Faraway Eyes_A fast-paced romantic murder mystery

by Evelyn Harrison

  “Yes, I’d like to.”

  “Good, well you know the drill, we’ll need to sit on the straight-backed chairs … I can’t promise anything’s going to happen and if it doesn’t, I’m not going to lie to you and say things I think you want to hear, you do know that?”

  “I know.”

  Rearranging the room slightly, they sat down opposite each other. Kate leaned forward and took Sam’s hands.

  “You need to relax and clear your mind. I’m going to close my eyes and hopefully my guide Sarah will appear to me. Are you ready?”

  Sam nodded. This was not the first time she had sat in on one of Kate’s séances. The first time had been two years ago in her parents’ home in Tenerife. She had been a non-believer then, but not anymore.

  Kate’s head slumped to her chest as she began to enter the spirit world. Through the mist, the familiar figure of Sarah appeared, reached out and took her hand and guided her to the place Kate felt very much at home, the willow trees on the common surrounding the pond in Willow Green. Straining her eyes to see the figure walking towards her, Kate was disappointed to realise it wasn’t Michael, but she did recognise him. Lawrence Manning stood in front of her, he was much shorter than she’d imagined. They talked for a while until gradually he faded from her sight, only to be replaced by a second apparition. Michael smiled and blew her a kiss.

  “Tell Kate I love her and I want her to be happy. Tell her I give her and Alex my blessing.”

  Kate’s head rose, opening her eyes, she blinked in response from the glare of artificial light, being discharged from the lamp in the room and took a deep breath.

  “Wow, well that was unexpected. Could you get me a glass of water please?”

  Sam ran into the bathroom, filled a glass and handed it to her.

  “What happened?”

  “Just a minute …” she said taking a sip from the tumbler. “Right, I’ve two messages,” she said, smiling at Kate. “I’m happy to tell you Michael did appear and he’s sent his blessing to you and Alex.”

  Putting her hands to her face Sam let out a cry. “Oh wow, thank you Kate,” she wept, throwing her arms around her. Eventually drying her eyes, she asked, “What was the other message?”

  “The other one,” Kate began hesitatingly, “was from Lawrence Manning.”

  “Interesting, what did he have to say?”

  “Well, he told me how he died for a start, not that my evidence would stand up in a court of law, but at least I can push the police in the right direction …”

  ***

  It had been several months since Nancy Baxter murdered Daniel. To explain Daniel’s disappearance, everyone who was interested was informed that he and Nancy had left Jacob’s Rest to live in Christchurch. In reality, Jim had sent Nancy away to a clinic, where she was attended by a succession of doctors. Obviously, he was careful about the information they were given. For instance, they weren’t made aware she was a killer. The specialists diagnosed her as being a Sexual Narcissist and for her bad days, they prescribed pills; bottles of them. When eventually she returned to Jacob’s Rest, life for the Baxters carried on as usual; for a while anyway, until Nancy began to loathe the very sight of Lawrence Manning. The fact he was the man who had kept her out of jail soon wore thin.

  Whichever way she turned he seemed to be there, watching her, his very presence made her skin crawl. She’d caught him on more than one occasion leering at her through her bedroom window; in the end she couldn’t take it anymore. It was an autumn day when she suggested a drive and a picnic down at the lake. Laurie couldn’t believe his luck when she asked him to accompany her. Taking his car not hers, they parked as close as they could to the water’s edge. Nancy threw off her shoes and pushed her seat back.

  “Don’t you love the peace and quiet Laurie? I can call you Laurie, can’t I?” she purred, her blond hair splayed unruly on the backrest.

  He unbuckled his seatbelt and looked down at her. “You can call me whatever you like.”

  She reached up and stroked his moustache. He couldn’t believe after all this time, she was touching him, were his dreams about to come true? Would she let him fuck her? Because that’s exactly what he was hungering to do. His breathing notably intensified as he became excited at the prospect.

  “I know you watch me, do you like what you see? Do you like my body?”

  “Oh yes, I like it very much,” he enthused, inching towards her.

