When she couldn’t find a sign of her friend anywhere online, she splashed some water on her face, ran her fingers through her hair, and walked into the living room.
Thomas smiled at her when she came in. But Lilian’s parents barely looked up; they just sat there, lifeless on the couch, holding hands.
“Does anybody want something to eat?” Dominique offered, heading into the kitchen.
Lilian’s dad raised his hand defensively, and his wife said, “I can’t think about food at a time like this.”
Thomas followed her. “I would like something.”
As they stood at the kitchen counter making sandwiches, Thomas said softly, “From what I understand, the police want to focus the investigation on the American boy that was with Lilian on the island.”
“Marc? But he left the island alone. They have footage of that.”
“Right. But Snellen thinks that maybe he did something to Lilian, and then left her behind. Or maybe even put her in the ocean …”
Dominique put her hand to her head. “I can’t even imagine that. Marc is a very sweet guy. He is really crazy about Lilian.”
Thomas smiled sadly. “Strange things can happen between men and women. Maybe they had a fight and things got out of hand?”
Dominique needed to let all of it sink in for a moment. Marc had stayed behind with Lil on the island. If something did happen to her, it could be that …
She shook off the thought.
“So now what’s going to happen?”
Thomas poured himself a glass of orange juice.
“The Aruban police are going to search Enlightenment Island one more time. All the boats there are being searched and checked. There are missing person posters with Lilian’s picture on them all over Aruba.”
“What about Marc?”
“As far as I know, they’re contacting the American police. They need to question Marc first. Maybe then they will bring Marc here, or Snellen will go there—I’m not sure.”
Dominique thought about what Pepe had said: a Dutch man. If she could only confirm that somehow, Marc would be spared all the trouble. She really wanted to help him—she couldn’t imagine he had anything to do with Lilian’s disappearance. But she still kept her mouth shut.
Thomas cleaned up the bread and took his plate and glass to the living room. Dominique followed him. They sat at the dining room table across from each other. After they took a few bites, Lilian’s mother said, “Now that I see you guys eating, I suddenly feel hungry, too.”
Dominique got up right away and helped her make a sandwich.
A few moments later, all four were seated at the table together.
When they finished eating, Thomas looked around the table. “So, what are we going to do now?”
“What do you mean?” Lilian’s father asked.
Thomas gave him a very serious look. “We’re all here, but the case is in the hands of the police. There is not much more we can do now. And no matter how stupid it may sound—life goes on. For example, I can’t neglect my company much longer.”
Lilian’s mother looked at him with eyes that were spitting fire. “Well, if you feel the need to go deal with your company, then by all means you should go and do so, Thomas! But we’re staying right here! In this house or in a hotel, I don’t care! But we’re not abandoning our daughter!”
“Settle down, sweetie. That’s not what he meant.” Her husband shushed her by placing his hand on her arm. “He doesn’t need to stay here with us. When you own your own company you can’t just take off.”
“Thank you, Henk—that’s exactly what I was trying to say,” Thomas said. “If everything goes as planned, Charles will be here in person in a few days. He asked me to tell you that you are welcome to stay for as long as you want. Charles will pay for your stay, of course, and you already have your return ticket. If there is anything else I can help you with—anything at all—please let me know right away!”
Lilian’s father nodded at him in appreciation. “We won’t forget that. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, of course. And what are you going to do, Dominique?”
“I’m going to stay here, if you’re okay with that? I want to do everything in my power to help find Lilian.”
“Fine, it’s your decision.” Thomas got up. “I need to go make a few phone calls. The work goes on. Later, I have a videoconference with a few international business partners in my hotel room. And soon I will need to travel to Frankfurt.”
Lilian’s father also stood up. “Okay then. But if you don’t mind, Gerda and I would still like to check in to the Marriott. Then we are in the city center, near the police station and the island where Lilian disappeared. This way, we also won’t be in Dominique's way.”
Dominique could have done the polite thing and protested by saying she would prefer it if Lilian’s parents stayed in the house with her. But she didn’t.
53
Dominique was almost too embarrassed to admit it to herself, but she was incredibly relieved when Leroy came by that afternoon to pick up Lilian’s parents and take them to the Marriott. They would put their stuff there, freshen up, and visit the police station again before joining Dominique and Thomas for dinner.
Thomas could see how she felt by the look on her face and started to laugh.
“If you ever had any ambition to become an actress, then I would highly recommend that you don’t, Do.”
“Was it that obvious?” she asked, shocked.
He pulled her close and gave her a kiss on the check. “No, they didn’t notice anything. I can imagine you must feel quite uncomfortable in their presence, but those people are really going through hell.”
“Of course, I know that.” Even though she thought he smelled incredibly good, she pushed him away from her. “I think it’s horrible, too. But it’s almost like they blame me for still being here, while Lilian is gone.”
“So, how are you doing?”
