Milieu Dawn

by Malcolm Franks

Matt brought the pick-up to an unsteady halt and scrambled from the cab. His eyes searched the jetty for the presence of a petite figure. He could see no-one who bore any resemblance to the person he was looking for. Casting his gaze along the waterfront he noticed a familiar frame at the end of a queue, waiting to board one of his competitor’s planes, and moved briskly forward.

  “Matt,” called out Donna from the office. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Not now,” he snapped, striding away.

  He could feel his heart begin to pound with expectation as he neared the patiently standing figure, looking in the opposite direction. She surely couldn’t have flown half way round the world simply to give him a press cutting.

  “Rosa?”

  She turned in recognition of her name.

  “Hi, Matt,” she said with a wide smile, “I left a message for you.”

  Seeing her beautiful face reminded him of the evening in Toronto, when they had dined and danced under the stars by the great Lake Ontario. The event would forever stick in his memory.

  “Yes, I’ve seen it.”

  They stood in silence for a few moments, each waiting for the other to speak. Neither attempted physical contact. The stand off was heralded by the clanging of a bell from one of the passing motorised harbour launches, as if warning them to keep their distance.

  “My flight is about to leave,” she said.

  She looked stunning. Having returned her hair to its natural blonde colour, the long tresses elegantly surrounded her small round face and fell over her slender shoulders. Rosa had an exquisite, hour glass cut to her figure which shone through no matter what she wore. Today, a slim-fitting orange blouse met up with a pair of fawn coloured linen trousers that dropped to her brown open-toed sandals.

  Matt felt oddly different to how he expected. Whatever he believed might have developed between them at one time now seemed far away. Her manner appeared distant and detached about his arrival. Perhaps time had played its fateful hand and come between them. If he could somehow keep her talking, who knows what might happen.

  “Are you good?” she eventually asked.

  “I’m good. And you?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  He wanted his mouth to utter one of his quick witted quips, so he could enjoy hearing her deep throaty laugh. His mind refused to co-operate.

  “I see you’ve managed to smooth things over with Jenna,” she said.

  “I’m gradually winning her round.”

  He cursed inside at the thoughtless remark. It just sort of spilled out. Rosa returned a patient half-smile.

  “I’m pleased you’re getting your life back together. She’s a nice girl.”

  The break in the conversation was filled with uncertainty and nerve shredding awkwardness. Rosa started to turn away.

  “Things aren’t always how they appear,” he said.

  “Sometimes what you see isn’t real, but mostly it is,” she answered with a slight smile.

  “Maybe we could grab a coffee, catch up?” he offered.

  She thought about the offer.

  “No. There isn’t much to talk about really.”

  He tried to force his mind out of neutral.

  “There’s the article you dropped off earlier,” he said.

  She hunched her shoulders.

  “I was passing by, that’s all. You’re life seems full enough without having to discuss world events.”

  Matt chose to ignore her disinterested tone. He decided to have another stab at rekindling a rapport that had somehow been affected by the passage of distance and time. He wanted to prolong the conversation.

  “Catherine’s not having much joy trying to get the world to see sense,” he said.

  Rosa half smiled.

  “It was always going to be a long shot. She never held too much expectation of success. She tried, and that’s as much as you could ask. Catherine won’t give up easily. A few months and she’ll try again.”

  Any kind of intelligent insight, he considered, would break the stilted nature of their conversation. Meaningful thought continued to desert him, however. He felt clumsy, awkward, like a teenager on a first date.

  “Anyway, you’re up to date,” she replied to his ongoing silence. “I’d better be on my way.”

  “You came all this way to deliver a newspaper clipping?” he managed to utter.

  “Filling the day in and doing some Vancouver shopping to boot. Maybe I’ve got too much free time on my hands these days,” she said lightly.

  To a passing observer the situation was all too evident. There was only one party interested in maintaining a dialogue. Matt couldn’t see it. All that existed in his mind were reflections of the past.

  “How’s Martha ... Gerhardt?” he asked, desperately trying to prevent her from leaving.

  “They’re both good. Martha keeps asking about you.”

  Something drew her steady gaze away from his face.

  “I think someone wants your attention,” she said, referring to an arriving shape.

  “Matt, I really need to talk to you,” said Donna anxiously.

  “In a minute, Donna,” he said irritably.

  “But it’s important!”

  “I said I’d be with you in a minute.”

  He turned back to face Rosa only to find she was already at the door to the white flying machine, preparing to board. She smiled faintly then stepped inside. His subconscious resisted the temptation to shout out something stupid in a hideously pathetic attempt to salvage something that was beyond salvation. His mind was only just coming to terms with the news.

  All he could do was stand, rooted to the spot, as if wearing a pair of cement shoes. Matt felt numbed by the experience. It dawned on him his original expectations had been unrealistic. Loneliness could do that to a person, he reasoned. Make you believe in something that wasn’t real, out of reach. Rosa had drawn a line under the past. Perhaps he should do the same.

  Moments later, she was gone.

  “Matt!” said a frustrated Donna, “will you please talk to me now.”

  He gave a heavy sigh and turned to face her.

  “Yes, Donna. What is it?”

  Her skinny face was covered in anxiety. The confident, extrovert disposition she had steadily nurtured over the last few months had entirely disappeared from her expression.

  “Not here,” she said, tugging him away from earshot of their competitors. He had to wait until they had stepped well away before she spoke again.

  “The bank called to say we were overdrawn,” she said in exasperation. “So I printed off the latest statement.”

  Donna pushed a document into his hands, to show him the account balance, and pointed out a number of withdrawals The business was a handful of dollars above the five thousand overdraft limit. Matt had deliberately kept the figure low as he never intended using the facility. Yet the figures showed nearly a hundred thousand dollars had disappeared from the account in less than a week.

