Wish You Were Here

Chapter 37



Milo had a vague idea where he was going. Lander had given him directions but he only half-recognised the road out of Kintos. It was a part of the island he didn’t get to very often but he slowed down as they reached the top of a hill, descending slowly until they came to a high wall.

Milo turned into a driveway and gazed at the sight that greeted them. There was a one-storey white house that was typical of the island but it wasn’t that which made Milo’s mouth drop open but the large swimming pool to the left-hand side. There was no water in the pool but it was full all the same – with the broken bodies of hundreds of statues. There were legs, heads, arms and torsos all over the place. It was a startling sight – as if they were victims of some great war.

Milo parked the car and Alice was out before he’d even switched the engine off. He joined her by the side of the body-filled pool.

‘Do you think she’s in there?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Milo said. ‘She could be, I suppose.’ His eyes scanned the stone stumps. He recognised a couple of Poseidons with broken tridents but he couldn’t see his Aphrodite anywhere. ‘Maybe she’s in a workshop somewhere,’ he said, trying to keep Alice’s hopes up.

They left the pool of broken bodies and walked round the back of the house where a large barn-like structure stood. There was the sound of some vicious machinery whirring and Milo held Alice back before she could run headlong into the dark interior. He didn’t want her broken body being chucked into the swimming pool.

‘Hello?’ Milo called in both English and Greek, taking slow steps into the barn. Alice followed him and they saw a man standing at one of the machines, head down in concentration. They waited a moment, not wanting to startle him. A minute later, he lifted his head up, saw them both standing there and stopped the machine. Silence descended.

The dark-haired man lifted his goggles from his face and stared at the intruders. Milo stepped forward, his hand extended in greeting and the man wiped his own dusty one on the front of his trousers and shook, saying something in Greek.

Milo made a bit of polite conversation, telling him about the Villa Argenti, and the man nodded.

‘I believe you were going to try and fix the statue of Aphrodite,’ he said, continuing the conversation in Greek. ‘She’s a particular favourite of the tourists.’

The man shook his head solemnly. ‘She was irreparable. You must have known that.’

Milo nodded. In his heart, he’d known but he hadn’t wanted to admit as much to Alice.

‘What’s he saying?’ Alice asked.

Milo turned round to face her. ‘I’m afraid she couldn’t be fixed,’ he said.

‘So that’s it?’ Alice said, her voice rising hysterically.

‘It looks like it,’ Milo said.

‘But the statue still exists, doesn’t it? Even if it is in pieces? I need to see it. Tell him that I need to see it, Milo.’

‘He didn’t keep it,’ Milo told her.

‘What?’

‘It’s gone,’ Milo said.

The dark-haired man was still babbling on.

‘Hang on a minute,’ Milo said, listening to him. ‘He’s saying that, apparently, it’s a very special statue. The sculptor is well-known here and he says he got in touch with him.’

‘And?’ The conversation was going far too slowly for Alice’s liking.

‘The sculptor wanted it back.’

‘It’s with the sculptor?’ Alice asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And where is he?’

Milo sighed. ‘I’m afraid we can’t get in touch with him.’

‘What? Why not?’

‘He’s Yanni Karalis. He’s a recluse and he hates people.’

‘But this man got in touch with him.’

‘That’s different. This man had something that Mr Karalis wanted. He obviously made an exception so he could get this statue back.’

‘But we’ve got to see him. Where does he live? Is that the problem? Is he miles away?’

‘Oh, no – he’s right here on Kethos.’

‘Then I don’t see what the problem is.’ Alice turned and marched out of the barn, her strides long and purposeful as if she was not going to stop walking until she’d found the statue. Milo thanked the man and followed her.

‘Alice,’ he said, ‘I think we’re going to have to admit defeat here.’

Alice had reached the car and opened the door, sinking heavily into the seat, her face even paler now. ‘I can’t give up,’ she said, looking directly ahead through the windscreen rather than at Milo.

