Flossed (Alex Harris Mystery Series) (26 page)

“We have established you have seen Mr. Westlake on Thursday morning. He was taking the first flight to Geneva?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

“Now, tell me. Did you see him again? Maybe some time on Friday or perhaps first thing on Saturday?”

John did not like the way this was going. Gerard had explained to him earlier about his suspicions and John had to agree. He just didn’t have to like it.

“No. Not on Friday. I would remember such a big man. And on Saturday I did not work.”

“Who works the Saturday shift?”

The young girl gave Gerard the name of the agent who was on duty Saturday. This time it was an older woman and she was also on duty today as someone had called in sick. The woman was brought into the private room and Gerard showed her the picture of Bill.

“No. I’m sorry,” she shook her head, “but I didn’t see this man on Saturday.”

“Are you very sure, Madam?”

“Yes. I did not see him.”

“
Merde
!” Gerard did not seem pleased at this turn of events. John reluctantly knew he and Gerard were on the right track. But could they confirm it? He thought perhaps his good friend Bill was smart enough to take a flight with a different airline. The prospect of checking all the flights to Switzerland was one he did not look forward to, but one that had to be explored.

Gerard asked the man who worked for the airport and who had been helping him, to give him a list of all airlines with flights to Switzerland. It didn’t matter which city. Bill may have driven back to Geneva once he arrived in Switzerland. Gerard would want to talk with all ticket agents who were on duty with the various airlines from Thursday through Sunday. Someone had to have seen Bill.

Gerard sent his assistant across the road to the hotel with a copy of Bill’s picture. Perhaps Bill had spent the night before returning to Switzerland.

The assistant returned a short time later to say no one recognized Bill. Everyone but one person who worked a shift over the weekend was now at the hotel. He would go back tomorrow to question the absent employee. John didn’t think they would have much luck.

John looked over the list the airport manager had given Gerard and settled in to work. It was going to be a long day.

Chapter 39

As the train pulled into the station in London, Sam and I still had our noses pressed to the window just like two kids in the candy store.

“London!” I was visibly awed. “I can’t believe it. We’re here.” We stood up and grabbed our backpacks and snapped our fanny packs firmly around our waists. “We look just like tourists,” I said looking at my reflection in the large window and rolling my eyes.

“We are tourists. Tourists with only six hours, so let’s get a move on.”

John and Michael had dropped us off at the crack of dawn at the station in Brussels and now, having survived the Chunnel ride without any emergencies, here we were in London for some marathon sightseeing.

We emerged from the station and I pulled my sunglasses from my shirt pocket. “I thought the weather was supposed to be terrible in Europe, especially here, but we’ve had nothing but sunshine.” I thought back to a few days I had been soaked to the bone and amended that. “Well, most days. All in all, we’ve had pretty good weather.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m famished,” Sam said.

I was busy looking every which way, trying to take it all in. “When aren’t you famished? Honestly. Well, let’s find a pub. I could use a cup of tea, anyway.” We walked for several blocks with no idea of where we were or what we wanted to do. It didn’t matter. I was in London. Who cared where I was going.

“I hope we remember how to get back to the station.” Sam consulted her walking map of London and tried to get her bearings.

“We can always just hop in a taxi if we get lost. I wish we had time to spend a few days here. I’d really like to see the Tower of London and all those jewels and the London Dungeon. And maybe Madame Tussard’s.”

“Hey, watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry. I’m just trying to see everything.” My head was in constant motion as we walked turning this way and that trying to absorb as much as I could.

We quickly found a pub because they were everywhere and walked into a dark, musty room. I dropped my bag and went to look at a display case of the day’s offerings. “I think I’ll just have a cup of tea and maybe some biscuits,” I said, picking up the local jargon.

Sam came back from taking a look at the food, her face scrunched up in disgust. “It looks terrible, even to me and that’s saying something.”

“We could always find China Town for lunch later,” I suggested.