  “How did this happen?”

  “That’s what I was going to ask you,” said Donna. “Look at these four huge transactions, one day after the other. Only you can authorise payments of this size.”

  He stared incredulously at the evidence.

  “Have you developed a gambling problem?”

  “No.”

  Matt was stunned, knowing he’d made no arrangements of the like. He looked at the timings of the transactions and his mind went into overdrive.

  “Get my flight logs for each of these days and I’ll go to the bank. Ring Andy and ask him to take the ten o’clock booking. Tell him I’m sorry to call on his day off but he’s needed.”

  “Anything else?” she asked.

  “Don’t mention this to anyone.”

  She looked at him with a worried frown.

  “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be concerned about; a banking error by the looks of it.”

  Reassured, Donna returned to the office to retrieve the files he’d re
quested. As he began to order his thoughts, Matt heard a nearby voice speak to him.

  “Have you got a minute?”

  Matt turned and saw it was the young man who called himself William.

  “Not really,” he replied.

  The man looked disappointed.

  “Perhaps I could call round a little later in the day then.”

  Matt checked the time on his watch.

  “Be quick,” he said.

  “The phrase you used yesterday, it would be us against the rest of the island. Did you mean it?”

  “It’s the way it works here, why?”

  “Sounds like my kind of place. I wondered if you’d mind having a chat later about what it’s like to live here, if you have the time.”

  The approach surprised him.

  “Where are your friends?” he asked.

  “Approaching the Inside Passage by now, I suspect. I left them with a reasonable kitty, enough to get through the rest of the week.”

  “There are more exciting places than Victoria, particularly if you have money.”

  The man grinned.

  “I don’t have much, certainly not enough to keep me in idle luxury for the rest of my life. Besides, I want to belong to a place, not just live in it.”

  He seemed serious enough. Donna returned with the flight logs.

  “I’ll be as quick as I can,” he told her and then switched back to William. “Chances are I’ll be gone at least a couple of hours, maybe longer” Matt said to him.

  “Great, I’ll hang around for a while.”

  As Matt strode up the ramp he wasn’t sure what to make of this waif at his door. Not that it was of any importance, he had more pressing issues to think about. Instead of focussing his thoughts on the forthcoming debate with the bank, however, all that occupied his mind was Rosa.

  They’d been arguing for thirty minutes now, the temperature of the heated exchange inside the wood-panelled office rising with each passing word. Matt’s mood wasn’t helped by the luxurious décor of the bank manager’s office. How is it, his mind wondered, these obnoxious people could afford such an expensive environment. It wasn’t as if they actually worked for their money like everyone else, merely took slices out of everyone else’s earnings. Banking tax, ugh!

  Despite the flight logs showing Matt had been in the air when the transactions were made, the squat bank official with the reddish cheeks resisted the urge to accept the explanation.

  The ring of Matt’s mobile brought the angry confrontation to a temporary halt. The name Donna appeared on the screen. She knew better than to ring him right now. He jabbed the off button and turned his livid glare back on to the man seated opposite.

  “There was a summer storm on the Tuesday,” he said to the smug bastard, “How do you suppose I was able to make this transaction while flying through driving rain surrounded by lightening?”

  The man’s left eyebrow rose in realisation Matt could be telling the truth.

  “Okay, we’ll look into it, Mr Durham,” he said resignedly. “In the meantime I can provide a five grand extension to the existing overdraft, at a rate of ...”

  “Forget it,” interrupted Matt. “Transfer fifty k from my personal account into the business. We’ll sort out the loss in interest once you people have got to the bottom of this mess.”

  The man’s next argumentative phrase was interrupted by a knock at the door, sharply followed by the appearance of his secretary.

  “Mr Durham, there’s an urgent call for you.”

  Matt looked across at the man and he indicated with a nod for the call to be put through to the desk phone.

  “Yes, what the hell is it?” demanded Matt.

  “You have to come back,” said Donna’s distraught voice. “Andy’s gone down.”

  “Gone down, where?”

  “You’re needed,” replied her trembling voice and the line went dead.

  “Transfer the money now,” he demanded of the smug bank official. “I have to go.”

  Matt didn’t wait for an answer, just flew from his seat out of the room.

  Donna was in tears when he arrived.

  “What’s happening?” he asked.

  She shook her head uncontrollably.

  “Donna, what’s happening?”

  “I don’t know. We’ve lost contact.”

  “Where was he last?”

  “Andy reported the problem after passing over Nanaimo. All he had time to say was he was going to have to ditch,” she sobbed.

  “Have you called the coastguard?”

  She said nothing.

  “Donna, have you called the coastguard?”

  All sense seemed to have deserted her thinking as she sat rigid in the chair. Then she nodded in agreement.

  Matt grabbed at the keys to his plane, knelt down and placed his hands gently onto her shoulders.

  “Donna, I need you to be focussed. I can’t do this without you in the right frame of mind. Lives could be at stake. Do you understand?”

  She looked into his eyes and her tears ended as abruptly as they had started. Sniffling sharply, Donna stood from the seat and breathed in deeply.

  “I’m sorry, Matt. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

  “Somebody has to co-ordinate everything from here. Are you up to it?”

  She nodded and he smiled.

  “That’s my girl.”

  Matt strode from the cabin into the sun and hurried towards the waiting yellow machine. He heard a man call out.

  “I couldn’t help but overhear,” said William. “I used to do search and rescue in the navy.”

  There wasn’t time to weigh up the pros and cons.

  “Get in,” he replied.

  “Matt,” shouted Donna. “A woman passenger gave me this before getting on board. She said it belonged to you.”

  Donna opened her hand to reveal a house key.

  Shit! Jenna was on the plane.

  Chapter Five

  Rescue