by Sara Rosett
Chapter Thirteen
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THE flight was uneventful, except that Zoe’s heartbeat fluttered whenever Anna’s head moved. The airline was a low cost carrier with no assigned seats. Zoe and Jack had managed to snag two seats together a few rows behind Anna. Jack—of course—went to sleep as soon as the plane pushed back from the gate, leaving Zoe to fidget and watch the back of Anna’s head. After the drink cart came through, Zoe took the sheaf of Anna’s emails Carla had printed for her. Zoe had skimmed through most of them on the transatlantic flight, but nothing had stood out then. She kept her head down and read, doing her best to ignore the bursts of turbulence as they crossed the Alps.
A few pages from the end, Zoe found another airline reservation confirmation. “How did I miss this?” she whispered to herself. Anna had traveled to Dubai in January. They were about to land so Zoe woke Jack and told him what she’d found.
Jack rubbed his eyes and stretched. “Anything else about Dubai?”
“Nothing. No hotel reservations, tours, or anything. Why do you go to Dubai? It’s not exactly a vacation capital. Or is it?” Zoe asked. About the only thing she knew about the city was its connection to the oil industry.
“It’s a business capital and a transportation hub for the region. It could have been a transfer point for her.”
“I don’t think so,” Zoe said. “It’s the same pattern as this trip. Fly in one day, back to Naples the next.”
“Naples was her departure and return city for that trip, too?” Zoe nodded, and Jack said, “That’s good. She’s probably living somewhere around here, so we may not have far to go.”
They didn’t have time to talk more because the plane had landed. There was the usual crush of people standing, pulling bags out of the overhead bins, and the push to get out of the plane. Anna whipped her suitcase out of the overhead bin and scooted down the aisle before they could get close to her to plant Zoe’s phone.
The Naples airport didn’t have covered jet ways that connected to the planes. Instead, two buses idled at the bottom of the air stairs. They followed Anna to the first bus where she snagged a seat and put her suitcase and leather purse in her lap, then rested her arms on them. Zoe shot Jack an exasperated look.
As the bus lumbered away from the plane, Zoe’s phone lit up. She had it set on SILENT, so it wouldn’t make any noise if it rang or she got a text, but the feature let her know she had an incoming text. “It’s another photo,” she said to Jack. Her heart thumped while she waited for the picture to load, and her palm felt slippery on the metal pole she held. She was expecting another photo of Helen, but a picture of her Aunt Amanda filled the screen. Zoe’s heart sank. “Not her, too.” The photo had been snapped in the produce section of a grocery store as her aunt examined fat tomatoes. Absorbed in her shopping, she wasn’t aware of the photographer. She’d tucked her blond pageboy behind one ear and held her wrinkled shopping list and half-glasses in one hand.
The photo disappeared and a message stated she had an incoming call. Zoe exchanged glances with Jack as she answered. “Hello.”
“Ah, you picked up. Excellent.” The man didn’t introduce himself. He didn’t need to. She recognized the rapid tempo of the words and the slightly nasal voice. Oscar she mouthed to Jack as the bus neared the airport. Jack’s lips tightened, and he nodded.
“You’ve received my messages?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t sound so testy. They are simply reminders of what is at stake. Additional motivation, if you will. Now, how is it going? Do you have it?”
“Not yet. But we’re close. Very close.”
“Where are you? Exactly?”
Jack was leaning in, his head tucked next to hers so he could hear too. She raised her eyebrows at him. He shrugged and whispered, “Go ahead. He probably already knows.”
“We’re in Italy. Naples.”
“Oh, bonus points for honesty.”
“So you knew we were here?”
“Yes, of course. We’re watching you—from afar as it were. Electronically. Can’t have you disappearing.”
“The airline tickets,” Jack whispered. “Probably monitoring my credit card.”
“This is working out so well,” Oscar continued. “Mr. Gray is on his yacht off the coast of Sardinia. Remember you only have one more day. Call me when you have the painting, and I will tell you where to bring it.” He hung up.
