Deathly Christmas

  “I’m not too bad. I’ll only have to be in hospital for a couple of days.”

  “And Eve?”

  “The same.”

  “Thank goodness,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief.”

  “Don’t worry about us,” Paul said, taking her hand. “It’s you we’re all anxious about. Your reaction to the injection was the worst out of all of us.”

  Paul was delighted when Jane didn’t take her hand away.

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said, but then suddenly burst into tears.

  Paul didn’t know what to do.

  “Jane, oh, I’m so sorry. I know this is horrible for you. I wish I could help you.”

  “You have, Paul,” she said, the tears subsiding. “You really have. I felt so much better with you in that room. I felt I could cope.”

  “But it was such a shock for you. How could you ever trust another man?”

  Jane smiled.

  “Paul, of course it was a shock and I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over what James did, but I don’t believe all men are like that.”

  “Good.”

  Jane looked tired and drawn and Paul wondered if he should leave.

  “You look like you should get some more rest,” he said.

  “I am tired, but can you sit with me for a while, unless you need to rest yourself.”

  “I’m feeling a lot better and I’d love to sit with you for a while.”

  Jane closed her eyes again, hoping not to dream about James. He had hurt her more than she wanted to admit, but she refused to think about him anymore. She had the opportunity to be with someone who truly cared for her now and she was going to take this chance. However, she would move slowly this time and not rush into the relationship without thinking.

  * * * *

  In an Athens hotel room, James came out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist.

  “So what do you think we should do now?” he asked the woman on the bed.

  She was around thirty, blonde and quite slim.

  “I’m thinking about it,” she said crossly. “You know that you completely blew it. Not only would we have had Jennifer’s money, but eventually, Jane’s. We’ve got to get out of Greece, but that won’t be easy. The police will be looking for you.”

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something darling, you always do,” James said, pushing the woman down on the bed and kissing her passionately.

  Chapter 18

  Two days later, David and Eve went for a drink in The Black Cat with Paul and his brother Kevin. Lucy also went with them, having decided to put the past behind her. Eve had been through an awful lot after all.

  Both Eve and Paul had been released from hospital that morning and were still feeling a little fragile, but they were glad to be home. Unfortunately, Jane was still confined to the hospital and would be there for at least another week. She and Paul had been getting on well and he hoped James was fading from her memory.

  When they entered the bar, Annie saw them straight away and called them over. Betty and Don were sitting at the same table and Eve realized she hadn’t seen Betty for ages. Surprisingly, she almost missed their unfriendly banter.

  “Wonderful to see you two up and about,” Annie said to Eve and Paul.

  “Any news about James?” Don asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” Eve replied.

  “Must be frightening, wondering if he’s going to come back to finish the job,” Betty put in.

  Here she goes again, thought Eve. The harbinger of doom.

  “Oh, I doubt he’ll be back,” David put in quickly, not wanting an argument to start. “If he’d have wanted to kill them, he would have done it in the first place.”

  Betty grunted. She was rapidly going off David. He supported Eve way too often.

  “That’s right,” Paul added. “He realized he couldn’t kill us all and get rid of the bodies, so he poisoned us to give him time to escape.”

  “I only hope they find him,” Eve said. “It’ll give us peace of mind, not that I think he’ll try anything here again, but he may attempt to fool some other poor souls.”

  “Not like you to be concerned for other people, Eve,” Betty commented.

  Eve found her temper rising, but she wasn’t going to give that woman the satisfaction, she wasn’t…

  “Now what are we having to drink?” Paul asked, hoping to diffuse the situation.

  Eve was relieved that he’d butted in, as she had nearly responded to Betty’s nasty comment. She wanted to have a nice peaceful day and keep David in a good mood. He deserved it after all the angst she’d put him through.

  Eve asked for a gin and tonic and went and sat down next to Annie, completely ignoring Betty. David was impressed by Eve’s behavior and was getting fed up with Betty. He decided to keep away from her and went to sit down in-between Don and Pete. Lucy sat next to Betty, but even she felt the woman was being unfair to Eve.

  As they were drinking and chatting, Dimitris came in and immediately walked over to them.

  “Ah, I thought I’d find you here, Miss Masters. I have some news.”

  What on earth does he mean by that? Does he think I’m an alcoholic? she thought angrily.

  However, although Eve was insulted by this remark, she was also excited that he had news.

  “What, about James?” she asked.

  “Yes, James Anderson has been found dead in a hotel room in Athens. He died of strychnine poisoning.”

  They all gasped and Eve was the first to speak.

  “Have they caught who did it?”

  “No and I don’t know if they will. The room was booked to a woman, a Diane Harris, but she had a forged passport which she left it at the checking desk. Of course this might not even be her real name. The body of James Anderson was found by the cleaning people this morning, but the time of death was yesterday evening. She is long gone.”

  “Well, she’s done us all a favor,” Eve said.

  “But she’s still committed a crime,” Dimitris commented.

  Eve shrugged her shoulders. James was an evil man in her opinion and deserved no sympathy.

  “I must go and tell Jane,” Paul said. “I don’t know how she will react.”

  “One of my officers has gone to the hospital,” Dimitris told him.

  “Oh no, I’ll need to be with her.”

  Paul rushed out, leaving his drink hardly touched.

  “I don’t understand,” Dimitris said. “After what that man did to her.”

  “She was in love with him,” Eve said haughtily.

  Dimitris shook his head and left the bar. He would never understand the English.

  “So Eve, another murder over,” Pete said. “What are you going to do to pass the time now?”

