by Dawn Tamayo
Romero stepped out of the car and walked around to Helen’s door, taking her hand in his as she climbed out. He didn’t let her hand go as he pointed out where he had been parked three nights before, and then where he had seen her for the first time. Pulling her slightly as her feet didn’t seem to want to move of their own accord, they walked across the road.
“Okay, this is where I first saw you. I called out to you and then you fainted.” He walked a few steps forward and stood where he had pointed. “So if you were soaking wet you must have come up from the sea, I think that’s the only option.”
Helen nodded her head. That made sense because when she showered at the hospital she had washed a lot of sand from her body and hair. She stood and looked around, there wasn’t much there just a few bars, restaurants and cafes, there were no hotels in the immediate vicinity.
“It is possible I could have come from one of those hotels down there I suppose.” She said pointing to further down the beach.
“It is possible, but not likely. I had an officer go into all the hotels within a half mile radius of here with your photograph and he asked all the desk staff if they recognise you, but no one did. Also we have someone working on trying to match your photograph to any of the passports registered by the hotels for a female British national with the name Helen, but so far we haven’t come up with a match. Besides, that still doesn’t answer why you were soaking wet.
“Stupidly taking a midnight swim?” Helen asked shrugging her shoulders hoping she was a little bit more intelligent than that!
Romero looked at her seriously. He didn’t know who she was before but he had a feeling she wouldn’t be silly enough to go for a midnight swim alone, and he was usually a good judge of character. “Can you imagine yourself doing that? Remember you were not drunk and no one has reported you missing, so probably you would have been out alone, unless another person is still missing, someone else you were with? But you weren’t wearing a swimming costume, and you were dressed, of some sorts.”
“I don’t know.” Helen took off her sandals and started to walk on the hot sand towards the water’s edge. Realising the sand was hotter than she had anticipated she ended up running the rest of the way until she reached the cool water. “Ow!” She moaned as she turned round to find Romero laughing at her as he casually walked behind her still wearing his flip flops.
“Well obviously I’m not that sensible.” She said nodding to his flip-flops, whilst hers dangled from her hand.
“So?” Romero asked expectantly, he had thought that bringing Helen back here would surely jog her memory somewhat, but he wasn’t so sure now.
“Give me a chance, we have only just got here.” She said looking around at the beach and the sea, but it was no good, nothing was coming back to her - it was all still a big void of darkness in her mind. “Can we just stay here for a while, maybe something will come soon.” She said sitting down on the hot sand.
“Hold on. Let me get a blanket from my car, it will be more comfortable.” Romero said heading off back to the car.
Helen watched him walk away and then turned back to the sea. It was beautiful, the sparkling white crystals jumped off into the clear blue sky and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. She sighed feeling relaxed and calm. Taking a deep breath Helen thought she could stay here forever.
She sensed Romero as he walked up behind her, she didn’t need to turn around, she just knew it was him. He lay the blanket on the sand and Helen moved across onto it patting the spot next to her for him to sit down too.
“So what do you usually do on your day off? You know, when you don’t have strangers unexpectedly coming to stay.” She asked as she absent mindedly looked out across the vast expanse of the ocean.
“As little as possible.” He laughed. “I run, work out at the gym, something like that.”
“Hmmm I can see that.” She interrupted him, giving him a dazzling smile as she eyed him up and down in his t-shirt and shorts stretched out on the blanket next to her.
Something inside Romero’s chest jumped, he was surprised at the affect her smile had on him! He composed himself and carried on, “And I visit my friends and family.”
“And at night – what do you do?” She asked, “Do you always kick-back with a beer in your hand and watch the football?” She teased him.
“Kick-back?” He asked not understanding her strange expression.
“Sorry, relax, chill-out.”
“Ah yes I see. No, not always. But I do like football, I am a Spanish man after all.” He said as if that was to explain everything.
“Yes I think I’ve noticed that.” She laughed and then there was that smile again.
Romero wished she wouldn’t do that! He wondered if she had any idea what kind of affect that was having on him – he imagined it would probably have the same effect on any red-blooded man. But if she did, she certainly didn’t show it.
“Hmm, I do other things too.” He said trying to take his mind away from Helen as he watched her pull off her shirt so she was sitting in just another tiny vest top which hardly covered anything, and her miniscule shorts. If he thought the straining shirt of this morning was bad, then he was definitely in trouble now as he tried to keep his eyes away from the V of her ample breasts threatening to burst out of her little top. “I like to see my friends and sometimes I meet up with some of the other police officers and we play cards or have a few drinks together. The usual stuff.”
Helen nodded wondering what she usually did in the evenings. “And do you like being a police officer?”
“Sergeant, I’m a police Sergeant.” Romero corrected.
“Oh sorry.” She blushed slightly.
“Yes it’s good. There’s not too much going on where I am but that’s why I’m there - to make sure that trouble doesn’t come our way from the bigger towns like Benidorm or Alicante.”
“Have you always worked at that police station?”
“No, I used to work in other parts of the police, other units, but I prefer the quieter life now. I’ve done my fair share of dangerous things. I prefer to keep the peace now rather than to go and look for trouble.”
