HOLLY Guy was full of enthusiasm for the house when she arrived, a little late, at Ana and Daniel’s home for a coffee. “It’s like being in the Spanish countryside,” she said “all those little white farmhouses with large gardens full of olive trees. I can’t believe it is so near the centre of the town; you can’t hear a thing except for the chickens.” She laughed and Ana saw a different Holly when she relaxed; they might have been good friends if Sarah’s death hadn’t changed all their lives. Her invitation to join a book club had sparked Ana’s interest the night of the beach party. “So, let’s take the coffee down the garden, into the shade, Holly, and you can tell me what it is you want me to do.”

 

Her reason for coming, she explained, was to ask Ana to persuade Mayte to speak about Sarah’s disappearance at the last meeting before the summer of the U3a, the University of the Third Age.

Ana remembered Mayte’s amusing account, during one of the first evenings she and Juan had spent in their house, of how she was invited to talk to the U3a when she was first appointed local police chief. To Daniel’s amusement, she had confided she found Hermione Evans, the U3a President, a trifle overbearing. But, she had told them,  she was most definitely not going to be intimidated in her own town - not that Ana or Daniel thought that in any way possible.

 

Holly had convinced Hermione that inviting Mayte to the meeting to ask for information about Sarah’s death would be a good idea.  It would confirm the role of the expatriate community in upholding law and order;  it was U3a policy to collaborate with the Spanish police, to help in driving crime down, especially burglary. Ana agreed it was an unmissable opportunity to ask for information about Sarah and she told Holly she was sure Mayte would certainly come if she could fit in. She phoned Mayte, who agreed at once and Holly said she would tell the committee that Mayte was coming.

 

But then Holly cried, startling Ana who was pouring coffee and had not seen Holly’s expression change.  “Oh Ana, I am so worried”. the poison of suspicious thoughts had begun to come between them all, Holly told Ana,  now she was afraid that Kevin might have made advances towards Sarah, who had stumbled over the cliff edge as she backed away.  Lynette kept calling him an oddball, Holly said, asking what he was doing in their midst.   Holly told Ana that Lynette’s theory was that Sarah had teased for him being gay, as she had teased Jonathan.  Jonathan, Holly told her, was sure that Sarah had a thing about gays, although he had always liked her. “And Lynette keeps saying that Carole is depressed rather than grieving like she was when Tom left her.” 

 

“It’s just so awful now, Ana, we all look at each other in a different way. Even I have begun to wonder if Mark might have pushed Sarah, perhaps he had already found out about his son.” She put her hand over her mouth, and Ana reassured her she already knew about the information in Sarah’s file. A small part of Ana, the part of her she liked to suppress, was wondering why Daniel’s friends didn’t share their distress with him. Why were they choosing her? Was it because she was an outsider and less likely to betray their confidences or was she such a sympathetic person that she attracted them? She didn’t think it was the latter. Her colleagues at the European Commission hadn’t shared their worries with her. And it had always been she who had confided her problems in Mayte. Well, in any case, she must do her best.

 

“Holly, it’s a horrible thing to a happen and it upset everyone involved, they are in shock and sometimes that comes out as suspicion. You are doing everything you can to find out the truth and of course I will do my best to help you.” She saw that Holly was looking calmer. “Maybe someone at this meeting on Wednesday will know something, have some useful information. It’s a brilliant idea; let’s hope it works.”

 

Holly kissed her. “It must have been an accident, I know none of us would harm Sarah,” she said and left, seemingly comforted. Ana returned to her favourite spot in the garden, wondering why she was more involved in the mystery of Sarah’s death than Daniel. Had he been close to Sarah? He hadn’t said much about her, before or after her death. Had he liked her? Found her attractive|? For the first time, Ana wondered what Daniel had done when the news of Lynette’s affair with the tennis professional became public knowledge and why they had never talked about it.

