Page 103 of Villa of Secrets

‘I’ll book you both into a local hotel, so you have some privacy. When will you come?’

‘I can be there this evening, if that’s okay?’

‘Text your arrival time, and we’ll meet you in the airport lobby.’

‘Thank you, Naomi.’

Naomi hung up and realised Bubba was staring. ‘No, before you ask, I have no idea what this is all about.’ She glanced at the small picture of Filerimos over the phone. ‘You had a really hard time in the war, didn’t you?’

Bubba nodded. ‘Not as awful as some.’ She spread her fingers and then touched her thumb and index fingers in an okay sign. ‘Look at that! I’ll be playing the piano before you can shake a baton.’

Naomi grinned. ‘You won’t need me. I’ll be redundant.’

‘Pity I don’t have my old Remington anymore. I was good at touch-typing. I’d like to write more songs and poems too.’

Naomi recalled Bubba as an attractive woman, typing out school reports, wearing nylons, and beads, and a slide in her hair. ‘How long did you work at the school?’

‘Ha! You remember? For three years before Rebecca made an appearance. When I was a child, I wanted to be a reporter, and that was the nearest I got. The teachers gave me their end-of-term reports, and I was supposed to type them out as they were but I used to elaborate a little.’ She giggled and watched her spreading fingers again. ‘It’s all very well the school telling parents about their child’s failings, but I believed their achievements should be commented on too. I’d look for the subjects that got high marks and add a comment, for example: ‘A talented artist’, ‘Exceptional music skills’, ‘A born sportsman’. I think the students, and their parents, got something from that.’

‘I’d almost forgotten those days.’ Naomi frowned for a moment. ‘Do you remember the poppets?’ Bubba shook her head. ‘Heleny and I had bought little plastic beads that pop into each other, and I made you a multicoloured necklace. One day the teacher gave me a note to take to the office; you were typing and I saw you were wearing my poppets over your twinset. I was so proud!’

Bubba smiled, and Naomi realised how much she had been loved.

‘Time has a habit of repeating itself,’ Bubba said.

‘How do you mean?’

For a moment, she stared ahead. ‘Irini and I . . . one day, we found lots of shiny fat beans under a tree. They were so beautiful, striped, browns and creams. We decided to make necklaces for our mothers, and I took a spool of button thread and a needle from Mama’s sewing box. We sat there, poking holes in those seeds all afternoon. I was so happy with Irini. At dusk, we were tired, rubbed our eyes, and parted, each with her lovely jewellery gift.’ Bubba chuckled. ‘Mama went crazy when I gave the necklace to her. She marched me around to Irini’s house, and then we were hauled off to see the doctor.’

‘I don’t understand. Why?’

‘They were the seeds from a castor oil tree. One of the most poisonous plants in the world. You see them all over the place now, but kids have more sense than to play with them. The next day, we couldn’t see. No school for a week, and we had to lean over a chair while Mama put drops in our eyes.’ She smiled softly. ‘The eye-drop bottle came in useful when Irini found an abandoned baby bird a while later. We fed it mashed insects and milk, squirting them into the back of its gaping mouth, hoping it would grow into a fantastic peacock and follow us everywhere. It died of course.’ Her face fell. ‘Poor Irini, I’d forgotten those childhood days. We were so happy together.’

‘I’ll bet you have great stories to tell, Bubba. If you want to write again, you can always use my laptop. Just tell me when, and I’ll set it up for you.’

‘I’d like to try it sometime, but I’m tired now.’ She let her lame hand fall into her lap. ‘Too many exercises. I have to recuperate in my bed for an hour.’

*

Naomi washed up. The house was eerily quiet, as if waiting for something important. With the diary in her hand, she stepped outside and took a deep breath of fresh air. Her thoughts returned to darling Costa, Mykonos, and their honeymoon. They were standing on a veranda, watching the sunset, when their baby moved for the first time. She almost fainted with delight, took Costa’s hand and placed it on her tummy. Silent, they’d gazed into each other’s eyes until Costa said, ‘Wow! He’s a footballer. Naomi, I’ve never been so happy in my life. Thank you, darling.’

Poor Rebecca, cheated of so much more than she can imagine. Her children dying in her womb. All her hopes and prayers pinned on this pregnancy. And poor Bubba, to have those awful memories of killing people. How could she get to sleep at night? Naomi shook her head, the thought too horrible to contemplate. She sat on the patio and opened the diary. Dora, she remembered, was going to execute Xanthi.

Chapter 43

Late at night, Tuesday, 29 August 1944

Why am I still alive after such a terrible day?! I should be dead. . . I want to be dead! Why are these horrid things happening to me? Yesterday was the worst day of my life, everything went wrong, even my own execution! I am in such despair I no longer want to live.

With all my heart, I have longed for my family to come home, but now I hope they never see me again. I hope I am dead before they return and they fail to discover my awful deeds.

I had Nathanial’s instructions and I carried them out perfectly, but to no avail. Death, death, and more death! The people I love may have already gone to God, and me on my own, such a failure, and now I can’t even manage to take my own life!

Irini, I want to join you, but they have taken my gun away. For my own good, they say. Wait for me, Irini, please!

Last night, the light was fading fast. I knew I hadn’t much time and went over my plan again: wait in Marietta village; shoot the traitor; wrap the gun in the oilcloth that lay to my right; drop my pistol into the hole next to the fence post and cover it with earth; shake my hair out and, with an enormous cabbage in hand, skip back into the village by the longest route, as if returning from one of the many vegetable plots that surrounded the houses.

I lay on my stomach in the dirt between two rows of brassicas, hidden by the massive leaves, watching Xanthi talking to a soldier. My heart hammered.