They didn’t have time to discuss the call because once the bus dropped them at the terminal, Anna was off like a sprinter. She sailed through the baggage claim area. Zoe and Jack dodged through the crowds, barely keeping her dark head in sight.
“What if someone’s meeting her here? We won’t have a chance,” Zoe said as they came through the door into the arrival area.
“Then we’ll have to grab another taxi,” Jack said as they both paused to scan the crowds.
“There,” Zoe said. “Going out the main doors.”
“She’s lined up to pay for parking. Looks like she’s alone. I might be able to catch her. Got the phone?”
Zoe handed it to him. “It’s still in SILENT mode,” she called after him as he jogged away. “I’ll be at the rental cars.”
Jack raised a hand to acknowledge he’d heard her, but didn’t stop. The rental car counters weren’t that far away. She got in line and turned back to watch Jack. He eased down to a brisk walk and waved off a gypsy asking for change near the lines of people waiting to pay for their parking at the machine. Jack slipped into the line directly behind Anna. She had her head down, counting out change. She’d positioned her suitcase behind her left hip.
Jack took some coins from his pocket and when the gypsy moved to ask Anna for money, he dropped a coin. He squatted and retrieved it. If Zoe hadn’t been watching closely she would have missed how he quickly unzipped the suitcase a few inches and slipped Zoe’s phone inside, then re-zipped it in a fluid motion as he rose.
Anna shook her head at the gypsy, reached blindly behind her for the suitcase handle and pulled it forward as the line moved. Zoe released a breath. He’d done it. Anna took her position at the machine and dropped in coins. Jack moved to another line, but instead of waiting in the queue, he blended in with a tour group moving toward the airport. In a few seconds, he was beside Zoe.
“Smooth.”
“Thanks.” He flashed her a smile. “You’re up next. You get to retrieve it.”
“Let’s not talk about that. I’m still shaking from being nervous for you. How can you look so calm?”
“Believe me, my heartbeat is racing, too.” Jack checked his phone. “Let’s make sure it’s working before we get too excited.”
They both peered at the screen as the map loaded. The red dot came up. Zoe gripped Jack’s arm. “It’s moving. Let’s get our rental car.”
It seemed to take forever for the paperwork, but finally they were done. As they hurried through the parking lot to their car, Zoe tossed the keys to Jack. Naples was his old stomping grounds. He’d worked for the U.S. Consulate in Naples. “You know the streets better than me.”
Jack handed her his phone. “You’re navigator, then.”
The air was balmy and had a hint of humidity, which Zoe knew would make her hair expand as it absorbed the moisture. She was glad she had pulled it back in a ponytail out of her face. In weather like this, she had a tendency to turn into a big-haired 80s look-a-like.
The sunlight was intense, sparkling off the chrome and glass as they made their way through the parking lot. Zoe was glad that she’d worn a sleeveless black shirt with white polka dots. She’d layered on her sweater and jacket that morning in Paris, but shed them both under the strong sunlight. They tossed their jackets and hats onto the backseat along with the suitcase, did a quick circle of the compact black car to make sure there wasn’t any damage, and then they were on the road.
“She’s left the airport and is merging onto the freeway, the A3.”
“Toward downto
wn Naples?”
“No, the other way.”
“Okay. Interesting.” Jack turned onto the narrow street that was both the entry and exit for the airport and plunged into the throng of cars navigating a traffic circle. Completely ignoring a yield sign, a dark Mercedes crowded up against their car, trying to nose in front of Jack. Zoe sucked in her breath at the closeness of the car. Less than three inches separated them.
Jack laid on the horn and forced the driver to give way. He shifted gears and accelerated out of the crush of cars into an open lane. “Ah, driving in Naples. It’s almost a contact sport.”
“I knew there was a reason I didn’t keep the keys.”
“Come on. You’d love this. It’s kind of like bumper cars.”
“This isn’t a ride at the fair.”
