1 The Assassins' Village (25 page)

Diana ran a finger down the length of the pin. The pattern and sheen were beautiful, making it quite exquisite.

‘Would you like tea? I don’t have any coffee I’m afraid, but I do have some refreshing fruit teas or camomile.’

‘Well, if it’s not any trouble. That would be very nice, a fruit tea, please.’

Alicia gave her a small nod and left the room.

Diana could hear Alicia’s movements in the adjoining kitchen as she made the tea. Wandering around the room, Diana savoured the ‘foreignness’ of it all. Alicia possessed many lovely things, even if one or two were strange. She picked up a heavy silvered photograph frame. It contained a photo of two young women. Their faces
were lean and tanned. Their smiles appeared hesitant and as Di peered more closely she caught a resemblance to Alicia. Who were they, her younger sisters maybe?

Replacing the frame, she tiptoed over to re-examine the Punjab Lasso. The rope appeared to be made of catgut or horse hair. It was a strange looking object and she was annoyed that she couldn’t recall where she had heard about it. She decided to look it up on the internet once she returned home.

The air was thick and heavy with the overpowering scent of incense and Diana felt that it wouldn’t take very much effort on her part to lie down on one of the cushioned divans and fall into a deep sleep. It was also incredibly hot in Alicia’s house.

‘Please sit down.’ The sound of the voice made Di jump. She hadn’t heard her return. Alicia stood right behind her holding two earthenware mugs in her hands. She indicated that Di should take one.

Inhaling the fragrance from the steaming cup, Di tentatively took a sip. The taste was unusual, not unpleasant. It left a fruity aftertaste and a tingle on her tongue. Taking another mouthful, Di thought that her mouth felt slightly numb. She thought about Steve. He would have hated it! A double espresso was more to his liking.

‘Hmm. Different, quite interesting. What exactly is it?’ she asked.

‘Oh, a blend I make up myself.’ Alicia sat opposite Di on a high backed chair. She cradled the mug in both hands. Despite the heat she wore a light shawl around her shoulders. Di thought she looked unwell with a sickly pallor. She was always skeletally thin, only now her eyes appeared huge and bruised in her white face. Her freckles stood out clearly and her red hair was pinned back into a bun at the nape of her neck. As Alicia lifted the mug to her own mouth Di noticed the tremor in her hands.

‘As you’ve never visited me here before, I can only suppose you’re here to find out what the police said and why they let me come home?’

Di felt the beginnings of a flush rise up into her cheeks at Alicia’s directness.

‘Um, well no, not entirely. We are supposed to be having a rehearsal later this week. We wondered if, well if you still wanted to? Or perhaps leave it until later? I thought I could telephone round to let everyone know what you’d decided. Karl is particularly keen to know.’ She felt awkward as the excuse sounded a bit lame even to own ears. Her voice trailed off and she inwardly cursed her telltale blush.

Alicia studied her for a moment, her eyes quite cold. Diana knew Alicia saw through her little story. Alicia would have guessed everyone in the village was agog with anticipation, ghouls for news about the crime.

‘I think we’d better cancel and have it later. If we kept the rehearsal nobody would be able to concentrate anyway. Don’t you agree?’ Her voice sounded husky and cracked, as if she was upset.

‘Yes. Are you all right Alicia? Of course everyone is concerned. We’re all worried about you and Sonja and everything that has happened.’

Alicia raised wounded eyes to meet Diana’s. When she spoke she had a distinct edge to her voice.

‘Sonja! We’re supposed to be friends but she won’t speak to me now! I haven’t spoken to her since I was interviewed by the police. She obviously doesn’t want to accept that I’ve been released from police custody, and that I didn’t kill him, as if I would!’

Diana was taken aback at her words. Alicia had had
an affair
with Sonja’s husband and she’d left him injured. Couldn’t she see that Sonja would be hurting and very angry? Above all, she would be highly suspicious of Alicia. Di was a tad tentative when she replied.

‘Well, she knew you’d met him that day surely?’

‘Yes, yes. She knew all about his numerous affairs over the years. I think he used to tell her. Perhaps he thought it turned her on, I really don’t know. She knew he only used women for sex, since he always came back to her. As long as she let him have the freedom, he’d quite happily come home at night to roost.’ She gave a short laugh that sounded full of bitterness.