  “I’m going to start an amateur theatre group. Who’s in?” she asked, surprising everyone, particularly David, who was delighted she’d found something safe to do with her time.

  Annie and Don immediately said they wanted to join and then Lucy said she’d like to do backstage work. Betty glared at Eve.

  That woman. Always trying to take centre stage. It’ll never work. Never.

  * * * *

  Paul paused before entering Jane’s ward. Her ward also had only four people in it and he could see Jane in the far corner. Finally, he got up the courage and went in, slowly approaching her bed.

  “Hello, Jane,” he whispered.

  He could see she’d been crying. Perhaps there wasn’t any hope for them after all.

  “Paul! I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

  “The police inspector came into the bar this evening with the news about James.”

  “Oh.”

  “How are you?”

  “I’m okay, I think. It came as a bit of a shock.”

  A few tears started to fall and she got out a hanky.

  Paul stood there nervously, not knowing what to do. Jane could sense his awkwardness.

  “
I’m not crying because I still love him, Paul. I’m crying because….oh I don’t know. It’s all been so horrible and sad and such a mess. I feel confused. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too,” Paul said. “Here I am pushing myself onto you when you need time.”

  “Paul, you’ve been lovely; you haven’t been pushy at all. I do need to take things slowly, but please stay.”

  Paul happily sat down and took Jane’s hand. She looked so young and vulnerable. How could that man have treated her like he had? He wanted to put his arms around her and hold her to him, but it was too soon.

  “I wonder who that woman was?” she asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “It sounds like she was the mastermind behind the whole plan.”

  “It does,” Paul agreed. “And when he came back with nothing, she got rid of him. It almost makes me feel sorry for him.”

  “No, Paul. He doesn’t deserve any pity. He knew what he was doing. If everything had gone to plan, I would have been his next victim. He would have married me and after a decent amount of time, poisoned me so he could inherit my money. He’d probably of used arsenic in small doses so I’d gradually get sicker and sicker and finally die. On top of everything, I expect James was in a relationship with that woman.”

  “Jane, you’ve got to stop thinking like this and about what could have happened. It’s all over.”

  “I know. I’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Paul wasn’t sure. He had to find some way to cheer her up and give her hope.

  “When you get out of here, perhaps we can go out for dinner?” Paul asked nervously, hoping this wasn’t moving too fast.

  “I’d love that,” she replied.

  Paul was delighted. He’d do everything he could to make her forget that terrible man. Then, all of a sudden, Jane reached over and kissed him, surprising him completely.

  Perhaps it wouldn’t be as difficult as he imagined. Now all he had to do was persuade Jane to come and live on Crete!

  * * * *

  Betty peered in through the window of The Black Cat. It was ten o’clock on a Monday morning in early February.

  Everybody’s there. I don’t believe it. It’s going to be a shambles, mark my words. That I can say for certain.

  Eve had kept her promise and had started an amateur theatre group. Ken and Jan had offered their bar in the mornings for rehearsals and she’d managed to get the local school for the actual performances. She’d had a great response when she advertised for people to join, both as actors and for work behind the scenes. Ken, Jan, Annie, Pete, Don, Lucy, Kevin, Paul and Jane all joined immediately.

  Lucy and Kevin found they were getting on a little better with this new interest in their lives and Paul and Jane’s relationship was going from strength to strength. She hadn’t committed to staying on Crete for the rest of her life, but she had given up her job in England and hadn’t bought an air ticket back to the U.K. yet.

  Betty was fuming when Don joined the group, despite knowing how much he loved the theatre. However, he didn’t care, having become a more confident man who was now much less under his wife’s thumb.

  A few Greeks who spoke English well, also joined, included Petros, John Phillips’ old foreman. Dimitris thought about it, but decided he couldn’t cope with Eve on a regular basis.

  David, who had been a professional actor, also offered his services. He normally wouldn’t be interested in amateur dramatics, but he felt he had to support Eve. He was proud of her decision to start this group.

  “It’s such a relief you’ve got a new interest, darling, even if you are putting on a murder mystery! I knew you couldn’t avoid the subject completely.”

  “It is rather exciting putting on my own production, David.”

  However, Eve wasn’t enjoying it quite as much as she thought she would. David was the only professional actor there and he was excellent, but most of the others weren’t. It was tiring and frustrating.

  Eve was starting to get bored again and was longing for another crime to solve. It didn’t have to be murder; any major crime would do. All memories of being tied up and poisoned had disappeared, and being a private detective sounded thrilling again.

  As Annie stumbled over her lines and Lucy put out the wrong props, Eve drifted into her dream world again. A professional make-up artist was working on her eyes and she was pleased with how she looked. She was excited and the enthusiasm showed in her face. In no more than half an hour she would be interviewed by the BBC, having solved yet another horrendous crime. She couldn’t wait to go through all the details with the reporter and then wait for the congratulations.

  Eve closed her eyes, imagining that moment, but then there was an almighty crash. She jumped up and saw Pete on the floor. He had fallen over a chair which had been full of props. He managed to get up and when everyone saw he was alright, they started laughing. Eve shook her head.

  What have I got myself into? she thought.

  Eve looked at David and realized she was doing this for him. She loved him and didn’t want to lose him…but solving real crimes was so much more exciting than play acting, wasn’t it?

  Now, wouldn’t it be fun to find out who killed James Anderson?

  Copyright © 2005 by Trana Mae Simmons

  Originally published by Five Star (ISBN 978-1594143250)

  Electronically published in 2012 by Belgrave House

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228

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  This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are

  fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is

  coincidental.