, whose biggest worry was whether there was enough milk in the fridge for a cup of tea) — but she also had to be a wife and partner. How could I possibly understand what she was going though let alone help her through it? I was ignorant of the demands of parenthood and marriage.

‘He's just won another huge contract,' she volunteered.

‘That's good, isn't it?' As soon as the words had escaped my mouth, I knew they were the wrong thing to say.

‘Yeah, and who am I? Just the little wife at home, looking after the kid.'

‘Not at all,' I backpedalled. ‘I just meant that it's impressive. Alex's business is going so well.'

I looked around, wishing Tara would materialise — she was much better at handling these situations.

‘And I'm selfish because I want him to spend more time with me.'

‘What did he say?'

‘He said that he was doing this for us.'

I took it she meant Sophie and Levi, not her and I.

‘That because of this contract,' Sophie continued, blowing her nose on a wet tissue, ‘we'll be able to pay off the mortgage sooner.'

‘That's good, isn't it?'

‘Would you stop saying that!'

‘Sophie, I don't know what to say to help you feel better. I'm not married or a parent. I don't have anyone relying on me. I'm in awe that you can do it all.'

‘But I can't. That's the point. I'm failing as a mother, and as for being a reasonable and supportive wife, I know give Alex a hard time. He doesn't deserve it.

‘It's like I have this black, stormy cloud hanging over my head. I don't see how Alex can be so positive and enthusiastic all the time. It makes me want to scream.'

‘Maybe he's trying to show you that it is possible to be happy and satisfied with your life?'

‘That would just make me angrier,' Sophie said, bursting into loud sobs again. ‘I don't know who I am any more. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night tearing my hair out and wanting to scream, “How the hell did I get here?”'

Now was not the time to jump in with ‘courtesy of Qantas and Olympic Airlines', so I said nothing.

Just then Tara, Levi and Jack appeared on the terrace in front of us.

‘What's going on?' Tara asked after Levi ran into his sobbing mother's arms. ‘I leave you two alone for five minutes and come back to this.'

‘Nothing,' I said quietly as Sophie led Levi inside.

‘I've come at a bad time,' Jack said.

Hmm, understatement, but Jack was a good diversion. I gave him the sly once-over, checked out his arms, teeth, eyebrows, butt, that sort of thing.

‘Not at all,' said Tara. ‘Claudia's been waiting for you to arrive.'

I glared at her. It was so obvious I hadn't. I was makeup-less apart from obligatory lip balm and concealer. But at least I was looking better than this time yesterday.

‘That's good,' Jack said, jumping in before I could protest. ‘Because I thought we might ride up to Oia.'

‘I don't know. Now might not be the best time,' I said.

‘Don't be silly, Claudia. Go! Have some fun.' Tara smiled. ‘Soph'll be fine. I'll look after her.'

‘I said,
I don't know
,' I repeated through gritted teeth. I couldn't work out whether Tara was trying to punish me for my Marcus confession, or whether she'd forgiven me and was trying to help me out. But I was scared of being alone with Jack. I didn't want my feelings bubbling to the surface and breaking free.

‘You bloody well need to purge Marcus from your system,' Tara whispered to me before saying loudly, ‘Either you go with him or I will.'

‘We can all go,' suggested Jack.

‘No, it's all right, I'll go. I'll just change my shirt.' I didn't want to sound overly keen but obviously I needed to spruce myself up.

I whizzed off to the bathroom and set about making myself beautiful — well, at least passable. A bit more concealer. But no foundation, thank you. It looked silly in the bright Santorini sunshine — the two times I'd worn it, the makeup had slipped off my face within minutes, leaving my skin with a shine factor not unlike tinfoil. I slapped on what lipstick and blush I could find, then threw on a floaty little sundress I'd bought at the Southbank markets a few weeks before. It was tolerable, although my upper arms needed serious attention. Maybe I could take up tennis . . . although I hadn't played for fifteen years. I'd add it to my ‘to do' list when I got back home. But for now I hoped Jack wouldn't notice.