Di was surprised at her admission. It was also quite a long personal speech for Alicia and Di had learned a lot more about the three of them and their messy triangle. The colour in Alicia’s cheeks rose as she continued in a rush.

‘She knows we met and argued, and that I hit him in frustration. It was only partly in anger. He took a step back and fell. I rushed down to him as fast as I could and he was alive, he spoke to me. He was furious, calling me every vile thing he could think of. I was so shocked and said that he could damn well stew there until he calmed down. Anyway, I thought he was shamming. I knew that someone would eventually come along and find him. I’d heard Kristiakis out shooting earlier on, further down in the valley and you have to come back up on that piece of track to get anywhere. She paused, slightly breathless from her uncharacteristic outburst.

Yes, Di thought, but what about his fractured leg? Shamming? She and Steve had noticed it almost immediately. Alicia was supposed to be a healer of some sort, wasn’t she? She had certainly neglected to heal Leslie. Feeling excited, Di decided to hold her tongue.
Which was feeling decidedly numb by now
? Perhaps if she kept quiet Alicia would disclose more. She was getting this information first hand as far as she knew. Up until now, nobody else had spoken to Alicia for any length of time.

‘He was a bit grazed and bruised from his fall. Shaken up, but that’s all. I never did what the inspector said,’ she gave a dry sob. ‘I never did that. I couldn’t.’ She began to weep openly, slow fat tears rolling down her face. Diana watched as one tear dripped from her chin onto her neck. Where Alicia’s shawl had fallen open in her agitation Di noticed an ugly raw scratch down her throat.

Di stood up, anxious, not knowing what to do, except, she was beginning to wish that she’d never come here. Steve was right after all. She took Alicia’s mug from her hands and placed it on a low table by her side. She didn’t want her to be upset; she probably needed counselling of some sort. But Di had promised Steve not to get involved. She felt confused. After hearing what Alicia had just told her, and by what she and Steve had found, nothing added up.
A bit grazed
, Alicia had just said. What rubbish!

Di felt sick as she recalled that last meeting with Leslie and his lolling head. She remembered the bright, crimson scarf of assassination around his throat, and the buzzing from the flies attracted by the smell of death. Either Alicia was lying or someone else had come along and finished him off with a bloody great knife. Whoever had done it must have been covered in a hell of a lot of blood. She glanced around her, half expecting to see a bundle of bloodstained clothes lying in the corner, a knife handle protruding from the folds of cloth. Her thoughts began to run away with her as other possible scenarios tumbled over in her mind.

Di felt the panic rising in her throat. She had to get out of there and away from Alicia and her strange ideas. Without reason, stories she’d heard flooded into her head. Alicia belonged to some secret sect, controlled by a guru of
some sort.
This weirdo had stipulated that all his women should have sex at
least six times
a day, as it was good for the soul. It must have been for his own good whilst she had studied
under
him.

Then there was her meddling with herbal remedies. Remedy? What was that old joke that frequently did the village rounds? Last year she had almost poisoned Leslie by giving him too strong a homemade homeopathic medicine for his arthritic ankle? Hadn’t it been whispered that she’d used the ancient herb aconite? Wasn’t aconite a herb that stimulates and paralyses the nerves of pain and touch? An ancient anaesthesia. What had Alicia been thinking of? Her mouth felt dry and numb. Numb! What had Alicia put in the tea she had just drunk?

With a jolt Di remembered about the Punjab Lasso. She and Steve had seen the musical of The Phantom of the Opera when they were last in the UK. In the musical there was some mention of a garrotte or lasso. The haunting words came back to her, “
keep your hand above the level of your eyes
.” Intrigued to learn more about the story, Di researched the Internet and found that the original novel by Gaston Leroux mentioned that the phantom Eric had spent some time in
India
. Like Alicia. There, Eric had acquired knowledge of how to use the lasso. It was more commonly known as a Thuggee Strangulation stick. The thin rope would have been dropped over the victim’s head, and when it fully encircled the neck would be jerked violently back, reinforced perhaps by a knee in the spine. As the rope was tightened by twisting the stick, the blood supply would be cut off and the victim would slowly die. It was quite, quite horrible. The murderer or the ‘Thuggee Silent Assassin’ from India would watch their victim struggle as oxygen was denied him. The research had said that this barbaric practice was supposedly wiped out in nineteenth century India. As Di cast a hurried look in the direction of the weapon she wondered if that really was the case.

