Cindy was startled. “Ames lied to you?”
Dalia shook her head forcefully. “It wasn’t a lie. Sometimes he made plans that didn’t pan out and then he’d just do something different. He’d tell me later. It wasn’t a big deal. He told me everything. We didn’t keep any secrets. ”
“Had he actually made plans with Dale for that day?”
“Of course he did,” Dalia insisted. “Dale was questioned and said something came up at the last minute and he cancelled. He doesn’t live on the island. He and Ames own a fleet of cargo ships. They ship nutmeg, rum, island spices. This is known as Spice Island. ”
“I know,” said Cindy.
“Dale lives off the island and Ames is based down here, overseeing everything. He loves it here. ” Dalia bit her lip, her eyes teary. It appeared as if it were hard for her to keep going over the story again and again.
Cindy laid a hand on her wrist.
“When Ames didn’t come home and didn’t answer his cell phone for hours, I called the police and reported him missing. It was about ten o’clock at night. ”
“It must have been awful,” Cindy said softly.
Dalia’s eyes filled with tears.
“Horrible, terrible. The police came right away. They’ve been scouring the island, every last inch of it. People have been helping from near and far. Search teams have roamed over all the beaches, the waterfalls, the harbors. ” She could hardly catch her breath. “Ames is well known. He’s a public person and a good man. He helps lots of locals. He lives a big life. What happened to him, Cindy? ”
The starkness of Dalia’s question hit Cindy like a punch in the gut.
“I wish I knew,” said Cindy.
“So do I,” said Dalia, “but one thing I do know – he’s still alive. I’m sure of it. ”
The edgy power in Dalia’s voice startled Cindy.
Dalia sighed. “Even though Ames was happy most of the time, at moment she would sit on the beach and stare out at the ocean, with a very bleak look in his eye,” said Dalia. “What am I doing with my life? he’d say. Does it make any sense? Ames left his whole family behind and never bothered calling or checking in on any of them. The island does that to you. It makes you forget everything. He missed his baby brother Laramey, though. Once in a while he said that to me. I told him to call him, but he couldn’t. ”
Cindy interjected quickly, “If, by any chance, Ames did call his brother, “she said, “is there any possibility he might have returned home to see him?”
Dalia laughed at that. “None at all. He was done with his family. Completely done. In fact, I never met one of them, he had absolutely no interest in inviting them to the wedding, or introducing me. He had a twin sister too, Clea, that he told me about. He’d been estranged from her also, for years. ”
Dalia sighed.
“The police are getting ready to stop the search,” Dalia continued in a feverish tone. “They can’t. We can’t let them. He’s here somewhere and we have to find him. Time is of the essence. This is the beginning of the rainy season. There’s no way I’m letting this go. ”
Cindy wondered for a moment if this was just desperation speaking.
“You’ve had the best possible help with this, Dalia?” Cindy asked.
“I have,” Dalia said. “I have no complaints about the police or the search teams on the island. But there’s always one little detail that’s easy to miss. It can make the whole difference. We need a fresh eye-- someone out of the box, who sees this from a different perspective. ”
“Me?” said Cindy.
“Yes,” Dalia said.
Cindy took a long drink of her chilled lemonade. It was sweet, sour and cooling.
“Did you love him?” Cindy asked suddenly, surprising both of them.
Dalia was taken aback. “Yes, very much. Not did I love him -- do I love him? I adore him. He’s wonderful. Our marriage is fantastic. We’ve learned our lessons and finally know what it takes now to make a marriage work. ” Dalia’s large green eyes were flashing. “I want him home!”
For a second Dalia looked like a little girl, petulant, banging her fist on the table, demanding that life go her way.
“Time is of the essence,” Dalia repeated, heatedly. “Listen,” and she leaned closer to Cindy, “this island isn’t as peaceful as it looks. There’s been other trouble here recently. There was another case of a disappearance three months ago. A guy was kidnapped. The police couldn’t find him fast enough and when they did, he was dead. ”
Cindy was startled. She hadn’t heard about that.
“This guy was also in the shipping industry. Doesn’t that tell you something? ”