دختر آمریکایی

CHAPTER ONE

The American girl

Nick Harman stood at the back of the ship and watched England slowly disappear. ‘That was a really wonderful holiday,’ he said quietly.

His wife, Clare, smiled. ‘Two weeks of rain in Cornwall and you thought it was wonderful?!’

Nick put an arm round her and laughed. ‘Well, OK, the weather was bad, but you can’t have an English August without rain.’ He looked at his watch. ‘When do we get to Santander?’

‘Not until six o’clock this evening,’ answered Clare. ‘Then it’s another four hours in the car to Madrid. It’s going to be a long day.’

Nick looked down at the white water below them. ‘It’s also the last day of our holiday,’ he said.

Suddenly he felt Clare’s hand on his arm. ‘Look,’ she said and pointed to an old man on the other side of the ship. He was sitting in a red chair and reading a Spanish newspaper.

‘What is it’ asked Nick.

‘The Countess of Montalban has died,’ replied Clare. ‘It’s on the front page of that man’s newspaper. Isn’t her grandson, Jose Duero, one of your students?’

Just then the old man stood up and put the newspaper under his arm. Quickly Nick walked across to him.

‘Excuse me,’ he said in Spanish. ‘Could I borrow your newspaper for a few minutes?’

The man smiled. ‘Yes, you can keep it, young man. But are you sure you want it? It’s ten days old.’

‘Yes, I’m sure,’ said Nick. ‘Thanks.’

Five minutes later Nick and Clare were sitting in one of the ship’s lounges. There were two cups of coffee and the Spanish newspaper on the table in front of them.

‘She was ninety-four,’ said Clare.

‘Yes,’ replied Nick. ‘She was also one of the richest women in Spain. Jose told me once about a pair of her earrings. What did he call them? Oh yes - the Eyes of Montezuma - that was it.’

‘The Eyes of Montezuma,’ repeated Clare softly.

Nick looked up from the newspaper. ‘Hmm, the two biggest diamonds in Spain. They came from Mexico about two hundred years ago and have been in the family since then.’ He turned the page. ‘Well, until now,’ he continued quietly. ‘It says here “The Countess has given her famous earrings, the Eyes of Montezuma, to the Prado Museum in Madrid.” Look. there’s a photo.’

Clare put down her coffee cup and looked. In a glass case there were two very beautiful diamonds. It was only a black and white photo, but the diamonds shone like cold, white fires.

The Eyes of Montezuma,’ she repeated slowly. ‘What a wonderful name.’

‘Excuse me, could I sit at your table? All the others are full.’ Nick and Clare both looked up. There in front of them was a girl of eighteen or nineteen. She was pretty with short, dark hair and bright eyes.

‘Yes. please do,’ said Clare, and took her bag off the chair beside her.

‘Thanks,’ said the girl. She put a glass of milk on the table and sat down. ‘Hi, I’m Shelley. Shelley Marn.’ Her voice was American and she was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of James Dean on the front.

‘Hello,’ said Nick. ‘I’m Nick Harman and this is my wife, Clare.’ The girl smiled at both of them, then pointed at the newspaper on the table. ‘Please, don’t let me.’

‘No, that’s OK, we’ve finished,’ said Clare.

The three travellers began talking. First, Nick and Clare told Shelley about their home in Madrid and their jobs. ‘Nick’s an English teacher and I work in a hospital,’ said Clare. ‘We’ve lived in Spain for almost two years now.’

Then Shelley told them about her life in the United States. She was a student at the University of California and lived in Los Angeles. This is my first time in Europe without my parents,’ she said with a small smile. ‘My family has friends in Zaragoza and I’m going to stay with them for a month.’

After about twenty minutes, Clare said, ‘Would you like to stay and have lunch with us?’

‘OK,’ Shelley said. ‘Thanks– thanks a lot. But first I must get my bag. I left it in the car.’ She laughed. ‘I have this little yellow Fiat. I bought it in England. And do you know why I chose it? I’m STM - Shelley Theresa Marn - and the letters on the car are STM, too!’ She laughed again and stood up. ‘Two minutes, OK?’ Then she turned and walked out of the lounge.

But Shelley Marn didn’t come back after two minutes, or ten, or twenty. Nick and Clare waited, but in the end they had lunch without her.

‘I don’t understand it,’ said Nick when they left the restaurant.

‘Neither do I,’ replied Clare. ‘She was so friendly.’

Several hours later they arrived at Santander in the north of Spain. It was early in the evening, but still very hot. In their car, the Harmans were waiting to leave the ship and begin the road journey to Madrid.

Suddenly Nick said, ‘That’s strange.’

‘What’s strange’ replied Clare.

That Fiat,’ Nick answered. The yellow one, two cars behind us. Didn’t Shelley say her car was a yellow Fiat?’

Clare turned and looked. ‘E754 STM,’ she said quietly. ‘It is her car.’ Then she noticed the driver. It wasn’t Shelley Marn. It was a big, dark-haired man wearing sunglasses.