‘But this sculptor is famous for not seeing visitors. We’ve bought statues from him in the past and – believe me – we’ve spent a lot of money. They’re the best statues in the world. But he doesn’t have anything to do with anyone.’

‘But we’ve got to try.’ She turned to face him. ‘Please, Milo.’

He looked pensive for a moment. ‘Well, I don’t suppose it’ll do much harm to visit him,’ he told her, ‘but don’t get your hopes up’.

They drove for about twenty minutes before the road started to narrow and climb steeply. They’d turned away from the coast and noticed how quiet it was. They hadn’t passed another vehicle for miles. This was a part of Kethos that the tourists rarely saw. It was bare and barren but there was a strange beauty to it. It was a place where myths seemed to hang in the air and the scent of wild flowers was everywhere.

Milo glanced at Alice to see what she made of it but she still had that strange, wild look on her face which told him that a beautiful landscape was probably the last thing on her mind at the moment.

The road curled round to the right and Milo dropped down a gear and started looking out for a likely house. It was the perfect setting for a recluse. No wonder the tourists never made it to this part of the island, because the locals didn’t either, he couldn’t help thinking. How much of his island he had yet to explore. Just when he thought he knew it, a beautiful surprise awaited him round an unexplored corner.

It was after they’d passed a small herd of goats grazing at the side of the road that they saw the place. Milo pulled over and they got out of the car.

‘Well, this looks like it,’ Milo said, peering in through an oppressively massive pair of iron gates which were double padlocked.

From out of nowhere an enormous dog came bounding across the bare earth, teeth bared as it barked furiously.

Alice screamed and Milo sprang back.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘I don’t think we’re going to get in that way.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Hello?’ he cried in through the gate, setting off the dog again. He noticed there was no bell and no intercom but, if somebody was home, surely they would have heard the dog. He thought about sounding his horn but it probably wouldn’t be heard over the barking.

He stood back to look at the property. An enormous wall ran around the perimeter. It all looked foreboding as well as impenetrable and he shrugged his shoulders. ‘I think we’re going to have to come back tomorrow,’ he said.

‘Oh, Milo – no!’

‘There’s nothing we can do if there’s nobody around.’ He watched Alice’s response and couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She looked thoroughly dejected with her slender shoulders slumped and her head hung in sorrow.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he said.

‘You didn’t even try,’ she said as they headed back to the car.

‘What do you mean? I drove out all this way with you and nearly got attacked by that wolf.’

‘I don’t mean today.’

Milo frowned. So, they were no longer talking about today, were they? The conversation had shifted when he wasn’t looking. He sighed. Why were women so complicated?

‘I mean, you never tried to see me before I left Kethos. You never tried to explain.’

Milo scratched his chin. ‘But I did try to see you. I came to the villa as soon as I could but you’d gone.’

‘I had to go home,’ she said, glaring at him as if he was an idiot. ‘I came to see you at the Villa Argenti but your colleague told me you couldn’t work that day and there was no way of contacting you. I didn’t know what to do.’

‘I’m so sorry, Alice. Something came up and I couldn’t reach you.’

She looked at him and he felt as if he were being punished with the fierceness of her stare.

‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘I just thought you might have something to say to me.’

He wasn’t sure what she meant and so he wasn’t sure what to say to her. He held her gaze, wondering if she was going to say anything else but she remained silent, the coolness of her eyes seeming to say so much but in a language which he didn’t understand.

‘Look,’ he said at last, glancing at his watch, ‘the last ferry leaves for the mainland in an hour and we’d have to break our necks to get there in time. Stay with me.’

‘What?’

‘I have plenty of room and you’d be very welcome and we can get up early and make a good start by coming back here and trying to find the statue.’

Her blue eyes seemed to double in size and her mouth had opened in a perfect little circle. ‘But—’

‘But what?’ he asked, his head cocked to one side.

‘What are you talking about, Milo? I can’t stay at yours.’

‘Why not?’ he asked, looking puzzled.

‘Because – because you have a family!’

He looked startled for a moment. ‘How did you know about that?’

