The Mallorcan Bookseller (The 3R International Series Book 1)

  THE MALLORCAN BOOKSELLER

  Pete Davies

  Copyright © 2021 Pete Davies

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious with the exception of the author's friend, Miquel at Contrabando, who has given his express permission to be included in this book. Any similarity to any other real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologise for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.

  Cover design by: Brian Tarr

  (brian-tarr.pixels.com)

  For everyone who has ever felt they have a story within them to tell. Sometimes you just need the inspiration to start writing and for me, it was the beautiful island of Mallorca.

  ONE

  “Is Anna in?”

  He had plucked up courage to go and tell someone he trusted what had happened, but he still felt so stupid to have fallen for the scam.

  With his eyes misting up as he walked through the small door of Sa Petita Llibreria, ‘The Little Bookshop’, he didn’t recognise the young man behind the counter.

  “No, she’s not at the moment, but she should be back soon.”

  Bill felt himself start to crumble inside. He couldn’t believe he’d fallen for it and now he felt tears in his eyes and again he felt so stupid and turned to go.

  “Wait,” said the young man. “It’s Bill isn’t it? It’s me, Sam, Anna’s son.”

  Of course it was! Bill couldn’t believe he hadn’t recognised Sam, who he’d known since he was a boy of around ten, but then the last time he had seen Sam had been at the funeral six months ago.

  After the diagnosis, Luis, Sam’s father, had gone within just a few months. The cancer had spread so quickly within his body that maybe it was a blessing in some ways, but anyway, why hadn’t he recognized Sam? Of course! He realised that at the funeral Sam’s hair had been short, much shorter in fact and now it was quite long, at least for a policeman, so Bill allowed himself to think that it was perhaps an acceptable mistake and hoped Sam didn’t think him too rude.

  “Mum should be back soon Bill, but it’s pretty quiet at the moment, so shall we sit down and maybe I can help?”

  And so it started.

  *****

  As soon as he had put the phone down, Bill had realised what had happened. He slumped back into his chair and wished his Val was there. He’d never been great with computers and she had always looked after that sort of thing.

  But she wasn’t there. Like Luis, she had succumbed to the same horrible disease, although sadly she didn’t go quickly. Instead, she wasted away in front of him, although mentally, she was strong as an ox and remained so, right to the end, getting him sorted and ready for life after she had gone.

  He had been scammed by a call centre into thinking his computer had a virus and now he needed to pull himself together.

  “Right, what to do?” he said out aloud, but with only himself to hear.

  He and Val had been living in Mallorca for over twenty five years, moving from the UK after taking early retirement when he sold his business. They had known Anna and Luis Martínez for about as long. He and Anna had both lost the person they cared so much for. First it was Val, two years ago and then Anna’s Luis passed six months ago. So now he had to deal with this on his own.

  *****

  He set off for the short drive from Illetes into Palma, parked in the multi-storey carpark by the Teatre Principal at the end of the Rambla dels Ducs de Palma de Mallorca and made the short walk to Anna’s bookshop, Sa Petita Llibreria, where he found Sam.

  Bill knew Sam was in the police back in London. He didn’t know what he specifically did and thought he must just be across on holiday to see his mum. He thought Sam was pretty close to his mum, although it was a bit strange that he hadn’t been around much since his father had died.

  “So what happened?” said Sam.

  “I was on the laptop at home, paying some bills, when something appeared on the screen. The screen froze and suddenly I’m hearing this voice coming out of the speakers, saying my computer was being attacked and that I should contact some outfit called Intertech Support immediately on the number on my screen.”

  Bill went on to explain that he had dialled the Intertech number and the person who answered seemed so helpful. He had followed their instructions and they had taken over control of his laptop and gone on to show him the problem was on one of his files.

  “Sam, I feel so stupid, but he seemed so genuine.”

  “Did you pay them any money Bill?” said Sam.

  Bill looked down at his knees and then said, “Yes, I did. I did tell him that I thought it was bloody expensive, but he said these things were hard to fix. He told me not to worry and that he could fix it all and give me a full twelve month support contract as a special offer.”

  “How much did you pay Bill?” Sam gently asked.

  Bill looked at the ground and said, “Nearly £900.”

  Sam knew better than to react and anyway, at that moment Anna came through the door. One look at Bill told her something was wrong. She walked across and gave Bill a hug and he just clung to her for a moment.

