Hot on the Trail (13 page)

Although Eve had wanted to engage Marion in conversation, she had by now decided that she had had enough.

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet,” Vera continued. “A woman your own age from across the street. Her name’s Sarah Marshall. She’s an actress.”

Oh no, thought Eve, not another strange friend of Vera’s. I’m certainly paying for my vanity tonight.

Vera took Eve away from Marion.

‘Here she is. Sarah, this is Eve, though I’m sure you know that having seen her on telly. I’ll leave you two to get to know each other.”

Sarah blushed before speaking. “I’m sorry about that. Vera can be very pushy. I didn’t ask her to introduce me to you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I was having a bit of a strange conversation with someone anyway and was glad to be taken away.”

“Say no more.”

“Is that an English accent I detect?”

“It is. I married an Australian and moved over.”

“Is he here?”

“God, I hope not. We went through rather a nasty divorce about a year ago. He was unfaithful.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was tough, but I’m alright now. A lot of our friends seem to have sided with him however, even though he was the one in the wrong. That’s why Vera is always trying to get me new friends.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be here for that long.”

“Yes I know, but Vera will be Vera.”

“My fiancé was an actor you know. He was quite famous in his day. What sort of work do you do?”

“Oh, mainly theatre, but I have done a little television. I’d love to do some more.”

“I wish you luck.”

“There you are, darling, I was wondering where you’d got to,” David said, coming over and putting his arm around Eve.

“Hello there” Eve smiled, giving David a kiss on the cheek. "Sarah, this is David, my fiancé. David, Sarah is an actress so I’m sure you’ll have lots to talk about.”

Sarah and David greeted each other and started talking about the work they had done, but then Vera came round with more beers and the bottle of wine. She topped up Eve’s glass. Once she had gone, David spoke.

“I was going to suggest we went back to the hotel, but it seems we have more drinks.”

“I know you’re having a bit of a rotten time, darling, but...”

    “No, I’m fine, Eve, I know how you’ve always wanted to be recognized for catching one of the killers and at last you have been.”

Eve kissed David on the cheek again, thinking how wonderful he was to her.

I really don’t deserve him at all. I will have to make it up to him somehow....and soon.

“One of the killers?” Sarah asked. “Do tell me more.”

“Well, I’ll leave you two to talk about the Cretan murders and I’ll go and have a chat with Trev. He doesn’t seem so bad.”

Eve was in her element for the next fifteen minutes, simply talking to Sarah about her connections with Joanna and the other murders on Crete.

“Well, Crete seems rather an exciting, no, scary place to live,” Sarah said.

.”It’s not been like that all the time. There have been long periods of normality in- between the murders.

“Eve and Sarah both laughed, but Eve suddenly felt sick and her head hurt.

“Shall I get David for you?”

“If you could," replied Eve.

As soon as David knew Eve was ill, he came rushing over to her. By this time she had sat down and was looking very pale despite her tan.

“Oh David, I feel terrible, just as I did the other day. Do you remember?”

“Yes, of course I do. It’s a bit of a coincidence that you are suffering in the same way. I think perhaps we ought to get you to hospital so they can run some tests. 

Just as David was saying this, there was a commotion on the other side of the garden where Marion was having a seizure.

“Go and see what’s happening, David,” Eve asked. “I’ll be Ok. Sarah’s here.”

David went over and asked one of the other guests what was wrong with Marion.

“She had a headache and then was sick. A few minutes later, she had a seizure.”

“My Eve isn’t well either. She has a headache and is nauseous,”

“’They’d both better go to hospital then,” Vera said coming up between them. “I don’t want people saying it’s my food. It must be something else doing this.”

She marched off to call the ambulance and David went back to see how Eve was.

“I’m still feeling rotten. What’s up with Marion?”

“Similar to you, except she’s had a seizure as well. Vera’s called for an ambulance.”

“An ambulance. That’s really not necessary David, is it? I got over whatever it was last time. I’m sure I will this time.”

“That’s not the point, Eve. It all seems suspicious.”

“You mean you think somebody is trying to kill me?”

‘Yes, possibly. You said yourself it was a bit strange to have the fire and the burglary so close in time together. Perhaps you’re right and someone is trying to frighten you off.”

