I turned to make a run for it then, but he lunged at me, bringing me down by taking hold of my feet. He was more agile than I thought.
I hit the deck hard, but protected banging my head by breaking the fall with my arms. The pain that shot through my left forearm was excruciating, but better this than be knocked unconscious so he could drive the steel pick through my heart.
I kicked out at his face with my feet and connected with his nose. He let out a yelp of pain, and I managed to stand up. But he was too fast for me. He followed and caught me from behind just before I reached the door. With a strong arm around my neck, half choking me, he dragged me away from the door and toward the rail. A thought flashed through my mind that rather than stab me, he would get rid of me a lot quicker if he simply pushed me overboard like he’d done with van Horn.
It seemed this was his purpose. He crushed my torso against the rail with his own body and winded me so much that I collapsed right into his arms. He then lifted me like I weighed nothing and brought my body up onto the balustrade. One small push and I would go hurtling down into the depths of the ocean, never to be seen again.
Just as he pushed, however, my right hand caught hold of the metal rail under me. He tried to pry my fingers open so I would let go.
In the meantime, I managed to wriggle out of his arms and my feet touched the deck. He suddenly let me go altogether and lunged for the walking stick instead, which was lying on the deck a few feet away. It took him seconds to retrieve it and run back toward me with the sharp pick aiming straight for my heart.
I tensed, knowing it was too late to step out of the way. With eyes closed, I waited for the piercing pain that was sure to put an end to my life.
A couple of seconds went by and nothing happened. Then, I opened my eyes just in time to see Smythe take a dive from the open doorway, tackling Tully out of the way and bringing him to the ground.
My legs collapsed from under me and I fell straight into Chris’s arms while I watched Dobbs and Garcia overpower Tully as he struggled with Smythe. The walking stick went flying from Tully’s hand, only to land a few feet away from Chris and me.
Smythe punched Tully in the stomach and winded him. He then stood and came away, letting Dobbs and Garcia turn Tully face down to cuff him.
Chris deposited me in Smythe’s arms, where he knew I wanted to be. I was engulfed by Smythe and my body molded into his. He held me for a moment while we watched Tully being taken away by Dobbs and Garcia, and followed by Chris; who picked up the walking stick from the steel tip so he could preserve Tully’s fingerprints on the wooden part.
When they left, Smythe swung me up into his arms. “You okay?” he asked with concern in his eyes.
I nodded and leaned my face into his shoulder. “Just a sore arm.”
He reached with his head and planted a lingering soft kiss on my lips. “I thought I was going to lose you. I thought we were going to be too late.”
A thrill of desire spread through me, but I controlled it. “How did you know where to find me?”
“Enrico left the restaurant early and I rang Chris’s cabin, thinking you were already with him. He said you hadn’t come at all. Then, he told me he cracked into the server and gave me the real name of Erotic Heart. It was—”
“Eden Tully,” I said for him.
“Tully told you?”
“Not exactly, but he mentioned Eden belonging to the cheaters’ forum, so I assumed he broke into her account.”
“Her real name was Edina Vasquez Tully,” Smythe informed me.
“Tully used to talk about her with such love,” I returned sadly. “He killed her, you know; along with the others. You were right to suggest he might have left a long trail of bodies back home.”
Smythe kissed me softly once more, probably so he could make himself believe I had survived the ordeal. I didn’t stop him. I had come so close to losing my life that I decided to live for the moment. We kissed for a long time, passionately and lingeringly. When we came up for air, I said, “You didn’t tell me how you knew I’d be here.”
“Chris made the connection. He knew you and Tully were shipboard friends. And I figured you’d be out here because you mentioned you wanted to take a breath of air. I remembered you liked strolling along this deck.”
I sighed with relief. “Thank God you guys arrived in time. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold out. I had every intention of making a run for it but at the same time, I had to hear what Tully had to say. I never thought he’d be so fit, you know. I underestimated him. Some cop I’d make, huh? Besides—”
Smythe regarded me lovingly with his blue-green gaze. “Shut up, Ferrari,” he whispered in my ear and held me tighter against him as he took the opportunity to put a stop to my chatter with yet another body-melting kiss.
Entry from Mia’s Case Book
Case No 3 – The Neurotic Erotics Club
Upon arrival in Honolulu, Professor Tully was taken into custody by the local police. Dobbs had arranged for his contact in the force to meet the ship. While the men—Dobbs and Smythe, along with Mark Evans, Jerry Garcia and the captain—went to deal with the authorities, a number of police officers remained behind to take statements from members of the medical convention, the crew, staff, the ship’s doctor, and Chris and me. A coroner’s van arrived shortly thereafter to take away the bodies of Doctors Barry, Weinstein and Downes to the morgue.