  “I will let you touch me, but first, I’ve brought along a bottle of red wine, it’s one I know you like. Be a poppet and get it from the boot, will you?”

  He reined back and clambered eagerly out of the car, returning in due haste with the wine and two large glasses. Immediately he filled one glass before handing it to her.

  “I would love to be able to drink with you Laurie, but my head was swimming this morning so I had to take one of my silly little pills, which means alcohol is off the menu, I’m afraid. I’ll get a lot of pleasure in seeing you drink though. Go on, you’ve got the whole bottle to get through,” she giggled. “How about we play a game, with each full glass, I’ll remove part of my clothing.”

  He put the glass to his lips. The contents hardly touched the sides of his mouth as it gushed down his throat. True to her word, Nancy removed her jumper. Sitting now in her push-up bra, Laurie extended his arm desperate to fondle her.

  “Naughty boy, not yet,” she said, running a finger across her breast. “When you’ve finished the bottle, then I’m all yours.”

  Consuming the second glass almost as quickly as the first, Laurie was beginning to feel strange. He was used to drinking, so why was the interior of the car spinning?

  “Are you excited?” she cooed, as she slipped out of her jeans. “There’s only enough for two more glasses, come on, drink up. I know you’ve been dreaming about this moment for a very long time, haven’t you Laurie?”

  Laurie didn’t even manage to finish the third glass. Clutching his heart, his body crumpled towards her. Pushing him away she readjusted her seat. Dressing, she scowled at him.

  “What made you think I would let a dirty letch like you touch me? You disgust me, you’re just like Daniel – always grabbing and ogling. I decide with whom I have sex, do you understand? I decide, not you!”

  She picked up the wine bottle, walked down to the lake and poured out the remainder of the red liquid she had laced with tranquillizers earlier that morning. Back at the car, she scattered a few more tablets around, and removing the rest of her things, she left Laurie’s corpse to be discovered by any unfortunate who happened to be passing.

  ***

  “So, she did kill him after all.”

  “That’s what he told me. I’ll tell Gwen in the morning. We’d better try and get some sleep, lots to do tomorrow before we leave.”

  “Do you think he knew she would kill him?”

  “I think he probably did and that’s why he made the video. He was so besotted with her he just didn’t care about his own mortality. Imagine having so much power over men.”

  “Yes, just imagine …”

  Chapter 30 – Homeward Bound

  New Zealand Tuesday 30th May

  The alarm on their phones woke them just before eight, there was no way they were going to miss breakfast. This was going to be their last day in Jacob’s Rest, however, there were several things they had to do before they could leave. Exhaling, Sam picked up her phone and dialled. She’d been thinking of nothing else during her sleepless restless moments and couldn’t put it off any longer. Polly was about to learn the truth about Daniel.

  “Mum, hi, how are things?”

  “We’re fine Samantha dear, but more importantly, how are you? I hope you’re getting over your ordeal. Have you managed to book a flight home?”

  “James is booking it this morning. We’re hoping there will be spaces on the plane for tomorrow, which should mean we could be back in the UK on Thursday, but I’ll confirm with you later. How’s my beautiful boy?”r />
  “He’s absolutely fine. We took him to a petting zoo today, he loved it.”

  “That’s great mum, I can’t wait to see him again. Is Polly around? I really need to speak to her.”

  “Yes, she’s sitting here next to me, I’ll pass over the phone.”

  “Sam, we can’t wait to see you,” began Polly, “you know, I don’t even care now that you didn’t find Daniel, we just want you all to come home safely.”

  Sam took a deep breath. “Actually Polly, I do have something to tell you …”

  The news that Daniel was dead didn’t come as too much of a surprise to Polly, after all she’d been playing the part of a widow for a while, so she had got used to the idea, however, his mode of death was a huge shock. Her voice quivered on the other end as she tried to suppress her emotions. Her husband, who had left her for a girl more than half his age had become his lover’s victim. Had Polly pushed him into her murdering arms? It was an unanswerable question she’d have to live with for the rest of her life.

