Loreth White - Surgeon Sheik's Rescue

Glancing slowly up, she caught sight of a dark figure in one of the mullioned windows in the upper floor window, watching her. But a shroud of mist sifted in from the sea, cloaking the abbey, and Bella had quickly returned to Madame’s to serve the afternoon coffee.

Then just yesterday, while Bella had been in the village boulangerie buying fresh pain au chocolat for Madame, through the misted windowpanes of the little bakery she’d glimpsed a tall, dark figure moving down the cobbled sidewalk, his profile hidden by the hood of his black cape. Despite a limp, his stride was swift. Two dark-complexioned men in suits flanked him closely. Wind gusted, revealing a holster under the jacket of the man closest to the window.

Bella’s pulse quickened and she spun round, trying to catch a glimpse of the hooded man’s face. In the process she fumbled and dropped the small change being handed to her by the boulangerie owner who’d smiled at Bella’s sudden distraction.

“He’s the stranger from the other side of the island,” the owner said as she helped Bella gather her coins.

“Do you know where he comes from?” she said, pocketing the change and picking up her basket of chocolate croissants.

The owner gave a Gallic shrug, pouting her lips. “Who knows?” She leaned forward, dropping her voice conspiratorially. “And we don’t ask. Important people—rich, famous people—come to our island every summer. They come because we don’t bother them. We don’t try to guess who they are and we don’t talk to paparazzi. But their estates lie on the southeast side of Ile-en-Mer where the climate is more temperate. Who would live on the west cliffs, and in winter? In a place that is haunted?” She gave a huff. “It’s beyond me.”

Bella thanked the owner and dashed out into the chill air. But the caped stranger was gone, the cobblestone streets eerily deserted.

* * *

“He goes by the name of Tahar Du Val,” Madame told her in French that afternoon as Bella served the croissants and coffee, a fire crackling in the hearth, the little dogs curled in a fur ball in front of the flames. “You are very interested in this occupant of Abbaye Mont Noir, non—this dark man with his one eye and secrets?” Madame accepted the cup and saucer from Bella as she spoke, arthritis making her movements awkward.

“I’d love to visit his abbey, ask him about the ghost—research for my novel,” she lied. “The more I know about him, the easier it’ll be to approach him.”

Madame took a sip of her coffee, her watery blue gaze fixed on Bella over the rim of her cup. And Bella reminded herself to be cautious—there was a sharp and analytical mind behind that papery skin, the powdery rouge, the red lipstick. Estelle Dubois could read people better than most.

“He moved into the abbey last August,” Madame said, her features going slack and thoughtful as she dipped her croissant into the milky coffee. “He arrived with another man—”

Bella glanced up sharply. “What man?”

“I think he might have been Monsieur Du Val’s brother,” she said, delivering the soppy croissant to her mouth. “He was younger, a little broader in the shoulder, slightly shorter. And according to the villagers who saw his face—he and the monsieur have similar features.”

Bella’s pulse quickened, but she kept her expression neutral as she crouched down, opened the fire grate and poked at the logs. “Did he stay long?”

“Long enough to organize the employees at the abbey and see to the shipping-in of furniture,” Madame said around her croissant. “And he handled the grocery shopping in the first weeks, before a chef came and took over.”

“Did this man give a name?” Bella asked.

“Non. He barely spoke beyond what was necessary to do his business in the village.”

Dryness tightened Bella’s throat. Calmly, quietly, she reached for Madame’s empty plate.

“Then one day, a private ferry came over from the mainland with gymnasium equipment,” she said. “A woman came with it.”

Bella stilled. “A dark-haired woman, exotic-looking?”

Madame’s penciled brow rose quizzically. “No, the woman was fair. I think she had something to do with the gymnasium equipment, perhaps a personal trainer. But she left very abruptly, the next day—she was angry when she boarded the ferry.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Jean-Claude, the ferryman who lives in the hut at the end of the pier. The younger man departed the island late September. He returned a few times until the end of November, but we haven’t seen him since. And when all the summer visitors were gone and the winter storms started rolling in, that’s when Monsieur Du Val started walking alone along the headland. Every day at precisely four-thirty. Always he wears his cape with the hood, and his black eye patch. His limp, it has been improving. After Christmas he began dining late every Tuesday night at Le Grotte below the hotel. He sits alone in a stone alcove in front of a window that overlooks the harbor. The maître d’ draws the curtain across the alcove for privacy, and Monsieur Du Val’s men sit close by at another table, watching the door. He orders a la carte and always a bottle of cabernet franc from the Chateau Luneau estate in the Loire Valley.”

Bella knew the winery—it all fit.

It had to be him.

She stole a quick glance at the ornate Louis XVI clock on the mantel above the fire. Almost 3:30 p.m. “You’re certain Monsieur Tahar walks along the cliffs at the same every day?” she said.

“Oui. Pierre, the sheep farmer on the other side, goes to bring in his flock before dark. He sees the Monsieur in the distance, always at the same time.”

“You talk to this farmer?”

“Everyone on this island talks, Amelie.” She held up a gnarled finger in warning. “But always, the talk stays here, on the island. It has been this way for centuries.”

The whole island felt liked it was locked in medieval time, thought Bella as her attention went back to the Louis XVI clock. Madame’s eyes followed Bella’s gaze and a smile curved along her mouth, red lipstick feathering deep into wrinkled creases.

“Go, Amelie,” she said with a dismissive wave of her veined hand. “Go see him for yourself. All this talk has exhausted me. But feed the dogs first, and don’t forget to lock the house when you go. Put the key under the mat so you don’t wake me when you return.”

* * *

Leaving Estelle Dubois nodding in front of the fire with her half-finished cup of milky coffee, Bella ran through drizzle to her separate maid’s quarters across a small courtyard strung with a washing line and trellised with grapevines thick as her arm at the bases. Moss-covered clay pots fringed the whitewashed walls, the vegetation inside them brown and tangled by winter frost.

She shrugged into a warm sweater and jacket, then on second thought shucked the jacket in favor of the red rain slicker and matching hat. Even though weather on this leeward side of the island might be mild, rainstorms could be lashing the windward coast—she’d learned this fast enough. Over her thick socks she pulled on gum boots. Bella glanced in the mirror and gave a wry smile. She looked more like a mariner in a fish commercial than a seasoned political reporter. She grabbed the bike, wheeled it through the courtyard, and began to pedal up the twisting dirt road that led to the cliffs on the far side of the little island, camera bag slung across her chest, the cold air sinking deep into her lungs.

* * *

An hour later Bella stood atop the cliffs holding her bike and breathing hard as curtains of mist swirled and rain drove in squalls. Waves boomed unseen on rocks far below the sheer cliff drop. Light began to fade, and she felt a sharp drop in temperature. She began to shiver as dampness crawled into her bones.