Page 59 of Be Less Panda
She wasn’t so sure about her next major move, though. She’d received a letter from Patty yesterday containing details of what to bring with her to Portsmouth in two months’ time. It made the whole round-the-world trip seem real, along withthe less appealing prospect of leaving Hans for six months. Olivia reckoned the odds of their relationship surviving being apart for that long were pretty slim.
Nancy was hoping to talk to Hans today about how they might make it work. She’d proved popular with Madame Dubois’s bespoke bindings clientele which meant she’d managed to save up enough money to pay for him to fly out to meet her when they docked in Cape Town, assuming his employer would give him some time off. But, he had kept changing the subject whenever she’d tried to float the idea this week.
The waiter returned with their coffees. Where was Hans?
Nancy ended up drinking both cups of coffee while she waited for Hans to show up.
She must’ve misunderstood their arrangement to meet, but it was their usual routine, so that didn’t make sense. She would’ve remembered if they’d agreed to do something different. She walked back to their apartment building and knocked on the door of his flat, but there was no answer. She put her ear to the door and listened. She couldn’t hear anything inside.
‘Hans!’ She called and banged on the door again. Still no reply.
There is bound to be a perfectly simple explanation.She ran up the final flight of stairs and let herself into her flat.
Olivia was there cooking dinner with Pierre. ‘Are you ok?’ Olivia asked.
‘Has Hans been in touch?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘No, should he have been?’
‘He didn’t turn up at the cafe today. We were planning to go for our usual walk after work.’
‘Have you checked if he’s left a note in the postbox?’ Pierre suggested.
‘No. He usually puts a note under our door if he wants to tell me anything.’
‘Definitely no note here.’ Olivia said.
‘I’ll check downstairs, just in case.’ Nancy ran back down the stairs and across the courtyard to the postboxes. There was nothing in there either.
What next? Dieter might know.
She headed over the road to Christa, Ingrid and Dieter’s.
Christa buzzed her up.
‘We don’t know where Dieter is either,’ she said as Nancy exited the lift on the second floor. ‘Come in.’
Ingrid was sitting on the sofa, her head in her hands. She looked up at Nancy, her eyes all red and puffy. ‘I know something is wrong. I feel it inside. Dieter was meant to meet me for lunch today, but he didn’t show up. And now he’s not come home this evening either. It’s so unlike him.’
‘Could he be busy at the laboratory?’
‘I’ve tried calling there several times this afternoon, but it only gives the ‘number unobtainable’ dial tone. It always used to work. I can’t understand it.’
‘I guess the fact that they’ve both disappeared at the same time means it’s more likely they’re doing something together,’ Nancy said, trying to see the positive side of the situation.
‘I suppose so, but what are they doing that’s so important or urgent that they can’t contact us to say where they are? And why are they doing something together on a day when they should both be at their respective jobs?’ Ingrid said.
Nancy had no suggestions.
29
Nancy hung around at Christa and Ingrid’s until 11 pm, thinking that if there was any news, Ingrid was more likely to be informed first as she was Dieter’s wife.
Olivia and Pierre had already gone to bed when Nancy got home.
She gulped down a large glass of Olivia’s wine in a bid to make herself tired. But it didn’t work. After a restless night, she finally gave up trying to sleep at 7 am and got dressed.
She headed down the stairs to Hans’ flat in case he’d returned overnight. She knocked several times on the door. There was still no reply.