“You need to tell that to the Italians,” Jack said, pointing to a dented Fiat that swooped in front of their bumper at the last moment before the entrance ramp to the freeway.
Once they hit the freeway Zoe relaxed a little. The drivers on the freeway weren’t as aggressive as the drivers in Naples itself. The only worry seemed to be cars weaving lazily back and forth across the lanes, seemingly oblivious of the stripes on the road. If they veered too close, Jack gave the horn a tap, and they drifted away.
The triangle of Mt. Vesuvius came into view, dominating the horizon in front of them. It didn’t have the traditional mountain peak. The top was flat, a result of the eruption in the first century that destroyed every community in the area, including Pompeii. Ash and debris from the eruption spilled into the bay of Naples, creating the land that they were now driving on.
“Look at the snow,” Zoe exclaimed. White coated the top fourth of the mountain. It did snow occasionally in Dallas, but it was rare enough that the sight of it made her smile.
They exchanged a look, and Zoe knew he was remembering their last visit to Naples.
The road curved south, following the arc of the bay, and Zoe twisted around to keep the flare of the mountain slopes in sight as long as possible. “All those years of editing Italy guidebooks and dreaming of seeing Italy. I never thought I’d see Mt. Vesuvius even once. How lucky am I that I’ve seen it twice.”
“Second chances are rare things,” Jack said, his gaze on the road, but Zoe knew he was talking about them. She focused on the tracking program on Jack’s phone. She couldn’t handle a serious relationship conversation right now. “Anna didn’t take the exit for Pompeii. She’s going south, toward Sorrento.”
“Sorrento,” Jack said with a smile. “Another thing to mark off your list.”
“Do you think we’re going there?”
“Not many other places we can end up.”
It was true. The Sorrentine Peninsula formed the southern arm of the Bay of Naples with the island of Capri just a few miles off the tip. They had to either be making for Sorrento or one of the villages that lined the southern side of the peninsula along the Amalfi coast.
The road followed the curve of the bay then turned inland, climbing up into the hills, twisting through small villages with red tile roofs and through groves of olive trees. Zoe drank in the scenery, but all the while in the back of her mind was Jack’s statement about second chances. He wanted a second chance, but it had gone so bad, so quickly the first time. She didn’t know if she could handle that again. Sure, the fireworks between them had been amazing, but that stage had fizzled pretty fast, and then there were only long, tense silences on Jack’s part as he threw himself into his business and loud, angry words on her part.
“Look at that,” Jack said, snapping her back to the present. The road had crested the hills that lined the peninsula and emerged on the southern side. They skimmed along a sheer cliff, the road switching back and forth in a series of hairpin turns. Above them, scraggly bushes and long grasses grew near the road. Higher up, pines alternated with steep rock faces. Below, the sun glittered on the sea, revealing deep coves and inlets with water a dark navy hue, yet it was somehow also translucent, revealing rocks far below the surface. A few boats bobbed into view as they swept around a turn. It looked as if they were floating on a sheet of blue glass. “What do you have to say?”
“I think I’m speechless.”
“I know the feeling.”
A bus lumbered toward them on the opposite side of the road, seeming to take up more than its fair share of the narrow lane. Zoe leaned to the right, and Jack downshifted, hugging the low rock wall on their right. The bus whipped by them and Zoe let out a breath.
The road snaked around a rock outcropping and a town came into view. “There’s Positano,” Jack said. A burst of color, houses in white, yellow, orange, and even red filled a crevasse in the mountains, spilling steeply down the hillside to a golden sweep of beach. The sea, dotted with boats of every size from rowboats to yachts, stretched out sparkling in the sun.
“Where’s Anna?” Jack asked.
“Oh!” Zoe checked the screen of the phone, which she’d been holding but had forgotten in her lap. “There she is,” she said with relief. “She’s left the main road and is in Positano.” The red dot traveled slowly along the twisty road, moving deep into the village. “She’s going slower.”