David Rourke and Edward Teppler flew into Honolulu from the Big Island and while Teppler waited on the ship to confer with the captain upon his return, David Rourke escorted his son and I to a luxury hotel in Waikiki, where he booked us in for a few days’ rest before we were due to fly back to Sydney. He also booked rooms for Dobbs and Smythe, telling us we needed a well-deserved break. David then flew back to his hotel project in Waikoloa with the promise he’d see us upon his return to Sydney in a couple of weeks.
Chris and I slept for most of that day, absolutely exhausted from the long hours we put into the investigation while onboard the ship. Dobbs and Smythe came back to the hotel in the late afternoon, also to rest. In the evening, we had a catch-up session over dinner.
Smythe told us Tully made a full confession. Aside from those he killed onboard, he also murdered six of his wife’s lovers back in Australia, plus he killed Eden in 2012—hence the reason we couldn’t find any recent posts from her on the cheaters’ forum. Considering the nature of the crime and the fact that all the victims were Australian, the professor was to be extradited to face charges in his home country.
Upon inspection of Tully’s papers, the police confirmed his age at fifty-five years. This fitted in with Tully’s story that he met Eden at university and they later married, and stayed married, for thirty years. I had been convinced the professor was older, especially because of his white hair and his complaints about the arthritis. Tully confessed to pretending he had arthritis to throw people off, but the white hair was natural—probably premature greying as a result of the betrayal he suffered at the hands of the one he loved.
We never learned why someone as passionate as Eden—or Beatriz Edina Vasquez, as was her formal name in the old passport Tully still carried with him as a reminder of happier times—had decided to marry someone as conventional as Tully. We could only surmise Eden wanted the financial stability Tully could provide, but still live out her fantasies and assuage the desires of her Latin nature with other men.
The Neurotic Erotics Club was the brainchild of Dr Bertrand van Horn. Many of the doctors in his circle wanted to satisfy certain sexual fantasies and desires, which they couldn’t very well do at home. Discretion within the club was the order of the day. If discovered it could mean the end of the members’ career if they were found out. So rather than belong to intimate dating sites, they decided to form their own club; and only members of the medical and health sector were admitted after scrutiny from van Horn and a couple of his closest colleagues.
Enrico Lotti, having been a doctor once upon a time, was
an avid member of the club, especially within the gay medical community, which was still frowned upon, as he later found out when he was passed over for promotion on account of his partner having been diagnosed as HIV positive. Despite Lotti choosing to leave his medical career, he kept up with the club’s activities and remained very much an active member.
After five days of total relaxation time in Waikiki; and even though I fought hard to resist Smythe’s charms and failed a few times, we flew back to Sydney and returned to our respective routines. Dobbs lost his grumpy demeanour the minute he was reunited with his wife, Eileen. Not only this, but Eileen was so happy to have him back that she didn’t even scold him for the extra pounds he packed on.
Chris returned to university and kept working as a casual waiter in the functions department of the hotel, where he also resided in the Penthouse with his father. David remained with the hotel project in Waikoloa and then began negotiations for the takeover and revamp of a hotel property in Waikiki. This brought my fear to the fore that Dobbs, my good friend and father figure, might decide to return to his homeland to be closer to his daughter and grandchild.
Smythe went back on the job as Detective Sergeant with the Kings Cross police. He was later offered a promotion to the position of Detective Inspector. This meant he would take on more of a supervisory role at the station and limit his time out on the streets. He accepted the position and told me it was high time for a change. Like Dobbs, he felt sometimes being a cop was a thankless task. Besides, he’d seen enough violence in his career to the point where he now wanted to take more of a backseat role within the local area command.
I suspected he accepted the job because he hoped we could make some kind of a life together if he worked in a safer environment. He knew how difficult it was to live with a cop who was always out on the streets, especially in an area like Kings Cross—Sydney’s red light district. But the whole case of Tully and his revenge of Eden’s betrayal left me feeling numb. I’d only been divorced from Nathan for three years; and after an eighteen-year marriage, the last thing I wanted was to become involved in another relationship. I still felt the sting of Nathan’s betrayal and constantly questioned the meaning of romantic love. People always professed to love one another only to end up splitting up, hating, or even killing each other when things didn’t work out.
I didn’t feel ready to commit to anyone just yet. Besides, I wanted time to think about my father and why he led me to believe Smythe had been responsible for my not getting into the force. I loved my father and missed him every day, but I also needed to forgive him.
Smythe and I ended up falling into a close friendship that constantly tempted us to take things into the bedroom. I managed to put a stop to this most of the time, but not always. After all, I’m only human. Smythe took it well and remained patient. I knew he wanted more of a commitment from me, and he figured if he wanted to be with me long term he would have to wait until I was ready. If he remained constant, there was the chance we may end up together. At the same time, he knew there were no guarantees. I made sure he understood this because I didn’t want to trap him into thinking he and I would become a permanent item.