  Ending their call, Sam threw on her clothes before she and Kate made their way to the guests’ dining room, where Alex and James were already tucking into bowls of cereals.

  “Gwen’s talking to the police, I think they’re looking at the video,” said James.

  “Good, we need to speak to them, Sam and I had a séance last night, which confirmed what we were all thinking.”

  James leaned over and kissed Kate as she settled in the seat beside him. “Tell us more.”

  “I will later, darling. Did you manage to book our flights?”

  “Yes, I did, we’ll leave tomorrow afternoon. Gwen said there’s a car hire place at the next town where we can drop off one of the cars. We thought there’s no need to take both of them back to Christchurch.”

  Just then Gwen emerged from the kitchen with their English breakfasts.

  “Oscar’s looking at Laurie’s video, he says he’s got your statements he would like you to sign them before you go,” she said.

  “That’s fine. Gwen, can we speak with you and Sergeant Fleming after we’ve eaten?” asked Sam.

  ***

  Sergeant Fleming was finishing a mouthful of pancakes when they entered Gwen’s private quarters.

  “Morning Sergeant, sorry to disturb your breakfast but Gwen said you had our statements for us to sign?” asked Sam.

  He dabbed at his mouth and pushed his plate away. “Yes, I have them here. I’ve just been watching Laurie Manning’s tape. I was telling Gwen, I wish she’d shown it to me earlier, but she didn’t, so …” He handed over the statements and after reading them through, Sam and Kate both signed them. “I have to say Mrs. Robinson, I was very impressed with your psychic ability and so was my wife.”

  “Thank you,” replied Kate. “Actually, I’ve more to tell you and Gwen about Nancy …”

  Gwen sat silently taking it all in. She had prepared herself for this scenario following yesterdays’ discussion, but it still burned a hole in her heart knowing now Laurie had been murdered by that bitch.

  Sergeant Fleming scratched his head. “Oh dear me. Right, well as soon as I’d finished watching the video, which was a shock I have to say, because Laurie was a friend of mine, I phoned Oaklands where Nancy is still being held. Obviously, we have to bring her in after hearing all the evidence, and considering her mental state, she will need delicate handling. We’ll definitely have to employ specialists to interview her.”

  “I totally agree with you,” said Alex, glancing over at Gwen, “let’s hope you get a confession without having to exhume Laurie’s body.”

  “Please, no, don’t let it come to that Oscar!” cried Gwen.

  “Gwen, you know I’ll do my best not to let that happen.”

  “What about Jim Baxter?” queried Kate.

  “Jim Baxter has been charged with attempted murder and kidnapping. Now we’ve got covering up a couple of murders to add to the growing list, he’ll be put away from a very long time. I don’t think the town’s folk will ever see him or Nancy again.”

  ***

  It was almost midday; the cars were loaded – finally they were ready to leave Jacob’s Rest behind. Gwen was fussing around them, trying to keep her mind busy, she’d even made her guests sandwiches to eat on the way. One thing that did surprise them all though was hearing of the arrival at the police station of Nancy’s husband. Apparently, he was also her psychiatrist!

  Gwen wept as they said their goodbyes.

  “Give Cooper a kiss from us, we’re sorry we can’t stay around to see him,” said Kate.

  “I will. I’m just so happy to be having him home and relieved that because of what you’ve been able to tell the police, they won’t be charging him with anything. I spoke to him this morning and as soon as he’s stronger, we’re going to move back to Auckland. So, if you’re ever in this part of the world again, please come and visit us, you’ll always be welcome in my house.”

  Waving from the cars they started moving in their convoy along the high street and onward on to the open road. They had come to Jacob’s Rest to find out what had happened to Daniel Brennan, it had proved a traumatic task, but in the end, as painful as the outcome was, at least they got a result.

  An hour later they had ditched the boys’ car and were all riding in Sam and Kate’s four by four. Reaching the lake, the women had stopped at on the way down, Kate suggested it would be a good place to stretch their legs and eat their sandwiches.