“We’ve got to catch up with her in case she stops and leaves the suitcase in the car.” Jack hit the gas, and they swooped along the narrow road. White stucco houses with flowering vines trailing down their walls swept by. They flew by shops with hanging baskets of lemons and tangerines, colorful clothes flapping in the breeze, spinning post card racks, and decorative painted tiles. Jack hit the brakes, screeching to a halt for a tour group slowly crossing the road then accelerated again. The road dipped down into the heart of the village, then rose again, winding back up through the far side where it would rejoin the road that skimmed along the coast.
“Wait. She’s stopped.”
Chapter Fourteen
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“WHERE? How far are we?” Jack asked.
“No idea. This doesn’t show where we are, and we’re going too fast for me to see a street sign.” Jack slowed. Zoe scanned the area, looking for a cross street with a visible street sign, but she only saw hotels, shops, and restaurants. They were on the outer edge of the village, the buildings clinging to the rising ground, giving good views off back terraces over the town and the sea. There hadn’t been many parking spaces in Positano itself. But here there were some slots along the road and a scattering of small paved lots interspersed between the buildings.
Zoe’s gaze snagged on a woman with dark hair who’d parked in one of those small parking areas. She rose from a black convertible Porsche, the longer side of her hair swinging against her cheek as she closed the door. “There!” Zoe squeaked. Anna turned and walked down the street directly toward them. She’d removed the belted jacket, revealing a sleeveless black sheath that hugged her curves.
Zoe ducked. She didn’t dare look up. Jack slid lower in his seat and reached up to adjust his sunglasses and shield his face as their paths crossed.
“Did she see us?”
Jack watched the mirror. “Don’t think so. She’s going into a building.” Zoe scrambled up, twisting around in time to see Anna pass a gnarled shade tree and walk under a awning striped in blue and white with the name Hotel Santa Lucia. Jack spun the wheel, slipping into the last open slot in the same tiny parking area.
“Let’s stroll,” Jack said, handing two euros to the man who monitored the parking lot. The attendant had waved Anna into the restaurant, so Zoe figured if you were eating there you didn’t have to pay.
Zoe snatched up her hat from the backseat and tucked her hair under it. They ambled in the opposite direction to a shop across the road with bright clothes fluttering in the breeze as they dangled on hangers hooked to window seals and the doorframe. The warm breeze felt good on Zoe’s bare arms.
Inside, Jack picked up a white baseball cap with the words AMALFI COAST. “Don’t think the hound’s-tooth hat will blend here,” J
ack said. He paid while Zoe stayed near the shop’s front window to keep an eye on the hotel Anna had entered.
The striped awning led to an open-air terrace restaurant with an amazing view of the sea and Positano. A partial roof covered the right-hand side of the restaurant where an arched doorway opened to the hotel’s red-tiled lobby. A bar stretched along the wall next to the entrance to the hotel. Anna sat in the shade at the bar, her back to them, talking to the bartender, a young man with a thick head of dark curly hair, who smiled at Anna, his teeth flashing white against his deeply tanned skin as he unloaded a tray of clean glasses.
Jack peeled the price tag off his hat before settling it low over his eyes. “Still in there?”
“Yes. Doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere soon. She’s got a drink and seems to like the bartender.”
The bartender set a fresh drink in front of Anna. Jack’s gaze traveled from Anna to the Porsche. The top was down on the car, and Zoe could just see a corner of the fuchsia suitcase glowing brightly under the intense sun. “We’re close enough now that we can keep her in sight. This might be your best chance to get your phone back.”
“My best chance?”
“I planted it. It’s your turn.”
“I knew you were going to say that.”
“Unless you want to distract the parking attendant?”
She glanced at the guy with the wrinkled face and the sour expression, who sat on a stool under the shade tree. “I’ll get the phone.” She wanted to stay as far away from Anna as she could, and they had to get the phone back before Anna opened her suitcase and found it.
“You can do it,” Jack said. “I’ll ask him directions and pretend I can’t understand Italian. We can meet at that little café a few doors up the street from here.”
Zoe blew out a breath. “Okay, let’s go.”
