One Way Ticket (22 page)

Sitting up made me feel very light headed.
“Urgh, what happened?” some strange voice croaked when I opened my mouth.

“That man attacked you. Addi had to pull
him off. Don’t try to get up. They’ve gone for the doctor.”

“Can you get me some water?”

“I think you should wait till the doctor’s
seen you,” Vara told me, continuing to flap in my face.

Next thing, a big flash went off and a
camera appeared by my head. “Don’t move,” one of the crime lab boys ordered,
shoving the camera in my face and taking a rapid procession of shots, each one
burning the flashlight into my retinas and bringing on a nauseous feeling.

“Bloody hell−”

“Yes, we’ll be able to get a good match
from these marks,” he told someone standing behind me. “She’s got quite a good
set of bruises round her throat already.” I resented the note of satisfaction
in his voice as he said that.

“Could you just bugger o−”

The flash went off again before I could
finish.

Another crime lab operative appeared in
the corridor and started examining the area where James had been standing.
Moving along the corridor to where I was sitting, he picked up my leg to study
the carpet underneath it.

“Do you mind? I’m still sitting here. Can
you at least wait until I’ve gone?”

He moved off, disgruntled, whilst I took
the piece of paper out of Vara’s flapping hand. “Thank you, but I’ve had
enough.”

There was movement in the corridor and Vara
stood up. The chief himself had come to check out the crime scene. I began
wondering if they were going to start selling tickets next.

“Hope you are okay,” he told me in his
heavy accent, both knees cricking as he crouched down to speak to me. “It seems
like we have caught our murderer−”

WE? WE?

“−thanks to Detective Constable
Markou’s hard work.”

Thanks to WHAT?

I opened my mouth to protest but he
motioned me not to speak. “Don’t try to talk. I will pass on your thanks to
him. Ah, the doctor is here, it was a very silly thing you did, the man was
very dangerous. Here she is doctor.”

He left before I could summon enough
strength to punch him. The doctor took one look at my now puce countenance and
ordered me transported to hospital right away.

Four hours waiting to be seen in the
emergency room did nothing for my blood pressure, and when I was eventually
examined by a doctor it had risen so high, I was immediately admitted.

I felt I was ready to be committed.

28 Fool If You Think It’s Over

Waking up the next morning, the
first face I saw was Aunt June’s wrinkled sultana-like one sitting next to my
hospital bed. I was saddened, and a bit touched, to see her little brow was
creased with worry.

“Jennifer! Are you alright?”

“Yes, Aunt June I’m fine,” my voice
rasped, revealing my lie.

She helped me to some water.
Unfortunately, it did little to ease the soreness of my throat.

“Did you sleep okay?”

I held onto the glass so I could sip every
now and then. “After they gave me a sleeping tablet I was out like a light.”

“You’re neck is terribly bruised,” she
said, looking concerned again.

“It doesn’t feel that bad. Honest,” I lied
further.

“I don’t know when they’re going to let
you home. Apparently, your blood pressure was sky high last night.”

“Imagine.” Can’t think what had caused
that. “Oh, I think I’ll be going home today, I’m sure I’m alright.”

“But that man trying to kill you! How
awful. Addi told me about it last night.”

Her loud exclamations were drawing the
attentions of the women in the beds around me.

“Can you pull the curtains a bit?”

“Oh, do you need the toilet? Shall I ring
for a bedpan?” she asked loudly.

“No!” That hurt my throat. I took another
sip of water. “I’m sure I can make it to the toilet when I need it. I’d just
like a bit of privacy when you discuss people trying to kill me.”

She twitched the curtain near her whilst I
struggled to sit up a bit more.

“I hear your plan didn’t quite work out.
And after you were so sure it was Tina’s sister,” she said.

“I don’t think I used the word ‘sure’.”

“You must have felt a right idiot.”

“Thanks. It’s lucky you came down here to
cheer me up today.”

Aunt June continued, oblivious.
“Apparently Addi was quite the hero.”

Was she trying to make me relapse? I fought
to remain calm. “Really.”

“He did save your life.”

“I suppose so.”

“Jennifer.”

“Don’t have a go, I’m still trying to get
over the shock.”

“Yes of course.” My aunt patted my hand.
“You need some time, it must have been a very scary experience.”

“Yes, and not just James’ actions, there’s
also the fact that everyone seems to think Addi solved it all.”

 “Does it matter? I mean, you caught the
bad man. Now there isn’t going to be any more finger pointing at least.”

“Yes.” I told myself I should be happy
with that, it was enough. (It wasn’t.)

“There,” my aunt said, “you’re looking
better already, you’ve got a bit more colour in your face. I’m so glad−”
her voice broke and it looked like she was crying.

“It’s alright, I’m okay,” I assured her.