Helen nodded as she again looked out across the sea drinking in its glorious view and let her hand gently stroke the hot sand next to their blanket.
“That reminds me, I need to make a call. Wait a moment.” He said standing, reaching for the telephone in his pocket and pressing a number on the contact list.
“Riccado, yo soy Romero. Esta noche no es posible, estoy ocupado. Lo siento, tenemos que hacer otra noche.” He paused as he saw Helen waving her hands at him to wait for a moment, “Esperas….” he turned to Helen, “What?”
“You are not cancelling something tonight because of me are you?” She asked concerned, understanding what he was saying to the person on the other end of the phone. She felt she had disrupted his life so much already simply by being at his house, she could tell that, so she didn’t want him to cancel something on his night off because of her too. She shielded her eyes from the sunlight as she looked up at him.
“That’s okay. I was just having a few friends over from the police station to play cards. But we can do it another time, it’s not important.”
“No way, tell them to still come. You won’t even know I am there, I promise. Don’t cancel please, I will feel terrible if you do that.”
Romero looked at her pleading eyes and then turned back to the telephone, “Riccardo, Ignorame. Esta noche es buena ...... Sí, en mi casa a las nueve.” He put the phone back into his pocket. “Are you sure? You may not be ready for a noisy night in the house yet.” He said remembering how she had jumped when anyone came too close to her when they were out shopping.
“I think I should be safe in a house full of policemen.” She laughed.
“Yes you will, but it can get pretty loud.” He warned her. Their card games were sometimes boisterous - full of beer, laughter, and gentle ribbing of one another.
“I’m going t
o have to get used to being around strangers at some point, so what better way to start off with than a bunch of noisy policemen. Anyway, I am going to need to get a job soon because the money the Consulate gave me is nearly running out, so I had better get myself sorted out pretty quick, and this is as good a way to start as any.” She wasn’t sure what type of job she was going to get or what job she could do, but there must be something she was good at.
“Do you think you will stay here?” Romero asked, he had wondered what she planned to do.
“I don’t know. I suppose it depends on what options the British Embassy give me. When I remember who I am then I can go back to that life, wherever that may be. But in the meantime, however long or short that is, I have to do something - I can’t just sit around and do nothing.” Helen paused in thought for a moment, “I suppose that is one good thing about not knowing who I am or where I’m from - I can live anywhere I want and I can do anything I want, I will just have to start from the beginning that’s all. Besides, I can’t stay with you forever.” She looked at him and laughed nervously, the thought of leaving his safe home was terrifying at the moment but she knew that time would come at some point - she didn’t want to outstay her welcome.
“Don’t worry about that just yet. You have enough to think about with trying to remember what happened to you and who you are. We will, how do you say, cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Helen was grateful for his consideration, but she knew ‘the bridge’ was only just around the corner for her, because she needed to buy some new clothes and her one hundred Euros had dwindled to a meagre fifty Euros already, and that wasn’t going to get her very far.
“And your girlfriend? Does she mind me being here taking up your time?”
Romero paused for a moment looking out across the sea, “There is no girlfriend.”
Helen looked up at him puzzled - why would a good looking and kind person like him not have a girlfriend? She thought women would be throwing themselves at his feet.
“Really? Why?” She asked, then realised she was being rude. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“That’s okay. Being in a relationship with a policeman isn’t for everybody - the hours are sometimes unsociable and it can be dangerous. That, and I guess I haven’t met the right girl yet.”
“How old are you Romero?” She asked inquisitively squinting against the midday sun.
“What is this, twenty questions? We’re supposed to be finding out about you, not me.” He laughed gently. “Thirty four. And you?”
She shrugged, “The doctor said probably about mid-twenties, maybe a year or two older?”
Romero reached down for her hand. She took it and let him pull her up by his side.
“Let’s go see Juan and get some lunch. Maybe Cathy’s home too.” He said pointing to their bar across the road from the beach.
“Is that their bar?”
Romero nodded.
“That will be lovely, but I can’t go to see Cathy without taking her a thank you present. She was so kind to me the other day and I think I might have been a bit rude. I never got to say thank you properly.”
“Don’t worry, she understood. What do you want to get her?”
“I don’t know, what does she like?”
Romero wasn’t a great help by the shrug of his shoulders.
“Maybe some flowers or chocolates.” She decided.
“There’s a chocolate shop up the road there,” he pointed to a couple of roads up from where they were, “Let’s have a look in there.”
Romero and Helen sat across the bar from Juan and Cathy, the sound of their children could be heard coming from the backroom leading to their house behind the bar.
“They sound like they are having fun.” Romero said nodding in that direction.
“Yes Cathy’s father has been turned into a horse for the afternoon; the poor man has got pretend stirrups and reigns tied to him.” Juan said with sympathy as he passed Romero a beer. Cathy stood laughing.
Romero laughed taking a sip of his beer and then handed it to Helen to try. She took a sip and wrinkled her nose up.
“So we know you don’t drink beer then.” He said taking it back and taking a mouthful again himself.
