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‘Last year was different, though. It was his father’s seventieth birthday and a huge party had been organised with a guest list that featured a Who’s Who of the Riviera’s rich and famous – or so François would have had us believe. He’d talked about nothing else for weeks, and to say he was excited was an understatement; his outfit was planned down to the Cartier cufflinks, he’d booked a whole host of beauty treatments, and he’d even invested in a bottle of customised cologne from Paris.
‘The only fly in the ointment was that just two days before he was due to head off for the most exciting social event of the decade, he got a call from Head Office to tell him that something had come up and the relief manager couldn’t start until the following Monday. As the store didn’t shut until six o’clock on Saturday, it meant he wouldn’t make it to the airport in time to catch the plane to Nice, which meant he would miss the birthday celebrations.’
Suzie paused to take a sip of her coffee. Now that she had started to recount her story, she felt strangely disconnected from reality, as though she was a voice-over artist narrating a drama that was being played out on a screen in front of her. She could see the expression of anguish on Francois’ face as though it were yesterday, and just as it had then, her heart gave a sharp nip of sadness for his predicament, and yet she still wished with every fibre of her body that she and Carmen had taken a different route.
‘François was devastated. There were tears, then fury, then despondency. It was Carmen who suggested a solution, but I agreed with her, even though it was completely against company policy, and we knew we would get into trouble if anyone found out. However, we thought the likelihood of that happening was slim, so we told François that we would cover for him, that he should leave the shop a couple of hours earlier than scheduled on the Saturday so he could catch the plane, and we would handle the usual lock-up routine.
‘Of course, he hesitated; he knew it was a risk, but he was so excited about the party, and Carmen and I assured him over and over again that we would follow the protocols to the letter, so he relented, and we waved him off, telling him to send us lots of photographs.’
As she had convinced herself that she was the narrator of the story and not one of the characters, Suzie was able to smile when she recalled the jubilation on François’ face when he climbed into the back of a black cab, along with three, packed-to-the-brim suitcases and a Gucci carry-on bag, telling them that they were the best friends he’d ever had and he would make it up to them when he got back.
‘The last hour of trading was slow, with only two or three customers coming into the store, none of whom bought anything. Carmen had planned a night out at the theatre with a couple of friends and was chatting about what she was going to wear and which new cocktails she wanted to try at her local wine bar before the show. Adam was supposed to be meeting me at work to take me to dinner at his favourite restaurant in Kensington, but thirty minutes before the store was due to close, he texted me to tell me that something had come up at the office and he had to work late.’
Suzie could feel her heartrate start to rise. Despite regular sips of her now-cold coffee, her mouth was dry, and she could no longer delude herself that what she was saying was fiction. But she wanted – needed – to keep going until the whole sorry saga was out in the open. She knew Christos was staring at her, but she couldn’t face meeting his gaze for fear of what she might see.
‘I was disappointed that Adam had cancelled our dinner date. It was the second time that week, and I’d been hoping to talk to him about fixing a date for our wedding, something he’d been avoiding doing since he’d proposed to me at the beginning of the year. Carmen was sympathetic and tried to cheer me up by inviting me to join her and her friends at the wine bar, showing me the menu of cocktails on her phone, so I suppose we were both a little distracted. Then, five minutes before closing time, the door opened and…’
She stopped, her chest tight as all the air was sucked from her lungs. She could remember the precise moment her life changed forever with crystal-clear clarity; it was an image she knew would stay with her, scorched into her mind’s eye, for as long as she lived. She swallowed down hard and forced herself to continue.
‘Three men came in, their faces covered with the medical masks that some people still preferred to wear after the pandemic. Carmen and I didn’t think anything of it; we smiled and welcomed them, asked what we could help them with, and they…. and they… pulled guns on us.
‘What happened next is still a little hazy. I think my brain must have stalled from the shock of being threatened with instant death. I’m ashamed to say that neither Carmen nor I moved a muscle, and all we could do was stand by and watch as they smashed the glass cabinets and helped themselves to over two dozen watches worth hundreds of thousands of pounds before just walking out of the store and driving away. I can’t even remember what sort of car it was they were driving.
‘It was the most terrifying experience, like something out of a horror movie, but it was over so quickly, and to be honest, what came next was just as bad, if not worse. The police arrived, and we had to give statements, and of course it came out straightaway that we’d persuaded François to leave the store early. When the press got hold of the story, photographs of Carmen and I were splashed everywhere, speculation ballooned, and there were whispers that one or both of us had orchestrated the manager’s absence and the robbery was what they called an “inside job”.