“I know.” She produced a tissue from somewhere
and dabbed her eyes. “It’s just, seeing you here in a hospital bed. It would be
terrible to lose you now… now I’ve gotten to know you.”

Aw, bless her lovely, little heart. I’d
always felt there had to be a family member somewhere I could get on with and
care about, and who could care about me in return. And it had only taken a move
of 2000 miles and a near strangulation to find her.

“Well−” my voice caught in my throat
and I had to swallow hard to recover, “−no need to worry,” I told her,
grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze, “looks like I’m going to be around
for a while yet.”

We shared a smile. (I may have shared a
fart as well, it was the tablets they’d given me.)

Later, when they said I could go home, she
helped me wrap one of her scarves round my neck (bright yellow with a bird
pattern, I tried not to wince), so as not to frighten others with the look of
my bruises.

“I brought you a clean pair of knickers as
well. I wasn’t sure what drawer you kept yours in, I didn’t want to go through
your stuff, so I brought a pair of mine.”

She held out something that had legs. This
woman kept a man interested with this kind of underwear? Victoria’s Secret had
it so wrong. “Thanks, but I can wear yesterday’s until we get home.”

 It was good to get home and into the
comfort of my own bed. Even though I’d had a full night’s sleep, I soon nodded
off again.

I’d only been asleep half an hour when
Aunt June shook me awake to tell me Addi had an update for me. I told her to
show him in, I couldn’t be bothered to get up. When she left, I did a quick
scout around the room and was pleased to see I hadn’t left too many clothes on
the floor.

“Sorry I didn’t make it to the hospital,”
Addi told me, perching on the chair next to my bed. He looked even worse than
me with deep shadows under his eyes and what looked like a good start to a
beard on his chin. “We were interrogating James Trott all night. He finally
confessed to the murder this morning.”

“Great, I heard you solved the case.”

He had the grace to look a bit guilty.
“I’m sorry but what can I tell them? You know you weren’t supposed to be
working on it.”

“Hmm.”

“How are you feeling anyway?”

“Okay.” I went to rub my neck but could
hardly bare to touch the painfully bruised skin. “It hurts a bit but apparently
I’m going to live.”

“When did you know it was him?”

“Well, when he went for my throat was a
bit of a clue.” I was tempted to say ‘right from the moment I met him’ but
decided this lying business was getting addictive. “Did Trott say why he’d done
it?”

“Money. Like you thought, he didn’t know
that apartment wasn’t Tina’s. I think his mother was a bit ashamed of her
sister and she liked people to think Tina was better off than she was. Trott
wanted to start a new business here, but the banks wouldn’t lend him the money.
He decided to get it another way.”

“You know, if the interviews had been done
properly from the beginning, we might have realised he wasn’t her son. We would
have had a physical description of the real one for a start.”

“Yes, it was a shame you jumped to the
conclusion he was the son.”

“Me!” I had to stop to rest my throat.

“Alright, us. It turns out, James Trott
was never interviewed formally, we never established he was in the country and
didn’t have an alibi.”

“Brilliant. And had he tried to poison
Tina before?”

“Susan Robinson confirms Trott and her
daughter were in Cyprus at the time but he denies trying to poison Tina. Says
the murder was unplanned, he went to ask Tina to lend him the money and when
she told him she didn’t have it, he lost it and strangled her.”

“Is Susan’s daughter in on it too?”

“She says not, she looked pretty shocked
when we told her.”

 “Susan Robinson would have inherited if
there had been any money, was he planning to kill her as well?”

“He reckons she would have shared it with
him and her daughter.”

“Unlikely.”

 “I know, but we’ll never be able to prove
it. We’ll get him for Tina’s murder and for the assault on you at least.”

“Assault? He tried to kill me!”

“Perhaps if I’d let him strangle you for a
little longer.”

“Cheers.” Talk of strangling made me think
of someone else. “I bet your mother’s pleased.”

He grinned. “I haven’t told her yet. I’m
going home when I leave here. If you hear a loud explosion, it’ll be my mother
bursting with happiness.”

“I’ll batten down the hatches.” I led my
head back on the pillow, this talking lark was pretty exhausting. “You’d better
go, I’m getting tired.”

He got up.” Okay, get well soon.” Before
he walked out the door, he turned back. “You liked him, James Trott, didn’t
you?”

“About par for the course for me.”

“What?”

“I’ll explain that another time, I’m too
tired now. Don’t tell your mother you were in here!” I shouted at his departing
back.

Yes, I should have known James Trott was a
wrong ‘un by the fact that I liked him. I knew how to pick my men.

Aunt June bustled in. “I’m worried about
you dear. You haven’t eaten anything in hours, well at least four.”

