Kendal excused herself to freshen up. She had an idea in her head to help get close to Juan Silva and she needed to look the part. She still has a case of clothes that had survived the siege after her mother's wedding. Amongst them was a little black dress she hadn't gotten to wear, which would be just the thing. She hung it in the bathroom while she took a shower so the steam could to help the creases drop out and then she carried it back into the bedroom.
Her sense of purpose didn't last though; as she laid the dress into the bed it brought back other buried thoughts and memories.
Griffin found her there ten minutes later, still not dressed, staring into the distance.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I was thinking of my mother's wedding." said Kendal sadly, playing with the corner of her dress that was still on the bed. "And how it ended…"
"Hey, come here." said Griffin giving her a hug. "We're going to find them."
"But what if we're wrong?" Kendal gasped. "It's the funeral today. What if I've missed my chance to say goodbye?"
"You haven't." said Griffin. "We have proof, remember. They are still alive."
"We think they were still alive." corrected Kendall.
Griffin pulled out of the hug so he could look at Kendal at arms' length.
"Everything you have sacrificed to get this close and you are giving up now?"
"I just… I never gave a thought to what we might find when we found them, you know? If you are right and this about drugs and David miracle cure, then what are they going to be doing to them?"
"Hey, hey, hey." said Griffin trying to shake her out of her sudden funk. "All the more reason to act now and find them safe!"
Kendal sighed and just hugged him tight.
"I missed you, you know?"
"I missed you too." said Griffin hugging her just a fiercely back.
They kissed warmly and Kendal found her strength in the contact.
"We have to find them." she said.
"And we will." said Griffin.
Kendal nodded and wiped a few stray tears from her eyes.
"Then I had better get dressed."
…
They didn't think Kendal should go out alone so Reggie had volunteered to join her on the search for the mysterious woman from the receipts. Griffin and Jackson would be better at making sense of the documents the young doctor had gathered.
When Kendal emerged from her room beautifully coffered and wearing a black designer dress she looked a hundred times more glamorous than she had over the past weeks on board the At Last. To match the effect Reggie also took a moment to smarten himself up. He was now wearing one of his father suits which was uncomfortably tight at the shoulders. Reggie thought he looked like a badly dressed body guard, which was exactly the look they were going for.
A quick search online had found pictures of Juan Silva with various ladies. They had with them printed off grainy images of the two most likely contenders for the actress plucked out of obscurity by Mr Silva, Ana Casados. She was the one who had made the designer French purchases.
Kendal imagined she knew just what they would find, some spoilt celebrity wannabe with more money that sense. She knew just how to deal with people like that.
…
"She's in that building." said Reggie.
The address Jackson had found led them to a stylish part of the city, filled with expensive apartments.
"So do we go and introduce ourselves?" Reggie asked as they stood across from the building. Kendal had a thoughtful look at the street.
"No." she said. "We need to be there."
She was pointing to a fashionable looking café.
"If she is like any of the other pretentious starlets I know I don't think she would respond well to a direct approach."
"Are you using your mother as a model?" Reggie asked with a laugh.
"Maybe." said Kendal, as she heading towards the café. "Come on, I'll buy you a coffee. We can case the joint for a bit and see what we are dealing with."
…
Reggie and Kendal found a table by the window and watched the faces of the patrons as they passed. Reggie was glad that Kendal had though to smarten up; they fitted in well with the other high class customers.
…
Two hours passed. After hours of inane conversation and too much coffee, Kendal could tell they were beginning to look suspicious.
"This isn't working." said Reggie. He had been watching the coming and going of the apartment building opposite and there was no sign of the woman from his pictures. "We are going to have to use the direct approach."
"Come on then." she said.
They walked across the street to the apartment building, timing it to walk in behind a couple just buzzed through.
They strode purposely to the elevator, ignoring the doorman, and headed for the fourth floor.
…
Apartment number 37 wasn't far from the elevator.
"So what now?" Reggie asked.
"We knock." said Kendal.
Reggie rapped three times loudly on the door. There was a bustle of movement on the other side and the door swung open.
The woman looked like she was expecting someone else and looked very disappointed to see Kendal and Reggie on her door step. The woman also didn't resemble any of the pictures they had found online. She wasn't Ana.
Kendal cleared her throat.
"We are looking for Miss Casados." she said.
"American?" the lady asked. "I don't know where she is. Why do you want her?"
"We just need to talk to her about Juan Silva."
"You know Juan?" the woman asked. She grabbed Kendal by the arm and dragged her into the apartment. "You tell me where she! Where have they taken her?"
Reggie quickly stepped in and pulled the woman off of Kendal.
Kendal recognised the pain in the other woman's eyes.
"They've taken your friend?"
"My sister." the woman corrected. "He said she was on the yacht when it was stolen and the pirates took her. He said they would want a ransom but I haven't heard anything since."
Kendal nodded to Reggie to let her go.
"You need to tell me everything." said Kendal.
The woman, Salma, told them the story of her sister's whirlwind romance with Juan Silva. She had been an out of work actress just scraping by, and certainly not able to afford the lifestyle she was trying to imitate. She'd moved in with her sister and husband five months ago; this was their apartment. Ana was having no luck in finding work when she received a surprise invite to a party at Juan's mansion. The next thing Salma knew Ana was whisked away to Paris and then jetted off to the tropics for a cruise on his yacht. Juan then disappeared on business and that was why he wasn't there when the pirates struck. They'd barely been out there a week.
Kendal leant forward and took the woman by the hand.
"I'm sorry for your loss." she said. "I should probably introduce myself."
"I know who you are." the woman said. "I recognise you now… Kendal Slater. The pirates killed your mother and sister. Are you investigating too?"
Kendal looked to Reggie. Should they tell her the truth? Reggie shook his head, as if reading her thoughts, they shouldn't tell.
"Do you have a picture of your sister?" he asked.
"Sure," said Salma picking up a framed photograph from the side. "This is Ana."
Reggie blinked with disbelief; the woman in the photo could have been Bianca's twin; the same chin; the same dark eyes.
"This is your sister?" he asked.
He showed Kendal the picture and she gave a gasp of surprise at the resemblance.
"She's beautiful." Kendal said eventually.
"She is." agreed Salma.
Reggie and Kendal shared another look. This was clearly much more than a coincidence; a woman who looked just like Bianca, vanishing at the exact same time. This meant it was likely one of the two bodies found at the bottom of the ocean was Ana. This all stank of a plan and that meant Juan Silva was right in the middle of this.
…
As they exited the apartment building, Reggie and Kendal began a worried conversation.
"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" Reggie asked.
"That this was planned all along, yes I am." said Kendal. "But who was the other woman? If they got a double for my sister, what about my mom..?"
"Maybe they only wanted Bianca. That's who they kept asking for. Maybe Erica was an unexpected extra and they had to improvise, that's why they got sloppy with the autopsy."
Kendal stopped in the street suddenly looking distraught.
"What if they only faked my sister's death?" she whispered.
Reggie gave her a hug.
"We are going to find them both. I can feel it! Now let's get back and tell the others! Juan Silva's is in this up to his neck and I'm surer than ever that he is going to lead us right to Erica and Bianca!"
…