We were both fully aware of the well-known saying: “If you love something, set it free; if it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it was never meant to be.”
One thing I did agree to do, however, was to call him “Phil” whenever we were alone.
THE END
About the author
Sylvia Massara is a multi-genre author based in Sydney, Australia. She loves to dabble in wacky love affairs, drama, murder, sci-fi (or anything else that takes her fancy) over good coffee.
Born in Argentina from Italian and Spanish descent (with a bit of Swiss thrown in) and transplanted to Australia at age 10, Sylvia describes herself as a bit of a "moggie" cat by way of mixed pedigree. She is also a citizen of the world as she has travelled widely throughout most of her life and she's the proud owner of three passports.
From a creative perspective, Sylvia has been writing since her early teens and her work consists of novels, screenplays and freelance writing. She has also dabbled in acting on and off, songwriting and even had her own band during her teens/early 20s where she performed at various venues.
As with most authors, Sylvia draws on her varied experience from the often puzzling tapestry of life. A few years ago Sylvia resigned from the human race because she discovered the animal kingdom was a much nicer place to be.
Currently, Sylvia lives with her cat, Mia; and always vicariously through the many characters in her head. Occasionally, Sylvia ventures into the world of humans, and she cherishes genuine friendships as they are a rare find.
Sylvia has recently released her 7th novel, The Stranger, a sci-fi apocalyptic romance with moralistic issues that involve the fight of love vs evil in the cosmos.
Please visit the author’s website to keep up with her latest novels or to contact her at: http://www.sylviamassara.com/
About Massara’s Novels
The Mia Ferrari Mystery Series
Playing With The Bad Boys
A woman plunges ten floors down an atrium and lands on a baby grand piano in the luxurious Rourke Hotel Sydney. The police rule this as a straight case of suicide; but 48-year-old hotel duty manager and wannabe investigator, Mia Ferrari, thinks otherwise.
As Mia sets out to unravel the mysterious death and prove the cops wrong, especially her archenemy, Detective Sergeant Phil Smythe; she comes up against an unsavoury cast of characters who will do anything to shut her up. But with a little help from her friends, Mia will not stop until she unearths the truth.
Mia Ferrari is a "wiseass", older chick with determination and an attitude, and she never takes “no” for an answer.
The Gay Mardi Gras Murders
Mia Ferrari, smartarse, older chick, super sleuth, is back in her 2nd murder mystery, and this time, she is up to her neck in drag queens, a rare diamond with a curse and murder most foul against the backdrop of Sydney's world famous Gay Mardi Gras.
A female impersonator is found dismembered in her hotel suite bathtub, and a rare diamond worth twenty million dollars is gone. The Gay Mardi Gras is fast approaching and Mia Ferrari, senior duty manager of the exclusive Rourke International Hotel Sydney, has to juggle a bunch of drag queens, a number of fabulously handsome gay men, a transsexual with a dark mystery, a young cop with sex on his mind, a close friend from the UK who is having marital problems and a mounting body count.
As Mia pits her investigative skills against her archenemy, Detective Sergeant Phil Smythe, to solve the case, she not only becomes embroiled in the life of the people around her, but it looks like she is the next target for a serial killer with a grudge against gay men.
The South Pacific Murders
It’s a well-known fact that wherever Mia Ferrari goes trouble always follows, and going on a holiday cruise to Hawaii is no different.
A killer is on the loose onboard ship. A number of doctors from a medical convention are being murdered one by one. The captain of the cruise liner asks Mia and her travelling companions to take over the investigation while the ship is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean toward its final destination. A secret sex club and horse racing bets are the only clues that can uncover the identity of the killer, but will Mia be able to solve the mystery before the killer strikes again?
Join Mia and her friends, plus her sexy detective archenemy, on a cruise to murder, mayhem, and sizzling hot sex.
Science fiction romance
The Stranger
The Stranger is a sci-fi apocalyptic romance with moralistic issues involving the fight between love and evil and its repercussions.
Rhys is on a mission on Earth in order to determine Earth's destiny, but his judgement is in danger of becoming clouded when he meets and falls in love with Carla, a human. The balance of life on Earth depends upon Rhys's recommendation to the League of Galaxies. But how will Rhys choose between his mission and
his love for an Earthling? Rhys is forced to weigh up the collective evil on Earth and its causal effect on the greater good of other life in the universe against the love he has for one woman.
This is not simply a tale of love between two beings but a story of the unconditional and sublime love, which is the force that drives the cosmos.
The Stranger was dedicated to the Loving Memory of David Bowie.
Romance
Like Casablanca
What does internet dating and Casablanca have in common? Nothing, unless you go to Rick's Cafe and find out what antiques dealer and dating blogger, Cat Ryan, is up to.
The South Pacific Murders Page 23