A few hours later, we arrive at the marina in Marmaris with a boatful of seasick passengers desperate to get off. The captain looks mournfully at his boat, now covered in patches of vomit, and every conceivable bucket, bowl and receptacle able to hold the contents of the guests’ stomachs is sloshing full to the brim. The captain has also been on the PA system to complain vociferously thatsomeonehas been putting toilet paper down the toilet and has blocked the system. It is utter carnage.
‘We’ll refund them,’ says Erika, cool as a cucumber as we glide smoothly into the port. ‘No worries.’
The guests trundle down the gang plank. The worst passenger by far is Mehmet, who gives me a doleful glance on his way off the boat. His giant face is deathly pale, and his shoulders hunch involuntarily as his hand flies to cover his mouth.
‘You okay?’ I mouth over to him. Mehmet gives me a pitiful thumbs-up in reply.
Jackson spots our communication. He looks lost in thought for a few seconds before his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. ‘The Paradiso!’ he says, suddenly. ‘The huge baby. The mother is staying at the same hotel as Garry. I remember because when the bus left the airport without me…’
I inwardly flinch. The nightmare bus journey from the airport where I fucked everything up. Okay, best not dwell. I need to focus. The parentage of a giant baby is at stake.
‘I had to get on Garry’s bus instead,’ he explains, running a hand attractively through his glossy hair. ‘He dropped the mother off with her cases but halfway up the motorway we had to double back, because she’d left the baby on the bus. We’d thought it was someone’s golf caddy perched on the seat. Luckily, it started crying.’
‘We’re heading to the Paradiso now, if that’s any help,’ Erika offers. ‘We’re going to check Garry’s room. Although I suspect it’s empty if what you say about the suitcase is true.’
‘Come on!’ I say to Emir. ‘Let’s go see your brother. He might want to come with us.’
* * *
A short while later, a rather shocked Mehmet has insisted that we all travel to the Hotel Paradiso Exotico in a convoy of blacked-out limos. It feels rather excessive but on hearing the news that he may have sired a lovechild, he went running to his father and blurted it all out. His father, seemingly unsurprised, has decided to come along to check the authenticity of the potential claims.
Mehmet makes an unnecessary attempt at letting me down gently. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you like this, Maddie.’ He does an odd smouldering gesture, arching an eyebrow while he smooths back his hair from his forehead. ‘But you must understand that until we find out the truth about this… this…’ While he searches for words to describe his current predicament, I take the opportunity to put him straight. Especially because Jackson is looking at me with a quizzical expression.
‘No worries. Nothing happened. You’re fine. I’m not disappointed in the slightest.’
Infuriatingly, Mehmet laughs as though not a word of what I’ve said could possibly be true.
‘Seriously. There was never any…’
Mehmet winks at me and nudges his father. Luckily, Jackson is trying not to snigger. He knows.
We reach the Hotel Paradiso Exotico (I note the lack of ‘Hello’ in the names the further south you travel) and while we attempt to obtain the keys to Garry’s room, we leave Mehmet and his father to investigate the whereabouts of the baby and its mother. Emir opts to stick with us, and we all agree to meet back here at reception. The receptionist is all smiles as she tracks down which room Garry was occupying on her state-of-the-art computer. The huge box-shaped monitor takes up most of the desk and makes a loud whirring and bleeping sound as she dials up the internet and taps away at the chunky keyboard. She makes a great show of feeding floppy disks into the machine solely for Jackson’s benefit as she bats her big cow eyes at him. Eventually, when it is clear the computer refuses to give her the information she requires due to her lack of technical know-how and Jackson is showing no romantic interest, she picks up the paper register with a sigh and spots the room number within seconds. ‘Hopefully, these stupid computers will never catch on,’ she says, handing over the keys.
‘Just as I suspected.’ Jackson tuts as he flings open the door to Garry’s room. ‘It’s empty. At least this will go in your favour, Maddie. It clearly shows he was up to something.’
‘I’ll ring Banu from reception and ask her where she was the day that Garry met someone in a wig,’ announces Erika, already marching over to the stairwell ahead of us.
Jackson takes a moment to reassure me. ‘You’re doing a great job with all of this, Maddie. Not many people would keep a cool head throughout a case like this. We’ll get to the bottom of it. Don’t worry.’
‘A case?’ He’s talking like a private detective.
‘I mean a tragedy… a mystery, a wrongdoing, you know.’
‘It sounds like you have a lot of experience with this sort of thing.’ I can’t help but notice he is avoiding my gaze.
‘Like I said, it happens more than you think.’
We scurry down to the circular atrium which is filled with light from the floor-to-ceiling windows. It has towering potted palm trees flanking the open doors. The spacious area is busy with hotel guests slumped over clusters of seats with their luggage, waiting to leave. A vast, sparkling swimming pool shaped like a dolphin is surrounded by tourists lounging in the sun, children splashing noisily, and at one end there’s a mini waterpark with brightly coloured spotted mushrooms emerging from the pool. It has fountains of water spilling down onto shrieking children who are running around chasing one another. It looks amazing. Emir is staring at the scene with his mouth gaping open. I’d almost forgotten that I have a child attached to me. And that it is his birthday today.
‘We are definitely doing that for your birthday,’ I say, much to his delight. ‘As soon as we solve this case. We just have to stay focused for a bit longer.’
He nods. ‘Now you sound like a detective too. Let’s get some ice cream. I think it will help us think.’
While Jackson heads over to Erika, who is talking animatedly on the phone, I take Emir outside to a kiosk selling ice cream.
We hear someone yelling my name. The woman from the plane is waving. She is lugging a Lilo in her arms as she weaves in and out of the round plastic tables and chairs strewn across the patio area towards us. ‘Hiya, it’s me. And baby Kylie-Jay!’ She thrusts the Lilo out in front of her, and I see that it is in fact a giant baby, dressed in a pink, orange and yellow bathing suit with matching sun hat, armbands and pool socks. I’d love to say Kylie-Jay looks cute but…
‘What are you doing here?’ the mother asks. ‘Didn’t you say you were staying up in Bodrum or somewhere?’
