Hot on the Trail (5 page)

She just expects me to fall in with whatever she wants to do. This isn’t a partnership. It’s a dictatorship. Perhaps it was all a big mistake. Perhaps we shouldn’t be getting married after all.

Fifteen minutes later, David had calmed done a little and went up to their room, hoping that Eve had already left. He doubted they would be able to have a civil conversation yet. Luckily, she had already gone, so David started to write, but he found it hard to concentrate and soon realized that he probably wouldn’t be able to get much work achieved that day.

She’s upset me so much that I can’t even write. Perhaps I should give up and have a lazy day and wander about town sightseeing.

Just as he was pondering what to do, his mobile rang.

“Sophie, how lovely to hear from you so soon.”

“I hope I’m not calling at an inconvenient time.”

“Not at all, Eve’s out for the day sorting out things with the house she’s inherited.”

He decided to leave out details of their argument.

“Really?” Sophie said, her voice sounding a little excited. “And you’re not with her?”

“No, I intended to write, but it’s not going so well.”

    . “I’m sorry. In that case, can I tear you away? I have the afternoon off, so how about a little lunch and then I can show you a bit of Perth; if you’re not doing anything of course?”

“I’d love that,” David said simply, not even hesitating.

“I’ll meet you in your hotel lobby at one then.”

David rang off, a smile on his face, but that soon disappeared as guilt consumed him. He sat down on his bed and thought it through.

“Now, come on David,” he spoke out loud, looking at himself in the mirror. “It’s only lunch and sightseeing with an old girlfriend, nothing more. You won’t let it be anything else, so it’s fine. But why am I feeling so guilty? I shouldn’t go, should I? But I’m going to, I know I am. I’m sorry, Eve. You’ve driven me too far this time.”

* * *

The cab pulled up outside Eve’s house. She got out and after tipping the driver well, she walked into the garden and looked around, thinking she definitely needed a landscaper to design a new garden for her. It was a mess and overgrown which wasn’t surprising as winter had not long ended. Andrea had had cancer so wouldn’t have been up to doing any gardening.

Eve noticed the curtains twitching in the house next door and she stared right at them.

Nosey neighbors, she thought. Wish they’d come out and introduce themselves rather than hide.

As if she had read her thoughts, a woman from the house on the other side appeared carrying two glasses of lemonade, one of which she almost shoved into Eve’s hands.

“Vera Ryan’s my name. And you are?” the woman asked with a particularly strong Australian accent.

“Eve,” Eve replied, a little taken aback by the woman’s brusque manner.

“You inherited this house?”

Eve nodded.

“Heard a British woman got it and was going to sell it. That right?”

“I might keep it a while. Do it up a bit?”

“Needs a lot of work. Girl before didn’t look after it at all.”

“That was my cousin,” Eve said indignantly, “And she was sick.”

Eve didn’t like to hear bad things said about her family whether she knew them well or not.

Vera shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t care much about Andrea.

Not another Betty, Eve thought. They’re everywhere.

Betty was Eve’s adversary on Crete. She wasn’t a particularly pleasant person at all and she didn’t like Eve to the extent that she did her utmost to keep her and David apart, to no avail of course.

Eve noticed the curtains twitching in the other house again and decided to ask Vera who lived there.

“Oh, that’s Marion Carpenter; she’s a little mouse. Never has much to say, but she’s always watching behind those curtains of hers.

Eve thought that Vera must have been watching as well to have come out so quickly with the lemonade, but she couldn’t be bothered to say anything. She had already decided that she was going to have as little as possible to do with her, but unfortunately Vera didn’t have the same idea.

“I’ll show you where the washer/drier is and a couple of other things in the house. Andrea did have some strange ideas you know.

“I’m sure I’ll manage to find everything myself,” Eve replied, but it didn’t seem to do much good.

Vera was already marching towards the house and Eve shook her head. There weren’t many people who got the better of Eve and she decided it would have to stop. She certainly didn’t want this woman popping over whenever she wanted. However, for today, she opened the door and let Vera in.

“It could be a lovely house. It is a pity your cousin didn’t take more care of it.”