 

One thing that had attracted her was his air of cool reserve, so different from the volatile, passionate Diego or the fun-loving Max. One of her British friends in Brussels had, she remembered, called Daniel “a bit of a dark horse” and she had rather liked the phrase. His stillness was reminiscent of her beloved Papi and, of course, Gregory Peck.

 

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AND so, two days later, Ana did something she had never imagined when she returned to live in her hometown. Here they were, she and Mayte, drinking coffee in the lounge of the State-owned Parador Hotel, waiting their turn to “go on” at the meeting of the local branch of the University of the Third Age, shepherded by Jonathan and Holly.

 

Ana was there as a backup for Mayte when she spoke.

Holly appeared to have recovered from her moment of sadness in the garden; she had acted with speed and efficiency to prepare more leaflets to hand out. There were over a thousand members, so it was an ideal place to distribute them.  

 

Despite the word university in its title, here in Spain anyway the main activities of the organisation were, Holly explained, eating and drinking, walking and travel. “It sounds very like the local pensionistas” Mayte said, “they go on trips together around Spain, eating a lot. It keeps the hotels going in the winter.”

 

Holly had been quick to explain to the others that the initial reluctance of Hermione to allow them a space to speak came not from any lack of sympathy. She was fond of Sarah, one of the founder members of the branch. It was just that they set the agenda in advance by committee; the timing was tight, and Hermione explained that if you bent the rules once, the floodgates would open. But, finally, she saw the sense of Holly’s argument; this was a one-off opportunity to harness the power of the expatriate community to help in an investigation of the death of one of their own, so she had ultimately been extremely helpful, talking the committee around over the weekend. 

 

Mayte wore her best Good Friday processional dress uniform, ready for the meeting and was, Ana thought, looking impressive.  She and Ana had gone over her speech the night before, to make sure it would be just right, concentrating on Sarah’s death, including a request for information to be passed to the police. They had allowed time for the more usual local issues; Mayte said they were motor caravans parked illegally on the beach, other illegal parking, and dog mess on the pavements. Ana would be at Mayte’s side after the speech to help with questions from the largely British audience and Holly and Jonathan would distribute flyers as people left the meeting.

 

Holly had phoned Kevin Somerset the night before about the meeting and now he scurried across the hotel lounge to tell them the official business of the branch meeting was nearly over, it was almost time for Mayte to speak. “Please, please” Holly whispered to Ana as they walked across the lounge, “please let someone from the branch come up with some useful information about Sarah’s death”. And Ana silently echoed her thoughts, someone here, or someone they knew, must know something. 

 

Mayte had pitched her speech perfectly, difficult because she was speaking to people who had little direct contact with the Spanish world of her family and friends and most of whom could speak no Spanish at all. While Mayte was speaking Ana looked at an audience which was so different from the Spanish pensioners who lived near her parents, or, indeed,  her parents themselves. These people were taller and fitter and, truthfully, they looked younger than their ages because their clothes were more fashionable and their hairstyles were so much more up-to-date and more flattering than their Spanish counterparts.  Ana made a mental note to suggest that her mother changed her hairdresser and tried highlights instead of the all-over black dye she and her friends favoured. 

 

As she spoke, Mayte held up a blown-up picture of Sarah, and Ana was touched by the number of people brushing tears from their eyes; men as well as women. The picture showed Sarah sitting on a beach, smiling at the sun, as the breeze lifted her blonde hair. She had been a popular member, taking part in several activities and active in the walking groups, although in the last months of her life she had moved away from them.

 

With little help from Ana, Mayte handled both the speech and the questions well. 

 

As Holly handed out flyers Ana saw many of the members give her tearful hugs.  What a strange experience to be learning more, every day about these foreigners, these people who had come to live in her town; the tragedy of Sarah’s death ensured that. But learning did not always lead to understanding. Not only did she not understand her friends any better, more importantly, she was beginning to wonder how well she understood Daniel.