‘Oh, Milo!’ Her hands flew up in the air in exasperation. ‘I saw them! You have a wife – a family!’

‘Wife? Hang on a minute! What do you mean, wife?’

‘Please don’t lie to me any more. I came to your house.’

‘What? When?’

‘When you weren’t at the villa, I asked a few people where you lived. I wanted to see you again before I left but, when I got to your house, I saw—’ she stopped.

‘What?’ he said, anxiety filling him with fear. ‘What exactly did you see?’

‘I saw you pegging out washing in the garden. Children’s clothes.’

‘Oh, God!’ Milo said, shaking his head. ‘Do you know who those clothes belong to, Alice? They belong to my sister!’

‘Your sister?’

‘My little sister – Tiana. I wanted to tell you about her and I was going to. I tried on the morning you were leaving but it was too late and we couldn’t make it to the boat in time. Tiana was unwell. That’s why I couldn’t get in to work. There’s a lady who takes care of her after school but she was ill too so I had to stay at home.’

‘You have a little sister?’

He nodded. ‘Our parents died. I’m the one who looks after her.’

Alice looked dumbstruck. ‘Why didn’t you tell me all this?’

‘I was going to only I didn’t get the chance and there was no point mentioning her when we first met,’ he said. ‘I mean, would you really want to see somebody who has a little sister to take care of?’

‘You should have let me be the judge of that,’ she told him.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘But I thought we were just going to be a holiday romance. When I first met you, I didn’t know how you felt about me and I always thought you’d forget about me and this place as soon as you left. I didn’t feel you needed to know everything about my life here.’ He looked at her and her face softened a little. ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t get the chance to explain things,’ he said. ‘I really care about you and I felt so bad letting you go like that without explaining. I don’t know what you must have thought.’

‘You really don’t want to know,’ Alice said.

‘I’m sure I don’t,’ he said, giving her a tiny smile. They left the forbidding gate and the barking dog and drove back through the wild island landscape.

Milo kept giving Alice little glances. Her shoulders had lost some of the tension that had been held in them for the whole of that day but she still looked sad – as if something was missing from her existence. ‘Are you okay?’ he said at last.

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

‘You must be hungry,’ he said. ‘I know I am. We haven’t eaten for hours.’

She nodded again. ‘I guess I lost track of time.’

‘It seems to me that you’ve been thinking about nothing but this statue,’ he told her. ‘Am I right?’

She looked at him as he slowed to take a corner. ‘It’s been an odd time,’ she said and then, suddenly, her eyes filled with tears.

‘Alice!’ he cried, pulling over to the side of the road. ‘What’s the matter?’ For a few moments, she didn’t say a word but just sat there, tears streaming down her face, her little nose rapidly turning red.

He took his seatbelt off and inched closer to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. He couldn’t bear to see her like this and he couldn’t help but feel partly responsible. ‘It’s my stupid behaviour, isn’t it?’ He groaned. ‘I should have told you. I knew I should have.’

She shook her head. ‘It’s not you,’ she said in a tiny voice.

‘What is it, then?’

She turned to look at him and her eyes were rimmed with red. ‘My father,’ she said. ‘My father died.’

‘Oh, Alice! I’m so sorry.’ Without thinking, he took her hands in his and squeezed them whilst fresh tears fell as she told him what had happened.

‘God,’ he said when she finished. ‘You’ve had a really bad time.’

‘I guess I’ve been holding on and holding on – just trying to get on with things and sort everything out.’

‘When what you really needed to do was to sit down and have a good cry,’ he said. ‘Look, let’s get you back to my place. You can take a shower, have a rest, do anything you like and I’ll cook us dinner. We’ve got a spare bedroom with clean sheets and you’re welcome to stay as long as you need. How does that sound?’

‘But I don’t have any clothes or my toothbrush or—’

‘I’ll lend you some clothes,’ he said, ‘and there’s a brand new toothbrush in the bathroom cabinet. Come on. Let me take you to my home.’