Chapter 11

"Hello, is that you Ben?" The voice on the phone was familiar. Jane on the switchboard had informed me it was a personal call.

"Yes, who's that?"

"It's Carl. Can you talk?" I got up and shut my office door. I picked up the phone once more.

"I can now."

"Sorry to ring you at work but I wanted to talk to you, rather than Kelly."

"Go on."

"Well Ben, it's like this. Kelly might have told you I've just bought a villa in Majorca. I needed to spend some money before the taxman got his hands on it." He laughed. "It's got two bedrooms and they've each got an en-suite. It's very private and it's got its own pool. Well, I'm going to be out there for most of September and... well, I was wondering if you and Kelly fancied coming out. There'd be no cost to you, a bit of food and drink maybe, and of course your air fare."

I told him it sounded very attractive. He gave me the dates and I said I would call him back. I felt a frisson of excitement. If the villa was as private as Carl said, we could do anything that took our fancy. And I needed a holiday. We had originally planned to be away in Spring but that had been cancelIed because of the take-over battle. I knew we wouldn't be able to take a month, but we could have two weeks. I checked my diary. The first two weeks were definitely out. The last two weeks were okay. Oh bollocks! There was an important presentation on the Wednesday of the second week. It was to a new client and we had already postponed it once. Maybe I could still get out of it. I explained the situation to Paul, acknowledging that it was at rather short notice.

"It's going to be difficult, Ben. Giles will be on his honeymoon." I put my hand to my forehead. I'd forgotten that. And he was the only one who could deputise for me. "Really, Ben, I ought not to let you go at such short notice, but because you gave up your holiday earlier I will agree to it on one condition. If I cannot get a stand-in, you have to agree to return, and if that is the case, we'll pick up all your travel costs."

He was being fair and I couldn't really argue. He could have refused permission for me to go in the first place because I hadn't given him sufficient notice. Yet not only did he agree I could go, but he was also prepared to pay for a return ticket if I had to return. Kelly had no such problems and could take any two weeks. Accordingly I phoned Carl and said we'd be out for the last two weeks. During our conversation I discovered that we would all be coming back on the same flight.

And then the bad news! My presence would be required in the office on the Wednesday week after all. And since we were due to fly home on the Friday there seemed very little point in my going back. Kelly said that she would come home with me but I told her not to bother. She might as well come back with Carl three days later. It was bad enough that I should have to cut short my holiday; why spoil hers, too?

We were in the departure lounge at Gatwick Airport, on the Saturday waiting to catch an early evening flight to Palma. Kelly was wearing a sleeveless lilac broderie anglaise blouse, and a matching plain short skirt. The lilac effect was complemented by the mauve nail polish she had applied to her fingers and to her toenails. She was already quite tanned from sunbathing in the garden the previous weekend, in fact she would not have looked out of place had she been in the arrivals hall, having just returned from her holiday. But hers was about to start and she was excited. She kept turning to look at the departures board, trying to see if our flight had been called and with every movement of her head, her long dark hair would bounce on her shoulders.

But the commencement of our long delayed holiday wasn't the only reason for Kelly's happy frame of mind. There was the not insignificant fact that that Carl would be there. She hadn't seen him for three weeks now and had missed the sheer intensity of their physical relationship. She was looking forward to 'sleeping' with him that night. Kelly and I had provisionally agreed that she would alternate her nights with Carl and me, a sort of adult timeshare really! The departures board was now showing a gate for our flight. We picked up our bags and arrived there just as the plane had begun to board. We were only twenty minutes late departing and after an uneventful flight we landed at Palma. We grabbed a trolley and joined the milling crowd in the baggage hall. And before very long we were out in the main area.

Carl was already there to meet us and he had a broad welcoming smile on his face as we came up to him. He put his arms around Kelly as he kissed her and then he shook my hand. We made the usual small talk that everyone seems to engage in at airports; how was the flight; how has the weather been, etc. And then we followed him out to his car. Even though it was quite late in the evening, the temperature had not really dropped and as we stepped outside the air-conditioned terminal building, the sultriness was surprising. It was somewhat oppressive and the atmosphere was not rendered more pleasant by the occasional whiff of kerosene. However his car was not too far away and we were soon on our way to his villa, not much more than one hour distant.

It was completely dark by the time we arrived. Carl zapped the electric gates and we drove in. The drive was about a hundred metres long and at its end was the single-storey villa. As we approached it, sensors switched on the exterior lights illuminating the surprising amount of greenery and colour that contrasted with the white painted facade. Carl unlocked the wide front door that opened into the lounge. We walked in, our footsteps resounding on the beige ceramic tiled floor. The lounge was quite large and contained a sofa, an easy chair and a small dining table with four chairs. At the far end was the kitchen, and a line of work surfaces delineated the change of use. A door led out from the kitchen to a terraced area on the right, where the swimming pool was situated.