I had arrived, she looked at me from behind her abanico. The apartment was as spotless as it always was. Nothing moved in the large white room apart from the reflections of the passing cars. Although only ten hours old the day was already raw, a heat mist was building over the sea.

“ Shall we take a swim, I need to take the journey out of me” I said conscious of my appearance

“ That might be a problem “

“ Why ? “

“ There is a dead whale in the swimming pool “

“ I thought that might be the case, lets go to the beach and worry about it when we return. We will pop    into El Dorado’s on the way back. I hear that the peacock fish is very good “

“ You are so wise Clive, how I missed you. I am so glad you have returned to Malibu “