We settled onto Juliette's porch, with wine open , and music playing in the background. Juliette filled me in on what she'd been up to. Apparently her research was progressing nicely, hence her spending more and more time over on Hydra Island. She had two girls working for her, who preferred to keep a practically permanent residence over there, so at least she had company. They often spent time on the beach together which sounded rather appealing. If it weren't for the fact that I would have never got to see Richard I would have probably tried to get in on her research team. Ethan spent most of his time over there as well as he was a doctor and the main medical unit was there.
"So how're things with you?" she asked.
I told her about how work was going, about how I walked to the farm each day, and about the trip i'd just been on. Whilst I saw Juliette as a good friend, I wasn't quite ready to tell her my feelings for Richard yet, so decided to casually drop him into the conversation without seeming too eager. There was still a lot of mystery surrounding him, despite all the time i'd spent with him. Maybe she could shed some light on him.
"Do you know Richard well"? I asked, nonchalantly. He had introduced us when the three of us had happened to find ourselves in the centre of the barracks at the same time.
"Not that well. He was the one that recruited me here." she confirmed.
"You met him here or on the mainland?" I pushed.
"We met in LA, then when I agreed to sign up, I travelled over on the sub with him. I've not seen much of him since i've been here though. He's almost never over on Hydra." I was intrigued by this part. So he was over in LA.
"I thought people weren't really allowed to the mainland." I queried.
"Only Richard and Tom ever go." Juliette confirmed. "Nobody else is allowed, though most don't seem to want to ever go back anyway. But Richard and Tom go quite regularly. They liaise with the mainland contacts, and bring anything (or anyone) back here thats needed."
Well this certainly explained how he got my clothes. I wondered why he hadn't told me about this. He was probably worried i'd nag him in to getting me off the island.
"Do you know Richard well?" Juliette turned the question to me. I think she sensed that I was intrigued by him.
"A bit. Our houses adjoin. So he's my next door neighbour when he's up at the barracks. He's one of the few people here that has really shown me much kindness."
Juliette paused, as if considering her next question carefully.
"Have you ever noticed, or heard anything strange about Richard?" She asked
"Like what?" Now I was very intrigued. What was she about to tell me?
"It's probably a load of rubbish...but i've heard strange things that various people have told me. It sounds ridiculous in fact, I feel completely nuts even saying it out loud. I wondered whether you had heard the same stories though." She said with a laugh.
"Just tell me." I tried to laugh and pretend I wasn't that bothered, and wasn't completely scared to death about what she was about to tell me. What if, whatever the thing was, would make me feel differently about him.
"well, rumour has it, that...Richard doesn't age." She laughed.
This actually made me genuinely laugh, with relief. Clearly it couldn't be true. But it did sound odd that people were spreading rumours of it.
"What are you on about?" I chuckled.
"I'm serious - many people actually swear to it." Laughed Juliette. "They say he has known Ben since Ben was a little boy, but Richard looked back then exactly how he does now. He's apparently been on the island since the 1860s, and he's actually 160 years old."
We both burst out laughing again, but the more I thought about it, the more something inside nagged at me. It couldn't be true could it. But there was no denying that something about him was 'different'. He seemed older than he looked, and if he'd spent most of his life on the island, how was he so knowledgable and educated about everything, and where would he have learned Spanish? I also thought back to our conversation at the camp. He'd said he'd been on the island far longer than the barracks had been here. I had thought at the time he'd meant he'd been here before his people took over the barracks when the Dharma Initiative left, but could he have meant he had been here way before the buildings even existed? I understood from David that the barracks were first built in the late 1960s, but Richard would have been just a boy back then. Not impossible I guess but unlikely.
The conversation moved away from Richard and Juliette gave me the lowdown on various people. Unlike Richard she didn't mind being honest if she didn't like someone and spoke the truth. Richard was a bit too tactful in this respect. We laughed and drank wine until late before I dragged myself home. I still hadn't fully recovered from the trip, and couldn't wait to fall into bed.