What was Alicia doing with such a vile instrument if she was supposed to be a healer? A frightening idea flashed into her mind. It wouldn’t take too much strength to choke someone to death with one. Was it also possible - and she nearly passed out at the thought, if the rope had been fine or thin, could it cut into flesh deep enough to nearly take someone’s head off? She cast another involuntary look over to the lasso and gave a strangled gasp as Alicia saw where her gaze was directed.

Diana recoiled from the figure that suddenly loomed in front of her. She felt her own throat constrict, leaving her gasping for air. The thick atmosphere was cloying, assaulting her senses.  Her stomach heaved with terror. She had to get out of there, fast.

Chapter 36. Steve

Can such things be, and overcome us like a summer’s cloud,

without our special wonder?
             

Macbeth. Act 3 Scene 4

‘I told you! What did I say? Don’t get involved,’ he’d bellowed as soon as she’d raced back home and he’d taken one look at her ashen face. Steve was obviously furious with her. ‘Look at the state you’re in. You’re white-faced, looking ill and no doubt feeling sick. This is not doing you any bloody good.’

Diana was perched on a settee in the living room, trying to steady her nerves by slowly sipping from a glass of water. She was also desperately trying not to cry because of his outburst. Steve rarely lost his temper.

‘Look,’ his voice softened. ‘I don’t want you getting worked up. You’re just too near it all for my liking. Please Di. Stand back. Let the police do their job. It’s what they’re meant to do for God’s sake.’

Diana took a deep gulp before replying in a contrite voice.

‘I’m sorry. I know you’re right. I think I over reacted in there. I kept thinking about Alicia’s strange past and the stories we’ve heard, and then seeing some very odd things in her house, especially the Punjab Lasso. Who and why would anyone have one?’

‘People collect odd things. Look at the huge number of Nazi and Hitler collections throughout the world. Castle dungeons full of old torture instruments amassed for visitor viewing. I once knew a bloke who collected crossbows. Now, there’s a terrible and lethal weapon.’

She rubbed her eyes dry with her hands. ‘Anyway, you’re missing the point. She could be lying. The only thing I don’t understand is the lack of blood on her clothes.’

Steve frowned. ‘Would you like to tell me what you are on about, because now, I am totally lost?’

Struggling into a more comfortable position, Di handed him the empty glass which he placed on a side table. She felt a lot better already, now she was home safely. Her colour had returned to normal and she’d stopped shaking.

‘Okay. Okay let’s think this through. Let’s just say in the first scenario Alicia left him hurt but alive. The police confirmed he was murdered by the cutting of his carotid artery. We immediately think of a very big and sharp knife. If, Alicia had done it then she’d have been covered in blood.  From the murder mystery books I’ve read, people who have their throats cut invariably spurt everywhere, very messy. She was wearing the
same
clothes that evening that she had worn all day. She’s never one for dressing up. Always wears the same things. Sonja and Tony both agreed she was wearing what she’d had on that morning.’

Looking confused Steve asked, ‘How do you know all this?’

‘Because I ask around, you know it’s amazing just what people here know about everyone else. Take Pete and Ann or Bernard and Jenny. They’re prime examples.’

‘I don’t know when you’ve found the time,’ he grumbled. ‘Besides, when did they see her?’

‘When Sonja came back that evening. From the time Leslie had been discovered. Alicia was hovering near their house. Apparently, it seemed that she wanted to double check that Leslie had been found and was under care. Too bad for her. He’d already been killed. Tony said he just happened to be passing,’ she gave a sniff of disbelief. ‘He’s a creep if you ask me.’

‘Are you sure you want to live here?’

‘Don’t you agree there’s something odd about this village? I’ve never felt it before. But ever since Sunday, I’ve felt this brooding atmosphere,’ she lowered her voice to a whisper, giving a small shiver. ‘I can’t explain it. Also, after speaking to the others they’ve all got a story to tell. I couldn’t ignore it all and not ask questions, could I? It felt like it was my personal task to find out as much as I could.’