"I intend to change the kitchen, and probably one of the bathrooms.” Eve replied.

“Oh, not to one of these modern kitchens I hope, Eve? A nice old fashioned look in wood would suit better. In fact this house would look lovely if it was all given a makeover and looked like something out of the 19
th
century. A nice open fire would do wonders for the place”

Eve had had enough.

“I like up to date fashions and this house is going to be as modern as it can be. It is my house after all, not yours.”

Eve looked at Vera smugly, glad that she had at last put her in her place. Vera looked shocked as if she couldn’t believe that Eve had dared to disagree with her.

“Well really, I was only trying to help. After all, the house is well over one hundred years old. You don’t need to snap my head off.”

Eve didn’t feel guilty one bit. Vera was quite obnoxious and she didn’t really want to become friendly with her. However, even this little exchange between them didn’t put Vera off and it didn’t take her long to forget about this exchange of words.

“So, are you married/” Vera asked, trying to see if she had a wedding ring on,

“No, engaged.”

“Was he the handsome black haired man who was with you yesterday?”

Eve nodded, wondering when the interrogation was going to stop and then deciding to end it herself.

“Well, Vera, it’s been lovely meeting you. I do have a lot to get done, so I’ll have to say goodbye for now. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon,

Well really, she's practically throwing me out. Wait till Trevor hears about her. He’ll be none too pleased. I’m just trying to be neighborly.

However, she didn’t say what she was thinking and decided to leave anyway.

“Well, it’s been nice meeting you, Miss.... you didn’t tell me your surname?”

“Masters,” Eve said sharply, ushering her out of the house.

Once alone, Eve breathed a sigh of relief, but smiled, remembering Betty. She then decided to go through each room deciding what was going to stay and what was going to go and she began with the kitchen deciding that all of it was definitely going and was going to be replaced by the most modern kitchen she could find with the most up-to-date appliances.

* * *

The time went very quickly for Eve and before she knew it, it was two o’clock in the afternoon. She suddenly realized she was hungry and decided that she would go and get something to eat. Earlier on, when she was in the taxi, she had noticed a row of shops close by and thought there must be a cafe somewhere amongst them.

Just as she was about to go out, her mobile rang. Eve’s heart jumped, thinking it might be David, apologizing for his behavior earlier. She had been thinking about it and decided it really was his fault that they had fallen out.

However, answering her phone, she was more than surprised to hear the voice of Dimitris Kastrinakis at the other end.

“Miss Masters, I am at Athens airport waiting for the plane to Perth with my assistant, Stavros. I wanted to check that everything is alright; particularly that you hadn’t done anything foolish like frighten Mrs. Neonakis away.”

Eve was angry. How dare he think that she would do anything to scare off that awful woman? If she had done anything, she would have caught Joanna and been a heroine.

“Of course I haven’t done anything,” Eve replied sweetly, holding her temper in check. “You asked me not to and I have done nothing at all as you asked. I don’t know Perth at all so it would have been rather foolish of me, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, very foolish,” the inspector said. “Well, keep it up. We arrive tomorrow and hope that this will be a speedy arrest.”

“Oh, I’m sure it will be,” Eve said, closing the call.

However, she knew she shouldn’t be, but she was hoping that they would bungle the arrest and give her a chance to catch Joanna.

* * *

Meanwhile, David was having a much better time with another woman than he knew he should be having. Sophie and he had hardly ever argued when they used to be together and he now realized why. She was so easy going and they also liked the same things.

Sophie arrived right on time at the hotel.

“I know a lovely little bistro that we can go to for lunch, David. I’m sure you’ll like it. However, we’ll have to take a cab there.”

“That’s fine. I’m sure that if you like it, I will. We always used to like the same places didn’t we?”

David thought how much easier it had been to eat out with Sophie than it was now with Eve. Both David and Sophie ate meat for a start so there wasn’t a problem hunting for somewhere that had a reasonable selection of vegetarian choices, not to mention ones that were to Eve’s taste. She really could be fussy about what she ate.

