“One other thing, sir. Could you tell me where my friend, Mr. Lamont, is?”
“I believe he left early this morning. Is there anything else, madam?”
I didn’t reply, and he left. I didn’t reply because my brain was in a tail spin. Zach left? How could he leave me? But if he left, then I was free to go and find Aunt Elizabeth.
Thirteen
I ran around looking in every corner of the suite to make sure no one else was there. Satisfied I was alone, I headed for the shower. I’d find my aunt and get us both out of the palace before Zach came back. I wasn’t sure how I would do that, but it was worth a try.
The bath room, a term that didn’t do it justice, was a thousand times more sumptuous than the Amathus Hotel with a fabulous in-ground Jacuzzi that I was dying to try. But I made do with a quick shower in a pearl gray marble stall. Those might have been solid gold shower fixtures. Mirrors abounded on three sides of the room. Four sinks. I wasn’t sure what you could use all those for. Group teeth scrubbing maybe.
I let the hot water steam over me, all the while thinking over why Zack had left when we were supposed to be looking for my aunt. Maybe he had found her. I hoped he hadn’t kidnapped her and gone off in search of those stupid, non-existent jewels.
The shower revived me. Exotic creams stood in alluring rows along the sink. I treated myself to “Ancient Breezes”, helped myself to toothpaste and fresh never-out-of-the-package tooth brush, and dragged a comb through my wet hair. No time to dry it.
Clothes. I shook out the little black dress. At least Zach hadn’t locked up my purse again. I searched and found my cute sandals. The aroma of food overcame me, and I hurried over to the tray Rodolfo left, ate a few grape leaves, downed a glass of orange juice from the frig.
Now to find my way out. I slung my purse over my shoulder and stopped. Take my other pants and top or no? Maybe I’d be back, maybe not. A scary thought hit. I was on my own. No Zach to protect me, although I couldn’t commend him much on his protective skills. I shook my head. I couldn’t let fear find a foothold. I squared my shoulders and marched to the door.
Gently, I pushed the handle down and pulled. The door opened. Success. I peeked out. Luigi was sitting on a chair by the door, dozing. At the sound of the door, he sputtered awake and glared at me.
“Hi,” I said. “Nice day. I thought I’d go for a walk.”
He shook his head and waved that great, shaggy appendage in the direction of the room. I got the message, backed in and shut the door. No sense making Luigi mad. He was bigger than I was.
Now what?
Zach had mentioned the balcony if he couldn’t get out the door. I’d give it a try. The sound of the waves said the beach was not far away. I looked over the balcony. The beach was directly below. Far below. We were on the second floor, and the house seemed to sit on an outcrop of rock. Under me was nothing but rock. I looked to see if there were any other balconies.
One. There was one about a half a mile from mine, or so it seemed. I had a corner room. Along the smooth, white wall from my room to the other with the balcony were several large windows, the crank out kind. Some were open. On more careful study, I saw that a ledge ran the length of the building between the balconies. A ledge that maybe one foot would fit on. If I did the unthinkable and walk to the next balcony on that skinny ledge, what guarantee did I have that there would be a friendly face in the room?
I studied the landscape below. If I did the bed sheet thing like in the movies, my homemade rope would drop to sharp, black volcanic rock and a narrow beach, one washed by waves right up to the rocks. Where would that leave me? I wished I knew where I was and looked around for landmarks. Nothing. This side of the house sat on rock looking out to sea. Maybe the front of the house had more beach. I recalled the drive and entrance gate and tried to place where they were. But I couldn’t remember well, seeing how I wasn’t in a conscious condition when I entered the house.
I focused my attention on the balcony. The rails were polished stone. Three potted palms stood to one end. My eye followed the palms upward to the roof which appeared flat and maybe six feet above the balcony door opening. A flat roof a person could walk across. The tops of the palms cleared the roof.
Great. Now how to get to the roof without killing myself. Who knew what other rooms I could access if I could get to the roof. I looked over the side of the balcony again. It was a long way down. If I was going to be doing any scaling to get to the roof, I was going to have to be darn sure I made it. If not, I’d end up as hamburger on those black rocks below.
I eyed the palms. I wondered how strong palms were, especially rooted in pots. I read in National Geographic, my favorite magazine, that palms had shallow roots and not an extensive root system. Did that mean that they toppled over easily? As a child I had never been a tree climber. It didn’t appeal to me. Nor did heights. They still didn’t.
I surveyed the three palms, trying to decide which one looked the sturdiest. I walked closer looking for hand holds, touched the bark. Rough and jaggy. I wished I had been more of a monkey as a kid. This endeavor might be more palatable to me if I had.
I decided the palm nearest the wall would be my best bet, but climbing a palm in a dress wouldn’t do it. I recalled in the movies little boys sort of shimmied up the trunk of the trees after coconuts.
Back inside I hurried and changed into the blouse and Capri pants. Thank the stars I had pants so that the probability of my legs getting ripped to shreds would be lower. I decided to abandon the purse and lamentably my black dress. I stuffed what money I had, ID and credit cards in my pants pocket. I considered my cute sandals and decided to leave them behind.
Of course, even after I got to the roof there might not be much of anything up there. But I couldn’t think about that now. There was no other escape from the room. I had noticed that when I was scurrying around after Rodolfo left to see if there was anyone else in the room. I had checked for phones in my search. None. Zach had a way of thinking of everything. Except the palm trees. I chortled to myself. He had underestimated my resolve.
Back out on the balcony I studied my chosen palm, calculating my hand holds. I glanced over to the other balcony. There were about as many palms as here, and they cleared the roof, too. I spit on my hands and rubbed them together because that seemed to be the thing to do and mounted the pot. It held my weight. I tried a hand hold on the palm. It was jaggy. I gritted my teeth and put my foot on one of the frond cuts at the base of the tree. Painful. I jumped down and rushed back inside and slipped on my cute sandals. They were at least some protection for my feet. I rushed back out and climbed up on the pot.
Stop thinking, I told myself and climb, even if it hurts. You got to get out of here. So up I went. Painful frond by painful frond. Maybe I should have put on a lifeline rope in case I fell.
Stop thinking and climb.
Sweat was running between my breasts and down from my armpits. I should have pulled my hair back because it kept falling in my face.
Stop thinking and climb.
How did those monkeys do it anyway? I must say the cute sandals didn’t work out as bad as I thought. They had rubber soles and at least gained me purchase on the palm cuts.
Up I climbed. Where was Zach anyway? Why did he leave? Did he think I’d be around when he came back?
Stop thinking and climb.
My muscles started shaking. I wasn’t exactly in the greatest shape in the muscle department. I wasn’t one of those work-out-in-a-gym types.
Stop thinking and climb.
Finally, I was level with the roof and peered over. Flat as far as the eye could see and populated with water tanks. My palm tree was about a foot from the edge of the roof. It was going to be tricky getting from the palm to the roof. I tried not to look down, but out of my peripheral vision I caught glimpses of pounding waves and sharp rocks. It was breezy, and I was far enough up the tree that palm fronds waved around me and whacked me in the face a time or two. My muscles were starting to give out.