Deathly Christmas (9 page)

Arrogant twat, thought Paul. Always trying to take over.

David, Pete and Paul decided to have lagers; James wanted whisky, and Annie and Jane were drinking wine. Eve decided to stick to gin and tonics.

The afternoon passed pleasantly enough for everyone, apart from Paul who felt depressed as he watched James and Jane locked in conversation for most of the time. They seemed to be in a world of their own, but nobody apart from Paul seemed to mind. Eventually, he started chatting with the others. The conversation drifted from sport to food to Betty, but despite efforts from Eve, everybody avoided talking about the murder.

* * * *

“Who’s for another drink then,” David asked later in the afternoon, hoping that they didn’t. They had already had quite a few and he felt like a lie down.

“I feel nauseous,” Eve said.

“We’d better get you home then,” David said. “I don’t know; too many gin and tonics today, I think.”

“No,” Eve continued. “I can handle my drink, thank you very much. I feel like I did when I had arsenic poisoning back in the summer.”

“Oh come on, Eve, you’re imagining it,” David said, not thinking that anyone would have the audacity to poison her yet again with the same poison.

Eve tried to get up, but she struggled and then felt the room spinning around her.

“Oh no, not aga….

* * * *

When Eve woke up, she was lying in a hospital bed. She still felt sick and her head was throbbing.

“Eve,” David spoke angrily. “I knew this would happen. Why did you have to start again? Why?”

He was angry and she had no idea what she had done wrong.

    “David, don’t shout at Eve, she’s not well and needs to rest,” Annie said gently, hoping he’d calm down.

“I’m not really cross, Annie, you know I’m not. I’m only concerned about Eve.”

Annie gave David a hug. He looked so forlorn and she did know deep down that he was desperately worried about losing Eve.

Eve looked around the room and it suddenly dawned on her that she was in hospital again. She groaned inwardly. This was the one place she didn’t want to be.

There was an elderly Greek woman in the bed opposite and a younger one in the bed next to her. Around her bed were David, Annie, Pete, Jane and James. Paul was standing a few feet away. She remembered that you could have as many visitors as you wanted in Chania hospital and she was pleased that so many people had come to see her. However, although she was trying her hardest, she couldn’t remember what had happened and why she was in hospital. She vaguely recalled having lunch with David and Jane, but that was all. She couldn’t remember anything else.

“David, what happened? Why am I here?”

“You mean you can’t remember?”

“No, I can’t. All I remember is having lunch with you and Jane and that’s it. What’s wrong with me? Why am I in hospital?”

David’s heart softened. He knew he should be angry with her, but she hadn’t done a lot of snooping yet. All she was guilty of was suspecting James of being the killer and she hadn’t told anyone apart from him. Her reputation had preceded her and the murderer must have wanted her out of the way, knowing how good she was as an amateur detective. Then David suddenly remembered the previous evening. At the restaurant Eve had foolishly announced that she had a suspect. If she had indeed been poisoned again, it must have been somebody who had been there.

“Eve, darling, you were feeling nauseous in the pub and then you collapsed. You said you felt the same as you had when you were poisoned in the summer. We don’t know yet, but the doctors are doing tests to see if they can find arsenic in your system.”

“Oh my God,” Eve exclaimed. “I haven’t accused anyone of killing Jennifer yet, but the murderer is already trying to get rid of me. David, I’m scared.”

Eve was almost in tears as she reached out for David.

“Shush, darling, it’ll be alright.”

But as he said it, David wasn’t convinced and nor were Annie or David. James and Jane stood at the side awkwardly.

“I feel terrible,” James finally said. “I asked you to try and find my aunt’s killer and now you’re in hospital and could have died.”

“Don’t worry about it, James,” Eve muttered, feeling exhausted. “I haven’t really done anything yet, so the murderer would have struck anyway.”

Then the truth hit her as her memory started coming back. James was her number one suspect. In fact, he was her only suspect and he was standing in front of her as bold as brass. And to top it all she had stupidly announced at the restaurant the previous evening that she had a suspect. All to get one up on that woman, Betty. Suddenly she felt sick again and wished they would all leave, all of them apart from David of course.

