Chapter 14

The Travel Agent did indeed have a big blue sign. It read 'BLUE HORIZONS'.

The window was brightly-lit and filled with pictures of people skiing down snowy slopes, relaxing on white beaches under palm trees, standing on the decks of cruise ships looking out to sea. Alison felt a sudden desire to get away from it all, leave the thin mists and drizzle of England and go to the sun. All the people in the posters looked so happy.

Mentally she shook herself and pushed open the door.

The shop was much busier than she had imagined it would be on a Tuesday lunchtime in January. She spotted Heather straight away. She was unmistakeable - a mountain of a woman - but she had a lovely smile and was surprisingly pretty, despite her great bulk. She was sitting behind the counter talking to a small thin chap. The two of them were looking at an array of brochures laid out between them. She must have sensed Alison looking at her, for she looked up and smiled across the room, giving a little hand gesture that clearly conveyed the message, I'll be with you in a minute.

Alison smiled back and then turned her attention to the posters on the walls. One of them featured Spain and she picked up a leaflet from the box underneath and began idly leafing through it, listening with half an ear to the conversation at the counter.

"I think maybe the best thing, Mr Timms, would be if you took some of these home and discussed it with your wife. It's a special holiday and you want to make sure it's exactly what you both want."

"Well, I don't know,"the thin man was shaking his head and looking at the array of brochures in a bewildered fashion.

"I tell you what. I'll get a bag for you and you can take them all."She got up from the counter with a great surge, went to a bank of drawers in the wall behind and pulled out a sturdy carrier bag with 'BLUE HORIZONS' emblazoned on the side. Then she swept all the brochures into the bag, and handed it to the indecisive Mr Timms with a beaming smile. "There you are. You can go through them this evening and bring them back to me tomorrow."

Mr Timms stood up, still shaking his head, but obediently made his way to the door and shuffled outside.

"Now,"Heather said, transferring her smile to Alison, who was torn between laughter and open admiration at the woman's adroit handling of Mr Timms.

"I'm a friend of Miss June Blacker,"Alison began, then stopped, not sure what to say next.

"Yes?"Heather was still smiling.

"Well, she went on holiday to Spain for Christmas and she hasn't come back. I thought it was likely she booked it here and you might be able to help."

As she spoke, Heather's expression changed from bright, artificial smile to one of concern.

"Not come back?"

She went back behind her desk and sat down abruptly, the chair squeaking in protest. Then she leaned forward and tapped rapidly on her keyboard whilst scrutinising the screen.

"I can't see why there should be a problem."She frowned, still looking at the screen. "As far as I can see everything went the way it should. The flights were on time. I've had no messages from the car hire place or the house agent. What could have gone wrong?"She turned back to Alison. "Are you absolutely sure she hasn't returned?"

Alison sat down in the opposite chair.

"She didn't turn up at school yesterday. I went round to her house. She has a neighbour keeping an eye on the place. She hasn't come back."

Heather leaned across the counter and patted Alison's hand. "Look, I'll get cracking on this straight away. Can you come back later?"

"Of course,"Alison said. "But if you find out anything, can you text me on this number?"She scribbled her mobile number on a pad on the desk. "I can't take phone calls while I'm teaching, but I always switch my phone on in the break."

Heather nodded. "I'll do that. But whatever can have happened?"she asked, speaking more to herself than Alison.

~ * ~

There was no text from Blue Horizons that afternoon, so at four o' clock Alison picked up her briefcase and made her way out of the building. As she passed the school gates she saw the child, Patsy, leaning against the wall, looking thoroughly miserable. She gave her a cheery wave and the child waved back with rather less enthusiasm.

Blue Horizons was not quite as busy as it had been at lunchtime. No doubt it was still too early for the office workers. Heather looked up as the bell over the door rang, and waved her over to the counter.

"Have you found anything out yet?"

Heather shook her head. "It's all negative, I'm afraid. The airline confirmed she was on the passenger list both ways. But we knew that anyway. All it tells us is she didn't cancel. And why would she? You don't get your money back.

"The lady from the rental agency, Sofia, says she'll check with the owner of the house and see whether she arrived and left as expected but she hasn't got back to me yet. And I left a message with the hire car company but they've not got back yet either."

Alison felt vaguely depressed. She wanted to go in all guns blazing and find out what was going on, but she seemed to be sinking in a welter of red tape.

Heather looked at her kindly. "They're not very good at the quick response in Spain,"she said. "I expect they'll get back to us in the morning. Oh, wait a minute-"she broke off, "There's an email just coming through from the rental company."She scanned the screen.

"No, nothing untoward. The owner said she came and went at the proper time. Oh, but..."

"What?"Alison leant forward, trying to see the screen. Heather turned it towards her and they read the email together.