Some people may have heard an insult in
that, luckily I’m not that sensitive. “Okay, it if makes you happy I’ll try to
force something down.”

The chief allowed me a few days
off work to recover. I’d like to say I was given a hero’s welcome on my return,
but word seemed to have gone round that I’d been a bit of an idiot, cornering a
killer, so people weren’t exactly waving banners. Vara was the only one who
seemed pleased to see me.

Shortly afterwards, I found myself back in
the corridor where it had all happened. The hairs on the back of my neck
prickled at the thought of what had almost been. I stopped walking and had to
just stand for a few moments to steady myself. As I was turning to walk away,
something on the floor caught my eye. Bending down, I retrieved a red plastic bead,
probably from one of the necklaces James had thrown at me. Rolling it along my
finger I thought of the poor woman whose neck it had once adorned. The woman no
one had seemed to really care about, the woman many had been reluctant to admit
even knowing. At least we had found her killer. At least we had done that for
her.

At that moment, Addi walked past. I showed
him the bead, wondering if it was as emotional for him as for me.

He took it from my hand and studied it.
“The cleaners round here are getting worse,” he said and walked off.

I did eventually concede and thank Addi
for saving my life by buying him a new notebook. He needed it now he’d been
promoted to sergeant. Yes, the chief had been so impressed with how well he’d
organised the murder investigation, especially the paperwork, that he was
promoted and held up as an example to the junior officers. I had a feeling that
wouldn’t last.

Luckily, so far was the police case
against James Trott was holding up. Contrary to my concerns, the breaches of police
procedure hadn’t been spotted by his defence lawyer and he was due to stand
trial for murder shortly.

And me? I got a telling off by Sergeant H
for reckless behaviour and a grilling on how I had accessed the evidence room.
He reminded me as I was still on probation jobwise, any more incidents and my
position may have to be reconsidered.

“I’ll go down and have a word with him
tomorrow,” Aunt June threatened, bristling, after I told her of my telling off.

“Don’t you dare!”

“It’s not right, treating you like that.
After the work you put into it. Someone should tell them.”

“Thanks, Aunt June, but it wouldn’t help.
They’d probably fire me if they thought I’d been doing Addi’s job. I guess I’ll
just have to be content with helping to solve those crimes.” I gave a dramatic
sigh.

“Huh,” my aunt scoffed.

“What?”

“Well, you and Addi hardly solved those
crimes, did you dear? I don’t mean to be critical but the missing dogs? I had
to tell you who’d done that. The stolen cars? You stumbled on that on a tip off
from me about a different robbery. A robbery you haven’t solved and probably
won’t now, those cups will have been melted down long ago. And you didn’t
exactly work out it was Tina’s nephew, did you? Not until he had his hands around
your throat.”

“Thank you very much.” Everyone’s a
critic.

“Just trying to be honest.”

Just being trying, more like.

That was that. Life went back to its
routine - going to work, eating dinner with Aunt June, watching her go out with
her friends - except now I went with them sometimes (occasionally I even
enjoyed it).

Two months had passed before I realised
it. The improving weather meant I got to visit Frankie on my days off. It gave
my heart a little thrill to see her come to meet me now when I arrived (it was
nothing to do with the carrots I usually brought with me).

“You look happy,” my aunt commented one
morning as I was going out the door.

I thought of the residency permit in my
pocket that had arrived that morning, and the international weather forecast
I’d just seen on the telly which showed it was snowing in Swindon.

“Yes, I am,” I decided, giving her a smile
before stepping out into the sunshine and continuing on my way to work. Who
wouldn’t be happy here? It was a lovely island and the Cypriots were good
people, warm and hospitable (Addi’s mother was obviously the exception that
proved the rule). It was just a shame I worked with the expats and not them.

I wasn’t even worried about Aunt June any
more. That woman was more in control of her marbles than I was. Okay, so she
wasn’t quick on her feet anymore, all indications still pointed to her living
longer than any of us.

Not many minutes went by from my arriving
at my desk that morning to Addi turning up. It was unusual to see him in this
early. I should have known it wasn’t just a social call.

“Jennifer, I need to talk to you,” he
whispered, his face looking a little grey.

“Alright,” I agreed and followed him out
to our usual talking place, outside the back door.

“What girl has your mother lined up for
you now?” I asked as the door closed behind us. His mother had gone into
matchmaker overdrive since Addi had started working with me.

“No, it’s not that. Well, it’s only partly
that.”

“What’s the other part?”

“I need your help.” There seemed to me to
be a desperate tone to his voice. My heart began sinking.

“With?”

“A case.”

“Not the missing cups again? I don’t think
I can take that.”

“Well, CrossGlobal are still making a fuss
about them, but that’s someone else’s problem now. It’s another case; I don’t
know what to do…”

“Oh no. Not again.”