Dominique walked to the sliding doors and looked outside at the pool. “Messed up, really messed up. All I can do is think about Lilian all the time, and I am too scared to even try and imagine where she could be. And how she is. Do you think maybe she’s been kidnapped?”
“I don’t know. Kidnappers usually want ransom money, or something else. But they usually ask for that within the first twenty-four hours.”
“Well, then this can’t be a kidnapping. … But what is it then?”
“Her passport is still here, so the chance that she left Aruba is slim. She could have taken another boat, but, otherwise, she should still be in Aruba somewhere.”
She turned around to face Thomas. “Thomas, tell me the truth: Do you think she is dead?”
He sighed. “How can you ask me that? I hope and pray that nothing has happened to Lilian and that she will return very soon. But we haven’t heard a thing from her in four days. And it’s a very small island.”
“But what if she is with someone and hasn’t been able to contact us for some reason?”
Her eyes were pleading with him, so he answered, “Yes, Do. That is possible.”
She didn’t believe it herself, but wanted to believe it so badly.
A little later, when Thomas was packing his suitcase, she walked into his room and asked, “Can I help you with anything?”
“No, thanks, I’ll be fine.” He looked up. “But you could tell me how you want to handle this thing with your mother.”
“Oh, please, not that again!”
“No, Do, I mean it. You can’t keep treating her like this. She is and always will be your mother.”
“I know that! Dad tells me the same thing all the time. But sometimes she irritates me so badly; sometimes just the sound of her voice alone is enough to send me over the edge.”
He grinned. “I know exactly what you mean. I have the same thing with my wife sometimes. But still, you can’t shut your mother out like this.”
Dominique sat at the edge of her bed. “That fake laugh of hers,
you know? It all got worse since she met that loser Theo; it really gets under my skin. And it’s always all about her. As if her life is all that interesting!”
“That may be so, Do, but she thinks you treat her like dirt. You didn’t even let her know what’s going on here. She wanted to come here right away.”
“Oh, God, you’re not serious?”
Her shocked reaction seemed to amuse him.
“No, she’s not coming; it proved to be too difficult to arrange for both Theo and her to get here on such short notice. But still, try to think about how she must feel, Do.”
“Understood. Is the sermon over now?”
He closed his suitcase and looked around the room. “I think we’re done here. Let me call Leroy to tell him to come and get us.”
“What time is that videoconference?”
He looked at his watch. “In a little less than two hours. We could have a drink in the city first. Unless you don’t want to be seen with your old uncle?”
For the first time that day she laughed.
54
“Do you ever go out like this with your dad?” Thomas asked.
He sat, slightly slumped down, in the sun next to a table with a large umbrella. His sunglasses slid down to the tip of his nose, and he grabbed the beer placed before him.
Dominique took a sip from her white wine and smiled. “Dad and I never sit on a terrace together. First: because he never goes out with me anywhere. And second: because he is basically never around to begin with. I see more of Helga than I do him.”
“Well, why else would he need a housekeeper?” Thomas protested, laughing. “If he was home all the time, he would do everything himself.”
“Yeah, right. He can’t even boil an egg.”
“That’s the water’s fault, not his.”
They were enjoying their time together. They let the tension of the past few days go and almost forgot why they were both on Aruba for a moment.
Until a Jeep stopped in the square. A man jumped out, and it was someone Dominique recognized right away. He headed straight to their table, gave them both an exaggerated salute, and said, “Fernandes wants you to know that one of your American friends is down at the police station.”
“What?” Dominique asked, confused. “One of my American friends? Which one?”
“The one that was on the island with your friend.”
She looked at him, completely dumbfounded. “Marc? That can’t be. He is back in Texas.”
With a clown-like gesture the man shrugged his shoulders. “Fernandes never lies. And this tip is free of cost, Fernandes says. Have a nice day together.” With a few big steps, he was back in the Jeep. Before leaving, he honked the horn and waved without looking back.
“Who was that?” Thomas asked, surprised.
“That was Pepe, the same guy you saw me with at the gate.”
He looked at her inquisitively. “Why did he come to tell you that? And what is that about—what he said about your American friend?”
“I don’t know,” she said, deep in thought. “If Fernandes is so determined to tell me nothing but nonsense, why is he going through so much trouble? And how does he even know that I’m here?”
Right at that moment, both their cell phones rang. They both looked at their screens, at a message they received from Lilian’s father: SNELLEN IS INTERROGATING MARC FLANNAGAN, THE BOY FROM THE ISLAND. HE WAS BROUGHT TO ARUBA. HENK.
Dominique looked in the direction that the Jeep had disappeared in. She bit her lip.
“I assume they are there at the police station,” Thomas said. “But I will ask to make sure.”
His thumbs pressed down quickly on his phone’s keyboard.
A moment later the answer came.
“Right,” Thomas said. “They’re at the police station.”
“That’s very close to here.”
