Dating : The Island Part VII

The calm before the storm and a crow of portent on the fence

“ You’ll never believe what’s just happened.” Breathlessly panted Pinter.

“ The bloody potato peeling machine in the kitchen has sprung a leek and flooded the entire dining room!”

I had more than enough on my plate to worry about than Pinter’s potatoe crisis. The man was clearly a panicker and just seemed to spend his time running around fighting whatever fire broke out next in a breathless sweat. Always it seemed he needed Kell. Whatever the crisis, Kell was the solution provider.

I must admit, Kell seemed capable of resolving almost anything with supreme confidence. The man was totally unflappable, and then some.

The events to follow over the course of the rest of the day were to show just how unflappable this man was.

It was time for me to finish my shift and just as I was thinking of him, Kell strode in with his big boyish grin to announce he’d take over the bar to let me get some rest.

As I walked into the beer garden there sat at a long bench and table was the girl from the boat trip over hours earlier.

I sat next to her and we had a nice chat. She told me her name was Helen and that she was from Canada. She was doing the tour of Europe and figured the island would be an interesting place to visit. Interesting? I thought to myself. Boy you don’t know the half of it Helen.

At that point I suddenly noticed a big black crow on the picket fence that surrounded the beer garden. It was as if the crow was trying to listen in to our conversation. The thought crossed my mind that the crow might be a spy for Mister bitter almonds. I kept that to myself. It was bad enough me thinking I was beginning to lose the plot without dragging Helen into the mire that filled my mind.

Not wanting to spook her, I told her nothing of the events of the day. I later felt bad not to have warned her that something not good was afoot and that her life might be in danger. That is something I spent a lot of time regretting.

After twenty minutes we went to my room for a rest. I lay on the floor and let her use my bed. For a while we carried on chatting about light hearted stuff, sight seeing in Europe, that sort of thing. Then we both dozed off for a spell.

Suddenly there was a knock on my room door. I gingerly stood up to open the door, being careful to not disturb Helen.

Somebody I did not know from Adam, maybe a member of staff I didn’t yet know, whispered that Pinter was running around the inn looking for me. It was something of an urgent nature said the messenger.

I quietly stepped out of the room and went in search of Pinter. He was nowhere to be found. In the end I went back to my room. The room was empty. Helen was gone, left without leaving a single trace of ever having been there at all. Just upped and gone without so much as a bye you’re leave.

This really freaked me out. She did not seem to be the sort to just leave in that way. Kidnapped? I wondered. Was this the work of the mysterious Mister bitter almonds? I was totally confused. I had only been gone a few minutes and had left the girl fast asleep. I couldn’t remember if I had locked the door when I left. And the mysterious messenger who told me Pinter was urgently looking for me, who the hell was he? I’d never seen him before and never after neither. Too, too strange for my liking that was for sure.

How little did I know that the evening to come was really going to crack off with ever whackier and weirder stuff yet. And Helen going missing was going to be the least of my problems. Scary? Hell yeah. At least one more mysterious death plus a brutal fight in the beer garden, and an attempt at murder, was yet to come. And that was just the beginning!

Suddenly there was another knock on my door. It seemed like this little shit show was never going to end. Whoever it was they were not what you’d call patient. They knocked on the door again, only this time a heck of a lot louder and faster. I reached for the door handle and eased the door open. There right in front of me was……….