“No I don’t think so.” Helen said catching the quick exchange of looks between Juan and Cathy.
“Cathy, thank you so much again for your help the other day. The clothes have been great and I will give them back to you as soon as I can buy some more.” Helen said sipping her ice cold freshly made lemonade.
“That’s okay, no problem, you can keep them. And you didn’t need to buy me chocolates to say thank you, it was a pleasure. So what do you think you are going to do now?” She asked curiously. Cathy watched Helen’s mannerisms, listening carefully to her accent and the things she talked about – also being English she hoped she could help Helen learn a bit more about herself.
“I am not sure. I need to see what the Consulate clerk says next week but I think I would like to get a job and stay out here. It’s early days I suppose, I think I will need a bit more time until I am ready for that. I know I am getting much better though, I haven’t had to take my tablets today, but I am not sure that I feel quite well enough to find a job just yet.”
Cathy nodded understanding. She kept Helen talking still watching her closely.
“So what kind of job will you look for?”
Romero noticed Cathy watching Helen and he was eager to get her thoughts, he could see there was something going on in her head; it hadn’t occurred to him to see if Cathy had any ideas on Helen.
“I’m not sure at the moment.” She shrugged thinking how vague that sounded and not quite liking the sound of it. She had a feeling she wasn’t a vague-type person and liked everything to be sorted and neatly in its place.
Romero interrupted their conversation for a moment, “Actually Cathy, I have a bit of a favour to ask you and Juan. I am back on duty tomorrow afternoon and I was thinking that Helen could come and hang out here in the afternoon.” He turned back to Helen and said, “Then early evening when I am on my break I can pick you up and take you home.”
“Yes sure, that’s a good plan.” Cathy said happy to have Helen around.
“Oh no, I don’t want to be any bother. And Romero you need a break when you are working - the last thing you need to do is be driving me between Benidorm and Villajoyosa.”
“That’s okay, I don’t mind. You can’t sit at home alone all that time.” He said smiling, he didn’t want her to be sitting alone hiding away, and he didn’t mind picking her up in his break. Besides, he felt more comfortable knowing where she was.
Helen looked from Juan and Cathy to Romero and smiled, she had been wondering what would happen when Romero went back to work and she liked this plan. “Thank you. That will be great.”
Cathy looked back towards the sound of laughter and screaming from her children, it had got louder and she smiled, “I think that’s my cue to go back inside now.” She leaned across the bar and kissed Romero goodbye on both cheeks, “Come by when you are ready tomorrow.” she said to Helen as she headed back inside.
Romero stepped down from his stool, “Let’s go home, we can have some dinner before my friends come over for cards.” he said placing his hand on Helen’s elbow as he helped her down from her stool.
They said their goodbyes to Juan and headed off back to the car.
Helen changed out of her tiny shorts and put on some black linen trousers with a new pale pink t-shirt she had bought when they were out yesterday. She looked in the mirror and brushed her hair out. She had caught the sun today and freckles were appearing across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. She decided, that considering she already had a gentle suntan, she had probably been in Spain for a while - she doubted the English weather would give her that colour, not at this time of year. Finally the dark circles under her eyes were fading and the cut on her forehead was beginning to heal. She didn’t think she look so
ghastly now. Helen brushed her hair again and pulled the front of it back securing it with a clip, letting the back of it flow down her neck and lay gently down her back. Slipping her flip flops on she walked out of her bedroom - she could hear Romero still in the shower so she decided to head into the kitchen and prepared a few bits and pieces for him and his friends.
The sound of the front doorbell rang and she heard Romero call out that he would get it. Then Helen heard male voices, and just as her heart started to pound she took a deep breath and consciously tried to relax. She told herself not to be silly she was perfectly safe in Romero’s house, besides it was only his police friends - she could hear them chatting away in Spanish as they came in through the front door. The voices were getting louder as the men came closer towards the kitchen and Helen turned around to see them walking in. She almost laughed when she saw the group of four, or was it five men? She couldn’t tell at that moment in time as they had all stopped in the doorway, bumping into each other like bumbling school boys, so surprised to see her standing there in Romero’s kitchen.
“Romero?” One man asked as he looked back at him with a cheeky grin.
“Hello, my name is Helen.” Helen said as she stepped forward offering her hand for them to shake. She instantly liked the group of Spanish men who were all now trying to untangle themselves from the kitchen doorway and pretend that nothing was out of the ordinary.
Meanwhile Romero was standing behind his friends still fixed to the spot, his face blank as he watched her.
“English?” One of the men asked.
“Yes, but apparently I can understand a little Spanish.” She said shaking his hand next in turn.
Romero seemed to find his feet and moved past his friends to introduce them, “Helen, this is Alonso, Rafael, Miguel and Carlos.
“Nice to meet you.” Helen said as she turned back to the kitchen counter and started to put the platters she had been preparing onto the kitchen table, “Are you playing cards in here or the other room?”
“In here.” Romero said as he watched amused as his friends eagerly eyed up the plates of chorizo, parma ham and cheese.
