‘Of course I remember,’ Quaddra said back. ‘And yes, a lot of it was shot in Salzburg.’ His eyes glinted with enthusiasm. ‘That’s a fantastic idea, babe.’
‘It’s supposed to be a beautiful town,’ Mary added.
‘And the birthplace of Mozart.’
‘So will you go?’ Mary gave Quaddra another dose of her puppy eyes.
‘Of course I’ll go, my love.’ Quaddra kissed her again. ‘That’s why we’re here, remember? To do whatever the hell we feel like doing and go whatever the hell we feel like going… and Salzburg sounds like a brilliant choice before we go mad on the departures board.’ His turn to wink at her. ‘I say we go tomorrow morning, what do you think?’
Mary’s smile almost lit up the entire street. ‘Sounds like a plan.’
‘We’re so doing this.’ Quaddra lifted his right hand and they high-fived each other. ‘Salzburg here we come.’
‘You know,’ Mary said, lacing her fingers behind Quaddra’s neck. ‘I didn’t think I could love you any more, but you just proved me wrong.’ They kissed again. ‘And I think that before we go, we should make good use of that enormous Jacuzzi in our hotel room one last time, what do you say?’
Quaddra looked down at Mary’s shoes. ‘I say that if you weren’t wearing high heels, I’d race you back to the hotel.’
‘I’ll get the water going in the Jacuzzi,’ Mary said, as soon as they walked back into their penthouse suite.
‘OK,’ Quaddra said back, getting rid of his suit jacket as he walked over to the bar. ‘I’ll get us a drink. Wine or Champagne?’
‘Champagne, bitte,’ Mary replied, making use of one third of all the German she knew before disappearing into the bedroom.
This was Quaddra’s chance. He reached for his cell phone and quickly typed a text message.
QUADDRA: We’ll be in Salzburg tomorrow by lunchtime. I’ll make sure that we’re at the bridge sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. Be there.
He put down his phone and popped open the bottle of Dom Perignon that they had left chilling in the fridge. Before Quaddra was able to pour the Champagne into two glasses, his phone vibrated once on the bar counter.
UNKNOWN: We’ll be there.
Seventy
With a little help from the concierge at the Ritz-Carlton, the hotel where they were staying in Vienna, even at such short notice, Mary and Quaddra managed to book two first-class tickets on an early train from Wien Westbahnhof to Salzburg Hbf. The concierge also helped them secure the presidential suite at the Bristol Hotel – one of the most luxurious hotels in Salzburg Old Town. The hotel was also less than three minutes’ walk from where Quaddra needed to make sure that Mary would be that evening.
They arrived in Salzburg just a few minutes past eleven, had lunch at the award-winning Polo Lounge restaurant in their hotel, and by 1:00 p.m., Mary and Quaddra were being picked up from the Marktplatz for a very private ‘The Sound of Music’ tour.
Nineteen locations and four-and-a-half hours later, they were finally back at their hotel room, with Mary still buzzing from the tour.
‘That was absolutely amazing,’ she said, wrapping her arms around Quaddra’s waist. ‘Thank you so much for making it all possible, and for arranging everything so quickly.’
‘One hundred percent my pleasure, babe,’ Quaddra said back, giving her a peck on the lips. ‘And I’m the one who should be saying thank you. Truth be told – I hadn’t been expecting the tour to be so much fun. I fully enjoyed it.’
‘And I’m so glad you did,’ Mary kissed him back beforeallowing her eyes to move to the complimentary cheeseboard that the hotel had just delivered to their room, together with a bottle of pink Champagne on ice. ‘Are you hungry?’
‘I’m getting there fast,’ Quaddra replied. ‘You?’
‘Yeah, I could certainly do with some food.’ Mary walked over to the cheeseboard and reached for a couple of grapes.
Quaddra checked his watch. ‘It’s twenty past five now. We could have a light snack here…’ He nodded at the board. ‘Take a shower, get ready, and go for dinner sometime around… seven?’ He made the suggestion sound as breezy as he could. ‘According to the tour guide, there are plenty of great restaurants around this area.’
‘Seven sounds good,’ Mary agreed.
They showered and got ready, Quaddra being at least twenty minutes ahead of Mary.
While she put the final touches to her makeup, he stared out of their top floor window, with views of the Salzach River. Salzburg really was an astonishing-looking town, with incredibly well-preserved, medieval and baroque architecture, but Quaddra’s thoughts were on something else entirely. His plan, as crazy as it had sounded when he first came up with it, was working. All he needed to do now was get her there.
Quaddra’s cellphone vibrated inside his jacket pocket, snatching him away from his thoughts. He reached for it and quickly checked the screen.