He took a big sip of his beer.
“Yes, we better go there now.”
They walked to the police station together. In the lobby they found Lilian’s parents.
“Did they bring that American boy here from the states?” Thomas asked.
Lilian’s father nodded yes. “He is here with his father and an American police officer. Snellen is questioning him now.”
“So he is a suspect?” Dominique concluded.
“According to Snellen, he is the lead suspect at the moment,” Lilian’s mother said. “He is the one who saw Lilian last.”
“But what is he suspected of doing exactly?” Dominique wanted to know.
Lilian’s father looked at her very seriously. “I’m afraid he’s going to have to tell us that himself.”
A cold chill ran up Dominique’s back.
55
The dinner plans they had made for that evening were canceled. Understandably, Lilian’s parents wanted to stay at the police station in case Marc’s interrogation brought new information to light about their daughter.
Dominique had asked if she could speak with Marc, but her request was denied by the Aruban police.
Not much later, they were told that the interrogation would stop until the arrival of the lawyer Marc’s father had hired.
Thomas and Dominique had a quick bite at a fast-food restaurant.
Because Thomas had to return to his hotel room to work, Dominique had Leroy pick her up and bring her to the house.
“What a mess,” Leroy said, as they drove out of the parking lot where he had picked her up. “This has to be the worst thing that could possibly happen during someone’s vacation”
She looked at him from the side. “The worst thing is that we have no idea what really happened to her.”
“These types of things give the island a bad name.”
Dominique laughed scornfully. “Sorry, but Aruba’s reputation is about the last thing I’m concerned with right now.”
“Yes, I understand that.” He made an apologetic hand gesture. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be insensitive. Of course I think it’s terrible that your friend has disappeared.”
They reached the main coastal road. Dominique noticed that almost none of the cars had their headlights on, as was customary in Holland. As soon as dusk began, the Arubans suddenly put on their high beams.
“So, is it true that they picked someone up for this?” Leroy asked.
Again she looked at him from the side. “Yes, the American boy who was with her on the island that night. After that no one saw her again.”
Leroy whistled between his teeth. “Then it doesn’t look good for him. Good thing they got him.”
“Really? I’m not so sure.”
He gave her an inquisitive look. “Do I hear doubt?”
She shrugged repeatedly. “I really don’t know, Leroy. Marc is really a sweet guy. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who …”
“You never know.”
While she stared straight ahead and remained quiet, her phone rang. When she saw it was Thomas, she answered quickly.
“Hey, I thought you were busy working?”
“I was, but I just got a phone call from Henk.”
“Oh?”
“Brace yourself. The police received a message from someone who says they’ve kidnapped Lilian. He wants a half a million in ransom.”
“What? It’s a kidnapping? Jesus, how horrible, poor Lil! But … in a way that is good news, isn’t it? A half a million euros?”
“Dollars. I told her parents Charles and I can vouch for it, if needed.”
“Holy shit, can you go without that much money at once?”
“Some things are more important than money, Do.”
She leaned back against the worn-out seat rest.
“And what did they say?”
“They were happy, of course. If Lilian was kidnapped then it means she is still alive. You can imagine how scared they’ve been.”
“Yes—hello? Obviously, I can.”
“Anyway, I don’t exactly know what will happen now. The police will
decide how to proceed. But in any case, we will stay in touch.”
“Okay. So, hey … if this kidnapper contacted the police, does that mean Marc is innocent? Because they’re holding him here at the police station in Oranjestad.”
“That’s right. But maybe he is an accomplice?”
There was not much she could say to that.
She ended the call and grimaced in disbelief. “Did you hear all of that, Leroy? Turn the car around; we need to go back to the police station!”
He made a fast U-turn on the small country road, barely missing a large cactus. Dominique couldn’t get there fast enough.
56
After spending the greater part of the evening at the police station, mainly to keep Lilian’s parents company, Dominique decided to take a walk to La Mamba. She couldn’t bring herself to go to the house all alone now that Thomas had locked himself in his hotel room, and she decided she needed company. People she could really talk to.
So her disappointment was great when she didn’t see anyone from Dave’s group when she got there. She ordered a white wine at the bar and took it outside. She called him with her cell phone.
He picked up right away. “Hey, Do!”
“Hi, Dave, I’m at La Mamba. Are you guys coming, too? I have news.”
“Soon. I’m almost finished with work.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you then.”
“Ciao.”
Dominique nestled herself in one of the very few chairs available on La Mamba’s terrace. She thought long and hard about the situation. Aruba was the ideal vacation destination, but right now she wished she and Lilian had never come here. How could this have gone so horribly wrong? She had done everything wrong. She had been irresponsible and childish. But the worst thing was that she felt she had failed her best friend miserably.
Two glasses of white wine later, Dave, Chuck, and Jerome showed up, cheerfully talking and laughing together.
Bon Bini Beach: A Thriller Page 17
