Sheila Connolly - Reunion with Death by Sheila Connolly

Author:Sheila Connolly [Connolly, Sheila]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery: Thriller - Class Reunion - Tuscany Italy
ISBN: 1937349969
Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing
Published: 2013-11-19T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Jane was standing outside the main entrance to the station as we straggled in. She shepherded us inside and up the stairs (once again, everything seemed to be on a steep hillside, and the station was no exception), where we found the rest of our breakfast companions, and then she bought us tickets and handed them out like we were schoolchildren. “Now, I’ve given you round-trip tickets, rather than an excursion ticket. You did all want to go to only the one place?” she asked anxiously.

Everybody nodded dutifully, and Jane looked relieved. “Be sure to validate your ticket—you stick it in that machine on the wall over there and it stamps it. Maybe nobody will check it on the train, particularly since you’re going only one stop, but better to be safe than sorry because they’ll fine you if you don’t. Vernazza is the next stop down the line, so it won’t take long to get there. You can take all the time you want once you’re there. Is everything clear?”

“Like crystal,” I said. “Don’t worry, Jane, we’ll be fine.” Somehow we had managed to muddle along for forty years on our own, and I was pretty sure we could handle a ten-minute train ride, even if it was in Italy. “Where did everyone else in the group decide to go?”

Jane shook her head, as if worried by the scattering of her flock. “They’re all over the place—some took the ferry, others set off earlier by train to try to see as many towns as they could. A couple even decided to try the cliff walk, although I warned them that some parts have crumbled and fallen recently. You may run into them in Vernazza, if they find they can’t go any farther. Oh, here’s your train! Have a nice day!” Jane watched us as we all clambered aboard the train and she waved at us as it pulled away from the station, into a tunnel.

I looked at the others and we all broke out laughing at once. “You’d think we were in the third grade,” Valerie said.

“She’s just looking after us,” I said. “You know, none of us speaks Italian. I have no clue what to do if anything goes wrong.”

“In case you need to know, aiutarmi covers most circumstances—it means ‘help me!’ But nothing will go wrong,” Cynthia said firmly. “We are going to a charming town, where we will stroll about and admire the scenery, so beloved of travelers before us, like What’s-His-Name, the famous English poet. Then we will find some authentic Italian food and enjoy a leisurely meal. And then we will shop. It will be the perfect day.”

The way she described it, it would be, if it weren’t for that annoying problem of hunting for a killer. But Cynthia was doing a great job sketching the scene—no pressures, no worries, just some old friends having lunch in a lovely town in Italy.

And it was beautiful, as quickly became clear when the train emerged from the tunnel and slowed at the train platform in Vernazza, despite some wind and drizzling rain.

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