‘I don’t see why, and no, I don’t think there is an atmosphere in this village. It’s got something to do with your over-vivid imagination. Most people here are extremely nice. We’ve some very good friends and the majority of the locals are delightful. You said so yourself only the other day, how friendly and kind they can be,’ he looked and sounded extremely exasperated with her. At the moment she was in danger of becoming a troublesome meddler.

‘I know. They are nice. Perhaps it has something to do with what I’m writing. You know spooky feelings and everything. And as for my asking questions, well it does feel right.’

‘So you’ve already said.’

At the sound of disbelief coupled with annoyance in his voice Di felt she had to explain what she meant.

‘Please listen. So many people had motives or thought they had just reason to kill him. At the very least they wanted him to suffer in some way. A lot of it seems to be connected with Leslie’s black book of memoirs.’

Steve opened his mouth to speak, uttered one word. ‘What?’

Di imperiously held up a hand, flashing him a look of warning. Continuing, she ticked off the points on her fingers.

‘First we have Alicia. Old time, or even long time affair between the two of them. She’s as mad as a snake, obsessed by sex we’re told, but Leslie spurned her in the end. She’s apparently involved with some weird secret sect that she refuses to talk about. She even half-poisoned Leslie once when she was supposed to be curing him.

Second, there’s his wife Sonja. Perhaps she’d had enough of his infidelities, his arrogance and cruelty to her. Maybe she wants stability, you know, the house and enough money for her security. Perhaps, she thinks she’ll only have all that if Leslie’s out of the way and doesn’t give everything to his children in England. Third there’s Tony.’

Puzzled, Steve had to interrupt. ‘Tony? What’s his reason?’

‘Tony apparently likes porn, you know young girls. And, he got caught with an underage Polish pole-dancer last year. Leslie found out and did a quiet spot of blackmail on him. Ann got me thinking about him after something she said at the cast party the other week.’

‘Phew! What a couple of dirty little bastards.’ Steve looked quite shocked at this latest revelation about his neighbours Leslie and Tony. ‘Okay. So you’ve talked to people, but that doesn’t explain how or why they knew all this.’

‘I’m coming to that shortly.’ Fully restored to her normal resilient self she shot him another irritated look.

‘Fourth we have Bernard. We know that he lost a lot of money, thousands of pounds in some dodgy investment deal that Leslie had orchestrated. We also know that on one occasion he nearly ran Leslie over in the dark. He told us that himself.’

‘Yes, but …’ he ran a hand through his hair in frustration as she ignored him.

‘Fifth, please don’t keep interrupting or I’ll lose my train of thought. Fifth we have Tilly. Tilly had an affair with him in a weak moment, but broke it off. The worst part of that is that Leslie began pestering her, refusing to believe it was all over between them. And yet, it was only a short-lived affair. Bernard and Jen almost let this slip out the other day, you remember, when we were down at the beach with them. I’m sorry, but I confess I wheedled the whole story out of Jen and Ann later. Anyway, apparently Tilly went to the police and they questioned and cautioned Leslie. That’s what the police meant when they said that they’d already seen him that day.’

Steve gave a slow nod as she continued.

‘Tilly has an alibi, as do most of these people. We don’t know about anyone else except for the sixth suspect, Kristiakis.’

‘Okay. Now it’s my turn. Going back, you said that Alicia was hovering outside Sonja’s house after she had returned from identifying Leslie. How come she was there and why? You said she wanted to check that Leslie was okay. But what if she really wanted to check that he’d been found dead? She could have been finding out what the police really thought about it all. You said that her clothing was clean, no blood was on her. But, what if she’d
already changed
? Or even more likely, supposing she has
identical sets of clothing
? She dresses the same practically every day.’

‘Oh! Yes of course. Good point. We’ll have to think about that.’

Steve raised his eyebrows slightly at the ‘we’. ‘Somehow I know there’s no way you’re going to let me get away with doing nothing. So much for minding our own business and letting the police do it all.’

‘Going back to Kristiakis,’ Di continued.

‘He’s just hanged himself.’

‘Convenient? It makes him look guilty, throws the blame on him and perhaps hides the real murderer. Whatever the truth, he had a powerful reason for hating Leslie as we’ve been told loads of times.’

‘But so what? Why now? Why wait all these years?’

