'I know.'
She looked into his face, reading the thoughts that dwelt there, as women do. There were no surprises. She smiled up at him. He returned it. Raising herself, she kissed him, lightly, on the cheek.
'Call me. When you are ready.'
About to give an excuse, he caught the look in her dark eyes. Suddenly, it was like he was seeing them for the first time. Then he realised. Now it was over, they were no longer business partners. Perhaps they never had been. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again as an image popped, unbidden, into his head. It was the night he’d sat in her Taverna, sampling the Meze. He’d never got round to reading the rest of the menu. He wondered what it would be like. Extensive, he was sure.
He forgot about excuses.
'Count on it.'
He never knew how long he stayed there after she had gone. It was a budget-airline holiday flight, coming in low over the sea that brought him out of it. Who knows? he thought, as he watched it drop. There may be some on board looking to invest their hard-earned savings in property somewhere. Perhaps even nearby. Developments were springing up all over again now that the financial crisis was over. Stirring, he made his way across to where the old carob tree stood on the edge of the cliff, twisted, gnarled, but most importantly, still there. He wondered how he would respond if he met some would-be investor and they asked, 'Recommend buying round here would you?' He almost smiled as he thought on some choice answers.
Stopping beneath the tree’s branches, he reached around the trunk, running his hand over the rough bark, feeling for what he knew was there. As his fingers made contact with the close-cut grooves he closed his eyes. He didn’t need to see them to read the words.
“PETER AND KATHY FOREVER XXX”
And beneath them, ten years later, in a younger, less assured hand.
“AND JACK XXX”
Finished reading his son’s epilogue, Murray slumped down onto the shiny roots that showed through the bare soil. But he kept his arm round the trunk, as if fearing to let go in case it toppled over into the sea. Reaching into his back pocket, he removed his bill fold and took from it the photograph that was always there. He gazed down at the smiling faces, brought it to his lips, then slipped it into a crack in the bark, next to the story that had begun so many years before.
And as the tears came, he lifted his head to look out over the glistening sea.
It was going to be another, blisteringly-hot day in Pafos.
The end
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Coming next…..
Coming in 2020 - The next in the DCI Jamie Carver Series…
THE WOMAN ACROSS THE STREET
Is she, or isn’t she?
Newly arrived in Brackers Lake, sixteen-year old Brandon Sawyer is missing Brooklyn. He hates everything about the sleepy Upstate New York town his family has moved to. But when his father volunteers his services to help clear the yard for the woman who lives on her own across the street, life suddenly becomes more interesting.
Across an ocean, three thousand miles away in the offices of the Special Murder Investigation Unit, a detective sits, alone, in the semi-dark. He is staring at a photograph purporting to show that someone he thought was dead, is alive, and living somewhere in the United States. The detective is wondering if it is genuine, or someone’s idea of a sick joke, and coming to a stark conclusion. There is only one way to find out.
Taken in hand by ‘Peter’, daughter of the town’s sheriff, Brandon learns that ‘sleepy’ Brackers Lake may not be quite as sleepy as he thought. Peter’s father is still investigating the mysterious death, two months before, of a local councilman, the circumstances of which suggest that behind the town’s pretty lace curtains and picket fences, lurks a dark, secret.
When Brandon’s teenage curiosity over his part-time ‘employer’ lead him and Peter to make a bizarre discovery that is beyond their youthful understanding, he fears that he may, unwittingly, have put himself and his friend in deadly danger. But when they seek help and discover that those to whom they would turn may themselves be involved, they realise they must face that danger on their own. And when it does, finally, strike, they can only wonder how, and from where, help may come.
Have you discovered Robert F Barker’s Detective Jamie Carver Series yet?
If you enjoy suspense-filled crime fiction, you’ll love these stories of a detective who struggles to shake off the shadow that hangs over him, and the sometimes dark, even disturbing, investigations in which he gets involved. Start with Book #1, LAST GASP - HERE - or to find more about all of Robert F Barker’s books, visit his AUTHOR PAGE - HERE.
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Robert F Barker was born in Liverpool, England. During a thirty-year police career, he worked in and around some of the North West’s grittiest towns and cities. As a senior detective, he led investigations into all kinds of major crime including, murder, armed robbery, serious sex crime and people/drug trafficking. Whilst commanding firearms and disorder incidents, he learned what it means to have to make life-and-death decisions in the heat of live operations. His stories are grounded in the reality of police work, but remain exciting, suspenseful, and with the sort of twists and turns crime-fiction readers love.
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