Unit 4 / Reading 2

Dear Caroline,

 

I hope everything is going well in England . Gina and I are in Los Angeles looking for clues to Ben's disappearance. I'm worried – things don't look reassuring. Today we went to Ben's flat and found everything in a terrible mess. We discovered that he flew to Dominica ten days ago, so we're going there tomorrow to see if he's still there. Personally, I think someone is obviously after Ben, but who and why?

 

I remember that you and I wanted to go to Dominica for a holiday, but I had to cancel it at the last minute because of an urgent assignment – a volcano eruption in Iceland . And now here I am about to go to Dominica on another urgent assignment. I don't know if I'll have much time to visit, but I'll give you my impressions so you can decide if you missed anything.

 

I don't know what Dominica is like yet, but I'm sure it's better than Los Angeles . I wanted to reach downtown but the taxi got stuck in an enormous traffic jam because just ahead of us a woman had been murdered as she was driving. So I decided to get out and walk. The driver said I was crazy and he was right. First a young man came up to me, took out a knife and told me to hand over my briefcase! I hesitated, because inside the briefcase were all my notes, my passport and my wallet with my credit card in it. But although I know what to do when faced with a rhinoceros, an armed thief is a different matter! Fortunately at that moment two customers came out of a Chinese grocery store nearby and came to my rescue. You can imagine how grateful I was!

 

Then I got lost and I walked for about two hours before finding myself back at the Chinese grocery. I was so tired I decided to stop for a drink in a nice little bar called “The Gangster's Paradise .” I thought the name was just a joke, but everyone looked like drug dealers or hired killers so I left straightaway. Finally I found another taxi and got to the Blue Monkey about an hour late for dinner.

 

The Blue Monkey is in Beverly Hills and it's a very fashionable place, apparently. We saw the actor Tom Hanks – or at least Gina did – I'm hopeless at recognising people. In fact we only got in there because Gina knows the owner's wife. They went to school together. Gina's a very resourceful person. I thought at first she was a little bit superficial but she's interested in lots of things and we get on well together.

 

But you're the person I want to be with most, Caroline. I miss you, darling, and I look forward to the end of this assignment so we can spend some time together in Wales .

Love, Tom.

Why did Ben travel to Dominica ?

What is James Foley's role in the affair?

Is Beautiful Babes really a modelling agency?

Will Simon and Caroline set up a business together?

 

Find out more in the next instalment of My Sweet Babe!