"THE LANGUAGE STUDENT" by Brigitte Penn - Crime Fiction - Insight

The Language Student - Book 1

Sophie Myers is twenty six years old. The tall blonde has the cutest border collie ever and she hosts foreign language students in her cosy home in Malta. Sophie is a qualified English tutor and she teaches her house guests English grammar at a language school that is not too far from her home in High Ridge. Today, the host family thing is out of the window. In the past few weeks, Sophie and her students have become friends. Since it's a Saturday, Sophie is taking Rio, Alice and Josh to Popeye Village to watch the sun rise over the calm mediterranean sea. After they will go to Mellieha for breakfast and return to Popeye in the early afternoon for a swim and to walk around the cute village and see how the movie site was constructed. They left Sophie's house at five. In her Audi coupe she drives to her friend's bakery in San Gwann, a town close by and buys fresh Maltese bread. It is a short trip. Ten minutes. Then she drives to her mum's house to drop off four delicous fresh warm Maltese bread loaves that she knows her mum will thank her for later. Sophie leaves the bread on the kitchen island along with a note telling her mum what she always says. "Have a good day mum. I love you." P.S. "Have you made up your mind yet?" she scribbles on the note.

Within minutes, Sophie and the students are on the coast road on their way to the tourist attraction. The streets are virtually empty at this hour. As she is driving through a winding road in St. Paul's Bay, a shiver runs down her spine. She has a feeling they are being followed, watched. It's absurd. There's barely any traffic on the road. But the feeling won't go away. Is it because of what happened last week? She turns to speak to Rio who is in the passenger seat and realizes that all three students have dozed off. Before long, the sky changes. It is almost dawn. She is in Mellieha now, close to Popeye Village. The long sandy beach there is empty. A dog howls. She hears giggles. Rio, Josh and Alice are awake. Suddenly a car whizzes past and her heart beats faster. Next time she will choose a later hour to take the students to visit places of interest. But they've almost arrived at their destination and as she listens to their chatter, she joins in the conversation.