“Are you alright, darling,” David asked. ‘You look as if you’re going to be sick again?”

“I thought I was, but I’m alright now.”

“You poor thing,” Annie said. “I bet you never thought you’d be in hospital so soon again.”

“I hoped I’d never be in hospital on Crete ever again. I hope I don’t miss the New Year’s Eve celebrations. I was looking forward to them so much.”

“I’m sure they won’t keep you in long,” Pete added. “It was only a night last time wasn’t it?”

Eve nodded as Dimitris Kastrinakis and another police officer entered the ward.

‘I told you, Miss Masters, to keep your nose out of the murder,” he said sternly.

“I’ve hardly done anything at all,” Eve wailed. “Hardly anything. The killer wanted to stop me before I even started. I’m sure of it.”

“She really hasn’t done much,” David agreed. “We don’t know yet if she has been poisoned, but if she has, the person who did it wanted her out of the way even before she started gathering evidence.”

“Well, Miss Masters,” Dimitris continued. “I see your reputation precedes you.”

Eve tried to force a smile, but was thinking that if the murderer was going to try and eliminate her anyway, she might as well try and hunt him out.

“What a crowd you have around your bed; you are a popular woman, Miss Masters,” the doctor said, entering the ward.

“I have the results of your tests, Miss Masters,” the doctor continued.

Eve’s heart started racing. In a way she hoped it wasn’t poison. It was a tad scary to know that someone wanted to kill you again. However, she felt a rush of adrenalin. Life was getting exciting again.

“I am afraid we have found arsenic in your sample. I believe that it was found in your sample in the summer?”

“Yes, yes it was,” she said hurriedly. “Oh my goodness, someone is trying to kill me again.

Eve looked full of life and excited. David sighed. She shouldn’t be feeling like this. Someone had tried to kill her; Eve should be scared, not exhilarated. David also noticed that Dimitris was frowning.

“I need to speak to Miss Masters alone, so could you all wait outside please.”

“We’ll be off home now if that’s alright,” Alison said. “Shall we feed Portia for you? I expect David will be staying for a while?”

Alison knew how much Eve worried about her dog.

“Oh yes, please. Oh dear, what about dinner. I don’t suppose I’ll be home.”

“Don’t worry about us,” Robert said. “We’ll pop out somewhere for a bite. You take care. This should be a warning, Eve. No more searching for killers.”

“He’s right, Eve. Get lots of rest and forget about murders and suchlike,” Annie said, giving Eve a kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll take Jane home,” James said. “I think I can make my way back from the hospital as it’s so close to the highway.”

“You can follow us if you like,” Annie said.

“Thanks; will do.”

As they all left, Paul stood there looking awkward and alone and then said his goodbyes and went.

Dimitris stood talking to another police officer for a few minutes.

“I don’t know why I thought Paul was creepy,” Eve said. “He’s really quite a sad, lonely guy. Oh why couldn’t Jane have liked him? Instead she’s getting a lift home with a crazed killer.”

“Eve, you do change your mind about people. You couldn’t stand Paul before, and anyway, we have no proof James is the killer,” David said, exasperated.

“How did everybody get here?” Eve asked, changing the subject, while trying to make sense of the afternoon. “There were so many of you? Did you get an ambulance?”

“No, we thought it would be quicker to bring you here, so you came in my car with Alison. Pete and Annie took Robert and Paul in theirs and James and Jane followed in his car. I have no idea how Paul is getting home. I doubt if James will want him in his car, but perhaps there’s room in Pete’s.”

“Right, Miss Masters,” Dimitris stated. “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” she replied indignantly. “I have one suspect and I’ve told David here who it is, but I only decided on him last night and I’ve done nothing about it and he doesn’t know I suspect him. In fact I gave him a helping hand in the romance department; that is before I thought he was a murderer. And now this beautiful innocent girl is in love with him and she could be his next victim. What have I done?”

Eve burst into tears and David rushed to comfort her.

“There, there, darling. It’ll be alright,” he said, taking her hand in his.

Dimitris stood still feeling embarrassed. He never knew what to do when women cried.

When Eve’s tears had subsided, Dimitris continued talking.

“Could you tell me who this suspect is?”

