The Reunion

Chapter 4

THE EUROPEAN TOUR PART ONE

And there she was, Susan Blackmore. God! What an idiot I had been and wasted so much time. I hadn't found anything under Susan Duncan or Susan Yeoman. The next logical step would have been to try her mother's maiden name and, yet, I hadn't thought of it. Perhaps I was losing my touch. However, tracing Susan Blackmore came to an end not long after 2012, the year Susan Adams was murdered. Her mother, Melanie, had had her committed as being insane, having a mental disorder, I believe the correct terminology is. My next port of call would be to visit the place she was initially kept. But that would have to be after the first part of the Ladies and Gentlemen European tour.

There were to be three concerts in Portugal; Porto, Lisbon and Faro/Loulè.

Porto would kick off the tour at the football stadium (pun intended).

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The Estádio do Dragão or Dragon Stadium had a capacity of approximately fifty thousand. And, boy, it sounded like there were fifty million there. I don't know what deal had been done so that the group could hold the concert there. The football season in Portugal usually commences in the second week of August. So they would have already had about four weeks of the game. I'm guessing that contracts must have been signed to say that the stadium must be returned to its original state after the concert.

I happened to watch them begin constructing the set. The amount of photographs they took so they could replace each piece exactly where they had taken it from must have ran into the thousands. Yes, it was a sheer joy watching them build it but it was just breathtaking seeing it all being put back so it looked as though nothing had been touched.

The biggest cheer of the night was when they sang "Teenage Dream" in Portuguese. The amount of tears being shed by the audience should have flooded the place. Steps got a big cheer – the loudest probably coming from me.

After Portugal came Spain. The six venues chosen were in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Grenada, Seville and La Coruña. I knew that they were quite excited about playing Spain. It was a country they loved. We actually spent some time together between the Grenada and Seville gigs.

'How's your search going for Susan?' Graham asked me. If he hadn't have brought it up first, then I would have. You needed to get this sort of thing out of the way early.

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We were actually staying in three very large villas near Malaga. Hotels are fine but they wanted something a bit more special on this trip. We were lounging by a large, very large, swimming pool. The sun was beating down. With it being September, the heat was bearable. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

'After a few steps forwards, I'm currently on a step back,' I replied. 'You know that I discovered that she had been committed to a mental health institution?' Graham nodded so I continued. 'Well, the trail stops after that. I cannot find anything about her being discharged.'

'Perhaps she's still in there?' Gillian suggested.

'Perhaps,' I replied although my tone probably indicated that I didn't believe.

'You don't sound like you think that's the case,' said Samantha.

'I'm pretty sure that with Chris's arrest someone somewhere would have let slip that Susan was still being detained,' I responded. 'But there has been absolutely nothing. Zilch. I guess people could be keeping it a secret but humans have a knack of not being able to keep their gobs shut – especially when they think there could be some money at the end of it.'

'You make a good point, Graham,' Gillian conceded. 'Look at me. I couldn't keep my mouth shut, could I?' It was typical of Gillian to try and lighten the mood.