‘Chance thing, maybe? Kristiakis certainly remembers Leslie from his wayward youth when he loathed the British with a vengeance. Leslie was a rotten bully by all accounts; he ill-treated the villagers and held them all in contempt. A lot have died since then of course. By the way, if you can believe her, Jen reckons that Leslie had a mild flirtation with Kristiakis’ younger sister. Leslie being foreign and not welcome, Kristiakis would have hated him for that.’

‘What? You don’t mean Antigone?’

Di nodded.

‘But she’s such a half-wit and nothing to look at,’ he argued.

‘No, she’s not actually. She’s just shy, especially with men and foreigners. She can speak and understand quite a lot of English surprisingly enough. You just have to break through her reserve. What’s more, underneath all that smelly clothing and ingrained dirt she has nice bone structure and lovely eyes.’

‘When have you spoken to her?’

‘Well I’ve always nodded and said hello whenever we’ve met. Sometime during the last play she started talking more to me. Not just a simple good morning. It’s
strange now come to think of it, but often when I walk around the village I seem to bump into her. Perhaps I never noticed her until we started talking.’

‘Weird.’ Steve looked puzzled despite Di’s explanation.

‘Yes and more weird, is why and how I happen to know more than anyone else in this village!’ Diana was looking very pleased with herself.

Steve looked at her, an amused expression appearing on his face. He seemed to have forgotten he was furious with her earlier on. His eyes widened with interest. If Diana hadn’t had his full attention before, she certainly had it now.

‘Antigone gave me Leslie’s little black book of memoirs!’ Diana said without keeping a smug look off her face

‘Oh!’ At first Steve didn’t know what to say and then all of a sudden a dozen questions sprang to mind. ‘I wondered what you meant earlier. Okay. What book? When did she give it to you? Where on earth did she get it from, and why did she single you out from everyone else?’

Di gave a laugh. ‘Hang on. First, it was only yesterday. And as far as I can understand her English, she found it when she was taking her donkeys for new grazing. And why me? I don’t know except she said rather cryptically that it had to be no-one else. Odd don’t you think?’

‘Very. I think it’s all a bit macabre. And just what does Leslie’s book tell you?’

‘Some of what I’ve already told you. I haven’t had time to study it properly yet. I thought you might like to take a look at it.’

‘Mmm.’ He sounded wary as if he was nervous to where all this might lead them. ‘You’ve been very secretive I must say,’ he thought for a moment. ‘And what doesn’t the book tell you?’

‘Well, you’ll see when you look through it. There are a few parts that seem to be written in some sort of code or cipher. It’s scattered throughout the book; some bits are easy to work out. I’ve found out whom he dislikes here and that’s most of the people in the book and his reasons for disliking them. He mentions what he did to Bernard and Tony and embellishes some of his affairs with various women. You’ll never guess how many affairs he had over the years if you can believe them all. And some of the women! Wow! It’s mind-boggling. Also, not once does he write regretting any of it. Not his shoddy treatment of Tilly, or Bernard. Nor his blackmailing of poor pathetic Tony, or the way he treated his wives, children and finally Alicia. Their affair lasted the longest and was off and on over many years. His cruelty didn’t seem to matter one iota to him. It was of no consequence whatsoever,’ she snapped her fingers to emphasise her point.

‘He was arrogant through and through.’

‘Yes. One really interesting part is when he mentions Kristiakis back in the seventies. Evidently, Kristiakis threatened him with a beating and Leslie drew a pistol on him and laughed in his face. He doesn’t say why they quarrelled; certainly there is no mention of Antigone, not in any romantic sense anyway.’

‘Perhaps nothing really happened. Perhaps it was all in Kristiakis’ mind. Antigone would have been quite young anyway, nothing more than a girl.’

‘Yes maybe. Nonetheless, it is a riveting read if you like that sort of thing. In truth, I found it all to be a bit sick really.’

‘I’ll have a look at it a bit later on. Come here.’ Diana slid over to his side of the settee and he pulled her onto his lap.

‘Please don’t involve yourself anymore. Not without telling me first,’ he spoke into her neck, his breath warm against her skin. Diana snuggled against him as he caressed her shoulders.

‘Mmm. That’s so nice.’ She allowed a short pause before adding. ‘Just one problem though.’