‘But nothing could have been further from the truth! We had no idea who those men were, or how they knew that it would be just me and Carmen in the store that day. I hadn’t told anyone what we’d done, apart from Adam, and Carmen swears she hadn’t told a soul and I believe her. That only leaves François, but I don’t think it was him, either; if anyone at the company had found out he’d left early that day he would have definitely lost his job. However, whilst we hadn’t been involved in the actual crime, we knew it was our fault because if we hadn’t encouraged François to go to his father’s birthday party, things might have turned out differently.’
Suzie sighed and shifted slightly in her seat. She couldn’t see the sunset from the balcony of the studio, but she knew the sun must have disappeared behind the horizon because dusk had descended, casting a soft golden glow across the Oia rooftops, and a light breeze lifted the canopy over the leather accessories shop across the street. Still unable to chance a glance at Christos, she continued with her story – the part that had caused her the most pain – and tears collected along her lower lashes.
‘As Adam was an accountant at one of the big accountancy firms in London, he knew lots of lawyers, some of whom were experts in the field of litigation, both civil and criminal. I was desperate for some professional reassurance, and I naively assumed that he could contact one of them to arrange a meeting so I could ask questions and find out what the procedure was when something like this happened. However, when I called him to tell him what had happened and to ask for his help, he told me… he told me we were finished, that if anyone found out his fiancée was a suspect in a robbery, it would severely jeopardise his hopes of a partnership. He used the word “thief”! Okay, I admit that I was stupid, careless, and negligent, but Carmen and I arenotthieves! I’ve never stolen anything in my life!’
The tears now trickled down her cheeks, but she brushed them away with the back of her hand. She had shed so many tears over the last year, she was surprised she had any left to cry. But the most traumatic bit of the story was over, and the final chapter was in sight.
‘Mum was in the middle of exams and couldn’t fly back from Bali, so Amber flew from Santorini and took charge. She organised a solicitor to act for me and Carmen and eventually, after what felt like weeks, the police told us they had all the details they needed, and they would be in touch when they had any news. Of course, they found no evidence whatsoever to link us to the raid because there wasn’t any, but they did say that they suspected those responsible had received a tip-off that there would be just two young women in charge of the whole store for the last couple of hours that day and had decided to take a chance.’
She felt something touch her hand and when she looked down, she saw Christos had handed her a bunch of tissues that he’d pulled from a box that she’d left on a table in the corner of the balcony, alongside numerous other bits of random paraphernalia she knew Amber would be horrified to see. She dabbed away her tears, blew her nose, and carried on.
‘The owners of the store were sympathetic, which is something, I suppose, but they told us they had a reputation to protect so had no alternative but to let all three of us go. François was mortified and high-tailed it back to France, Carmen went to stay with a cousin in Brisbane, and as I had no home and no money, Amber suggested I go to Devon for a while where Opal, a friend of hers, said there was a tepee I could stay in. At the time, I wasn’t really thinking straight, and everything was such an effort, so I just did what Amber told me to do.
‘With Amber’s support, I confided in Opal about what had happened, and she was great, not judging me or blaming me at all. Then, a couple of months later, a beach hut on the Blossomwood Bay boardwalk came up for rent. Opal persuaded me to take it, and I started my own jewellery-making business, keeping a low profile, though, making sure I didn’t go to places where there would be a lot of people, and checking out my clients’ background to make sure they really were just interested in commissioning a piece of hand-made jewellery.
‘I met and got to know, and like, the other beach hut owners – Holly, Freya, Tilly, Rachel, Chloe, Poppy, and Beckie – and life started to feel normal again, but the fear was always there, like a lump of ice that would never melt. Wherever I went, I was constantly looking over my shoulder, terrified that someone would recognise me, and I’d be tossed back in the maelstrom of notoriety again. The last thing I expected was for my past to catch up with me here in Santorini instead.’
She took out her phone, found the article Holly had told her about, and passed it across to Christos, holding her breath while he read it, a vice-like grip squeezing her temples as she waited to hear his verdict. Would he react the same way as Adam? Would he mutter an excuse to leave and never come back?
But Christos did neither of those things. Instead, he got up from his chair, knelt in front of her and pulled her into his arms, holding her there and whispering soft Greek words as he stroked her hair, the aroma of his cologne soothing her raging thoughts. Eventually, he drew away and held her gaze, his eyes serious, his expression sincere.
‘I’m sorry you had to go through that, Suzie. Do the police haveanyleads?’
Suzie gaped at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. There’d been no judgement, no blame, no accusatory questions or statements, just a practical enquiry about what the current situation was. She heartrate slowed, and relief flooded her body, along with a tiny spark of hope.
‘I don’t think so. To be honest, I haven’t kept in regular contact with the police. Mum and Amber have been doing that for me, and they would have told me if there was any news.’
‘A year is a long time for there to be no progress. Maybe you need to arrange a meeting with them to get an update.’
The thought of meeting the police caused her stomach to curdle.
‘Oh, no, I really don’t—’