  “Oh Anna, I’ve been such a fool. I’ve been scammed, but it’s not the money. I can cope with that. It’s being taken for a ride and being so bloody gullible!”

  She looked across at Sam and said, “What do we need to do?”

  Sam always loved the way his mum reacted to any sort of drama. She dealt with what needed to be done in terms of giving a hug or words of encouragement and then went into a business-like mode, where she got on with what needed to be done next.

  “Well first things first,” he said.

  “Bill, we need to get you to complete a denuncia, a crime report, with the police. They won’t look at anything if it hasn’t been officially reported. We can start this on-line and then go to a police station to sign it to make it official.”

  Bill nodded, but looked uncomfortable. “My Spanish isn’t as good ……”

  “Don’t worry,” said Sam, “I’m coming with you.”

  *****

  After they had worked through the on-line crime reporting system, Sam and Bill set off walking towards the police station. Bill was still pretty fit for his years and made a point of trying to walk when he was playing golf, rather than take a buggy, so he had no problems with the walk that took them up and along Carrer de Jaume III, one of the main shopping streets in the city. At the end of the street they crossed the main Passeig de Mallorca where the 24 hour police station, that was also the Policia Nacional headquarters, was situated.

  When they left Anna at Sa Petita Llibreria, she sat down and thought about her Sam. She had been worried when he had suddenly come home over three weeks ago and he hadn’t really explained why he had left London. She could tell that something must have happened. He was edgy and a bit short tempered, which wasn’t like him at all. She knew that he sometimes needed a little time, after he came back to Mallorca, to be able to wind down and relax. This time though, things seemed different, but she tried to not fuss him or to ask too many questions and over the past few weeks she had seen him start to be, well, more l
ike her Sam.

  He now seemed to be enjoying just helping out in the bookshop and she hoped to persuade him to also now start taking an interest in helping her run the rest of the business. Since Luis had gone, she had started to think about the future and especially about how she would manage the family business. Whilst she still felt as fit as a fiddle, she had always been a planner and wanted to make sure that things were in place for either ‘just in case’ eventualities, or for when she just didn’t feel up to doing it anymore.

  Sa Petita Llibreria had always been a labour of love for the family. Firstly for Alberto, Luis’s Grandfather, who had originally opened the bookshop in 1920 and then for Luis’s father, Miguel, who then passed the baton onto Luis in the early ‘90’s when he had become too frail to carry on. Anna and Luis were married by then and were living in Madrid when his father asked him to come home. She had known it was a request that her husband would never turn down. He had always considered his time as Professor of Spanish Literature at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world, as having been ‘his’ time, but that he knew he would return to Palma when the time came for him to take over from his father.

  Anna had enjoyed her time in Madrid. She had moved there with her job with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after she found she was pregnant and no longer able to travel. Single and with a young baby, there wasn’t much opportunity to socialise, but her friends encouraged her out on blind dates, something she hated, but went along with to please them.

  She met Luis on yet another of the blind dates her friend Susan set up for her. They met for lunch at Café Comercial with a group of friends. It was one of her favourites, although with coping with young Sam, she didn’t get the chance to go very often. She mostly went when her parents came across to see her from England and took her there for a treat. Susan knew she liked it there.

  It was a lovely old world restaurant and bar that always had a great atmosphere and the décor was just lovely. She watched Luis from across the table and smiled when he too looked uncomfortable, but he also looked gentle and there was a caring look in his eyes. He looked older than her, maybe by around ten years and had never married and he didn’t hide anything about why he had never married when one of her friends bluntly asked him.

  “I have just never fallen utterly in love,” he said.

  “That’s got to be ten out of ten for romance Luis,” said Harry, one of Susan’s friends. “Anna, did you hear that? He’s got to be the man for you.”

  Anna had heard and she thought he seemed nice. He was quiet, thoughtful, caring and an academic. She had studied languages and history at university and their friends soon realised that this time, they might just have succeeded in finding someone to take Anna’s interest beyond a nice lunch. The friends soon made their excuses after they had finished lunch and left Anna and Luis alone.

  “Ah, we seem to have been abandoned,” said Anna.

  “I don’t mind if you don’t,” said Luis. “Another coffee?”

  *****

  They spent the rest of the afternoon talking. Anna had not enjoyed herself so much for a long time, at least, not on her own as she suddenly felt guilty about the time she had left Sam with her babysitter.

  “I really must go Luis, as I need to collect my little boy.”