“James, Jennifer’s nephew,” Eve mumbled, a few tears still falling.

Dimitris was surprised.

“James!” he exclaimed. “He didn’t come to the island until the 26
th
December.”

“There was nothing stopping him leaving on the 24
th
and returning on the 26
th
, was there?” Eve asked. “He’s a rich man. Have you checked with the airlines?”

“We haven’t, but before we do that, can you tell us why you think he killed his aunt?”

“Last night, a group of us went into Chania for a meal and we took James and Jane in the car with us. I heard him tell Jane how much he hated his aunt, particularly because she had been horrible to his mother, even refusing to see her when she had cancer.”

“I believe he was with you in The Black Cat this afternoon?”

“Yes, he was and so is definitely a suspect. The men went to get the drinks in turn. I reckon the arsenic was in my drink like last time, don’t you?”

“It’s highly probable, Miss Masters. Now, can you give me the names of whoever could have touched your drink, please,” Dimitris asked, indicating to the other officer to take out his notebook.

“Well, as I said, there was James Anderson…

“He had the same name as his aunt?”

“This afternoon I overheard him tell Jane he was born out of wedlock. Another reason Jennifer despised her sister… and him. It seems she was quite a prude. Oh, this is good; I’m getting my memory back. I felt quite confused when I woke up.”

Dimitris nodded, encouraging her to carry on.

   
“Anyway, back to the drinks. David went to get a round in, but of course he’s not the murderer.”

However, she saw the police officer write his name down.

“What is your last name, sir?” he asked.

“Baker.”

Eve frowned. How could they possibly think her darling David was a killer. He would never poison her.

“Anyway,” she said severely. “Then there was Pete Davies and Paul Fowler. Ken Stewart served at the bar. Jan was in the kitchen all afternoon as they were very busy serving food. Oh, I nearly forgot, that Yiannis Neonaki was at the bar all afternoon. He could easily have slipped something in my drink. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

“Now, now, Miss Masters,” Dimitris said harshly. ‘We won’t have any of that. There was enough of a feud going on between you two last summer and he was innocent.”

“Humph,” Eve muttered, obviously not convinced.

“Eve did announce at dinner in Chania last night that she had a suspect,” David added.

“Ah, now you tell me,” Dimitris said. “She didn’t do completely
nothing
then? Were any of these people here today?”

“Yes,” Eve continued, slightly annoyed with David for mentioning that she wasn’t quite as innocent as she had made herself out to be. “James and Jane, David of course, Annie and Pete, Ken and Jan Stewart and Paul Fowler. Apart from that, Betty and Don Jones were there and Kevin and Lucy Fowler.”

“Right, we shall question everybody and search the houses, but it is doubtful we shall find anything again. You take care, Miss Masters, and no snooping. I mean it.”

Dimitris sounded severe, but Eve took no notice.

“Remember to check the airline seat lists for Christmas Eve,” was Eve’s last remark.

Dimitris turned and gave her a stern look.

“You are going to push that man too far, Eve, you really are,” David said when Dimitris had left.

“Well, if I hadn’t given him that idea, he’d never have thought of it himself, would he?”

David shook his head. There was never a dull moment with Eve, but in reality he was worried. She actually hadn’t done much to find the murderer and he or she had already tried to get rid of her. Her life truly was in danger and from now on he was going to watch her like a hawk.

James sped out of the hospital grounds. In his mirror he could see Paul frantically waving behind them, but there was no way he was going to give him a lift home. James was relieved that Jane was oblivious to Paul’s presence. He was certain she was far too nice to leave him stranded.

James gave the impression that he was a secure person, not to mention a sophisticated and debonair man. Yes, he had a high powered job and money, but truth be told, women confused him. He had discovered that they never seemed to say what they meant and kept changing their minds. His relationships had been short lived and he didn’t want this pattern to continue.

Most certainly he didn’t want to fight Paul for Jane. Perhaps it was because he wanted to concentrate on romancing her without any distractions, or maybe it was because he was afraid of losing. He had enough to cope with at the moment with the police hovering around all the time. He was also trying to arrange to take Jennifer’s body back to England to be buried, but at the moment it still hadn’t been released and he was getting anxious.