The bistro Sophie had chosen was both modern and elegant. The waiter who showed them to their table knew her, but she whispered in David’s ear that it was only because it was one of her regular haunts.

“Yes. I do come here a lot,” Sophie said as they sat down. “It’s a very friendly place and the food’s great.”

“So, what do you recommend?”

“They have a steak sandwich with onion jam.”

“That sounds good. Does it come with chips?”

“Fries, David, they call them fries here!”

They both laughed and David thought how well Sophie knew what food he liked. He glanced at the menu.

“Are you having the club sandwich with chicken, bacon, cheddar and tomato.... oh and fries?”

“How did you guess?” Sophie laughed.

David suddenly felt guilty. He knew he shouldn’t be having fun with another woman, but nothing was happening was it? They were only having lunch. He needed to relax. It wasn’t as if he was going to do anything else.

“I suggest we have a bottle of Grenache rose Barossa Valley to go with our food,” Sophie said, interrupting David’s thoughts. “Should be a happy medium seeing as you’re having beef and I’m having chicken. It is a lovely wine as well. The Barossa valley is in Southern Australia by the way.”

“That sounds great. We definitely should have an Australian wine to go with our meal.”

When the food arrived, David and Sophie kept talking as if they hadn’t been apart for so many years. They both wanted to know what the other had been up to since their break-up.

“You broke my heart when you went to work in America, Sophie,” David said.

“You broke mine by not coming with me.”

“I had my acting career. I had a lot of work in England then and you know I was never keen on Hollywood. I’d have been like a fish out of water.” 

“And now you’re getting married again. She is a beautiful woman”

“Yes, she is.” David replied, not wanting to say much about Eve, the guilt flooding over him again.

“Do you want a dessert, Sophie?” he asked, changing the subject abruptly. “We always used to share one.”

“You remembered! The desserts are good here. Which one do you fancy?”

David looked at the dessert menu for a few minutes.

“The chocolate marquise with a citrus sorbet.”

“My favorite! Waiter!”

Soon the dessert was in front of them with two spoons and David remembered the old days when they would occasionally feed each other the dessert. He hoped Sophie wouldn’t try to do this and was relieved when she didn’t. It really would be crossing the line; mind you wasn’t the whole day doing just that?

After David insisted on paying the bill, Sophie told him she was taking him to the cultural centre of Perth where they could visit the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

“Remember all those art galleries we visited in London on Sundays, David?”

“How could I forget? 

Both loved to look at art and it was their favorite pastime at the weekend.

We have so much in common. What would have happened if I’d gone to the States with her? Would we be married with kids now? Life was so easy-going with her. We rarely argued. But I do love Eve despite her many faults. There’s never a dull moment with her and she does make me feel invigorated. I have never felt so confused in my life.

 Finally, after spending a few hours in the art galleries, both David and Sophie were exhausted. They found a coffee house and slumped in a couple of chairs and ordered cappuccinos.

“Thank you so much, Sophie,’ David said. “I’ve had a brilliant time today. You really are lucky to live here.”

“I actually think I am,” she replied, smiling.

Her hair, which had been in a ponytail, had become loose and it tumbled over her shoulders. David felt a little shiver going down his spine, but he knew he shouldn’t be feeling like this. It was about time he went back to the hotel. Eve might be worrying about him. However, what was he going to tell her about today? The truth; that he spent the day with Sophie, or a lie, that he went to the art galleries on his own? Perhaps he’d better not tell Eve about his day with Sophie. Eve was always jumping to conclusions and it was likely that she would jump to the wrong conclusion. He didn’t want to argue with her again.

“I had better go back to my hotel then,” David said.

“It’s a pity, but if you can do this again, let me know.”

David was torn. Yes, he wanted to see Sophie again, but he shouldn’t do this to Eve. Even though nothing had happened, he still felt as if he was betraying Eve.

David and Sophie took a cab and Sophie was dropped off first. She kissed him gently as she got out of the car. David didn’t move, not realizing what was happening until it was too late. He was shocked to realize that he enjoyed feeling her lips on his. As she whispered goodbye, he still felt the lingering touch of her lips and the gentle stroke of her hand on his knee.