Extract
Even as it came to mind, the conveyor belt gave a jerk and came to a halt. A voice over the PA announced a slight delay with the rest of the luggage. Harriet took the opportunity to check the itinerary one more time. She flicked over the cover page showing the new brightly coloured logo of a suitcase with wings and their slogan – Turner Travel: Tours Tailored Just for You. She turned past page two: Welcome Aboard the Willoughby Tour. Follow in the footsteps of one of TV’s best-loved detectives in this special Turner Travel tailored tour of Devon and Cornwall! She stopped at page three, where the real business of the tour began. Day 1. Arrive at Bristol Airport. We’ll be greeted by Lara Robinson, our on-site guide, and then travel by bus to our hotel for the night!
There it was in black and white. We’ll be greeted by Lara Robinson. James had hastily had it added to the revised itinerary. That’s what was supposed to happen. They were supposed to walk out into the arrivals area any minute now and be greeted by Lara, who would then lead them to a waiting bus and get them to their hotel, so they could all be tucked up asleep in their beds before eleven o’clock.
So if Lara was waiting for them just metres away on the other side of the baggage area wall, why wasn’t she answering her mobile? Why hadn’t she been answering it for the past four hours, in fact?
Harriet had rung her first from the airport in Paris, when she’d heard there’d been a delay with their connecting flight to Bristol. She’d got her voicemail and left a brief message. ‘Lara, it’s Harriet. Just to say if you’re not already at the airport, there’s no rush. Fog in Paris, so we’ll be a bit late.’ Businesslike. To the point. The only way they spoke to each other these days.
She had overheard several members of the group talking about Lara during the flight from Paris. Some of them were Merryn Bay locals and had taken Turner Travel theme tours before. They were cheerfully filling in the details for the others. Harriet heard every word. It was one of the advantages of travelling with people with hearing problems. What they thought were whispers were often almost shouts.
Mrs Lamerton in particular was holding court. As well as being the head of theWilloughby fan club, she had also appointed herself the Turner Travel and Lara expert. Harriet tried not to listen as her family’s private business was shouted across the cabin. ‘. . . Yes, it’s one of the last family-owned travel companies in the state. Started by the children’s parents, Penny and Neil Turner, may their souls rest in peace. Marvellous people, emigrated to Australia to start a new life and just took the bull by the horns and started their own business . . . Actually, the Willoughby tour was my idea, well, mine and Lara Robinson’s . . . Yes, she’s meeting us at Bristol, she’s at the end of a three-month study program at a tourism college in Bath . . . Yes, part of an international travel industry exchange program, she told me all about it . . .’
One of the other women managed to interrupt her. ‘Is Lara married?’
‘No, and nor is Harriet, for that matter.’ Mrs Lamerton lowered her voice, but only slightly. ‘They’re both in their early thirties, too. One of the drawbacks of living and working in a small town like Merryn Bay, I suppose. Not a big catchment area for eligible males. They’d want to start getting a move on.’
Harriet had to force herself not to lean over the seat and explain that in fact she had been living with a man until quite recently and that Lara had also had several serious relationships over the years.
The other woman hadn’t pursued that subject anyway. ‘So why is Lara’s surname Robinson not Turner? I thought you said all the Turner Travel tour guides were family members?’
Mrs Lamerton sounded almost triumphant with her knowledge. ‘Lara grew up with them, and she’s always worked with them, but she’s not a real Turner. The Turners took her in when her own parents were killed in a car crash. She was only eight years old.’
‘Oh, how tragic. So she’s not related to them at all?’
‘No, I understand both families emigrated from England to Australia at the same time. They all met on the ship, I believe.’
‘So what do we call her? Harriet’s foster-sister or stepsister or —?’
A PA announcement from the captain had drowned out their voices after that. Harriet wondered what Mrs Lamerton’s answer would have been. Lara’s title had always been a bit confusing, for all of them. Not a stepsister, or foster-sister, or even half-sister. An almost-sister, perhaps?