Sam went in search of the loo and came back a few minutes later. “Have you noticed no two toilets flush the same? This one has a lever high up almost to the ceiling that you have to pull. Took me forever to figure it out.”

Two cups of tea had been placed on our table with a plate of wheat biscuits.

“Well, in a few days we’ll be back in Indian Cove.” Sam took a sip from her cup of tea.

“Don’t remind me. It makes me feel sad.” I absently munched on a biscuit. “These are really good.” I took a look at what I was munching. “Kind of like a graham cracker but better. We need to buy some of these to take home.”

Sam rested her elbows on the table and steepled her fingers. “I hope they catch the killer before we have to leave.”

“Me, too. I know Gerard will let us know what’s going on, but it would be nice to have it all cleared up.”

“Want to have a little wager?” Sam gave me a sideways glance and smiled. “I’ll put my money on Donna. What’s wrong? You look funny.”

“Nothing.” I tightened my lips together in a frown. “I don’t know. Just seems like I’m overlooking something.”

Sam shrugged. “I still say it’s Donna.”

I pushed my plate away and took the last sip from my cup. “Well. I’m done. Shall we start walking?”

“I promised Michael’s mother I’d find her a nice needlepoint kit. Wanda said Liberty has the best.”

We stepped outside to an overcast sky, not that it mattered much to us. I consulted our map and in no time at all we found ourselves in the food hall of Harrod’s.

“Oh my gosh.” I stood looking at a display of tea the likes of which I never seen and probably never would again. I ordered a small bag of something called Mystery tea and placed it in my backpack. We had found out from the pub owner the biscuits were called
McVities Digestives
, a most unappetizing name if ever I heard one, and before we reached Harrod’s had stopped in a small grocer’s for several packs.

“Well, I’m all set. Tea and biscuits.”

We spent a couple more hours walking around, taking everything in. I didn’t really care whether we hit the hot spots or not, though seeing Buckingham Palace was quite a thrill.

“I wish we had planned this better,” Sam said. “We could have come for a couple of days and spent the night, with or without our husbands.” Sam nudged my arm. “Did you hear me? What’s with you today?”

“Nothing. I don’t know. I just keep almost remembering something and then it fades away. Something someone said. Or something I saw. I just can’t think.”

“You need food,” Sam said with authority and led us to a nearby Indian restaurant.

“This is really good.”

Sam reached over and took a forkful of my chicken tikka masala. “Yep. You’re going to have to learn how to make this for us.”

“What will happen to Wanda and Bill’s children if she goes to jail for murder and he gets arrested for whatever the heck he’s up to?” I asked.

“Good question.” Sam took a big gulp of water. “I suppose they’ll be sent back to the States to live with relatives.”

“But their parents will be here, locked up in jail. This is really a horrible situation.” I pushed myself back from the table totally sated with the chicken and several pieces of naan bread.

“Enough about murder. I have a surprise for you.” Sam paid the bill and pushed me out of the restaurant.

A short while later she made me close my eyes as she guided me to some unknown destination. We must have looked very strange, burdened down by packages, and me taking tentative blinds steps toward whatever the heck Sam wanted me to see.

“Okay. You can open them now.”

I opened my eyes slowly, squinting against a bright sun which had suddenly appeared again as if out of nowhere. I looked up to where Sam pointed, and there, in all his bronzed glory, leaning on a cane was Winston Churchill.

“Oh, my gosh!” I turned to Sam. “How did you know about this?”

“I looked it up online. I figured if we only did one thing today, it had to have something to do with Winnie.”

I hugged my sister. “Thank you. I’ll never forget this.”

By the time we boarded the train back to Brussels, we had managed to see quite a lot in addition to adding a few more expenses to our credit cards.

I glanced at my sister while she watched London fading away through the train window. I didn’t care what anyone thought about bringing a sister on your honeymoon. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Chapter 40

“You are absolutely sure? Please, monsieur, take your time. I must be positive.”

“Yes, Inspector. This is the man,” the young agent told Gerard as John silently sighed.