“But what about Marion? That doesn’t make sense.”

“I have no idea. You, after all, are the private investigator!”

Eve tried to smile, but found it downright impossible, Perhaps it was a good idea to go to the hospital after all  They’d be able to do lots of tests and she’d know the truth.

* * *

It didn’t take long for the ambulance to arrive and Eve and Marion were soon installed in hospital. Marion didn’t say anything on the journey there; she had stared into space looking very pale and frightened. At one point Eve did reach over to touch Marion’s hand reassuringly. Marion tried to smile, but couldn’t.

The doctors believed that both women had been poisoned so rushed the tests through in order for an antidote to be given.

Eventually, a Doctor Shriver came to talk to Eve and Marion. He looked serious and Eve felt certain even before he spoke that they had been poisoned. Why was it happening to her again?

“It seems you have both been poisoned with belladonna,” Dr Shriver said. "We will be administering the antidote immediately. You will be kept in overnight so we can keep an eye on your progress.”

Both women looked shocked and Marion felt a few tears starting to fall. However, once the antidote had been administered, both women started to relax a little and later Eve decided to try talking to Marion.

“Who on earth would want to poison us? And why both of us? We hardly know each other and have no connection at all, so it seems very odd.”

“I know,” Marion agreed, “It is very strange. And how did they do it?”

“When I was poisoned in Crete, someone slipped arsenic into my drink when I wasn’t looking. We were the only two drinking wine at the barbecue. Perhaps that’s it. Perhaps whoever did this; put it in the wine bottle. They probably only wanted to kill one of us and didn’t care if the other got hurt as well. Oh, I’m so sorry, Marion.”

“Why?”

“Think about it. Somebody’s burnt my shed down, burgled my house and now this. They obviously want to kill me or frighten me off. You must be the innocent party...... Oh my God Marion, it’s happened before;” Eve said, suddenly remembering something. “It happened when David and I had tea with you and Vera. I know who poisoned us. It was Vera. I was ill like this after eating one of her lamingtons, except the symptoms weren’t quite as bad so I didn’t seek medical help. Why does Vera want me out of the way?”

“The only thing I can think of is that she hoped the house would be put on sale and she could buy it for Trevor and his family,” Marion paused for a moment. “I just can’t believe she would let me suffer like this. We’re supposed to be friends. How can someone almost kill their best friend? And how can anyone try and kill someone just for a house?”

Eve stared at Marion in horror as the police came in to take their statements.   

Charles Sheffield had managed to record Joanna on television as she had been shown numerous times on the various news channels. He kept playing the recording time and time again. It was all he had left of her. He still didn’t care what she had done; he had fallen in love with her the moment he had met her and that would never change.

Charles had also managed to catch Eve Masters doing her interview and had recorded that as well. He played it back, his hatred for her growing.

“Damn that Eve Masters,” he said out loud, his thoughts becoming a little jumbled. “If it wasn’t for her, Victoria and I would be together at this very moment. Look at Eve showing off to the world. She thinks she’s so clever capturing my beautiful Victoria, but she isn’t, not at all. If she hadn’t come to this country, nobody would have been any the wiser and Victoria and I would have been able to build a life together. Yes, Victoria suits you so much better than Joanna, doesn’t it darling?”

    He spoke to the screen, having gone back to the part with Joanna in it.

    “I’ll make Eve pay for what she did to you: no, to us, don’t you worry.”

Charles picked up his packet of Seroquel and looked at it. He’d had enough of taking anti-psychotics. He was fine now; yes, he was completely calm and collected. The tablets made him tired and unable to think clearly. He was fed up of feeling like a zombie. It was time to throw them in the bin. No, if he did that, he might be tempted to take them out again. Instead, he’d put them down the waste disposal unit in the sink. Then he would be free.

Charles took out one tablet at a time and threw it away; smiling as he did so and watching each one disappear. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He never could if he didn’t take Seroquel, but he didn’t care. Sleep was such a waste of time.

“That’s the end of that
,”
he said when the last tablet had gone down the waste disposal
. “
No more drugs messing with my head.”

