Tears welled up in Riva’s eyes. She dashed them away but felt terribly sad for the girl. If only she could have done something to help her while she’d had the chance. She shook her head feeling awful, knowing she’d chosen not to stay with Anya that day and now it was too late and there wasn’t anything she could do for her.
He sighed. ‘Look, darling, there have been rumblings about goings on in Strait Street. It’s likely the police may toughen up. I wish you would leave.’
‘Toughen up in what way?’
‘I don’t know exactly but my friend at the paper wants to talk to you.’
‘Me? Why me?’
‘He’s a journalist with a nose for ferreting out trouble. But he’s a good guy, one to have on your side. He suggested you might like to meet him for tea.’
‘And you think that’s a good idea?’
‘Maybe. You needn’t say anything about what happened in France or tell him your real name. I just think, well … I just think he’d be a friend if you ever needed one.’
She stared at him, wondering if it had been a mistake to tell Bobby the truth about herself. ‘You’re my friend.’
‘More than a friend, I hope. But if I’m not here …’
He glanced over, gave her a peculiar look that she didn’t understand, then turned back to keep his eyes fixed on the road. ‘You must know you mean the world to me.’
‘As you do to me,’ she replied, and leant across to kiss him on the cheek.
She felt joy, of course, at what Bobby had just said. It should have been a special moment, and it was, but she felt uneasy too, her happiness marred by the thought of what had happened to poor Anya. How awful it must have been. How frightened and alone she must have felt. Instead of spending the day with the lonely girl she had swanned off to Lottie’s, but if she’d stayed with Anya the girl might still be alive. And yet she’d had no way of knowing what was going to happen. Nor did she know whathadhappened. How had Anyaended up in the sea? Surely someone did know. The young girl continued to haunt her thoughts until they arrived in Mdina.
Bobby’s Uncle Addison was as magnanimous as he had been before and they ate a delicious lunch oflampukipie, a fish dish like nothing she’d ever tasted, and for puddingkannoli– sweet tubes of crispy fried pastry filled with ricotta. This big man with his equally big-hearted kindness cheered Riva up and as the wine flowed they laughed and ate, and laughed and ate some more. After coffee Addison wiped his mouth and said, ‘I have something to show you both.’
He rose to his feet, went indoors, and collected something from the top drawer of a desk. ‘Come on. Follow me,’ he said then.
They followed him out of his main door and down the stairs. There he stopped at another door, unlocked it, and ushered them into a pale hall. This opened onto a beautiful high-ceilinged sitting room, full of sunlight slanting through floor-to-ceiling windows with a narrow open-air terrace beyond.
‘Oh,’ Riva said, glancing around at the soft paintwork and feminine furniture. ‘It’s so pretty.’
‘Yes, it was my wife’s favourite place. So, here are the keys. Might as well use the place, Bobby.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I don’t like renting it out, although I do let the ground floor from time to time. In any case, the whole place will eventually come to you.’
‘Well, thank you,’ Bobby said, blinking in surprise. ‘It’s generous of you. But I hope you’ll be around for a lot longer yet.’
‘Indeed.’ He turned to Riva. ‘My wife Filomena and I never had children and as you can see, Bobby is like a son to me.’
‘I thought you might leave this place to my mother,’ Bobby said.
‘Good God, no. She hates it here, she’d only sell it. No, this old place means so much to me I’d rather keep it in the family. I’ve given you two keys, although I do have another, in case of emergencies.’
For a moment Riva couldn’t help comparing her own critical parents with this wonderfully generous man and she sighed.
‘You don’t like it?’ Addison asked.
‘No, I love it. Sorry, I was just thinking of something else.’
Riva smiled at him and after Addison had gone upstairs again, they explored the apartment. It was bigger than Riva first realised. She opened the tall glass doors and went out to the terrace where she stretched her arms out wide and whirled around feeling as if the whole world was spinning. Back inside they found a dining room, and beyond that a kitchen. In the other direction were two bedrooms with a bathroom shared between them and another washroom just off the hall.
‘I can’t believe we can stay here,’ she said.
He threw her a key. ‘If I’m not around jump on a bus and come here any time. Think of it as a haven.’