After many hours of asking the same questions, Gerard had finally found someone who remembered seeing Bill. The young man worked for a discount airline that had just started a service between Brussels and Geneva. He was certain the man he saw on Friday evening was Bill Westlake.

“And what time did the flight arrive?”

“It was about twenty minutes late so it must have come in shortly after ten.”

“
Bon
! Thank you for your help.”

Gerard looked elated. John, not so much. But the word of this one young man, inexperienced, and over-worked with the start-up of the new route, would not be enough. Gerard and John took the pictures downstairs to the car rental companies. No one remembered seeing Bill. Then they went to the metro station under the airport that went directly into the city. No one could remember seeing anyone fitting Bill’s description, but then they didn’t pay much attention to the hundreds of people passing through every day.

Gerard and John went back into the airport in search of something to eat. It had been over eight hours since they had arrived and even longer since they had eaten.

After lunch, the next stop was the taxi stand outside the arrivals gate. John looked at the long line of taxis and knew it would be hopeless. The chance of them finding the driver who drove Bill into town last Friday night was zero. And he was so tired. Gerard toyed with the idea of coming back in the morning, but he wanted to find a taxi driver who worked nights. He would have to do it now.

No one remembered Bill. One driver, with a smelly cigar and brown teeth, hesitated for a moment but then said, no, he hadn’t seen him.

They walked to Gerard’s car and got in. Somewhere there had to be another person. All they had was the identification made by the young man, and a copy of the passenger list. But Gerard said he needed more proof. Just to be sure. Gerard drove his car up the winding ramp of the underground parking structure and then John saw it—the Lock and Park. Of course! Bill had his own car. He must have driven to the airport and left his car behind the gates of the security section.

Gerard pulled over and they got out. They found two men on duty behind the glass walls of the makeshift office. Gerard pulled the pictures out and asked if they had ever seen Bill before.

“Oh sure,” the first one said, a nerdy sort, short, with pockmarked skin. “He picked up his car yesterday.”

“Fine. But was he here earlier?” Gerard asked trying very hard to keep the agitation out of his voice.

“Yes. He dropped it off last Thursday morning. Very early.”

“That’s not correct,” the other man said taking the picture. “He picked his car up on Friday night.”

“No. I’m sure it was yesterday,” Nerd said.

“Do you have any records?” Gerard asked.

Nerd produced a large binder and turned to the page for yesterday. “See. There it is, right there,” he pointed. “Yesterday. He picked up his car yesterday.”

The other man flipped the pages back to the sheet for Friday. “No. Right there, look. He took his car on Friday.”

They both looked up to a smiling Gerard and a not so happy John. “Let’s take a look at Saturday morning,” Gerard said. “I’m sure we’ll find he checked his car back in.”

Chapter 41

I’m not a good sleeper. Even at the best of times I toss and turn. I get into bed tired and within a few minutes, I’m wide awake, and just lay there for hours until I finally fall into a fitful slumber. And these were not the best of times. I had so much on my mind and something far back I desperately wanted to bring to the front. But what was it?

After trying in vain to fall back to sleep, I got up, took a shower, and went downstairs to make a cup of tea. Our time in Belgium was just about over. I couldn’t believe it. I sat there on the terrace again, in the early morning hours, waving to the lady across the way as I had been doing for the last week. We had become friends of sorts.

Only a few more days and then we would be on a plane headed west. I wondered if she would miss me. Where had all our time gone? Once again I had mixed emotions about going home. Yes, I wanted to see my family and get settled into my new house, but I loved it here. It was so pretty and everything brought a new excitement to my life. I knew if I lived here, things would become mundane eventually just like they did at home, but I wouldn’t mind staying until that happened. Then I could leave. And we hadn’t gone to Paris. So close and yet with the murder occupying so much of our time, we just never got around to it.

I was already dressed and ready to go out and absorb as much as I could. On this beautiful Thursday morning, we planned some last minute sightseeing. I turned as my sister came out on the terrace.