He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a revolver.

“No, Eve Masters, you shouldn’t have interfered.”

* * *

The police had interviewed Marion and were now quizzing Eve.

“Yes,” Eve said, “I had very similar symptoms the other day when we went to Vera’s for a cup of tea and a lamington. However, they were milder so I didn’t go to see a doctor or come to the hospital.”

“And you say that Vera baked the lamingtons herself?” Detective Chief Inspector Jameson asked.

“She said she did.”

“Did you choose your own cake, Miss Masters?”

“No, Vera gave David, my fiancé, and I a plate each with the cake on it.”

“And David had none of the symptoms you had?”

“No, he was fine.”

“So, this evening,” Jameson carried on. “Did Vera hand you anything herself?”

“Yes, she poured my wine, but we’d brought it ourselves. Mind you, we left it opened in the fridge and she did come round with it later to give me a second glass.”

“Did you eat or drink anything else?”

“No, I hadn’t got round to having any food. Most of it was meat anyway and I’m a vegetarian.”

“Have you ever had an argument with Vera Ryan, Miss Masters?”

“No, of course not, I barely know her. I can’t imagine why she would poison me.”

“We’re not certain she did poison you, Miss Masters.”

 “Really?” Eve said, looking at the inspector as if he didn’t have any idea of what was going on. “Well, Marion said that Vera wanted to buy my house for her son. Of course, it does seem a bit extreme to poison somebody for a house. Anyway, who’s to know that if I died, the person inheriting the house from me would put it up for sale? And why was Marion poisoned as well?”

“We’re asking the questions, Miss Masters,” Jameson snapped, not liking the fact that Eve seemed to be doubting his prowess as a detective. “And anyway, what you’ve just said is hearsay. We will be questioning Mrs. Ryan ourselves in due course. I think we have spoken to you enough for now,” Detective Jameson concluded. “You need to rest.”

Eve nodded, but when he and his fellow officers had gone, she couldn’t get to sleep. Everything was going round in her head.

It must have been Vera who poisoned me....or was it? Marion is sleeping so soundly, as if she hasn’t a care in the world. She was keen to put the blame on Vera, her so-called best friend that it leads me to think that perhaps Marion herself did it. She had been baking in the kitchen with Vera after all and could have slipped some belladonna into one of the lamingtons before Vera brought them out. It really wouldn’t have mattered whether David or I got sick. It would have been effective either way. Then, she was drinking wine like me this evening and was sitting near the fridge. Perhaps she slipped the belladonna into the wine bottle. The fact that she got sick as well could have been a clever ploy to take suspicion off her. Maybe she knew how much to put in without giving us a fatal dose. My goodness, I’m so confused. And I now don’t know whether to go to sleep or not. I mean Marion could do something to me during the night.

However, within ten minutes, Eve was fast asleep, the traumas of the day finally catching up with her.

* * *

Inspector Jameson and two other officers arrived at Vera Ryan’s house and rang the bell. Her son, Trevor, answered the door.

“Yes, what can I do for you, officers?” he asked nervously.

“We’d like to speak to Mrs. Vera Ryan if you don’t mind, sir.”

“What’s it about?”

“It’s between us and her,” Jameson replied firmly.

“I’m her son and you’ll have to speak to me first. I won’t have you upsetting mum.”

“Would you like us to arrest you as well?”

“Arrest? You can’t arrest anybody. We’ve done nothing.”

“It’s alright, Trev, let me speak to them,” Vera said, coming out of the kitchen.

“But, mum...”

“Trevor, do as you’re told. Come into the lounge, inspector.”

Jameson and his men followed her inside.

“So, what’s all this about?” Vera asked.

“We have reason to believe that you are behind the poisoning of both Eve Masters and Marion Carpenter last night.”

“Never,” Trevor shouted. “My mum would never poison anybody.”

“What proof do you have?” Vera asked, not losing her cool.

“They were the only ones drinking wine, wine which you poured. Eve didn’t drink anything else or have any food during the time she was here at your barbecue last night. There is also the incident of the lamingtons. Is it not true that you gave Miss Masters a lamington when she came over for a cup of tea a few days ago?