  “Do you fancy a stroll, Sam?” asked Alex. “It’ll give these two love birds some time on their own.”

  Without uttering a word, Sam sprang to her feet and followed him to the edge of the lake, where a cool breeze caught her hair, blowing it in all directions. Walking over rough ground, they managed to keep in touch with an unkempt trail, occasionally barely visible beneath the creeping undergrowth. Beginning its rapid descent into the horizon, the reflection of the winter sun on the vivid blue water glistened like crystals on the gentle ripples, highlighting the surrounding landscape. The whole scenery was dazzling and totally awesome.

  “It’s stunning out here, isn’t it? A small part of me is actually sad we didn’t get to see more,” said Sam, stopping and staring out towards the snow-capped mountains.

  Alex pulled his jacket tighter around him. “You’re right, it is stunning.” He kicked at the ground. “Look Sam, there’s something I have to know.” Positioning himself in front of her, he took her hand in his. “I understand that you still love and miss Michael, and you don’t want to be disloyal to his memory, but is there any chance for us? I really have to know.”

  A big smile erupted across Sam’s face. He looked so handsome with the lake behind him. Alex, the man who had come into her life when she was at her lowest ebb, at a time when she believed she would never be happy again, let alone love another man, had stuck around, supporting her as a friend. Never demanding more than that. How she loved and ached for him. The time was right to tell him, here, now in New Zealand.

  “Oh Alex, that day you told me you were getting married to Ana, I longed to tell you then, but I was a coward. I love you. There, I’ve said it.”

  Alex swept her up in his arms; both their hearts were beating fit to burst from the intensity of the moment. “I can’t tell you how happy you’ve just made me, Samantha Adams,” he cried, gently brushing a strand of hair from her face, “for I love you too from the bottom of my heart, I think I’ve loved you from the moment we met.”

  They stood gazing at each other, both with tears of joy rising in their eyes, then their lips came together, gentle at first and then with a fiery passion. The kiss went on for several long minutes. Reluctantly parting, they couldn’t stop beaming with happiness. Hand in hand, they made their way back to Kate and James.

  Shading her eyes from the sun, Kate looked up at them as they approached. “You two look a lot happier than when you left, has something happened?”

  They glanced at each other, grinning. “Yes, Alex and I have finall
y had that talk,” revealed Sam.

  ***

  It was late evening by the time they reached Christchurch and flurries of snow were beginning to fall from the darkening sky. With the help of the satnav, they managed to manoeuvre their way around the city’s one-way system, eventually arriving at the hotel Sam and Kate had stayed in when they arrived. Standing in reception, they approached the woman behind the desk.

  “Evening, I’m sorry, we haven’t booked. We stayed here last week and enjoyed it so much we were wondering if we could book a two-bedroom suite for tonight?” asked Sam.

  The woman looked up.

  “I’m not sure if we have any two-bedroom suites available, give me a moment please … No sorry, I can only offer you two one bedroom suites.”

  “What do you think?” asked Sam turning to the others.

  “It’s only one night, I’m fine with it, if everyone else is,” replied Kate. The guys nodded in agreement.

  Arriving with their luggage on the top floor they stood outside the first room.

  “Boy, this is a bit awkward,” said James.

  “It’s not awkward at all,” blurted out Kate, winking at Sam. “James and I will sleep here, and you two can go next door. Goodnight,” she grinned, “be good.” Not giving them a chance to reply, Kate pushed the door open and dragged in her cases.

  Sheepishly, Alex walked along the corridor a bit further and unlocked the door to the next room. Sam followed him in and sat her suitcases against the wall before taking a look around, it certainly wasn’t as spacious as the rooms she and Kate had before, but it would do. Although compact, it did have a small kitchenette and a bathroom with a shower. They removed their coats and looked at each other, both a bit uncomfortable at the situation Kate had forced onto them. Yes, they were used to being alone together, but that was in the past, as friends enjoying each other’s company. Declaring their love to one another had changed the dimensions of their relationship completely. Alex stretched out his hand and touched her cheek. Stimulated by his touch, she placed her hand over his.