‘It’s a long story but there’s someone here I think you should meet. He’s been looking for you. It’s a guy who?—’
‘My brother,’ says Emir proudly. ‘He’s so cool.’
But the lady isn’t listening. Her focus is behind us. Her eyes are fixed on Mehmet as he strides towards us, his face changing expressions as he gets nearer, his eyes flicking from hers to the baby and back again.
‘Mehmet?’ she says, her voice breaking.
‘Shazza?’ he says, sounding incredulous. ‘Is it really you?’
She nods quickly. ‘I brought you something.’
He peers at the bundle in her arms for a moment. ‘Is that a…?’
‘Uh-huh. She’s your baby, Mehmet. She’s got your…’
Musculature?
‘…eyes, your hair, your appetite,’ she says, laughingly holding Kylie-Jay aloft to show her off.
For a giant, Mehmet seems to shrink before our eyes. He gingerly holds out his arms to take the baby carefully from her. His eyes fill as he scans her features. ‘She’s perfect,’ he whispers, looking wondrously at Shazza.
‘I think we should leave these two alone,’ I say to Emir. ‘Let’s come back later for your ice cream.’
We return to the reception to see Jackson sitting (still looking impressively magnificent and in control) talking to Erika and Emir’s father, who has been watching his oldest son reunite with his former holiday fling from last year and the baby he never knew existed through the windows.
‘Any news?’
Erika looks at me pointedly. ‘Lots of news. Apparently, it was Banu wearing the wig.’
‘She confessed that Garry had bribed her to go to his hotel, pack up his things and bring the suitcase to him at Selimiye Bay,’ says Jackson.
‘She said that he’d let slip he was being picked up in a few days by a cousin who’d take him to Greece where he had a new job lined up.’
‘Only that cousin is currently in jail for not having the correct papers to work here. So where is Garry hiding?’ Jackson drums his fingers on the table in front of him.
‘Easy,’ says Emir, causing everyone to turn and look at him. ‘He’s on the haunted island.’ Emir and I exchange a look because I know exactly where he’s going with this.
Erika groans loudly. ‘Yes, sweetie. I’m sure that’s where he is.’
‘Emir, the grown-ups are talking,’ says his father, smiling at him. ‘Why don’t you two go and play?’ He tugs at his pocket, producing a wad of notes. ‘Here, buy yourselves an ice cream.’
Emir looks up at me and rolls his eyes dramatically. I address his father. ‘Thank you, maybe later. Emir and I have been using geometrical analysis to understand the spatial relationship between the various scenes of suspicious activity. We’ve been collecting data, from the stocktakes and so on.’ I wave my little notebook at him.
Emir’s father looks confused. ‘My son has been… What did you say?’
‘We’ve been using geometrical analysis,’ says Emir proudly. He is beaming from ear to ear.
‘To develop a rudimentary algorithm pinpointing the whys and wheres,’ I explain further. ‘Basic maths, really. Carry on, Emir.’
We have stunned everyone into silence.
Emir stands bolt upright and begins. ‘Well,Ifound a flipper abandoned on the haunted island we visited a couple of days ago and on inspection we discovered it belonged to theLove Ahoy!ThenInoticed one of the wetsuits was wet when all the others were dry. Then,Idiscovered that Garry was lying about not being able to swim because I discovered his wallet and a card inside which proves he is a qualified diver. So he must have swum out to the island as a practice.’
Emir’s father is gaping at him with obvious pride.
‘And now he is waiting there for his cousin who will not show up. And he will be haunted by ghosts because he will be trapped there forever.’ He sweeps his astute gaze around his open-mouthed audience. ‘Can I have my ice cream now, please?’
‘But… but how? He’s so… just a child.’