  She had told him about Sam and he hadn’t seem fazed at all. Sam was two now and she was ready to find someone for her. Not necessarily as a father for Sam, but because of her work she had never really had anything she could call a long term relationship. She liked him, but she was very much out of practice with dating, so hoped he would make the first move.

  “Anna, I am not very good at this sort of thing, you know, dating, but would you like to go out again?”

  “I would love that Luis,” she smiled.

  Over the next year their relationship blossomed. Luis was great with Sam and he never asked her about who his biological father was. Although Anna didn’t feel she was hiding anything, she decided that it was something that needed to be out in the open. She told him that she had been in a very short term relationship with a man she really liked, but that his job made it impossible to be part of her life.

  Luis accepted what she told him without question and as their relationship strengthened they decided to take things forward and moved in together. Luis had already taken her and Sam to his home in Palma de Mallorca, to meet his parents and get their seal of approval on their relationship. She had felt under pressure the first time she met them. Would they like her? Would they be okay about Sam? But they couldn’t have been more welcoming and they were so kind. It was after they had been together a couple of years, when they were in Palma visiting for the weekend, that she heard Luis being quizzed by his father, Miguel.

  "When are you going to make this beautiful English rose your wife?"

  She had smiled at his father and listened as Luis tried to explain to him why they were happy as they were. She felt no great need to be married. She was happy, very happy and wasn’t worried if Luis wanted to keep things as they were as well. So when they were back in Madrid and he suggested they go out for dinner one evening, she had thought nothing of it.

  She got a little bit suspicious when he took her to their favourite restaurant, Café Comercial, where they had first met, but it really still came out of the blue when after the opening course, he had got down on one knee and proposed. It was so unlike him. Although he was used to delivering lectures and was a gifted public speaker, he was also a little shy and reserved when it came to showing his emotions in public and so it had taken him some courage to do this in the middle of a crowded restaurant.

  She jumped up from the table and found herself yelling, “Yes, yes, yes!!!”

  Maybe she hadn’t let herself think she would really like to be married to this man, but it felt so good to be asked.

  They were married later that year in one of the university chapels in Madrid and settled down to family life until Luis got the call from his father to take over the family business. She had loved living in Madrid, but soon fell in love with living in Palma de Mallorca. It was such a beautiful city with La Seu, the magnificent Cathedral standing high and proud above the city skyline.

  They lived in the home that had been built by his grandfather, a beautiful villa near the coast, just south west of Palma and about a ten minute drive from Sa Petita Llibreria. Sam was five when they moved to Palma and he had quickly settled into his new life living by the sea. He was fluent in both Spanish and English by then and so settling into his new school, just a few minutes’ walk away, was just like any other five year old moving to a new home and having to find new friends. But he was an out-going child who loved football and swimming and so quickly found new friends and had no problems adapting to the Catalan dialect more often used in Mallorca.

  Luis and Anna set about starting their new life in Palma de Mallorca, running the family business and taking time for Luis to show Anna around his family homeland. His parents lived nearby and Sunday lunchtime was always a big occasion with family and friends.

  The bookshop was primarily more of a hobby than a business and their main income had been from their property company. The family had owned land and property on the island for many years and with the on-going development of the tourism industry, Luis’s family had been able to build a profitable business which had eventually passed to Luis when his father died. Even before Luis’s diagnosis, the question for some time had been whether Sam would want to leave the police and take over the business.

  There had been conversations with Sam over the years, especially when he joined the police in London, but Luis had always said, “Let’s be patient. Let him have time for himself, just as I did. I don’t want to push this on to him, but I’m sure he’ll come when we need him to.”

  Anna now sat and wondered if Sam would indeed come and take over the business when she eventually needed him.

  *****

&nbs
p; The duty officer came out and spoke to them in English.

  “How can I help you?”

  Sam spoke to the officer in Spanish and explained that he was a police officer in London and that his mother lived here in Mallorca and Bill was an old family friend. He briefly told the officer what had happened and that they had completed an on-line denuncia. A moment later the officer came back with some paperwork, looked through it and then asked Bill to sign the denuncia, explaining that this signified it was now an official crime report.

  Bill signed the paper and said, “I’m so sorry, I’ve been so stupid and don’t want to take up your time.”

  The police officer paused for a moment and seemed to physically relax his body.

  “Señor, please don’t worry. It is I who am sorry that you have fallen victim to this, what is the word, despicable scam?”